Maury Povich is ridiculous

I don't know how he's lasted on the air while never changing his premise - Oprah went through many incarnations before retiring, Montell Williams a swell. Not that I've watched a lot of this stuff, but jeez, Povich remains the lowest common denominator of all humanity.

Divide by any lower and the result is undefined.

I was absolutely mesmerized by the first 20 minutes of his show after work today ... until I saw a recruitment commercial for an upcoming episode.


He looks like a pre-op Murphy from Robocop.

Maury Povich 2.0

Today's question was: Are you desperate to get pregnant and you don't care what anyone thinks? Call us: Call (888) 456-2879

How can I get a job pursuing my true calling - finding people who are desperate to get pregnant and they don't care what anyone says.

On his website you can download Maury Ringtones, too. Awesome.

Worst Leaf Trades from Hockey Buzz

I've been desperate to get some more hockey news lately, and so I swung over to HockeyBuzz, which was my staple website during the NHL trade deadline this year. Let's face it, the one thing fans like more than neat trades (because it always marks the beginning of a new chapter when an unknown commodity might come in and turn everything around) is the rumours of a neat trade (which happens way more often than an actual trade).

In any case, HockeyBuzz.com has a new Leafs post reviewing the worst Maple Leafs trades according to Mike Augello. He posted the #14, #13 and #12 so far. Here they are, in that order.

#14 - November 24, 2008: Toronto trades Alex Steen and Carlo Colaiacovo to St. Louis for Lee Stempniak.

In November, 2008 the Toronto rumor mill was rife with speculation that Brian Burke, who had recently stepped down as general manager of the Anaheim Ducks was poised to take over as president and GM in Toronto. The club was being run by interim GM Cliff Fletcher, who had taken over in January after the dismissal of John Ferguson Jr.

Fletcher made a number of moves during his tenure, which included hiring Ron Wilson as head coach, trading veterans Hal Gill, Chad Kilger, the negotiating rights for Mats Sundin, as well as acquiring Mikhail Grabovski, Jamal Mayers, Ryan Hollweg and a swap of first-round draft picks on draft day that allowed Toronto to select Luke Schenn.

There were no great expectations of the club being a playoff contender, but they did manage to play over .500 in October before losing seven of nine games in November. With the team struggling, Fletcher decided to move two former first-round picks, 24-year-old Alexander Steen and 25-year-old Carlo Colaiacovo to St. Louis for forward Lee Stempniak.

Steen was selected 24th overall in 2002 and was entering his fourth season in Toronto. Under Pat Quinn and Paul Maurice, he played with a level of maturity greater than his age and contributed solid offensive numbers (averaging 16 goals, 25 assists). Under Wilson, Steen's role was marginalized, which was clearly evident by his scoring output (four points in 20 games).

Colaiacovo was selected 17th overall in 2001 and had split time between the AHL and Toronto for five seasons. His tenure with the Leafs was the ultimate in frustration because he flashed the skills of a top-four defenseman, but constant injuries never allowed him to establish himself. He had only played 10 games before the trade, mostly due to Wilson believing he was not in top physical condition.

The justification on the part of Fletcher was that Toronto was getting someone capable of playing a top six forward role in the deal, but that assertion was based on circumstantial evidence. The 25-year-old Stempniak was selected 148th overall in 2003 and spent four years at Dartmouth before signing with St. Louis. After a decent rookie season, the Buffalo, New York native scored 27 goals for the Blues in 2006-07 playing on lines with veterans like Doug Weight and Keith Tkachuk. The breakout season earned him a three-year, $7.5 Million contract extension, but he struggled the following year, scoring only 13 goals.

Ironically, this trade was made just five days before Burke took control in Toronto.

Steen struggled the rest of the season with St. Louis, scoring only six goals in 61 games, but rebounded with two consecutive 20 goal seasons and has matured into one of the Blues best two-way forwards. Colaiacovo’s injury problems have decreased slightly and he has been able to establish himself as a solid pro, averaging over 20 assists and 65 games played in the last three seasons.

