Pterosaurs were actually way way cooler than stupid lame modern birds.

[PancreasMatt]

I personally have been fighting against the smear campaign that has been directed at Pterosaurs for my entire young life. I am extremely happy that i was right when i was little- since Pterosaurs are so much cooler looking than modern day birds, they must also have been better fliers.

I used to be a real dinosaur nut when i was a kid.

Pterosaur truth revealed at last
Wed Oct 29, 1:47 PM ET Add Science - AFP to My Yahoo!



PARIS (AFP) - For more than a century and a half, the flying reptiles known as pterosaurs have been victims of a nasty smear, scientists say.





These cousins of the dinosaur are typically portrayed as cawing, gawky fliers with all the agility of a World War I biplane.


Now, though, computer scanning of fossilized pterosaur skulls has thrown up a radically different picture: of a creature whose highly specialised brain gave it extraordinary control over its wing surfaces, making it so nimble that it could probably outperform modern birds.


Researchers led by Lawrence Witmer of Ohio University carried out high-resolution X-ray computer tomography to build a 3D image of the skulls of two pterosaurs.


One was of Rhamphorhynchus, a long-tailed, crow-sized creature that lived between 163 and 144 million years ago.


The other was of Anhanguera, a large pterosaur with a short tail which lived during the Lower Cretaceous period, between 144 and 97.5 million years ago, and which was a close relative of the pterodactyl.


Compared to their mass, the brain that filled the skulls of these first vertebrate fliers would have been smaller than that of modern birds, Witmer's team say.


The likely reason for this is that birds descended from relatively big-brained theropod dinosaurs, whereas pterosaurs' inherited their grey matter from smaller-brained reptiles known as archosaurs.


But the pterosaurs' big plus was to have outsized brain organs called the floccular lobes, which play a big role in processing sensory data, and semi-circular canals, which encircle those lobes and are important in providing balance.


Witmer's team suggests that the pterosaurs' "enormous" lobes were used to process information sent back to the brain from sensors on from their wings.


Pterosaurs did not have feathers -- they had a membrane of skin that stretched from their claw-like thumb and over its fingers.


Exciting recent finds of pterosaurs in Germany and China show that these membranes, far from being insensitive and leather-like, were remarkably complex, comprising a web of structural fibres, blood vessels and fine muscles.


So by fine-controlling the shape of their wings, the creatures could exploit even the slightest breeze to make tight turns and swooping dives, all at a low cost in energy.


"Equipped with their 'smart' wings, pterosaurs would have excellent flight control," David Unwin, a paleontologist of the Museum of Natural Science at Berlin's Humboldt University, said in a commentary.


"Despite their antiquity, they could even have outperformed modern birds and bats."

[jatkins]

Darn right! Pterosaurs are awesome.

[army CPT]

:hearhear :stupid

[steinguitar]

Originally posted by NotAnOrganMatt
I used to be a real dinosaur nut when i was a kid.


yeah. and then you grew up. oh, wait a second. nevermind :D

[jatkins]

I too was quite the dinosaur student. I still like to read articles on the topic I get through ASE. Actually, that's really not a bad source for a lot of different stuff, from paleobiology to sociology.

--John

P.S. I keep hearing these "short" jokes all over the site about Ian and Matt. How short could they possibly be that it has become such an object of fixation?

[PancreasMatt]

Originally posted by jatkins

P.S. I keep hearing these "short" jokes all over the site about Ian and Matt. How short could they possibly be that it has become such an object of fixation?

Darryl and Brendo are just freakishly tall, so we look way shorter.

And they're both going bald. Both of them. You just can't tell, cause they're so tall.

[thedancingbear]

Originally posted by NotAnOrganMatt
Darryl and Brendo are just freakishly tall, so we look way shorter.

And they're both going bald. Both of them. You just can't tell, cause they're so tall.

Plus, I hid a funny sign on the top of Brendo's head, so passing airplanes keep laughing at him.

IS

[BrendoForHisOwnSake]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ISamuel
[B]Plus, I hid a funny sign on the top of Brendo's head, so passing airplanes keep laughing at him.

Ah. THAT explains the seemingly endless rain of garbage from the heavens.

There will be a reckoning.

[BrendoForHisOwnSake]

And as far as Matt and Ian being short, the height isn't really the tragic part.

