A Parental Guide to Adolescence (By a Teenager

Move Over T-Rex, a New Carnivore King is in Town

Written by: Gabriel Lopez de Azua

As of very recently, scientists have unearthed more bones that were shockingly discovered to have been the missing body of a mysterious skull found in 2012! These bones belonged to a powerful creature that stalked the earth approximately 85 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous period, that’s 20 million years BEFORE the infamous tyrant lizard king. This ancient carnivorous beast is known by one name: Meraxes Gigas.

Meraxes’ name is derived from the dragon of the same title from Game Of Thrones, and a monster such as this one is well worthy of such a name. With its skull alone measuring in at a whopping 1.27 meters (and a total length of 11 meters with a weight of 4 tons), this beast was larger than a Tyrannosaurus, albeit only half as heavy. However, one interesting parallel between the two is that they both have short, seemingly useless arms and gigantic heads. Scientists have discovered that short arms and bigger heads were key to these therapod’s survival, contrary to the popular belief they were useless and a trait exclusive to Tyrannosauridae. Many theropods had short arms. A good example was the Abelisauridae (which includes the Abelisaurus and Carnotaurus). These creatures were known for their hilariously short arms and yet they were a diverse and successful group. Many believe these short arms were created for helping attract/ hold mates and get up from prone positions but were short enough as to not be easy targets and be bitten off during feeding frenzies. Meraxes likely ate ceratopsians and smaller or younger sauropods which lived at the time and lived in tropical Patagonia, which was somewhat colder at the time due to its proximity to the Antarctic Peninsula. Due to its climate, it was probably an ambush hunter that would hide in surrounding areas and rely on short and powerful bursts of speed to take down prey. So it would fill a pretty similar niche to the T. Rex’s smaller cousin: Daspletosaurus. Meraxes was one of the largest carnivores in its ecosystem and held a strong grip over the food chain. It was almost a kind of replacement for the previous superpredators of Argentina such as the Giganotosaurus. Giganotosaurus was 13 meters long and weighed 15 tons. It was 3 meters longer and 11 tons heavier than Meraxes and hunted large sauropods. Meraxes was far lighter than most therapods its size. Despite this, it was still a powerful beast and would go on to be a terror to the creatures in Argentina for the next 10 million years. Even though Meraxes held a solid part of the food chain, it too was sadly out-competed and eventually replaced by more modern therapods such as the Carnotaurus, which were smaller and faster and could adapt more readily to changes in the ecosystem. And since Meraxes was the only dinosaur in its genus, it had no other relatives to continue its legacy.

Despite this, Meraxes Gigas is a formidable dinosaur that is a strong contender for the king of the dinosaurs. So Tyrannosaurus Rex better look out, because Meraxes Gigas is coming for the crown!

Photo by Nate DeWaele on Unsplash

Top 10 Most Unrealistic Moments in “Suits”

Written by: Jemma McLean

*Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for those who have not watched the entire series

Photo by Hunters Race on Unsplash

Number 10: Mike Ross’s Secret Starting with the most obvious unrealistic moment, is the length of time that Mike Ross was able to keep his secret. Only discovered in season 5, he went undetected by opposing lawyers and judges for an inordinate amount of time. Throughout the series, it is seen that Mike and Harvey research other lawyers, it seems improbable that they too were not looked into by their opposition. If this is the case, it seems unlikely that he was not discovered earlier.

Number 9: How Was Mike Ross Hired At All? Forget number 10 of not being discovered earlier, how was he even hired at all? Pearson Hardman was a prestigious, large law firm with multiple floors, an IT department, and many interns. It is highly unlikely that they did not have a human resources department. If that is the case, Harvey would not be able to simply hire Mike because he wanted to, no matter what Harvey’s status in the company was. With that in mind, HR would have flagged Mike’s lack of degree before he could have even stepped foot into Pearson Hardman.

Number 8: Harvey Specter’s Case Record At the DA In season 1, episode 11, Harvey Specter is deposed by a lawyer who was attempting to expose Harvey’s former mentor. During the deposition, she claims that “in two years [he] handled 18362 cases, 36 cases a day” with 147 going to trial. In reality, these numbers are beyond ridiculous. Not only would this be impossible in a firm that had unlimited resources, but as a defense attorney with even fewer resources this notion glamorizes being a lawyer and creates unrealistic expectations. Number 7: No Ramifications for Harvey Lying To His Client In Season 1, Episode 1, Harvey lies to a client saying that he already received a wire transfer for the money his client was going to pay him before a deal was signed. He uses this bluff to ensure that his client doesn’t pull out of a deal. When his client figures this out, he fires the firm and while Harvey initially loses his promotion, he gets it back by the end of the episode with no further ramifications. In reality, this client would most likely sue the firm and not just fire it and Harvey would have been fired or brought before a judge.

Number 6: The Thomas Kessler Debacle After getting back on its feet following Mike’s activities, the firm finds itself representing two sides of an agreement. This ultimately leads to Thomas Kessler finding out privileged information about the other companies strategies and pulling out of the deal. While this makes for entertaining television, it is doubtful that both parties would have agreed to be represented by the same firm because of the potential for what occurred — information being passed that should have remained confidential.

Number 5: Harvey and Mike, Experts in Everything Law is extremely complex, which is why lawyers often specialize and become knowledgeable in a specific area. This is why it seems unlikely that Harvey and Mike 15

Number 4: How They Do Research Maybe once upon a time, lawyers researched laws and legislation by combing through books. However, with access to computers and the internet, this is an extremely inefficient way to research and prepare for cases. While it may look good on TV for Rachel and Mike to bond over books, it is not the most realistic scene.

Number 3: The Firm Not Going Under With the number of times that the firm changes names, loses employees, or loses clients, it seems unlikely that it would be able to stay in business. No matter how prestigious the firm may have been initially, the fact is that Mike was defrauded, Jessica exposed herself as having known of the situation and Robert Zane is later also exposed for revealing privileged information to an outsider. On top of that, Harvey’s methods are called into question a few times, along with his history at the DA office. With so many managing or name partners being exposed for fraudulent activity, it seems unlikely the firm would remain afloat.

Number 2: Everybody Leaves Season 5, episode 16. As the news of Mike’s fraud and conviction is circulated, every. Single. Person. Leaves Pearson Specter Litt. And yes, while people leaving is a natural course of action as a result of a prestigious law firm’s name being tarnished, everyone all at once is highly unrealistic. As a large law firm, most people would not be able to find a job at another law firm at such short notice and while Jessica waives the non-competes, there is usually a period in which Number 1: Mike Ross Allowed to Be a Lawyer After Being Defrauded Despite all of the tension and worry about Mike being exposed as a Fraud, he is somehow able to go to prison at the end of season 5 and be back working in a legal capacity by season 6. In reality, one found to have been working as a fraud for any period of time would not be allowed back into the legal field in any capacity, let alone as a lawyer. He doesn’t even go to law school to become a lawyer after coming out of prison! Talk about unrealistic.

And there you have it. The top ten moments that every die-hard Suits fan chooses to ignore because this show is just too good. Also, let’s face it, what show doesn’t have holes or unrealistic moments?