Conversely, Stempniak was unable to produce in an offensive role in Toronto, with just 11 goals in 61 games. In 2009-10, he played effectively as a third line checker, scoring 14 goals before being traded to Phoenix at the deadline for minor-league defenseman Matt Jones and two low round draft choices. Once traded, he went on a scoring rampage with the Coyotes, scoring 14 goals in 18 games.

There is no doubting that Steen and Colaiacovo were not a good fit with their new coach and that trading them may have been inevitable, but if Burke made the transaction, he likely would have been able to acquire someone who fit into the team structure that he wanted to establish. The tragedy here is that less than three years after this deal was made, Toronto has virtually nothing to show for it.

#13 – March 13, 2001: Toronto trades forward Adam Mair and their 2001 second round pick(Mike Cammalleri) to Los Angeles for defenseman Aki-Petteri Berg

In the four years that Curtis Joseph patrolled between the pipes, the Maple Leafs received stellar goaltending that enabled them to enjoy a modicum of playoff success. They reached the Eastern Conference Finals in 1999 and 2002 and lost two bitter second round matches with the powerhouse New Jersey Devils, who went on to win the Stanley Cup in 2000 and lost in Game Seven of the finals the following year.

As much as that era was marked for Joseph's acrobatics in net, it was also known for the metamorphosis of the Maple Leafs blueline. The club had a group of capable defenders, with veteran Dmitri Yushkevich, youngsters Tomas Kaberle, Bryan Berard and Danny Markov, but Berard's devastating eye injury in March, 2000 forced Leafs management to look for additional help.

GM Pat Quinn had some success in making improvements as he was able to fleece former Leafs assistant GM Mike Smith when he traded oft-injured Alexander Karpovtsev for Bryan McCabe, but the acquisition of Cory Cross from Tampa Bay was not an upgrade. As the 2001 playoffs drew near, Toronto was not satisfied with their depth of their defensive corps, as one of Dave Manson, Petr Svoboda, Nathan Dempsey or Wade Belak might have to play regularly. With that, Quinn traded 22-year-old forward Adam Mair and the Leafs second round pick in 2001 to the Los Angeles Kings for defenseman Aki Berg.

It was thought at the time that the 24-year-old Berg was in need of a change of scenery to reach his unrealized potential. He was selected third overall in the 1995 Draft behind Berard and Wade Redden and was thought to possess the size, skill and skating ability to become a good NHL defenseman. Being a high selection, the Kings determined that he could contribute right away instead of staying over in Finland to mature. He split time between L.A. and the minors his first two seasons and played regularly for another 2 1/2 seasons without having much of an impact.

As soon as he was acquired, you could recognize that this was not going to be a case where a player just needed a change of venue to jumpstart his career. Los Angeles had accurately determined that Berg was nothing more than a third pairing defenseman and that was all he was ever going to be.

The frustrating aspect about Berg and his tenure in Toronto is that Quinn relied fairly heavily on him throughout his 325 games as a Leaf and for no apparent good reason. He had the size to manhandle opposing forwards in the defensive zone, but never seemed to have the desire to do it. His offensive skills were literally nonexistent (10 goals, 32 assists in 325 games) and in spite of being able to skate, he was frequently caught flat-footed and was often made to look like a statue by opponents(I witnessed this personally in a game in Buffalo in 2005 when Mike Grier, who could never be confused for Gilbert Perreault, walked around Berg as if he wasn't even there).

After four seasons in Toronto, the club did not attempt to re-sign him and he returned to Finland where he played five seasons with TPS-Turku before retiring last month.

Adam Mair was Toronto's third-round draft pick in 1997 and played five playoff games in 1999, as well as 16 regular-season games in 2001 before being traded to Los Angeles. After two years with the Kings, he was traded to Buffalo and played seven seasons for the Sabres as an effective energy line forward. Last season, he played 65 games in New Jersey.

