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Posted on 08/13/2003 9:02:05 PM PDT by nwrep
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2 hours, 55 minutes ago
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By RAMOLA TALWAR BADAM, Associated Press Writer
BOMBAY, India - U.S. and Indian scientists said Wednesday they have discovered a new carnivorous dinosaur species in India after finding bones in the western part of the country.
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The new dinosaur species was named Rajasaurus narmadensis, or "Regal reptile from the Narmada," after the Narmada River region where the bones were found.
The dinosaurs were between 25-30 feet long, had a horn above their skulls, were relatively heavy and walked on two legs, scientists said. They preyed on long-necked herbivorous dinosaurs on the Indian subcontinent during the Cretaceous Period at the end of the dinosaur age, 65 million years ago.
"It's fabulous to be able to see this dinosaur which lived as the age of dinosaurs came to a close," said Paul Sereno, a paleontologist at the University of Chicago. "It was a significant predator that was related to species on continental Africa, Madagascar and South America."
Working with Indian scientists, Sereno and paleontologist Jeff Wilson of the University of Michigan reconstructed the dinosaur skull in a project funded partly by the National Geographic (news - web sites) Society.
A model of the assembled skull was presented Wednesday by the American scientists to their counterparts from Punjab University in northern India and the Geological Survey of India during a Bombay news conference.
Scientists said they hope the discovery will help explain the extinction of the dinosaurs and the shifting of the continents — how India separated from Africa, Madagascar, Australia and Antarctica and collided with Asia.
The dinosaur bones were discovered during the past 18 years by Indian scientists Suresh Srivastava of the Geological Survey of India and Ashok Sahni, a paleontologist at Punjab University.
When the bones were examined, "we realized we had a partial skeleton of an undiscovered species," Sereno said.
The scientists said they believe the Rajasaurus roamed the Southern Hemisphere land masses of present-day Madagascar, Africa and South America.
"People don't realize dinosaurs are the only large-bodied animal that lived, evolved and died at a time when all continents were united," Sereno said.
The cause of the dinosaurs' extinction is still debated by scientists. The Rajasaurus discovery may provide crucial clues, Sereno said.
India has seen quite a few paleontological discoveries recently.
In 1997, villagers discovered about 300 fossilized dinosaur eggs in Pisdura, 440 miles northeast of Bombay, that Indian scientists said were laid by four-legged, long-necked vegetarian creatures.
Indian scientists said the dinosaur embryos in the eggs may have suffocated during volcanic eruptions.
I certainly agree with what you said - there are many 'virtuous non-signers' on these threads. Some have seen the agreement and chose not sign, but by their conduct do not and would not participate in a flame war.
And you are wrong.
No, I am not. You're straining for any excuse to try to attack a signer of the agreement, despite the fact that you couldn't even bring yourself to sign onto it yourself.
You're badgering people for allegedly not keeping entirely up to a standard that you yourself have rejected in its entirety.
You're trying to undercut the effectiveness of an agreement you disliked by lawyering it to death as an outsider.
You're attempting to discredit posters who made the effort to try something new by claiming that they have given offense to another signer when the other signer himself hasn't even raised an objection.
And you've done it by picking a "violation" that can easily be argued either way then disingenuously presenting it as a clearcut inexcusable breach which is worth all the obsessive effort you've put into it.
Not only is it very arguably not belittling to a complying poster or what that poster believes, as RWP has very ably explained, but a very good case could be made that it is explicitly allowed by two other clauses of the agreement ("logical criticism and rebuttal shall never be considered 'obscene or belittling'", and "If we describe a belief as silly, we will show why we believe that to be true").
As I said, you're reaching. So you might want to pick your battles a little better next time before you go off on a tear.
One person has truly apologized and another apologized with croc tears after being prompted.
Because despite your constant accusations, they *are* trying to keep the peace. Are we likely to see an apology from you now for similar reasons, after your accusations and badgering?
And you, with the hypocritical troublemaker who posted after you,
Obviously, you're in no position to accuse anyone else of uncivil behavior, namecalling, or "belittling words". Or of being a hypocrite...
When you're able to discuss things without getting overemotional yourself, and without exhibiting your personal animosities, you might be a more credible self-appointed referee.
continue to attempt to aggravate the situation which has now been settled.
...so says the guy who has continued to post multiple new posts on this topic, including a new one five short minutes after declaring it "now settled" in this post.
Attempt to be consistent.
So buzz off.
If you're not going to stop talking about it, why should I?
The irony is that just one post prior to the above, Gore3000 was crying about his alleged wish that we "treat everybody with respect and stop the insults" and bemoaning "treating nobody with respect", and just one post after this one he accuses someone of "extreme bad faith" and an alleged "attempt to disrupt a thread by starting a religious food fight".
But calling someone a tool of the devil, nothing wrong with that, eh?
I'd count how many times Gore3000 has accused *others* of hypocrisy, but I'm not sure I have that much time.
PatrickHenry remains aloof! (But I wish both sides would stop this picky picky stuff.)
Wrapping yourself in the flag under colour of complying with the agreement, eh scoundrel?
That's lawyering! Pink is red, except when pink is white.
Is that corned beef or ham?
Looks like hog jowl to me.
Really? Who?
a column which is only theory I might add and has never been observed in nature.
You are mistaken. Read and learn: The Geologic Column and its Implications for the Flood .
Note that the author, Glenn Morton, was once a young-earth creationist. As he began actually working in geology, however, he realized that what he saw in the field could not be reconciled with the falsehoods that his YEC teachers had told him.
Have you studied Mt. St. Helens and the Grand Canyon in detail to see how they were formed?
Yes.
There is no possible way the Colorado river formed the latter,
You forgot to explain why.
but the former gives clues how a canyon could form very very quickly.
No it doesn't, unless you think you can find steep canyons cut through ash (or mud) which reach a *mile* deep without collapsing.
Huh?
Why not? Be specific. "Show your work"
Right... Are you seriously claiming that less than 10000 years ago Western Pennsylvania was a swamp full of cycads and giant amphibians and other coal-age thingies?
It's never too late: Glenn Morton's Story
As a non-signatory, I was getting in a little flambe. Tongue... cheek.
The estimates of the age of the universe have been made by astronomers. Please show where any biologist had any influence on this at all.
The estimated age of the earth hasn't changed very much, has it? A few months ago there was a thread about a new estimate in the third decimal place.
But, a couple of billion years of prokaryote-only, followed by about half a billion of mixed prokaryote and eukaryote has been known for many years. It's what I was taught in school in the '50s, and it's still considered true
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