Mokele

Well, I figure I should introduce myself, though I really suck at these. I'll start with academics: I graduated 2001 from Florida Inst. of Tech. with a degree in Aerospace engineering, and came to U of Cincinnati for my MS. Upon being exposed to actual engineering, I came to realize the nagging doubts that'd haunted me since undergrad: I detest engineering as a career (though the subject is marginally interesting), and could never stand doing it for the next 40 years, no matter what the pay. So I did what I should have done long ago and transferred to my lifelong love: biology. Currently I'm slated to graduate this june (if the language requirements don't kill me first) with my second BS, and then stay here for MS with the prof I've been working under. I've got two papers in the works, if I can manage to squeeze them in between classes. My main focus is herpetology, mostly reptiles at the organismal level, though I still need to focus myself more. I'll probably wind up specializing in biomechanics and thermal systems of reptiles. I aspire to eventual professorship, and to work with both living reptiles and extinct ones (mmmm, triassic archosaurs...) On a more personal note, I'm usually pretty laid back. I am convinced of the perfectability of humans, since I'm dating an example of it (yeah, I'm also sappy), a beautiful, brilliant female geek. I grow carnivorous plants, go to dance clubs, and have my own collection of wonderful herps, including a 9 foot boa, a 3 foot rescued ball python, a greater siren (weird amphibian species, aquatic and eel like), and a 4 foot long Blue Tegu (south american lizard that congervently evolved to a monitor lizard form). Well, that's about all for now. Seeya all around. Mokele

Simple: Reproductive viability is not a useful definition of marriage, or all marriages would be annulled as soon as the female hits menopause. Plus, I don't think contributing the the overpopulation problem is a sufficient justification for an insitution. Why prevent people from being together because they don't want kids? Would you deny marriage to my girlfriend and me (I'm male), because we are childless by choice? What about an infertile couple? Should their marriage be annulled? There is no truly valid reason to make marriage between non-reproductive individuals forbidden, since it hurts noone. On the other hand, mutal consent *is* a valid rule, because violation of that would involve violation of the non-consenting individual's rights. Mokele

Ironicly, during my childhood in Louisiana and Florida, where most insects are approximately the size of a city bus, I never saw these. I only ran into them when I moved to Ohio. Mokele

Was it something like these? (warning, big pics of weird bugs) Image 1 Image 2 Image 3 If it looked like those, it was probably the common house centipede. Not dangerous or anything, and *really* cool looking. Mokele

Not only that, but if you think about it, when you eat fresh veggies you're eating them *alive*! A vegetarian is someone who eats just vegeatbles. I want to be a humanitarian. Mokele, your trusted source for Soylent Green

I dunno, given the tendency of people on hallucinogens to do things like claim they can fly and jump off buildings to prove it, there might be a bit of selection going on there... Mokele

Actually, aren't the facial muscles innervated by a cranial (not spinal) nerve? I mean, leaving aside the problems of shock, blood loss, etc, why wouldn't they be able to function? Mokele

The best news source, imho: The Daily Show. Proving every day that yes, the world is still full of idiots. Now if only I could afford cable... Mokele

"A race of strange yet advanced creatures, who became so specialized that their only source of liquid was a milk and bean based beverage, revered as holy by some, which they called 'Starbucks'..."

I thought Kerry was also for expanding the number of availible lines, which Bush was for keeping it to the current number? Also, potentially dumb question: Why can't we just have a facility somewhere that doesn't have these laws against establishing new lines, use those to establish new lines, and then import those lines into the US? Mokele

1) Perhaps you would care to explain why homosexuality has been found in 400+ species of animals, ranging from beetles to birds to chimps, then? 2) That's what you think. You are entitled to your beliefs, just as I am entitled to mine. But why should your beliefs dictate how I can live my life, and what legal rights I can have? You are free to live your beliefs, but to force me to live your beliefs, regardless of their flaws or merits, is antithetical to the very concept of individual freedom. I don't ask you to change your mind, though I'd like it if I could do so; your tone indicates you will not reconsider. All I ask is live and let live. Mokele

I'll add myself to the Kerry side, but for a different reason: The embryos that are going to be used for stem cells are all frozen, and, if not used, they'll just go to the incenerator. As a consumate scrounger and dumpster-diver, putting them to use just seems natural to me. My position on stem cells can thus roughly be summed up as "Hey, if you're just gonna throw that away..." Mokele

Yeah, that's one of the reasons I'm not keen on Kerry, but this issue is *very* important to me (I place more value on it as a deciding factor than Iraq, the War on Terror, and Afganistan combined), and while Kerry doesn't support it, at least he doesn't work actively against it to such an extreme level. Mokele

Ok, my information is from Paul's Predatory Dinosaurs of the World, and so may be a bit dated, but it'll at least give you a starting point. As for the large Allosaur, Paul classifies it as Allosaurus amplexus, with synonyms of Epanterias maximus and Saurophagus maximus. Apparently there was very little published on it at the time of Paul's book, 1988, but he lists 3 specimens, one in the American Museum of Natural History, 2 in the Museum of the University of Oklahoma. He says that the allosaur is the same size at T.rex, more robust, but less powerful. The size of the bones is apparently immense, as they were initially mistaken for brontosaur bones. No data about the length, height, etc was given, but the tonnage was estimated at 3-5. As for the "Super Tyrannosaur", that stems from a single bone, a maxilla (upper jaw bone) that's obviously tyrannosaurid, but 29% larger than any T.rex described at the time of this book (Sue has since been discovered, so that may have changed). Noone knows if it's just a very big rex, or another species, since it's just one bone. The bone is at the U of California Museum of Paleontology. Paul gives size estimates of over 50 feet long and 23 feet tall, and as much as 12 tons. Theories that it's just a big rex are based on that fact that many of the current large T rex fossils do not have complete fusion of the skull bones, indicating that they may not represent the true adult size of the species. However, well, it's hard to tell stuff from just one bone. As I said, this is all dated info, so stuff may have changed, but it should at least give you a starting point. Mokele

