Mini T-Rex: It's Like a chihuahua, only awesome!

[MrW]

Lmao...

[Max™]

Dinosaurs aren't birds.

Birds are Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs were there first.

Fish > Amphibians > Reptiles > Split (Reptile like mammals/proto-dinosaurs) > broadening (Mammals/Dinosaurs) > Further splits (Birds/Dinosaurs)

[Mizango]

Dinosaurs aren't birds.

Birds are Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs were there first.

Fish > Amphibians > Reptiles > Split (Reptile like mammals/proto-dinosaurs) > broadening (Mammals/Dinosaurs) > Further splits (Birds/Dinosaurs)

Spot on, which is why we can look at baby chickens and they have the beginnings of segmented tails, claws on the ends of their hands and sharp teeth bumps before the genes turn off and things go back to normal and begin to resemble the chicken we all know and love...to eat.

Going to see if I can find the video is the embryonic duping and post it. In laboratories we've also turned on the gene that is responsible for giving a chicken body "scales" as opposed to them appearing just on their feet.

CHICKEN GENOME PROJECT ROX. No but seriously if you are interested give the book I recommended a try, Shubin is a cool dude. Anyone in Chicago should definitely go check him out.

[Max™]

I was such a geek for Dinosaurs back in the day, wasn't much new though, and physics quickly overwhelmed all other concerns.

[wipers]

I used to like dinosaurs till I saw the first Jurassic Park. That movie ruined any chance of me caring about them.

[isladar]

Paul Sereno, a paleontologist at the University of Chicago

Totally a "cool story, bro" thing but his mother was my art teacher in like.. first fucking grade, and we all got to go to the Field Museum (which he was either working with or working out of), meet him, and have him explain his recent findings. I believe Paul Sereno has also discovered at least one other dinosaur that was previously unknown.

I was such a geek for Dinosaurs back in the day, wasn't much new though, and physics quickly overwhelmed all other concerns.

Dude, go to a natural history museum, it all comes back. Went with the bf to the Field Museum Labor Day weekend, rounded the corner into the Dinosaurs and I was like OH SHIT SON THIS IS STILL THE COOLEST THING EVER HOLY FUCK.

[isladar]

Holy shit, okay, so he has a wiki, go me for not reading:

Paul Callistus Sereno (born October 11, 1957) is an American paleontologist who is the discoverer of several new dinosaur species on several continents. He has conducted excavations at sites as varied as Inner Mongolia, Argentina, Morocco, and Niger.[1] He is a professor at the University of Chicago and a National Geographic "explorer-in-residence." The son of a mailman and an art teacher at Prairie Elementary, Paul grew up in Naperville, Illinois and graduated from Naperville Central High School.

[Max™]

Oh, I'm still totally geeked over dinosaurs, and I'm eagerly awaiting when some guy clones a chicken embryo with the right gene tweaks to turn it into a housecat sized Brachiosaur, and people have Velociraptorchickens guarding their mansions.


Oh god, that reminded me of that short story about the toysaurus retirement home, SO FUCKING SAD!

[Mizango]

I used to like dinosaurs till I saw the first Jurassic Park. That movie ruined any chance of me caring about them.

You cant let something like that fuck with you and throw you off something you claim to like lol. Imagine if Woozie, Max, Khamsin Neo or I got pissy just watching Independence day, BSG or Star Wars or something?

THAT DEFIES THE LAWS OF PHYSICS

I mean you have to take it at face value and keep plugging along, its entertainment and nothing more.

[Mizango]

Oh, I'm still totally geeked over dinosaurs, and I'm eagerly awaiting when some guy clones a chicken embryo with the right gene tweaks to turn it into a housecat sized Brachiosaur, and people have Velociraptorchickens guarding their mansions.

Hey we are already working on that, wouldn't surprise me if we have already attempted to retro-engineer that lol.

Since we don't have full Dino DNA we would have to use the close relative possibly a Emu or most likely a Cassowary if you ask me. Cassowary are unique because they are aggressive as hell towards anything in their territory and they have a raptor like talon for an inside toe.

Not to mention scales up to their hind quarters and a crest on their heads like fossils we have found from the time of the Dinosaurs. Nothing would surprise me at this point but retro-engineering would be the way it would have to be done at present.


Edit: http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/dino...ing-dinos.html

That is a show I saw on the Science channel a few years ago. Check it out if you get a chance.

[Kerberoz]

It's unlikely that we'll ever be able to reverse-engineer a brachiosaur, as they were most likely an evolutionary dead-end without any living descendants. Raptors, though, are more plausible.

[Mizango]

Totally a "cool story, bro" thing but his mother was my art teacher in like.. first fucking grade, and we all got to go to the Field Museum (which he was either working with or working out of), meet him, and have him explain his recent findings. I believe Paul Sereno has also discovered at least one other dinosaur that was previously unknown.