The true tragedy of this deal is that Toronto's 2001 second-round pick was used by the Kings to select forward Mike Cammalleri. After three years at the University of Michigan and three years splitting time between the AHL and Los Angeles, Cammalleri blossomed in 2005. Since the NHL lockout with the Kings, Calgary and Montréal, the Richmond Hill, Ontario native has scored 163 goals in 437 NHL games.

This is a trade would've been considered terrible solely on the basis of the pain and suffering it inflicted on the members of Leafs Nation having to watch Aki Berg play those four seasons, but the fact that Cammalleri ended up being the draft pick Toronto gave up makes it one of the worst deals in the franchise's history.

#12 - Jun 26, 1975: Toronto trades forward Doug Jarvis to the Montreal Canadiens for defenseman/winger Greg Hubick.

The Maple Leafs used their first two picks in the 1975 Entry Draft to select centers, Don Ashby(sixth overall) of the Calgary Centennials and Doug Jarvis(24th overall) of the Peterborough Petes.

Jarvis was a stellar defensive forward who studied under the tutelage of Coach Roger Neilson for three seasons with the Petes. He blossomed offensively in his final junior year scoring 45 goals and 88 assists, which earned him 2nd Team OHA all-star honors. Neilson informed his friend, Montreal Coach Scotty Bowman that the 20-year-old pivot had superior work ethic and was one of the best face-off men in hockey.

Bowman pleaded with Montréal GM Sam Pollock to draft Jarvis, but the Habs scouts thought he was not big enough to play effectively in the league and they passed on him with each of their three first-round picks before he was drafted by the Leafs in the early second round.

About three weeks after the draft, Pollock contacted Toronto GM Jim Gregory about the diminutive center and negotiated a deal giving up 24-year-old defensive prospect Greg Hubick for Jarvis.

Hubick was selected by Montreal in the fourth round of the 1971 Entry Draft and played a year at the University of Minnesota-Duluth before playing three seasons with their AHL affiliate in Nova Scotia. He was not considered a top flight prospect and during his four years with the Montréal organization, he never played a regular season game. When recalled during the 1975 Playoffs after an injury to winger Steve Shutt, he sat on the bench until the final minute of the game.

The Strasbourg, Saskatchewan native made the 1975-76 Maple Leafs after being shifted from defense to wing by Toronto coach Red Kelly. He played on a line with rookie Ashby and Jim McKenny, scoring six goals and eight assists in 72 games, but that was the extent of his career in Toronto. He failed to make the club the following season and was sent to the Leafs minor-league affiliate in Dallas. After two more years in the minors, he signed as a free agent with the Vancouver organization and played five NHL games for the Canucks in 1979-80.

Jarvis had a Cinderella-like path to success in the NHL. He impressed in his first training camp with the Canadiens, but only made the club due to an injury to Jacques Lemaire during the pre-season. He played seven seasons in Montréal, never missing a single regular-season game. He was an integral part of the Habs four consecutive Stanley Cup championships from 1976 to 1979 as a top-flight checking line center and penalty killer. He was traded to Washington in 1982 as part of the Rod Langway-Ryan Walter blockbuster and was moved three years later to Hartford.

He won the Selke Trophy as the top defensive forward in 1984 and was also awarded the Bill Masterton Trophy in 1987 for breaking Garry Unger’s consecutive games played record of 914 games in a row.

The irony about Jarvis's career path is that he could have made a significant difference for the Maple Leafs teams of the late 1970’s had he not been traded. Roger Neilson left Peterborough in 1976 to coach Toronto's affiliate in Dallas and took over as head coach of the Leafs a year later.

Jarvis would have likely excelled playing for Neilson, who would’ve used his great defensive abilities to attempt to neutralize some of Montréal's high-powered offensive stars.

Toronto did not win a game in their 1978 Semi-Final match against the Habs or in their Quarter-Final defeat a year later, but it is possible that the presence of Jarvis in Blue and White rather than Bleu, Blanc et Rouge could have been the difference between victory and defeat.

Tomb of the Undead update

I've finally wrapped up the next scene for the Tomb of the Undead.