It's longsince been a common fact in sports-lore that jockies are often alcoholics, wife-beaters, gnomes, and/or the subjects of Twilight Zone episodes.

Side note: Contreras actually wears those removable insoles in his shoes that give him 2 inches more height. He once told me that the lawyers he works with called him "Napolean", and hid his shoes once.

Side note #2: Samuel never got over his loss to Sugarcane Dandy at the Bellmont Downs in 98'. He's been in and out of rehab ever since.

[jatkins]

Alright. How tall are each of you actually (all four of you)? Because from these posts, I'm picturing Darryl and Brendo as approximately the size of Godzilla and Matt and Ian as gnomes. I doubt that this is accurate. I'm betting you're all average height, and are just pathological liars. LIARS I SAY!

[dekkerbasser]

Matt is about 1/2 the size of Brendo, if that helps at all. It was always funny watching the two of them walk into a round when they were partners...

ahh, the good ol days....

[jatkins]

Originally posted by dekkerbasser
Matt is about 1/2 the size of Brendo, if that helps at all.
Please don't let this turn into one of those math problems. "Matt is 1/2 the size of Brendo, but 9/10 the size of Ian. Darryl is 10'3," and is (pi/3)% as tall as Brendo. How tall is Suzie."

[dekkerbasser]

its not a math problem,

its a social inequality within the debate community...


Originally posted by jatkins
Please don't let this turn into one of those math problems. "Matt is 1/2 the size of Brendo, but 9/10 the size of Ian. Darryl is 10'3," and is (pi/3)% as tall as Brendo. How tall is Suzie."

[BrendoForHisOwnSake]

Brendan Kelly O'Grady- 6 feet, 4 and one-quarter inches as of this morning. Not as tall as one might think, but I have been described as a "Man-Mountain".

Matt Contreras- 5 feet 6 and one-half inches, and thats being generous. The Napolean thing is true.

Daryl Stein [whom I've never met]- I'll bet 6 feet, 3 inches, though usually slumped over in proper "rock-posture".

Ian Samuel- 18 inches. Okay, maybe 5 feet, 5 inches or so, but the drugs make him feel 10 feet tall.

[thedancingbear]

Dude, I'm like 5'11"! I just slouch to mask my true power until the very last second.

IS :sunglasse

[BrendoForHisOwnSake]

Its true, he isn't actually a foot shorter than me, he's just waiting until we're in round...

Then he'll rear up to full size, spread his neck-flaps and spit his Jurassic Park-style venom in my eyes.

[PancreasMatt]

Originally posted by BrendoForHisOwnSake
Its true, he isn't actually a foot shorter than me, he's just waiting until we're in round...

Then he'll rear up to full size, spread his neck-flaps and spit his Jurassic Park-style venom in my eyes.

As a side note, the Dilophosaurus had no venom, was 10 feet tall (not the 4 portrayed in the movie) and was a scavenger (its jaws were too weak to kill things).

[steinguitar]

Brendo.

I debated you at Pt. Loma. Did our time together mean so little to you?

heartbrokenly yours,

Darryl

PS: Note the correct spelling of my name. Die.

[Rebeccah Sharp]

He forgot me too Darryl, and i judged him at pt loma. . .weep with me. :(

[PancreasMatt]

jeez brendo, you have met darryl- it was the "6 year non-renewable term limits" res.

What a mean guy.

And i'm 5'7 and 3/4 inches tall.:grin

[steinguitar]

I had to post this eventually

Short People got no reason
Short People got no reason
Short People got no reason
To live

They got little hands
Little eyes
They walk around
Tellin' great big lies
They got little noses
And tiny little teeth
They wear platform shoes
On their nasty little feet

Well, I don't want no Short People
Don't want no Short People
Don't want no Short People
`Round here

Short People are just the same
As you and I
(A Fool Such As I)
All men are brothers
Until the day they die
(It's A Wonderful World)

Short People got nobody
Short People got nobody
Short People got nobody
To love

They got little baby legs
That stand so low
You got to pick 'em up
Just to say hello
They got little cars
That go beep, beep, beep
They got little voices
Goin' peep, peep, peep
They got grubby little fingers
And dirty little minds
They're gonna get you every time
Well, I don't want no Short People
Don't want no Short People
Don't want no Short People
'Round here


Randy Newman, "Short People."
:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

[PancreasMatt]

shut up, lenny.