Small world, he works with Neil Shubin at The University of Chicago in the Paleontology dept. I have no had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Sereno but I have talk to Dr. Shubin via email on a few occasions and once in person while in Chicago.

It is a small world indeed.

[isladar]

I mean to do grad school at Univ. of Chicago (not that field, but hopefully Sumer/Assyria), it's gonna be like my bookshelf is coming to life. With fangs and deadlines.

[Mizango]

That is going to kick so much ass. That would actually make me jealous.

[Max™]

You cant let something like that fuck with you and throw you off something you claim to like lol. Imagine if Woozie, Max, Khamsin Neo or I got pissy just watching Independence day, BSG or Star Wars or something?

THAT DEFIES THE LAWS OF PHYSICS

I mean you have to take it at face value and keep plugging along, its entertainment and nothing more.

STAR TREK MAKES ME RAGE TIL I VOMIT.
I can't watch the new BSG, Starbuck is NOT A FUCKING BITCH, GODDAMMIT, ARGH!
Independence Day was so dumb it was enjoyable, particularly when I realized he was about to try to hack an alien mothership with a windows based computer... AND THEN HE SUCCEEDED AT IT!

Star Wars uses excellent handwavium, just enough stuff to make shit sound cool and like there is depth, then they move on to the story.

Do they sit and talk about the physics of lightsabers? NO, BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE STUPID, LIGHTSABERS DO NOT WORK, THE BEAM WOULD BE EFFECTIVELY ENDLESS. WOULD THAT BE AWESOMER? FUCK YES, BUT IT WOULDN'T HELP IN A SWORD FIGHT IN A SPACESHIP... WHO CARES? SWORD FIGHT + SPACESHIP = COOL ENOUGH DAMMIT!

I didn't get into sci-fi til way after I was in to science though, unless you count the Transformers movie (no, not the one with Megan "why am I making this stupid pouty face" Fox, the real one).

Though that reminds me of this: YouTube - Return of Optimus Prime (UNCUT), which is so awesome I'm gonna go laugh til I cry.

Prime: WHO THE FUCK IS THIS AUTOBOT?
Wheelie: Wheelie's the name! Wanna play a game?
Prime: NO!

[Dimmauk]

After E.T. I liked aliens, then I saw Fire in the Sky, and now I dont care for them very much anymore.

[isladar]

That is going to kick so much ass. That would actually make me jealous.

Dude have you seen the Oriental Museum of the University of Chicago? I haven't been since I was like 8 but the part of the gate to Nineveh they have there is burned into my brain. Sumer is like a millions billions cooler even then that, too.. as the saline content of the soil went up around the Tigris / Euphrates and they had to move their cities further north they necessarily had these abandoned cities.. that were only a few miles away, but they became cities of the dead. How fucking rad if your underworld / death state was physically manifested like.. right down the fucking road.

[Mizango]

particularly when I realized he was about to try to hack an alien mothership with a windows based computer... AND THEN HE SUCCEEDED AT IT!

ROFL I punch myself every time I see that. Only if the super advanced Aliens knew how advantageous having 7 proxies was.

Star Wars uses excellent handwavium, just enough stuff to make shit sound cool and like there is depth, then they move on to the story.

Do they sit and talk about the physics of lightsabers? NO, BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE STUPID, LIGHTSABERS DO NOT WORK, THE BEAM WOULD BE EFFECTIVELY ENDLESS. WOULD THAT BE AWESOMER? FUCK YES, BUT IT WOULDN'T HELP IN A SWORD FIGHT IN A SPACESHIP... WHO CARES? SWORD FIGHT + SPACESHIP = COOL ENOUGH DAMMIT!

LOL

[Mizango]

Dude have you seen the Oriental Museum of the University of Chicago? I haven't been since I was like 8 but the part of the gate to Nineveh they have there is burned into my brain. Sumer is like a millions billions cooler even then that, too.. as the saline content of the soil went up around the Tigris / Euphrates and they had to move their cities further north they necessarily had these abandoned cities.. that were only a few miles away, but they became cities of the dead. How fucking rad if your underworld / death state was physically manifested like.. right down the fucking road.

No kidding lol, and yes I have been there and it is fucking A M A Z I N G. I was in awe the ENTIRE time. You see, these are the reasons that I have been thinking of moving back up that way again and specifically to Chicago.

Everyone should have to go to the Oriental Museum at least once in their life to see the death and lives of civilizations past. SOOOO much glorious win.

[wipers]

I'm more of a MOMA person but I do like going to museums. I haven't been to one since I was probably 10 years old. But it was a good experience.