This autumn I was announced third-place winner of fellow Deviant tuomaskoivurinne's ([link] summer writing contest [([link] and ([link] and consequently was privileged with a free commission. I gave it some thought and finally got back with him on it, and today I checked my messages to see "It's not a tree..." in my feed ([link]. That's my terrapod by the way, a creature I designed for The Eighth Deadly Sin. Personally, I think it's completely awesome! Thank you so much dude!

Terrapod: [link]
The Eighth Deadly Sin: [link]

-Rick Charles

Am I allowed to do this, respond to another Deviant's essay in my journal when they've disabled comments on that essay?

The essay I'm referring to is a Deviation by dadona777 that caught my attention this evening: [link]

It was to me a well-informed and intellectual work of literature, supported by historical evidence and everything. After reading it, I spent upwards of an hour typing a lengthy comment response to it only to receive an error message when I tried to submit it because in the time that it took me to devise my comment dadona777 disabled the comment section on his Deviation! I was offended; here I spend an hour of my time responding to his nice essay and I'm given the boot before I can even submit it! dadona777's follow-up journal entry seemed quite comical to me: [link]

This guy writes an essay with "Christians" and "Homosexuality" in the title, submits it to deviantART, and recoils when he gets the attention he's been getting for it? Buddy, this is the wrong website to voice your opinion on a deathly controversial subject if you don't want attention!

Unlike dadona777, I am an utter attention whore and so I will enthusiastically step into the danger zone and publicly respond to his essay here in my journal. And he needn't worry, I'm on his side and will enthusiastically take the beating for him if I must because I do realize that there are a plethora of death threat-vomiting conservative Christians prowling deviantART for infidels like me to condemn. This is the comment I wrote and intended to submit in response to his essay:

"I think homophobia can be traced back much farther than ancient Rome, albeit superficially (meaning homophobia established itself in various societies throughout history independent of each other; exactly why is explained below). In Deuteronomy Moses instructs that homosexuals must be stoned, which is quite redundant considering that shortly after the Israelites' exodus from Egypt God gave them ten pretty basic commandments to follow; only one of those ten commandments related to sexuality: "Thou shalt not commit adultery." In Matthew chapter 5 Jesus informs us that in the Ten Commandments "adultery" encompasses sexual immorality in general; but yet there remains no mention directly from God or Jesus anywhere in the Bible of homosexuality being sinful, so that is NOT to say homosexuality is particularly a sin. Though regardless, my point is that hundreds of years before the Roman times Moses ruled that homosexuality is unlawful; it's there, hidden within the pages of Deuteronomy. So as much as can be figured from an honest reading of the Bible, homoPHOBIA is merely a human prejudice and certainly NOT instituted by God. It makes sense, humans instinctively avert anything "unusual" or different; change is not our forte. We establish norms and we get comfortable with them and we don't want anything unsettling us. Credited to various reasons throughout history--one of which was potently explained in your essay--homosexuality typically doesn't make it within societal norms. Is it unfair? Of course it's unfair! But it's human nature, it's social reality. When it comes to homosexuals, the natural reality is that there is no US the normal people and THEM the homosexuals; there is only US, the human species. But the social reality soberly prevails; and that is really why Christians think homosexuality is a sin, because Christianity is a human society.

Being raised Christian, I've struggled through homophobia, I've been indoctrinated, I've lived the dangers of organized religion, and I've struggled to free myself. Social reality will always prevail in our degraded humanity, but I am a firm believer that Jesus is returning soon to take us home. By us, I don't mean the church-goers and the Bible-thumpers; I mean everybody who knows and loves Christ Jesus no matter WHO or WHAT they are! Salvation is attainable not by our deeds, but by believing in him who died so that we can have eternal life. Salvation is a gift for everyone; there are no religions or societies involved when I say everyone, there is only humanity involved when I say everyone. Everyone: you, me, our families, our friends, our communities, heterosexuals, homosexuals, bisexuals, asexuals, world leaders, hobos, that random guy filling up his truck at the gas station... There are too many everyone's to list, but Jesus died for all of them."

