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 Why don't dinosaurs talk?
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ThorGoLucky
Snuggle Wolf

USA
1486 Posts

Posted - 12/09/2010 :  20:37:50  Show Profile  Visit ThorGoLucky's Homepage Send ThorGoLucky a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Because they're dead.*

*A cute joke told by a little girl, as related by a dear friend at a pub.

Edited by - ThorGoLucky on 12/09/2010 20:38:44

filthy
SFN Die Hard

USA
14408 Posts

Posted - 12/10/2010 :  05:14:59   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send filthy a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by ThorGoLucky

Because they're dead.*

*A cute joke told by a little girl, as related by a dear friend at a pub.

It's actually kind of an old one; decrepit codgers such as myself can recall it, or something similar, from the distant past. Kids are the same in any age.

My favorite has always been:

[While passing a cemetary] "How many people are dead over there?"

Answer (when the victim has given up trying to count): "All of 'em!"

Speaking of the distant past, I rather think that from the Late Triassic through the Cretaceous, the world was a pretty noisy place. Even today, many reptiles are quite vocal.

And to really pick the nit, The direct descendants of some of the dinosaurs wake us up each morning and others squabble over black-oli sunflower seeds at the winter bird feeder.






"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)

"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres


"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude

Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,

and Crypto-Communist!

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Chippewa
SFN Regular

USA
1496 Posts

Posted - 12/11/2010 :  18:58:23   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Chippewa's Homepage Send Chippewa a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by filthy


And to really pick the nit, The direct descendants of some of the dinosaurs wake us up each morning and others squabble over black-oli sunflower seeds at the winter bird feeder.


Makes the mad scientist kid still in me think "Hey, we don't need DNA from ancient mosquitoes trapped in amber, just get better and better at manipulating the DNA of a chicken, (before it ends up in a KFC takeout bucket anyway.) Loose some of the feathers, exchange beak for jaw and teeth..."

I know its not that easy but aren't dinosaur characteristics locked up deep in the genes of birds or is that an over simplification?
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend

Sweden
9687 Posts

Posted - 12/12/2010 :  09:00:13   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Send Dr. Mabuse an ICQ Message Send Dr. Mabuse a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by Chippewa
I know its not that easy but aren't dinosaur characteristics locked up deep in the genes of birds or is that an over simplification?
Probably an over-simplification.
Archaeopteryx is about 150My old, and all dinosaurs that are younger than that, evolved in a completely different direction than flying reptiles/birds.
Tyrannosaurus Rex is ~80My younger, so basically, they (T-Rex) are 160My years of mutations removed from it's (T-Rex's) contemporary flying ancestor of the rooster.




edit: clarification..

Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
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"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse

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Collateralmurder.
Edited by - Dr. Mabuse on 12/13/2010 18:37:28
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Hawks
SFN Regular

Canada
1383 Posts

Posted - 12/13/2010 :  07:47:45   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Hawks's Homepage Send Hawks a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by Chippewa
...before it ends up in a KFC takeout bucket anyway...

Totally off topic:

To paraphrase Billy Connolly: It's not hard loosing weight. Just don't eat anything that comes in a bucket.

METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL
It's a small, off-duty czechoslovakian traffic warden!
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filthy
SFN Die Hard

USA
14408 Posts

Posted - 12/13/2010 :  08:19:26   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send filthy a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by Chippewa

Originally posted by filthy


And to really pick the nit, The direct descendants of some of the dinosaurs wake us up each morning and others squabble over black-oli sunflower seeds at the winter bird feeder.


Makes the mad scientist kid still in me think "Hey, we don't need DNA from ancient mosquitoes trapped in amber, just get better and better at manipulating the DNA of a chicken, (before it ends up in a KFC takeout bucket anyway.) Loose some of the feathers, exchange beak for jaw and teeth..."

I know its not that easy but aren't dinosaur characteristics locked up deep in the genes of birds or is that an over simplification?
A little perhaps, but:
Mutant Chickens Grow Teeth
By Jennifer Viegas



Feb. 22, 2006 — Chickens born with a mutated gene associated with tooth development were coaxed by researchers into growing functioning teeth, according to a paper published in this week's Current Biology.