Dr. Casey Miller, Dr. Howard Bolam and Evelyn escape from an unknown assailant in Escape from M____.

I'm still not comfortable drawing vehicles - but I sure had lots of practice in the last few scenes. This scene in particular was supposed to be a big chase in the streets of Marseilles, but frankly, I'm not sure anyone wants to wait as long as it'd take to draw five pages of a chase scene - so I kept it brief.

Also, when I wrote this scene, I titled it the name of the bad guy - but I didn't really realize that we wouldn't know what his name was yet until I was already drawing the thing. I assure you, his name comes up shortly, and it might be familiar if you've been following along for very long.

If anyone is a part of the Facebook group for Tomb of the Undead, I'm sorry if my updates over the weekend jammed your news feed. I started a few photo albums and put links in their descriptions, which wound up probably leading to about 30 updates in your news feed. My apologies for the inconvenience and annoyance :S

Hope you like the latest scene.

Thanks for reading.

RIse of the Planet of the Apes

If you think it'd be neat to see sentient gorillas attacking cops on a bridge ... you should go see Rise of the Planet of the Apes. We saw it as a whim, standing in line at the AMC, and opting out of seeing Harry Potter, we picked the new film.

It was very cool - for all the reports that the acting was mediocre or whatever other faults they claim exist - it's COOL.

Honestly, the acting is fine, the story is fine (John Lithgow is a pleasure to see in all of his roles, and he's no exception in this film) but the main character is Caesar the chimp.

It's a bildungsroman of Caesar that shows you what preceded the Planet of the Apes that began with Charlton Heston. There are a series of neat Easter eggs from the first film that aren't too forced. There are a LOT of neat Easter eggs that make it a fun piece, but at the same time, it's still pretty awesome.

Here's the important part of the film - it's not about James Franco or his father or his girlfriend or the man who runs the Chimp sanctuary or the guy at the pharmaceutical company (though they each have their roles to play) ... it's ABOUT Caesar. The whole story was about him growing up and what leads him to do what he does.

There are surprises and incredible scenes that aren't just about blowing things up, but are about character development that's (importantly) SHOWN and not told. Nobody comes out and ruins the movie by telling you what's going on - but rather it's aced so well that you understand it all along, and it's shown to you with ease and detail that makes it incredibly compelling to watch.

This scene is AWESOME. Pivotal, climaxing and game-changing
all in one - perfectly executed.

Let's not forget that the apes get smart and do what they have to do for the prequel to the Planet of the Apes universe to exist (I won't ruin it) .. it's a neat movie, and it doesn't disappoint.

I saw it on a whim, but you should see it on my recommendation. It's a quick and easy sci.fi. that doesn't require you to do anything but absolutely enjoy it. Between the story, the acting, the character progression, special effects and spot-on direction from whoever put this thing together, the pacing and climaxes are executed with skill and precision.

I don't blog about every movie I see - but I sure did like this one.

Blast from the past

I still love this video - The Lance had some great stuff back in the day.



and the immortal ...



awesome!

Some places where you can go to find dinosaurs and be entertained, if you'd like. First off is the"Tree of Life" movie review. As far as I've heard, Brad Pitt is in it ... don't know the first thing as to what it's about.

Check Out a Dinosaur from Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life
Movieline.com
by Christopher Rosen

Oh, The Tree of Life — you confounding mystery, you! The latest bit of marketing wizardry from the long-awaited Terrence Malick film (which is set to debut at the Cannes Film Festival in May) has arrived online, and it’s a crystal clear look at one of the apparent dinosaurs in the film. Hey, at least it’s not another shot of that baby foot? Click ahead to have your mind blown, then stick around for more Buzz Break.

Click to read more.

Wednesday Comics Review: Uncanny X-Force 8 And Super Dinosaur 1
BleedingCool.com
Rich Johnston

You see, I fell for the cover, the image, the high concept, the first few previewed pages. That this was a silly, all ages, over the top, Axe Cop style adventure with talking humanised dinosaurs fighting other dinosaurs, possibly robots and throwing in more and more silliness. When that’s just the cover story. We’ve seen this before, Buffy The Vampire Slayer is a great example, the title and high concept hiding what’s actually going on.

