'Dragon' skull discovered

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20060522/hogwartsdino_din.html?source=rss
Kinda neat, if it's real.

On a side note, I think that it's kind of sad that I feel the need to add that disclaimer. It just feels like there have been a bunch of scientific hoaxes lately.

"What you knew about pachycephalosaurs -- you can chuck it."

Well, that's a relief. So, what the hell did they expect to happen when they let a bunch of kids name a fascinating discovery? I thought Bakker knew better.

I don't see why it would be a hoax. Although it's a new species, it's not an impossible difference from other dinosaurs living in the area.

I like how the children that found it got to name it That was my own fantasy for years while growing up, and maybe a number of years afterwards, too.

*edited*

Believe it or not, I love pachycephalosaurs. Boneheads are a neat looking type of dinosaur and this new discovery is fascinating to me.

It doesn't say the children that found it got to name it. It was discovered by amateurs. Those could be hobbyists or even interns or grad students.

Sweet looking skull... I guess the eyesockets are on the side where you can't see them in that picture though?

LobsterMobster wrote:

"What you knew about pachycephalosaurs -- you can chuck it."

done!

That was kind of a mistake naming it after something from a modern book, in my opinion. 100 years from now it'll seem goofy. Then again, who cares.

I'm reminded of The Simpsons' Seymour Skinner: "(over PA) Attention, this is Principal Skinner, your principal, with a message from the Principal's Office. All students please proceed immediately to an assembly in the Butthead Memorial Auditorium. (to himself) Dammit, I wish we hadn't let the students name that one."

I'm just waiting for the "Encyclopedia Brownasaur".

Sweet Zombie Jesus. Why don't we give children the right to vote while we're at it?

This is not nearly the most unusual name. They often end up with literary names, or named after the discoverer's niece or something. There's even a "Fubarichthys" fish, so-called because in it's fossils the head bones are usually all mixed up. "Hallucegenia" is another good one.

I had to look these up, but I remember coming across weird names in the past, so this Hogwarts reference seems par for this course. And hey, the kids are interested in paleontology now! That's a plus.

I don't live too far from Indy. I'll have to head up there and check it out. My longing for a time machine continues to grow.

Deleted: joke about evolution/Harry Potter and religion, no need to push this into P&C

Montalban wrote:

Deleted: joke about evolution/Harry Potter and religion, no need to push this into P&C

Yeah. stay off my lawn.

since when have kids not been interested in dinosaurs?

I've always been rather impressed that little kids know the scientific names of dinosaurs. When you think about it, Tyrannosaurus Rex is a pretty damn complex name.

LobsterMobster wrote:

I've always been rather impressed that little kids know the scientific names of dinosaurs. When you think about it, Tyrannosaurus Rex is a pretty damn complex name.

Are you kidding me? I could name most of the known dinosaurs without stumbling when I was in elementary school. It's trying to pronounce the names now that gives me trouble. Not to mention I couldn't tell an Allosaurus from a Triceratops if it came up and bit me in half.

Botswana wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:

I've always been rather impressed that little kids know the scientific names of dinosaurs. When you think about it, Tyrannosaurus Rex is a pretty damn complex name.

Are you kidding me? I could name most of the known dinosaurs without stumbling when I was in elementary school. It's trying to pronounce the names now that gives me trouble. Not to mention I couldn't tell an Allosaurus from a Triceratops if it came up and bit me in half.

Curse your sudden, but inevitable betrayal!

Curse your sudden, but inevitable betrayal!

I swear I wasn't thinking about that when I was trying to come up with two dino names!

When I was in Kindergarten, the teacher was asking everyone what their favorite dinosaur was. I said "archaeoptryx."

They thought I was {ableist slur} until the teacher bothered to look it up.

LobsterMobster wrote:

When I was in Kindergarten, the teacher was asking everyone what their favorite dinosaur was. I said "archaeoptryx."

They thought I was {ableist slur} until the teacher bothered to look it up.

