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Re: Paleocene dinosaurs



>Hi, I saw Jurassic Park and the Making of JP both in the last week. I am 
>reasonably sure that, in spite of some discrepancies, Spielberg and crew 
>really tried to make it as accurate as possible (as laymen) and that we 
>should forgive the errors in favor of the enormous boost it gave to dinos 
>in general. 

I am quite happy to accept JP as a work of fiction. Most of the "errors" are
things which _could_ have been true.

My gripe is not about the film, but the merchandise. Books, calenders, toys
and God only knows what else, all proclaiming mis-facts like "Dilophosaurus
is noted for its brightly colored neck frill. It subdued its prey by
spitting poison."

In a work of fiction it is reasonable and acceptable to use one's
imagination to fill in the gaps in our knowledge, but in "educational"
products fact and speculation should be clearly seperated.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the film, and it certainly did more good than
harm for dino-awareness, but when it comes to the specifics, more should
have been done to make people aware of what is real and what isn't.

Let me end on a lighter note. Michael Carroll writes of Jurassic Park: "Lets
face it, this is a flawed film, but fortunately the flaws aren't in any of
the important things like special effects."

James Shields/jshields@iol.ie
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And when the ark was finished Noah said unto Elvis, "What do you reckin?"
And Elvis checked out his own cabin and shook his head saying "poky".
And so did they knock several walls through and install a jaccuzzi.
And when it was all done Noah scratched his beard and said, "We don't have
room for all the animals now."
And Elvis perused the livestock list and in his wisdom said, "Lose the
dinosaurs."
        -Robert Rankin, The Suburban Book of the Dead