And at the heart of Super Dinosaur is family. Firstly we see one child holding his on very peculiar family dynamic together, which is then threatened by the introduction of another family with their own nuclear dynamic that exposes his own creation for the fraud that it’s become.

Some creators are known for wearing their family values on their sleeve, such as Mark Waid and Alan Davis, very visibly integrating it into the high concept of their work. But Robert Kirkman here has hidden it under the bizarre images of a Tyrannosaurus Rex operating giant robot missile-laden arms. And that’s still all there. But at its heart, this is a drama about two entwined families dealiong with all manner of antagonists. And it’s so much deeper and richer for it.

Click to read more.

The Greatest Dinosaurs in Comic Books
ComicsAlliance.com
Chris Sims

Recently, Robert Kirkman and Jason Howard released the first issue of their all-new Super Dinosaur, where the creative team behind The Astounding Wolf-Man reunite to add robot arms, rocket launchers and shoulder-mounted laser guns to the grand and wonderful pantheon of comic book thunder lizards.

And what a pantheon it is. While they've never had quite the enduring popularity in comics that was enjoyed by gorillas, there have been plenty of super-villain and super-hero sauropods running around in comics over the years. That's why today, we're figuring out just what Super Dinosaur's up against in the lizardy legacy by running down a few of Comics' Greatest Dinosaurs!

• Ryan North's appropriately titled Dinosaur Comics
• Ninjasaur
• Stegron the Dinosaur Man (no link available)
• Godzilla (no link - but he battle Charles Barkley, which is kind of bad-ass)
• Sauron (from X-Men)
• Grimlock (from Transformers.. Robots who turn into cars or planes and fight over crystals or whatever? Eh. Robot who turns into a Tyrannosaurus and only wants to smash everything? Yes. - Sims comments, not mine)
• Tyrannosaurus Reich
• Dr. Dinosaur
• Devil Dinosaur

Click to read more.

Last Sunday

This happened a little while ago - but it's still pretty remarkable. We got home from my cousin's wedding (where there was a score of pro AHLers in attendance, which was cool) just in time for a pretty heavy downpour.

What I hadn't noticed about our front yard before was that in times of heavy rain, the storm drain can't keep up with the water. Our neighbour said that there's a natural flood plain that pours through their back yard and down toward a reservoir in the yard behind us.


This is pretty intense - well over the curb height. I waded out into it to see if the drain was blocked, but it wasn't - just totally overwhelmed.


Danger!

Surprises in publishing

I was writing another article, like I do on a daily basis, and going through the dictionary to see how to spell a word, or even if the word exists: cottaging.

I'd interviewed someone, and they said they enjoyed going to the cottage, fishing and camping. I wondered if, for the same of visual consistency, I could use "cottaging" as a verb, and if I could, whether it had an "e" after the "g" to maintain the hard "G" sound.

For the record, for an example of both the hard and soft "g" sounds, there's no better word is "Negligent." I like that.

ANYHOW - Cottaging. I look it up ... and really, I'm glad I did.

— n
	( Brit ) homosexual activity between men in a public lavatory

This is derived from the British slang for a lavatory, which is a cottage, so it says.

Anyhow - had I said that the man liked fishing, camping and cottaging - and anyone was aware enough to know what I'd said, it could have been surprising.

This has been another segment in: Surprises in Publishing.

Worst ball league I've ever been in

This year's baseball league I'm playing in has to be the worst league I've ever played in, let alone paid to pay in.

When I signed up for the team we were scheduled for 12 games, and then playoffs. I understand the team had trouble finding players, so we'd be welcome additions. I looked forward to it.

Of those 12 games - 4 were cancelled and as far as I know, they won't be rescheduled. Three were rain outs and the last was a scheduling f-up, because it was written wrong on our schedule.

