Flying Dinos
Christ on a bike. “New Evidence Suggests Noah’s Sons Rode Flying Dinosaurs” is the title of this “article”.
"Those must have been some mighty big flying dinosaurs," says Pastor Deacon Fred. "Imagine the look on Noah's face when his sons flew in for a landing with a pair of Hippos strapped to the back of one of them things! Glory to God!"
The “new evidence” is from a NY times article I’ve included below. Read the article above — I love the picture — and read the times article. You’ll quite easily notice that the evidence suggests absolutely nothing of the sort. Nothing against creationists, but anyone who can’t immediately see why Fred’s claims are outrageously flawed is a complete and utter moron. Grrrr.
New York Times:
June 2, 2005
Study Finds Stronger Dinosaur-Bird Link
By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD
Scientists have found bone tissue in a Tyrannosaurus rex that they say shows the 70-million-year-old animal was an ovulating female. The estrogen-derived tissue, they determined, is similar to tissue now present only in living birds producing egg shells.
The discovery team concluded in a report to be published on Friday in the journal Science that the finding "solidifies the link between dinosaurs and birds" and "provides an objective means of gender differentiation in dinosaurs."
The team leader, Dr. Mary H. Schweitzer, who is from North Carolina State University, and John R. Horner of the Museum of the Rockies at Montana State University also described the research on Tuesday in a teleconference arranged by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, publisher of the journal.
When she first examined the marrow cavities of the dinosaur leg bones, Dr. Schweitzer said, "I knew right away there was special bone tissue and it had all the characteristics of medullary bone tissue."
Medullary tissue, previously associated only with female birds, is formed by an increase in estrogen levels during a bird's egg-laying cycle and deposited on the interior walls of the leg bones. The tissue is a reservoir of calcium for egg shells. After the last egg is laid, the tissue completely resorbed into the bird's body.
Dr. Schweitzer said the presence of such tissue in the T. rex indicated that the reproductive physiologies of some dinosaurs might have been similar to modern birds, in particular flightless birds such as ostriches and emus.
Only two months ago, the same paleontologists announced that the same T. rex, excavated in Montana, contained well-preserved soft tissue, including blood vessels and identifiable cells. The flexibility and resilience of the tissue "has never been noted in a dinosaur before," Dr. Schweitzer said then.
Other paleontologists agreed that the new find, if verified by more testing in other specimens, probably strengthened the hypothesis that birds are direct descendants of certain carnivorous dinosaurs.
The research "looks interesting and important," said Dr. Mark A. Norell, a dinosaur paleontologist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. "But I'm not 100 percent sure, and want to see the results replicated in more than one animal. The big thing in science is replication."
Dr. Norell, a leading proponent of the dinosaur-bird relationship, said the research's support of that hypothesis was welcome but superfluous. The link, he said, is "a done deal - it's been settled for years."
Not in the view of several prominent ornithologists. They have been dubious of nearly all research backing the dinosaur-bird hypothesis, and expressed skepticism about the new findings.
"I was skeptical of the soft tissue in T. rex to begin with," said Dr. Alan Feduccia, an ornithologist at the University of North Carolina.