On a final note, please don't disable comments on me when I have something profound to say; this applies to everybody.

-Rick Charles

I have been an avid Primeval fan virtually since the show first kicked off in 2007 (actually the first series had already aired by the time I discovered Primeval, but I remember it was sometime between Series 1 and 2 that the show caught my attention). Primeval was a part of my life ever since; I own all five series.

Key words: "have been" and "was".

After Primeval returned from "extinction" (which is rare, a TV series making a comeback after cancellation) in some ways it stepped up it's game and in other ways it seemed as though the show should have remained axed. There was a lot that I appreciated about the "new series"; the tone was darker, the special effects were better and most significantly it saved Primeval from what many consider to be an aberration (Series 3). But in my opinion it went too far and ultimately couldn't handle itself. The scripting was pretty lazy especially in Series 5, the new characters were cardboard and some of the original characters (Lester, specifically) were flanderized because it honestly didn't seem that the screenwriters tried very hard. And good characters are half the battle when it comes to developing a winningly good story. Essentially, the post-cancellation reboot (particularly Series 5) was sloppy. I shouldn't even need to mention the ruddy filming and editing issues I noticed in Series 5 (the absolute worst was a scene where upwards of five minutes of footage from Series 4 was rehashed for a scripted scene in Series 5), it was poorly scripted and poorly produced. It was horrible. Series 4 saved Primeval, and Series 5 killed it.

So the question I'm asking is, will Primeval: New World save the canon-universe from The Slop (Series 5) like Series 4 saved Primeval from The Aberration (Series 3)? I have seen the new two-minute trailer (which is what inspired me to write this journal entry), and from what I can figure New World seems as though much more effort was given to the characters and story; which is ultimately what matters regardless of how awesome the creatures may be, and is especially vital for my personal revival of Primeval fanaticism because it will give me new characters to love and a fresh story to follow.

If the characters and story of New World are good enough to save the show for me, there will still be other issues particularly regarding the creatures themselves that I will need to settle before I can revive my fanaticism again. I have seen the creature lineup for the first season of New World; three of the creatures are non-canonical recreations of counterparts from the original British show, which is extremely frustrating and I don't understand why they do that. It only creates more annoying holes in the canon-universe that only the fans will ever bother to fix because fans want the world they love to make sense apparently more than the storyteller does, and if a decent answer isn't written into the script than the fans will create their own in one manner or another.

If anyone has not yet seen the new trailer, here it is: [link]

-Rick Charles

Addressing those who care, I'm enjoying my stay in Texas. Or, I'm trying to. The internet is slow and I haven't made many friends but I'm accomplishing what I'm here to do so that's what matters. Thankfully I have been able to use the internet at all, though at the moment I'm not using my own computer. Sometimes you don't realize how much you'd miss something until you deprive yourself of it. I left my personal computer back home thinking it'd be an unnecessary distraction while I'm here, but a few weeks along and I miss Windows 7 Ultimate, I miss Google Chrome (the internet here is too slow to download it on the computer I'm using), I miss Photoshop and I miss all of my personal projects.

One of my personal projects of which is the subject of this journal entry. If by now you're still clueless as to what The Eighth Deadly Sin is, either you don't +Watch me or you don't +Watch me (oldest rhetoric in the book, I know). Because from journal entries to Deviations I have been bombarding my +Watchers with TEDS content for the last few months. TEDS is a project I started that challenges religious conservatism by damning the one thing that all Christians value: the act of creation itself. It plays off the Seven Deadly Sins, adding creation as an eighth. The story itself is about a team of geneticists working for a government-funded research project who go rogue and begin bioengineering amazing and deadly creatures of their own conception, threatening natural order and even human society. As development on TEDS progressed since I ignited the flame in August 2011 with a simple campfire story to scare my friends, it became very special to me because more than anything else it's become an expression of myself and what I love: creatures and controversy. And what I love even more about it is that TEDS has allowed me to "salvage" discarded concepts from abandoned projects and even dreams or random ideas that would have all decayed in the back of my mind had they not been "reincarnated" into TEDS, hence why I call it a pile of trash: one project's trash is another project's treasure.