Immediately, right off the bat, we've lost 25 % of the season, or 1/4 of the quantifiable value of the league. Two of those games had opportunities for the team to practice anyhow, but the team elected not to. So we haven't had a practice (also known as "added value") once this season.

Next - of the remaining 8 games, let's say we played the full 9 innings in half of those (even though I'm sure that's not accurate) the other half the time we only played 7 innings. I understand there are time constraints, but that's till time missed playing ball.

2 innings per game = 22% more of 1/2 the season lost. (or 11%)

So 25% + 11% = 36 % of the season is lost.

Factor in that we've got hardly enough women (so they play non-stop, and go up to bat 6 times a night) but plenty of men (so we sit three innings per game and bat about 3 times) you could argue that we don't play another 2 innings per game.

That's another 22% sitting out instead of playing ball.

36% + 22% = 58% lost value.

This means I'm receiving only 42% of the value I signed up for.

You might argue with my math or the weight I've given to it all - and I might provide some relief for resting out a few innings, too IF we had a one single practice during the entire season to return that value in investment - but we didn't. Nobody wanted to, and we had two inexcusable opportunities for it.

Tonight, case in point, the entire team was together - but we had the wrong day due to a scheduling snafu, which is infuriating in itself. Did the team stick around, fully dressed, with all their gear on an empty diamond to practice throwing, hitting and in-fielding for any amount of time?

... I won't even dignify that absurdity with an answer.

42% is my satisfaction rating based on my expectations of the quanitity of baseball I was expecting to play this season - and that's not factoring in the "quality" of baseball I might have been expecting - which would reduce my satisfaction significantly more.

Not a strong return on investment. Probably won't do this again.

Giant theropod discovery

A giant new theropod was discovered called Zhuchengtyrannus magnus.


Weight: approximately six tonnes
Size: probably stood four metres tall, was 11 metres long
Name: means "Tyrant from Zhucheng"
Discovered: in 2009
Location: its bones were found in the city of Zhucheng, in eastern China's Shandong Province.
Time period: North America and eastern Asia during the Late Cretaceous Period, which lasted from about 99 to 65 million years ago.
What makes it unique: However, Zhuchengtyrannus stands apart from other tyrannosaurines due to a combination of unique features in the skull not seen in any other theropod. As well as a piece of lower jaw containing seven partly to fully erupted teeth, scientists found another piece of jaw bone containing eight teeth. For example, the teeth in the predatory dinosaur measure 10cm long.

Palaeontologists only had a partial jaw bone and part of the skull to work with, so it was difficult to gauge the creatures exact size.



Paleontologist Dr. David Hone is saying:

"There is no doubt that Zhuchengtyrannus was a huge tyrannosaurine," says Dr David Hone from University College in Dublin, Ireland, who led the team that discovered and named it.

"With only some skull and jaw bones to work with, it is difficult to precisely gauge the overall size of this animal.

“But the bones we have are just a few centimeters smaller than the equivalent ones in the largest T. rex specimen, so there is no doubt that Zhuchengtyrannus was huge,” Hone said.

“It can be distinguished from other tyrannosourines by a combination of unique features in the skull not seen in any other theropods,” he says.

Hone notes that only five carnivorous theropods so far discovered have been any bigger.

For the record, Dr. Hone has a blog called ArchosaurMusings.wordpress.com

It was a carnivore with huge powerful jaws, running on strong back legs, with puny front limbs.

Reported in the journal Cretaceous Research.

A key member of the international team of scientists involved in the study was Professor Xu Xing of the Beijing Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in China; he is a world leader in describing new dinosaur species, having named more than 30 dinosaurs.

Tyrannosaurines are a specialised group of gigantic theropods - a group of dinosaurs that likely evolved into modern birds. [Whoa! hold on there Matt Walker, Editor from Earth News!I can't really find a source, but I'm pretty that Tyrannosaurids are as dead an end of evolution as there is - please see the below image. You can see that tyrannosaurids go off into their own cul-de-sac, while birds continue to migrate out into the future. Just sayin']



Sources:
Giant prehistoric dinosaur cousin of T. rex identified
Bones of massive meat-eating T. rex "cousin" discovered
New dino in same league as T. rex
New dinosaur closely related to the T. rex discovered by scientists

Some dinosaur comedy today

First off, this is an absolutely awesome idea! The trailer is hoping to attract funding - will you donate?