Um, I suggest taking a look around for some better foods. Human food =/= turtle food. For omnivorous turtles, commercial turtle chow plus some fresh fruits and veggies (with maybe a bit of fresh fish) would be best, and for vegetarians, look up iguana food recipes. Mokele

A) because I am unconvinced of the feasability of the libertarian philosophy but mostly b) I'm in Ohio, a big-time swing-state. I would much prefer to be stuck with Kerry than to take votes away from him and possibly result in Bush winning. If I were in a non-swing state, I'd vote 3rd party, but not in a swing state with lots of electoral votes. Unless he's openly endorsed gay marriage and turned around on his backing of that bigoted ammendment, c still applies. Mokele

I turn to the ultimate reference: "And pray that there's inteligent life somewhere out in space Because there's bugger all down here on Earth." - The Galaxy Song, Eric Idle, Monty Python's Flying Circus Mokele

Well, all the others we added as "in betweens" for the sake of making talking about animal groups more preciese. Some, like "tetrapoda" are part of the new emphasis on cladistic classification (which, as I understand it, is a bit of a controversy). And yeah, I've always found it ironic the the "bird hips" never became birds, but the "lizard hips" did. Heh. Mokele

Why is large size or inteligence even a factor in which taxon would become the next dominant one? Not only could one argue that post-apocalyptic insects would be the dominant taxa on account of them spreading to fill in vacant ecological niches, but one could use the same arguement, based on the sheer number, diversity and ecological importance of insects to claim that they're also the *current* dominant taxon. Does something really have to be big or smart to be "dominant"? Those make them noticable, sure, but is what we notice really the case when you objectively analyze the data? Mokele

Well, I know the they found water was, in fact, blue, but that it was so transparent and so faintly blue that it barely even counted. Mokele

But just remember, it could be worse. When I was a kid in Louisiana, we had a governor's race between a former governor so corrupt he'd spent more time in jail for embezlement than in the office and his opponent, David Duke, a former Grand Dragon of the KKK. The election was sumarized by everyone as "The crook or the klansman". The crook won. 5 years later, he went to jail for under-the-table dealing with organized crime during the legalization of riverboat casinos. Mokele

Um, maybe? I don't know the exact composition of the beds and what's been found in them. However, that doesn't prove anything general; perhaps the featherless ones are a sister taxon to the taxon that evolved feathers, much like how some lizards have lost their legs (including one group that became snakes), but both legged and legless lizards (and snakes) still exist and co-exist. There's no real consensus on the first part of what you asked, but for the second, there's many possibilities, like insulation, better camoflage (they could grow one color protofeathers one season, then shed them and grow in another for another season as the optimum camoflage patterns change), or display. Well, the phylogeny is continually under dispute, but here's a pretty inclusive one, though it may not be up to the moment accurate: Dinosaur cladogram Oh, and the art on that site is pretty kick @$$ too, FYI... Yes, the saurischians (theropods and sauropods) and the ornithischians (everything else). Both had small, fast bipedal animals in their lineage, but the only feathers found have so far been on theropods. Of course, absences may just be because of preservation imperfections. However, if I recall correctly, we have some skin impressions from a few hadrosaurs, sauropods and even a large theropod that show a rough, pebbled, sorta-scaley hide. Think of the pebbled-looking skin you see on the front legs of tortoises, and you're in the ballpark. So it seems as if feathers might have been confined to small theropods, but the record is too spotty to be sure. Mokele

Because small cats are, for all intents and purposes, an introduced species. And, like any introduced species, they wreak havoc on the local wildlife, killing just about anything they can get their claws on. To analogize, monitor lizards are also roaming animals, but you don't let them out to roam unattended. Same reason; they'll pork their way through half the ecosystem. ------- On the topic of declawing, I have to give a resounding and emphatic "No". If you cannot deal with an animal, both the good and the bad traits, you just plain *do not buy it*. I see the same thing repeatedly in the reptile-keeping community, taken to its most horrific extreme in venomoids, venomous snakes which have their venom glands removed. Aside from the normal ethical inmplications of it, there's also the fact that 99.99% of venomoid butchery, erm "surgery" is done without any anaesthetic, just cooling the snake, because vets won't do it and normal people can't buy the anaesthetics. That and that over 90% of those that even make it through the surgery die. Anyhow, minor rant over. Mokele

Well, not *anyone*. I can see lots of people who would do lots worse than even Bush. That homeless guy in the park who accuses squirrels of conspiring against him, for one... Then again, at least the War on Squirrels would be more entertaining than the War on Terror... Mokele

I feel the pain of those of you trying to learn Japanese. At my college, for reasons I cannot fathom, all Arts & Science students are required to take 2 years of a language (I could understand one year, but two is a bit excessive for a requirement). I, being a Grade A idiot, said "Hey, I've always liked Japanese, I can take that!" Then, with the sort of judgement usually reserved for those invading Russia with foot soldiers during the winter, I said to myself "How hard can Japanese really be?" I've made some painful mistakes my life, including ones involving the business end of large pythons and falling headfirst down giant gravel piles, but the consequences of the two thoughts above have been the most painful of all. Mokele