For example, the everglade shark was inspired by a creature I dreamt about; a creature which likely would have never seen the light of day had TEDS not been there to adopt it. The skiver hound was a creature concept I designed for a Primeval fan-fiction series of mine that I never got on it's feet. And the terrapod is leftover from an abandoned speculative evolution project. Most of the other creatures showcased on the TEDS website ([link] and in my gallery ([link] were designed specifically for TEDS, but trust that I have plenty more concepts new and old that will eventually get themselves into the project. I always have plenty of concepts, my imagination is what I'm made of.

Which is another reason TEDS is very special to me. Sometimes I honestly wonder if I'd give up my creativity to have a good singing voice or some other natural talent. It's personal projects, especially TEDS, that keep me mindful of my own talents that I not envy those of others. No, I can't sing. No, I can't play any instruments. No, I've never been athletic or for that matter skilled at any of the sports my friends are skilled at. No, I'm not the best visual artist either (though I could be better than I am, I know I have it in me). But hell if I can't enslave myself to relentless pursuit in developing projects like TEDS; spending hours researching and drawing and writing and composing everything together until it's perfect. That's what I am, that's what I can do. I'm imaginative, a perfectionist, a task-force and a one-man army. And to me, the things I can create are as good as any song I can't sing or any masterpiece I can't paint. So indeed, my imagination is what I'm made of.

~Rick Charles

I thought I should mention that I'm leaving for Texas tomorrow (hopefully we'll be out of the house before noon) and I'm not going to be back until winter. So I'm unsure how much internet access I'll have while I'm gone, if I'll be able to regularly check deviantART or not (I know that if I don't I'll have at least 10,000,000 new messages to sift through when I return xD). Trust that while I'm gone my mind will be alive with new ideas and concepts that I will return to deviantART with when I get back and make up for all the time I've been gone. Maybe not, I can't be sure. I know that whenever I find time I'll practice drawing so that hopefully when I return YOU WON'T EVEN RECOGNIZE MY ARTWORK. Maybe I'm being slightly fanciful.

With that, regards to everyone and have a fantastic remainder of 2012! This is probably the last journal entry you'll see from me in a while. I was tempted to crack another Mayan doomsday joke about how this might be my last journal entry ever because the world will end before I'm back... But by now those jokes have been far too overplayed. So, yeah.

Goodbye deviantART.

~Rick Charles

Sorry, another short journal entry. Comment moderation on deviantART seems extremely limited to me. I can report and hide comments, but I can't delete them or edit my own. Does anyone else take issue with this?

~Rick Charles

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If you bothered to view this journal entry, I've succeeded in completely wasting your time. eue

~Rick Charles

Did anybody else notice that Kent Hovind's mugshot is on his Wikipedia page now?

Just sayin'.

I'm not saying it isn't possible, that there could be an alien species superficially resembling humans somewhere among the stars. What I'm saying is the concept of humanoid space aliens is far too overplayed in popular culture, and why that is so is what annoys me.

Browsing the internet once I found an interesting article, another one of those "Top 10" lists. The article concerned top 10 things in the media that western culture generally accepted to suspend disbelief for. On the list was "humanoid space aliens." I only shook my head. Not me!

The Yautja from the Predator franchise, the Na'vi from Avatar, virtually every sapient creature in Star Wars, the creatures from Battle: Los Angeles, the insectoid-humanoid creatures from District 9 and to a degree even the creatures from Cowboys & Aliens... The list goes on. Fresh on the list is a movie I just rented from Amazon.com, Battleship. Sorry to spoil the movie for everyone who hasn't seen it yet, but the space aliens are humanoids. Being the senseless sci-fi action CGI-fest the trailers couldn't help but reveal Battleship to be, I didn't expect much story-wise and could enjoy the movie for what it was... With the exception of the humanoid space aliens, which prevented me from giving the movie a higher rating than I did.

