"Now this end is called the thagomizer, after the late Thag Simmons."
thagomizer, n. The cluster of spikes at the end of a Stegosauruss tail.
Gary Larson, creator of The Far Side, crossed over into anatomical nomenclature with a 1982 comic in which a caveman teaches a class this faux-scientific word. (Larson later joked, "Father, I have sinnedI have drawn dinosaurs and hominids together in the same cartoon.")
But when fossil evidence suggested that the dinosaur used its stego-tail as a weapon, scientists co-opted the moniker. Ken Carpenter, a paleontologist at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, was the first to use the term professionally, quipping, "And now, on to the thagomizer," when describing a specimen with broken tail spikes at a 1993 meeting.
These days, the word appears in reference books and museum exhibits. Its no surprise that scientists adopted Larsons terminology, says Carpenter. "He has a completely warped mind, which we absolutely love."
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/24/2007 15:12 Comments ||
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#2
These days, the word appears in reference books and museum exhibits. Its no surprise that scientists adopted Larsons terminology, says Carpenter. "He has a completely warped mind, which we absolutely love."
Thank God for the completely warped minds of the Gary Larsons', Shipmans' and the Franks' of this here world!
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/24/2007 15:36 Comments ||
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#4
Larson's ability to combine scientifically valid nomenclature with utterly bent-axle humor has endeared him to uncountable technologists. The Far Side was, and remains, the finest single-panel cartoon strip in newspaper history. Bizzaro ocassionally rivals it for overall weirdness, but nobody can match Larson for such consistent lunacy.
Legend has it that a pair of enterpreneurs had designed a computer desktop calendar using Far Side themes such as a meteor bursting through opened windows, dinosaurs and cows marching across the screen and other favorite icons of the strip. They approached Larson's agent in Seattle who promptly turned them down citing how Larson refuses to commercialize his work.
This pair of stubborn fans immediately set to work and found out where Larson played pick-up basketball at a local park. They followed him home and got his residential address.
Then these two trotted off to a scientific specimen supply house and an exotic floral importer. They assembled a bouquet that included carnivorous flowers, parasitic tropical plants and blossoms that reeked of rotting flesh. Upon this macabre tableau they pinned collector grade stick insects and other grotesque entomological specimens. This entire assemblage was left on Larson's doorstep with their calling card.
They got a call the next morning and the contract was inked swiftly thereafter.
#6
One of my favorite "Larson Lores" - from Wikipedia
One of Larson's more famous cartoons shows two chimpanzees grooming. One finds a blonde human hair on the other and inquires, "Conducting a little more 'research' with that Jane Goodall tramp?" The Jane Goodall Institute thought this was in bad taste, and had their lawyers draft a letter to Larson and his distribution syndicate, in which they described the cartoon as an "atrocity". They were stymied, however, by Goodall herself, who revealed that she found the cartoon amusing. Since then, all profits from sales of a shirt featuring this cartoon go to the Goodall Institute.
Goodall wrote a preface to The Far Side Gallery 5, detailing her version of the "Jane Goodall Tramp" controversy. She also praised Larson's creative ideas, which often compare and contrast the behavior of humans and animals. In 1988 Larson visited Gombe Streams National Park and was attacked by Frodo, a chimp described by Goodall as a "bully". Larson escaped with cuts and bruises.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
06/24/2007 17:27 Comments ||
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#7
Overheard somewhere I shouldn't have been: "I'm not warped, I'm PERVERTED - there's a difference!"
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/24/2007 17:28 Comments ||
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#8
1988 Larson visited Gombe Streams National Park and was attacked by Frodo
#9
At Cal State, Sacramento both sides of the lobby in the science building feature a perpetual exhibit of Larson's cartoons (or it did the last time I was there).
You can spend hours just in the lobby there alone.
Four foreign hostages have been freed in oil-rich southern Nigeria, after spending several weeks in captivity. The men from Britain, France, Pakistan and the Netherlands were handed by mediators to security officials in the city of Port Harcourt. All of the hostages, who were seized there on 1 June, were unharmed. The men work for Franco-American oil services group Schlumberger. It is unclear if any ransom was paid for their release. More than 100 foreigners have been taken hostage in the Niger Delta area in the past six months, and about 30 people are still being held.
#3
From a look at the Type 054 Frigate information available online it appears that our good buddies the Frogs sold a lot of their technology to the Chinese and licensed them to produce it in the 1980's. At least one site speculates that the Type 054s may be 1 generation behind the French or that they may have upgraded to 1990's criteria just as the French did.
The smart way to bet is that your opponent is at least as capable as you are. That way you're less likely to get surprised and hurt real bad when the abloon goes up.
#2
Well after that 'treaty' that was signed the other day, it's not getting any easier :(
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
06/24/2007 15:44 Comments ||
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#3
Feh, just more Orwellian expunging of inconvenient language that might inspire independent thought or action. It's as if Europe is using 1984 as a playbook.
Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan has said he would not participate in the upcoming elections in the presence of President Pervez Musharraf, alleging that a conspiracy is in place to ensure a Muttahid Quami Movement and Pakistan Muslim League victory.
Addressing the Taxila Bar Association on Saturday, Khan said the opposition would not allow the general elections to be conducted while President Musharraf were in power and demanded the president resign. He said the polls should be conducted under the supervision of an independent Election Commission.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2007 00:00 ||
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Thousands of people turned out to greet Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Saturday as he travelled to Multan to drum up support against his suspension. The chief justice left Lahore early on Saturday in a motorcade of 150 vehicles. Hundreds of people gathered to mark his departure and showered his vehicle with rose petals. He was due to arrive in Multan later in the evening to address the district bar, but was delayed and the speech was likely postponed to Sunday. By 10pm on Saturday, he had reached Sahiwal.
Along the way he stopped off at Patoki, Shah Pur Kanjan, Phool Nagar, Patoki, Choonian, Habaibabad bypass and Okara. At each point, he was greeted by opposition supporters, lawyers and members of the general public with rose petals, drum beats and anti-government slogans. He attended a reception at the Okara Bar Association, where his defence lawyers made speeches and he was awarded lifetime membership of the district bar.
Aitzaz Ahsan, the CJPs lead counsel, said all judges should follow the chief justice by rejecting government pressure. He said the lawyers movement for the reinstatement of the CJP was unprecedented, and if successful, would mark a new turning point in the history of Pakistan, and lead to a new social contract between politicians and civil society.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/24/2007 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Thousands of people turned out to greet Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Saturday as he travelled to Multan to drum up support against his suspension. The chief justice left Lahore early on Saturday in a motorcade of 150 vehicles. Hundreds of people gathered to mark his departure and showered his vehicle with rose petals. He was due to arrive in Multan later in the evening to address the district bar, but was delayed and the speech was likely postponed to Sunday. By 10pm on Saturday, he had reached Sahiwal. 