[jatkins]

Originally posted by NotAnOrganMatt
And i'm 5'7 and 3/4 inches tall.
If he's actually that tall, I don't have a clue why you're calling him short.

[army CPT]

loved that song.....going to be singing it all the way home...now thats scarry

[steinguitar]

Sorry, lawn gnome, I can't hear you up here. You know, in the world of the normal heighted people.:D

[army CPT]

whats normal....5 ft.... 6ft...or yao ming?

[BrendoForHisOwnSake]

Darryl, I'm very sorry. And allow me to point out that if I am called Brandon one more time, I will go mental. My bad.

Alow me to state to the debate community at large-

I'M SORRY, ______________ [FILL IN NAME], I DIDN'T REMEMBER MEETING YOU AT ____________ [FILL IN TOURNAMENT]. NOW THAT IT HAS BEEN POINTED OUT TO ME, I RECALL THAT OUR TIME TOGETHER AT _________ WAS VERY SPECIAL TO ME AND I HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT YOU NUMEROUS TIMES SINCE. I KNOW THAT YOU ARE SPECIAL AS WELL, AND THAT THERE IS ONLY ONE ___________. I HOPE THAT YOU CAN FORGIVE ME.
SINCERELY, BRENDAN O'GRADY

So Darryl, how tall?

And John, Matt is 5'7" with the inserts. I really put him at about 5'6", which is laughably short, but then the air is thinner up here...

[AhhAlegra]

Short is defined as "When Andrea wears heels, you are shorter than her." Seriously, look it up, that's what it is. Therefore Matt is short, as is Ian, Dan Pawson, and Tobey Maguire.

On another note, Yao is awesome.

[Rebeccah Sharp]

Dude, Brendo, just quit telling people you've never met them. . .hedge your bets a little, think smarter, not harder.

[PancreasMatt]

this sucks. I'm going to have to take off my shoes at each tournament now to prove i dont have inserts.

[army CPT]

well then i must be a giant in the debate relm...oh and i loved the excuse..lol...how true...yao is cool...love the gatorade commercial

[BrendoForHisOwnSake]

Amy, the problem is that the minute I fake like I remember meeting people for 1 round at a tournament a year ago they'll say,

"So explain to me the internal link scenario on Egypt's nuclear assault in the Israeli politcs DA"

OR

"Why did Matt say that thing to my partner? You know, the really eggregious thing that I should never repeat but we'll never ever forget?"

OR

"So why didn't you call?"

Then I'm outed as an idiot AND a liar. Not worth the headache. To be fair, I'm getting waaaaayyyy better at remembering people now. And I do love everybody...

[army CPT]

:lol :lol :lol :lol :hearhear :hearhear

[BrendoForHisOwnSake]

And to top it off...

Triple Crown, baby.

[dekkerbasser]

I dont know if taking off your shoes at the tournaments is such a good idea...

have you even seen what your shoes look like recently??

arent they like 4 years old?!?

Originally posted by NotAnOrganMatt
this sucks. I'm going to have to take off my shoes at each tournament now to prove i dont have inserts.

[boredguy8]

Originally posted by BrendoForHisOwnSake
And to top it off...

Triple Crown, baby.
"Triple crown" posts alone don't count. You need content. Without content it's like a "first post" on slashdot...which still happens :rolleyes

[army CPT]

Originally posted by joecool12321
"Triple crown" posts alone don't count. You need content. Without content it's like a "first post" on slashdot...which still happens :rolleyes

so just disregard that post as you were trying to attain the triple triple crown with a rules violation post....how low will we go???

[boredguy8]

Originally posted by army LT
so just disregard that post as you were trying to attain the triple triple crown with a rules violation post....how low will we go???
I was wondering who would make that objection. I thought about how wonderfully self-referrential it was. But it wasn't content free (like a "Triple crown" post).

[army CPT]

the irony of that post was that it gave me a triplr triple at the time...but was not truly content free nor did it really have any content...just like this post

[BrendoForHisOwnSake]

See, that's why I thought the Shroedinger's cat/bossium strip/Escher joke was going to KILL- yet I got nothing...

Also, I had the triple before Ken posted all those little emoticons, I just called it immediately after he posted again. THAT triple stood before a self-fulfilling post would have come to fruition.

I'm going to stop thinking about this before I crack a node...