Why am I peeved by humanoid space aliens? Let's pause here and give them an acronym so that I don't need to spell it out every time the term comes up in this rant. Why am I peeved by HSA's? The reasons are simple and blunt:

A) It gets old quick, when every new sci-fi space movie features humanoid aliens the predictability goes up. Predictability is not good friends with originality. Somebody shoot me now, I'm starting to sound like a film critic.
B) As aforementioned, I'm not saying that HSA's couldn't exist. The simple fact is that humans have a preconception that, to be sapient a creature must look and act like us. That's naive. We cannot fathom what strange entities could exist among the stars. To function enslaved to the ideology that the human form equals sapience is extremely limiting on our imagination and has a negative affect on popular culture (as explained in reason A).

I'm a biology and paleontology enthusiast. I am also an astrobiology enthusiast. And being the rogue creationist that I am, I tend to think outside of the box. I don't think, "Okay, for alien life to exist the only possible candidates are Goldilocks planets that can sustain life very much similar to our own here on Earth." I think, "Life on Earth adheres to certain natural laws to exist. Is it possible that extraterrestrial life could exist on other planets and require different sets of natural laws to survive?" Why must space aliens look like us and live on planets like ours? Why can't there be giant electromagnetic life forms that feed on friction and regurgitate electromagnetic pulses? Why can't there be iron-based life forms composed of special atomic particles that enable them to shapeshift at will into virtually anything? When you open your mind and free it from any limitations, literally anything becomes possible. But no, we're stuck with things like Twi'leks and the Na'vi (more appropriately referred to as blue furries) because mainstream human imagination in modern popular culture is plagued by nonsensical preconceptions regarding extraterrestrial life.

I want to do something about this issue.

~DeinonychusEpire

I have two announcements for my Watchers this afternoon!

The first is that the FPDAD Archives has been completely overhauled and a new website is up: [link]

The second is that next month I will be moving to Texas for the fall and will have little to no internet access during that time. So this project update is probably my salute to 2012 as far as deviantART is concerned. I'm actually going to be around for the majority of September, but at some point I'll disappear off the face of the planet for a while.

Godspeed!

-Rick

Watchers,

If you'll take a moment to notice that I've stored most of my "FPDAD Archives" Deviations, this is only temporary. I've been doing a lot of work on the project lately and it's about to take a huge turn. That and one other announcement from me are upcoming, so in the next day or so (unless there is an unexpected delay) pay attention to your message feed!

That is all,
~DeinonychusEmpire

I want to let my Watchers know that this weekend I'm leaving and will be gone for two weeks. From July 8-15 I'll be staffing at a local summer camp and registering as a camper there the following week. I'll return on the 22nd (unless I die ). Inactivity is thus to be expected from me, although I have been relatively inactive on deviantART this summer anyway (aside from the occasional progress in my ongoing project, The FPDAD Archives).

On the agenda for when I return includes writing another creationist rant, I've been reading articles on the CreationWiki today for no better a reason than to kill time and their article on feathered dinosaurs ([link] was both hilarious and depressing to read. Hilarious in that most creationists capitalize on conjectural arguments to support their beliefs and also that some sections of the article were very poorly written (crappy grammar and spelling always makes me laugh)... And depressing in that most creationists capitalize on conjectural arguments to support their beliefs and also that some sections of the article were very poorly written. I actually torture myself reading CreationWiki articles, because I don't agree with most of their conjectural arguments but I know that as a creationist myself I'm socially lumped with these people and thus with their ignorance as well.

If I agree with mainstream creationism on anything, it's definitely that worldview affects how an individual perceives and interprets things. That being said I was raised in a Christian environment and am obviously young-earth creationist; the way I perceive and interpret things is definitely influenced by my worldview, I understand that and in that understanding respect that what I believe is different than what other people believe. Most creationists--undoubtedly like the people who composed CreationWiki--want everyone to believe what they do; they're imposing. And I'm sure they have their reasons, but they are not accomplishing anything by disputing evolution. The fact is, everyone has their own beliefs regarding the origin of life. Evolution and creation are only two of many. If evolution wasn't the most widely-accepted explanation for the origin of life, something else would be and creationists would be wasting their breath disputing that! Please, will creationists mind their own business and not write shoddy articles that only make them look silly (like the "Feathered dinosaur" article on CreationWiki that clearly serves only the purpose of disputing evolution)? I implore that creationists dedicate their time and effort to developing what they believe--no, not everyone will accept creationism, and some will always consider creationism a pseudoscience because even I admit that it is based primarily on anecdotal evidence (the Bible)--but it took decades for mainstream evolution to get where it is today and that whole time creationists have been sitting on the sidelines disputing it rather than developing their own beliefs from observational and historical science. How can creationism be considered a science if NOBODY IS ACTUALLY STUDYING IT?