Researchers previously caused teeth to grow in birds by combining mouse tooth-forming tissue with bird jaw tissue, but this time the scientists merely enhanced a genetic trait that exists naturally in the mutant birds.

The unusual feat represents the first evidence for tooth development in birds without grafts or tissue manipulation.

Lead author Matthew Harris told Discovery News that the early theropod dinosaur ancestors of birds possessed impressive choppers.

We have a rooster named Thunder Chicken to keep the hens oiled up. Everyone in the family is delighted that TC has no teeth. He's a ferocious ex-dino that has no respect whatsoever for anyone but me.




"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)

"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres


"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude

Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,

and Crypto-Communist!

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Chippewa
SFN Regular

USA
1496 Posts

Posted - 12/13/2010 :  10:37:59   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit Chippewa's Homepage Send Chippewa a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Interesting insights everybody. Thanks for the article link too.

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The Rat
SFN Regular

Canada
1370 Posts

Posted - 12/13/2010 :  20:45:53   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit The Rat's Homepage Send The Rat a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Originally posted by ThorGoLucky

Because they're dead.


Not true, and these ones talk quite well:


Bailey's second law; There is no relationship between the three virtues of intelligence, education, and wisdom.

You fiend! Never have I encountered such corrupt and foul-minded perversity! Have you ever considered a career in the Church? - The Bishop of Bath and Wells, Blackadder II

Baculum's page: http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=3947338590
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filthy
SFN Die Hard

USA
14408 Posts

Posted - 12/18/2010 :  08:34:26   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send filthy a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Coincidentally, the quacks at AiG have taken a bite out of this toothy topic:
We recently received the following request:

I quote from The Reader’s Digest August, 2010 article “Jurassic Spark” where paleontologist Hans Larsson states “Chicken embryos...start off looking fairly generic...As the embryo continues to transform, there’s a brief window when . . . it takes on dinosaurian traits. For a mere ten hours, the chicken embryo has five fingers with pointed and claw-like tips, a hint of teeth and a tail (up to 22 vertebrae, roughly 15 more than in a developed chicken). Then suddenly, a genetic switch flips: The teeth disappear, the tail is destroyed and the five fingers become three.”
How would you respond to this?

The article in Reader’s Digest (Canadian edition) came from a Macleans article entitled “The Quest to Build a Dinosaur.”

Reading this article is very entertaining—if you like science fiction—and discussing it with your friends should provide countless opportunities to draw a line between reality and fantasy. Paleontologists Jack Horner—advisor on the Jurassic Park movies—and Hans Larsson are, however, quite serious when they talk about their efforts to genetically alter chicken embryos to turn them into dinosaurs. Why do they wish to do this? As Horner states, “You can’t make a dinosaur out of a chicken, if evolution doesn’t work.” In other words, they would like to “spark . . . a public debate about evolution by winding its tape backwards for all to see.”

Horner is strongly committed to the notion that dinosaurs evolved into birds. As Dr. Tommy Mitchell points out in his presentation called Jurassic Prank, Horner, in the “Special Features” section of the Jurassic Park DVD, states:

The whole idea is to get people to look at dinosaurs more like birds than reptiles. In one of the scenes, some of the model makers had made a tongue come out like a lizard or a snake . . . . We know they didn’t do that. Had that been left in the scene, all that work into making these things birdlike would have been gone.

It continues along for quite a way with the usual Argument from Incredulity that they do so well. But, laughably, their arguments, all of 'em, boil down to a completely un-falsifiable and therefore ridiculous, "God done it!"






"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)

"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres


"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude

Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,

and Crypto-Communist!

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Falconjudge
New Member

USA
23 Posts

Posted - 09/13/2011 :  07:16:44   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Falconjudge a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I'm going to Necro again: Jack Horner has stated in a recent seminar that the "chickens to dinosaur" project is going very well.

I asked him, "If you succeed, will it finally prove evolution once and for all?"

He replied, (I paraphrase, my memory ain't so good) "The genes are there. That's undeniable proof already." (Or, "We proved it a long time ago," or something along those lines.)
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