I got in trouble in elementary school for correcting a teacher on the proper classification of dimetradon as a "protomammal" not a dinosaur.

Paleocon wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:

When I was in Kindergarten, the teacher was asking everyone what their favorite dinosaur was. I said "archaeoptryx."

They thought I was {ableist slur} until the teacher bothered to look it up.

I got in trouble in elementary school for correcting a teacher on the proper classification of dimetradon as a "protomammal" not a dinosaur.

Hee hee. I remember the night I told my father I wanted to be a paleontologist when I grew up, and he thought I had learned a new naughty word.

Ooooh, Katerin, tell me about the dienonychus again...

An apotosaurus and a brachiosaurus walk into a bar, the compsognathus ducks.

HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa!!!!!!!!!

I remember putting together a booklet in the second or third grade on how I wanted to be a Vertebrate Paleontologist when I grew up. The booklet was filled with pasted snipped out pictures of dinosaurs, bones, and dig sites.

Apparently I wasn't the only one!

Quintin_Stone wrote:

I remember putting together a booklet in the second or third grade on how I wanted to be a Vertebrate Paleontologist when I grew up. The booklet was filled with pasted snipped out pictures of dinosaurs, bones, and dig sites.

Apparently I wasn't the only one!

...That is so gay.

LobsterMobster wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:

I remember putting together a booklet in the second or third grade on how I wanted to be a Vertebrate Paleontologist when I grew up. The booklet was filled with pasted snipped out pictures of dinosaurs, bones, and dig sites.

Apparently I wasn't the only one!

...That is so gay.

Seconded.

Just kidding, I wanted to be a paleontologist when I was a kid. Then I saw Indiana Jones and I wanted to be an archeologist. Then I saw Batman and ended up working tech support. Sound familiar anyone? Anyone?

Botswana wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:

I've always been rather impressed that little kids know the scientific names of dinosaurs. When you think about it, Tyrannosaurus Rex is a pretty damn complex name.

Are you kidding me? I could name most of the known dinosaurs without stumbling when I was in elementary school. It's trying to pronounce the names now that gives me trouble. Not to mention I couldn't tell an Allosaurus from a Triceratops if it came up and bit me in half.

Simple test, if it bit you in half it was most likely the Allosaurus, if it just kinda ground you up in its mouth a while, it was a Triceratops (Carni vs Herbi)

Nosferatu wrote:
Botswana wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:

I've always been rather impressed that little kids know the scientific names of dinosaurs. When you think about it, Tyrannosaurus Rex is a pretty damn complex name.

Are you kidding me? I could name most of the known dinosaurs without stumbling when I was in elementary school. It's trying to pronounce the names now that gives me trouble. Not to mention I couldn't tell an Allosaurus from a Triceratops if it came up and bit me in half.

Simple test, if it bit you in half it was most likely the Allosaurus, if it just kinda ground you up in its mouth a while, it was a Triceratops (Carni vs Herbi)

(I'm glad I wasn't the only one thinking that. :))

Off-topic, but Paleo, what is your new avatar? It looks COOL... (or kewl for the Demos of the world)

Fedaykin98 wrote:

Off-topic, but Paleo, what is your new avatar? It looks COOL... (or kewl for the Demos of the world)

I, for some reason, can't see it, but I am pretty sure I loaded up a still from the movie "Lady Vengeance".

Paleocon wrote:
Fedaykin98 wrote:

Off-topic, but Paleo, what is your new avatar? It looks COOL... (or kewl for the Demos of the world)

I, for some reason, can't see it, but I am pretty sure I loaded up a still from the movie "Lady Vengeance".

Try clearing your cache.

LobsterMobster wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:

I remember putting together a booklet in the second or third grade on how I wanted to be a Vertebrate Paleontologist when I grew up. The booklet was filled with pasted snipped out pictures of dinosaurs, bones, and dig sites.

Apparently I wasn't the only one!

...That is so gay.

I love you too, you big ol' cuddly lobster.