Sorry, I had to expel a minor rant... There will be more. But for now, I'm signing off because I'm late for work. Have a great July everyone, and I hope you are all enjoying your summer! Who is exited for Independence Day?

-Rick Charles

Awesome finale. More please. That is all.

-Rick

For my personal project, The FPDAD Archives, I was researching howler monkeys as my latest addition to the project will feature a genetically manipulated howler monkey. I envisioned my mutant howler to make a very disturbing call sounding like something reminiscent of a demonic roar. But I wasn't sure what howler monkeys actually sounded like, so I figured I'd look it up for inspiration.

Let's just say the real animal sounds disturbing enough. They don't sound anything like I thought they did: [link]

-Rick Charles

I'm not raising my voice to dispute the potential existence of mermaids. Or bigfoot. Or any cryptozoological entity for that matter. But the lack of common sense that has been exhibited resulting from the recent Animal Planet mockumentary Mermaids: The Body Found which aired last Sunday (May 27) is itching at my temperance. I haven't seen it myself, but Mermaids: The Body Found was a 2-hour Animal Planet special documenting "a scientific team's investigative efforts to uncover the source behind mysterious underwater recordings and an unidentified marine body" (source: [link]. This mockumentary is clearly science fiction, a la the 2004 Animal Planet special Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real (also known as The Last Dragon and Dragon's World). Allegedly Mermaids: The Body Found, though indisputably fictional and speculative in itself, was inspired by a "real" home video recording of two boys discovering a dying mermaid on a beach amongst a pod of beached whales ([link]. One commenter stated, "The boys who video taped the creature they found on shore [referencing the 1:15-minute AnimalPlanetTV clip on YouTube] was just a renactment, but that was because the government got the mom to convince the boys to not think about the tape. They still have it, you know." My question is, why would the government cover up the existence of mermaids? According to another commenter, apparently, "Because if people were aware that there was a being related to us that could potentially have equivalent intelligence, the foundation of our world of human dominance would crumble. Our lives are based on the idea that we rule the world, we are the epitome of intelligence in our underdeveloped world. The existence of mermaids threatens our way of life and our understanding of the world around us." A) if mermaids are real, that's freaking awesome (my personal opinion, of course). B) sapient or not, if mermaids are real they have never and probably will never conflict with humanity as we occupy two entirely different domains. Humans are terrestrial, mermaids are aquatic. The difference between not knowing they exist and knowing they exist wouldn't change anything. If mermaids are real, and the government is covering up their existence than they certainly need to reorganize their priorities. Spending time and money to sustain a cover-up is more damaging to society than would be the confirmed existence of mermaids.

I briefly researched mermaids in light of this havoc, and I discovered a most interesting explanation regarding their origin. According to a Blogger.com blog, sourced and condensed by Wikipedia, "For centuries, in Japan and other Pacific island countries, female Ama divers would swim nude searching for shellfish. These divers slowly developed the ability to hold their breath for long periods of time and to survive in cold water that would kill most people from hypothermia. Women make better divers than men because of their physiological advantages in tolerating cold. After surfacing they would hyperventilate to restore their oxygen levels which would make a loud sighing sound referred to as the isobue or 'sea whistle' or in Japanese as the 'song of the sea.' They needed to rest periodically and so after diving, as aid to maintaining lung capacity, these women frequently would sing loud songs and this may have been the origin of the siren myth. It is plausible that ancient sailors might have encountered these divers and assumed they were not human because of their ability to withstand the cold water and to submerge for several minutes at a time. There were laws restricting poaching in the sea so local village people would have had an interest in propagating and reinforcing the siren and mermaid myths to protect the divers and their wealth. The tradition of women divers has been documented in many other countries outside of Asia. In fact, many of the early artistic depictions of mermaids showed normal human women with legs rather than the typical fish-tail of the modern mythical image." Further and more detailed reading is available on the blog itself: [link]

Animal Planet should not fuel ridiculous controversies like this. "Mermaids are real" and "the government is covering up their existence" advocates need to step outside and get some fresh air. There may not be such a thing as mermaids, but there is such a thing as "too much television."