VelociPastor Trailer: The Tale Of A Priest Who Turns Into A Dinosaur
The Huffington Post

Every once in a while, something comes into your life that is so perfect you have to take a step back and thank whatever forces move the universe for putting that thing in your path. Such is the case with VelociPastor. Or we should say, such WILL be the case once its director raises the funds to produce the feature-length film.

Click to read more.

Here we've got the Top 10 worst dinosaurs names as selected by About.com - but I've only listed the first 5, you've got to click (to absolutely no advantage of my own) on the link to read them all. For the record, I like monoclonius.

The 10 Worst Dinosaur Names
The Least Impressive Dinosaur Names, from Becklespinax to Uberabatitan
By Bob Strauss
About.com Guide

1. Becklespinax

Life sometimes isn't fair. What's the point of being a 20-foot-long, one-ton carnivore if you're saddled with a name like Becklespinax? Adding insult to injury, "Beckles' spine" (named after the naturalist who discovered it) may have been a close relative of the much cooler Spinosaurus. More about Becklespinax

2. Futalognkosaurus

It sounds like a hot dog--and don't even get us started about that "g" before the "n," which is usually misspelled--but Futalognkosaurus was actually one of the biggest titanosaurs that ever lived, measuring a full 100 feet from head to tail. Too bad about that name, though.

3. Leaellynasaura

It seems unchivalrous to make fun of a dinosaur named after a little girl (the daughter of paleontologist Patricia Vickers-Rich). But nobody outside Australia, and probably very few people in it, know how to pronounce "Leaellynasaura," and even those who do probably have no idea how it's spelled.

4. Monoclonius

As a general rule, it's not a good idea to give a dinosaur a name that sounds like an obscure, fatal disease. Too bad about Monoclonius, because this ceratopsian (horned, frilled dinosaur) could have given Triceratops a run for its money, if only it didn't sound like a low-rated episode of House.

5. Mymoorapelta

Paleontologists often like to name dinosaurs after the geographical locations where they were found, often with unpronounceable results. The early ankylosaur Mymoorapelta references Colorado's Mygatt-Moore quarry; a better tribute might have been a name that people could actually remember.

Click to read more.

This little girl is going to grow up to be an awesome adult!

World's Youngest Art Critic Upset About MoMA's Lack Of Dinosaurs
Gothamist.com
Jen Carlson

Tiny art critic Annabelle stopped by MoMA [Museum of Modern Art, NYC] earlier this year and says that while she did get chance to see a thought-provoking collection that included "a coat closet, trash, and two water fountains," she was ultimately "very disappointed" at the lack of paleontological art. Or as she simply put it: "I did not see a dinosaur."

Click to read more.

For the record, back at the Nobleton Library, I had a book called "Mamenchisaurus" "presented" by me, which probably means my mom made a donation to the library, but I'm not sure. I went back there recently (within the past year) and that book is no longer there. I can only hope that it's in the King circulation, and is just temporarily out at some other library in King Township.

Museum Seeks Smaller Name For Mega Dinosaur
DNAinfo.com
Leslie Albrecht

Canty said the museum is looking for creative name suggestions that "befit the dignity" of the massive Mamenchisaurus, which scientists believe ate about 100,000 calories a day, or about 1,150 pounds of plant matter.

"She's an actual animal that lived 165 million years ago," Canty said. "She's very important and she has a lot of history we want it be a name that fits her."

NOTE": the judging was to be finished on June 7, but I can't find any record of what the winning name was. YOU get bonus points if you can figure it out.

Click to read more.

new Tomb of the Undead update

The latest update for Tomb of the Undead, called Why, What Happened in There, is now posted for you to look at any time you'd like. Link here.


Hope you like it.