RE: "Dinos of a Feather" (ABC Science News On-Line); HUMOR, SORT OF...

[George Leonard <gl91bciiLt@earthlink.net>]

A hand goes up in the back of the room-- it's one of those non-majors 
that sit against the back wall. "If T Rex had feathers...." he stammers 
out, as the majors who sit in the front row turn to stare at him with 
little smiles, "could we just take a second... what can we infer? Downy 
fuzz? quills? or just filaments? Like an emu? And where?" He fumbles with 
his notes. "Not on the arms because 
he couldn't keep them clean? and not on the back in case he wanted to 
roll on his back wrestling with prey? Probably not on the head because 
he'd sometimes have to stick it inside the carcass, on the bald eagle 
model. And would he preen the things? How? How does that head reach 
anywhere?? Those teeth, the chisels in the front, the recurved serrated 
guys on the side? Preen with what? The first feathered animal that never 
preened?  Could we just take a second away from rahona and caudi and the 
hip dinos and ask about T Rex? Thanks," he mumbles, subsiding. :> (Off 
list advice would be welcome if we can't spare bandwidth for this.) 
Best, 
George  


George J. Leonard, Ph.D. 
Professor of Interdisciplinary Humanities
San Francisco State University
530 Humanities Hall
1600 Holloway Avenue
San Francisco, California, 94132
Ph: (415) 338-7428
FAX: (650) 366-5045
Website: http://www.georgeleonard.com