-Rick Charles

P.S. to promote Mermaids: The Body Found a website was established called believeinmermaids.com allegedly containing material such as the original "two boys find mermaid on beach" clip. Visiting the website, it appears that the Department of Justice has seized the domain ([link], reinforcing the ludicrous idea that the government is covering up the existence of mermaids. A quick observation of a domain ACTUALLY seized by the Department of Justice (megaupload.com for example: [link] contrasts the difference between a real seizure notice and a mock-up. Don't let the "seized mermaid website" deceive you, folks. It's promotional propaganda. The government is not hiding anything from us, and mermaids retain their cryptic status.

And on a final note, technically humans are fish as infraclass Tetrapodomorpha falls under class Sarcopterygii, the lobe-finned fish. So, mermaids? What's the big deal? We're all fish-people anyway!

I'm a speculative paleoartist, that is to say I stretch "realistic" to "implausibly possible." However recently I have neglected to maintain my artistic activity. And paleontology is catching up to me! As most of my Watchers are aware, I've been depicting my tyrannosaurs with plumage for approximately a year now. My feathered tyrannosaurs aren't unique anymore, they're the scientific standard. There isn't a paleontological enthusiast or paleoartist who isn't aware of the recent publication of Yutyrannus huali, Mandarian and Latin for "beautiful feathered tyrant." It is the third (if I am correct, after Dilong and Guanlong) tyrannosaur to possess fossilized plumage. But what's significant about Yutyrannus is it's size, reportedly 30 feet long and 3,100 pounds. Yutyrannus outclasses the previous record-holder for largest known feathered dinosaur by 40 times, Beipiaosaurus. Basically Yutyrannus is the largest known feathered animal period, and it's a reputable size. Check it out: [link]

Previous to the discovery of Yutyrannus, my argument that large tyrannosaurs were feathered was only supported by the phylogenetic relationship between  Tyrannosauridae (in which the large tyrannosaurs are classed) and small tyrannosauroids such as Dilong. Stating it modestly, I've been saying large tyrannosaurs were feathered for approximately a year now. Apparently phylogenetics wasn't a convincing argument for some people. xD

But Yutyrannus is rapidly increasing in fame throughout the paleontological community and will no doubt spread to the general public (it's name is graciously easy to pronounce, if it had been named "Extensive-Latin-descriptive-phrase-osaurus confusing-name-ensis" interest in the dinosaur could potentially cripple). It will eventually be standard knowledge that large tyrannosaurs were feathered. The question now is, what next ~DeinonychusEmpire?

I have something in mind...

Go check out her gallery. She joined today. I draw dinosaurs, she draws cats.

[link]

February 12, 1809. The birth of Charles Darwin. I wonder how Kent Hovind is celebrating it.

In 1934, the U.S. Government established a national park in the Florida Everglades through the envision of conservationist Ernest F. Coe in an attempt to protect the delicate ecosystem it harbored from increasing human activity. Fourteen years later, in 1947, the park was dedicated to President Harry Truman.

Currently the Everglades National Park protects over one million acres throughout Dade, Monroe and Collier counties in Florida. It is a rich ecosystem containing more than 350 species of birds, 300 species of fish, 40 species of mammals and 50 species of reptiles.

The Everglades was an ideal location to establish a biological research facility. During the 1960s, a period in American history of boosted scientific advancement including the invention of birth control pills and exploration of our moon, a division of the U.S. Government, the United States Pathological Research Association (USPRA), established a subdivision in the Everglades National Park focusing on the study of biological disease. Specifically, that is the study of viral, bacterial, prion and fungal infectious agents. This new division, the Florida Pathogenic Disease Analysis Department (FPDAD) of the USPRA, was staffed with the best scientists in their respective fields.

The initial facility contained several compartments all constructed beneath the ground, hidden within the heart of the Everglades. A small structure, resembling a stilted shack, rose out of the water through which staff would enter the facility. An elevator would take them several yards underground to a decontamination chamber which anyone entering or exiting the facility would need to process themselves through. Beyond the decontamination chamber was the laboratory itself, as well as living accommodations and a central bath house and dining hall for the staff. The laboratory was a large chamber, with a reinforced glass ceiling supported by stainless steel framework. This would give people working in the lab a view of the murks above them. Often could be seen alligators and fish swimming in the water. The facility had a complex HVAC system with several large ventilation exhausts breaching the surface around the swamp in order to circulate a constant flow of fresh oxygen through the facility.

Though a subdivision of the U.S. Government, the FPDAD was not closely monitored and functioned independently.  Lab rats were used to test antidote and cure formulas created for diseases under study by the scientists, so the laboratory harbored all the necessary equipment to practice basic biological engineering. As well as experimenting on the record, the scientists had tendencies to work off the record practicing genetic manipulation on their lab rat subjects. Results quickly turned up varied phenotypically mutated rats: furless rats, tailless rats, eyeless rats, limbless rats, rats with stunted growth, rats with boosted growth, rats with polycephaly and rats with rearranged internal organ systems among other varieties. Initially, many mutated rats did not survive long or even make it through embryonic development, however there were a few successful results which were kept and studied. Building upon the results of successful experiments, the scientists focused on improving their own genetic manipulation abilities and eventually most experimentation turned up positive.

In the late 1970s, the scientists of the FPDAD requested an architectural expansion of their facility on the justification that they required improved accommodations in order to progress their research on biological disease. What they really wanted was an expanded horizon for experimenting off the record. The USPRA granted their request and an expansion to the facility was completed in the early 1980s. A menagerie as well as additions to the laboratory including incubation chambers, synthetic embryonic development (SED) tanks and a hyperbaric chamber were added as extensions to the facility.

Pigs were imported to the facility and kept in the menagerie as test subjects. There were several areas of biological engineering the scientists aimed to improve on. They were skilled at genetic manipulation, however they needed to further study mentality and how to manipulate cognition and instinct as well as investigating other areas of bioengineering such as genetic splicing; introducing foreign deoxyribonucleic acid into a subject of interest for hybridization. Also a priority was studying procreation. Despite efforts to create new forms of life through genetic manipulation, the scientists had yet to create stable reproductive forms of life. Especially with investigation of genetic splicing on their agenda, the scientists would need to develop a synthetic gene formula that would override biological restrictions hindering the reproduction of artificially-produced life forms. Once a successful formula was created, the scientists would not only be capable of creating new and bizarre creatures via genetic manipulation and splicing, but those creatures would be able to breed.

While an effective synthetic gene formula was being developed, the scientists began to practice genetic splicing on the pigs and lab rats. Initially results were unsuccessful, embryos would not develop properly with introduced genetic splices. The scientists had to complete a prototype synthetic gene formula in order to produce successful hybrids. The final product was a microscopic ribonucleic acid substitute rewriting the genetic code and allowing for synthesis of foreign and native deoxyribonucleic acid during development of an embryo. The scientists would now be able to successfully produce hybrids from embryos implemented with this new prototype formula, which they dubbed SGF-P for "Synthetic Gene Formula – Prototype" or simply P-Formula for "Prototype Formula." Experiments quickly turned up results. The scientists began with simple genetic splices, such as swapping pig and rat phenotypes, producing pigs with rat tails, pigs with claws, rats with hooves, pigs with rat teeth, pigs with a thicker coat of white fur, rats with pig noses and pig ears among other weird varieties.

By the late 1980s the synthetic gene formula intended to override biological restrictions hindering the reproduction of artificially-produced life forms was completed. The SGF-S, "Synthetic Gene Formula – Solution" (or simply "The Solution"), proved successful after testing it on hograts. The so-called hograt had the most spliced genetics of any experiment thus far: the body, tail and limbs of a rat with internal organs including digestive tract, circulatory system and respiratory system more reminiscent to those of a pig. It also had the skull structure of a rat, but the ears and nose of a pig as well as very keen senses. Hograts typically grew to be 12-24 inches long, including the tail, and would eat anything. The SGF-S specimens escaped their containments in the menagerie and began to breed in the facility's ventilation system. The scientists had successfully created their first bioengineered reproductive life form.

Once the scientists had accomplished most of the necessary feats of bioengineering, they incited to get creative and experiment with more than pigs and rats.

Back in August I wrote a journal entry ([link] pertaining to a Deviation I had uploaded around that time. The Deviation was part of a shelved project I have recently been inspired to blow the dust off of. At the moment, said Deviation is in storage awaiting the project's official resurrection. My intention is to get the project online by the end of this week, or what I have of it that's been collecting dust on my computer. Yes, it is an art project and will be presented through deviantART. I'm not known for art projects, such endeavors have always seemed to require more effort than I am productive enough for. Therefor I cannot guarantee the longevity of this new project, but I promise I will get what I already have online for everyone to see. Lately I've been utilizing my free time drawing because a more significant project I'm developing (I call it "my work") is awaiting a next step I am unable to provide for it.

Here's a promotional for my upcoming project, basically an abridged version of a lengthy article I wrote detailing the project's canon-universe history (which I may present later):

"In 1934, the U.S. Government established a national park in the Florida Everglades through the envision of conservationist Ernest F. Coe in an attempt to protect the delicate ecosystem it harbored from increasing human activity. Fourteen years later, in 1947, the park was dedicated to President Harry Truman.
"Currently the Everglades National Park protects over one million acres throughout Dade, Monroe and Collier counties in Florida. It is a rich ecosystem containing more than 350 species of birds, 300 species of fish, 40 species of mammals and 50 species of reptiles.
"The Everglades was an ideal location to establish a biological research facility. During the 1960s, a period in American history of boosted scientific advancement including the invention of birth control pills and exploration of our moon, a division of the U.S. Government, the United States Pathological Research Association (USPRA), established a subdivision in the Everglades National Park focusing on the study of biological disease. Specifically, that is the study of viral, bacterial, prion and fungal infectious agents. This new division, the Florida Pathogenic Disease Analysis Department (FPDAD) of the USPRA, was staffed with the best scientists in their respective fields.
"But the scientists were not interested in studying biological disease. Though a subdivision of the U.S. Government, the FPDAD was not closely monitored and functioned independently.  Lab rats were used to test antidote and cure formulas created for diseases under study by the scientists, so the laboratory harbored all the necessary equipment to practice basic biological engineering. As well as experimenting on the record, the scientists had tendencies to work off the record practicing genetic manipulation on their lab rat subjects. Building upon the results of successful experiments, the scientists focused on improving their own genetic manipulation abilities. There were several areas of biological engineering the scientists aimed to improve on. Resulting from their tampering with the lab rats, they were skilled at basic genetic manipulation, however they needed to further study mentality and how to manipulate cognition and instinct as well as investigating other areas of bioengineering such as genetic splicing; introducing foreign deoxyribonucleic acid into a subject of interest for hybridization. Also a priority was studying procreation. Despite efforts to create new forms of life through genetic manipulation, the scientists had yet to create stable reproductive forms of life. Especially with investigation of genetic splicing on their agenda, the scientists would need to develop a synthetic gene formula that would override biological restrictions hindering the reproduction of artificially-produced life forms. Once a successful formula was created, the scientists would not only be capable of creating new and bizarre creatures via genetic manipulation and splicing, but those creatures would be able to breed.
"By the late 1980s the synthetic gene formula intended to override biological restrictions hindering the reproduction of artificially-produced life forms was completed. The SGF-S, "Synthetic Gene Formula – Solution" (or simply "The Solution"), proved successful. And once the scientists had accomplished most of the necessary feats of bioengineering, they incited to get creative and experiment with more than lab rats..."

Any guesses as to what this art project is?