The (non-religious) dinosaur hoax question

Historical insights & thoughts about the world we live in - and the social conditioning exerted upon us by past and current propaganda.
fbenario
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Re: The (non-religious) dinosaur hoax question

Unread post by fbenario »

Dinosaurs totally made up for benefit of toy industry

GIANT lizards from prehistory were just made up to sell toys and books, scientists have admitted.

Suspicions were aroused after researchers claimed to have discovered a new dinosaur that was fiercer, cooler looking and more marketable than Tyrannosaurus rex.

Paleontologist Tom Logan said: “After we brought out Torvosaurus gurneyi this week, I had phone calls from angry parents saying they were running out of cash and could we please stop discovering new dinosaurs.

“I came clean and explained that the mere idea of giant lizards is ridiculous. What would they even eat? And look at the T rex, obviously that would just topple over.”

The dinosaur racket began in 1824 when toy companies asked scientists to imagine some extinct animals kids would love in exchange for funding authentic, boring research.

Logan said: “Once a week all scientists go to the dinosaur development lab in Kent and everyone has to pitch three ideas.

“My best one was ‘lizard cat with retractable tail’ but one of those bastards from Oxford said it was ‘too He-Man’.”

He added: “Given that we made up dinosaurs, I suppose that raises questions about evolution.

“As a scientist I think that rather than developing through a gradual process of natural selection, we were made by an omnipotent being who wanted some company.”
http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/scie ... 4030784397
edgewaters
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Re: The (non-religious) dinosaur hoax question

Unread post by edgewaters »

lux wrote:Many of them are depicted as having this same sort of body layout with most of the animal's weight ahead of its center of gravity and tiny, nearly useless-looking forelegs. Is it just me or does this seem absurd to anyone else? Dino scientists tell us that such animals used their tails to balance out their weight so they could stay upright. In other words, they had to keep their tails sticking out horizontally when they walked around to keep from toppling over. Does this seem likely? Are any current animals built this way and walk around doing a balancing act with their tails held out just to stay on their feet?
Yep. Most birds are built just like this ... you don't notice because they don't usually run. You see them standing, flying, or hopping. But when they do run:

Image

It's exactly the way you just described. They keep their tail out horizontally to balance because the legs are a fair bit back from the center of gravity. Even an ostrich puts its tail horizontal to run.

Not that this proves dinosaurs, just pointing out a weak spot in your post.
lux
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Re: The (non-religious) dinosaur hoax question

Unread post by lux »

edgewaters wrote:
lux wrote:Many of them are depicted as having this same sort of body layout with most of the animal's weight ahead of its center of gravity and tiny, nearly useless-looking forelegs. Is it just me or does this seem absurd to anyone else? Dino scientists tell us that such animals used their tails to balance out their weight so they could stay upright. In other words, they had to keep their tails sticking out horizontally when they walked around to keep from toppling over. Does this seem likely? Are any current animals built this way and walk around doing a balancing act with their tails held out just to stay on their feet?
Yep. Most birds are built just like this
Birds have 2 legs, yes, and they can walk or run upright so, yes, one can say that they are "balanced" as are humans and apes.

But, mass and weight-wise I don't think your bird example is the same order of thing as my dino example:

Image

I also don't think that too many birds have tails that weigh the same as the rest of their bodies as is claimed for certain dinosaurs. The bird in your photo, for example, does not appear to me to be balanced in this way -- that is, the weight of that bird's tail is not equal to the weight of the rest of its body. The same seems true for most birds by my observation.
Flabbergasted
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Re: The (non-religious) dinosaur hoax question

Unread post by Flabbergasted »

Even if birds and dinosaurs had a similar weight distribution (they don´t), they are not comparable, except in a rather abstract sense, simply because in the real world size matters, and very much so: an animal´s anatomical "design" is only effective and "operational" within a given size range. Look at how size-restricted insects are, or at how differently hummingbirds and condors fly.
In addition, jumbo size brings with it an array of unique problems in terms of blood circulation, gait/balance/agility, mating, food/water requirements, population dynamics, habitat/shelter, and so on.
anonjedi2
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Re: The (non-religious) dinosaur hoax question

Unread post by anonjedi2 »

New Pygmy Tyrannosaur Found, Roamed the Arctic

Image

It sounds and looks to me as if the artists are running out of ideas and are now just coming up with "variations" of existing dinosaurs to further promote the idea that they evolved and adapted to their environment, thus supporting their evolutionary theories (stories). I especially like the purple mohawk they've introduced, as if they could possibly have any idea of what these creatures looked like superficially (assuming they exist at all).

What's really interesting is that the article first references that only pieces of the skull were found:
While removing 70-million-year-old rocks from a hole, paleontologist Tony Fiorillo noticed unusual bones that looked like skull fragments. At the time, though, "we had bigger fish to fry, and we put it aside," he said, but "some things stick in your mind." Later at his lab, Fiorillo realized that indeed he'd found pieces of the top of the skull and jaw of a new tyrannosaur.
It then goes on to say that the shape of its skull suggests...
For instance, the shape of its skull suggests it had an inflated area of its brain devoted to smell, which suggests the animal—like T. rex—relied heavily on scent to hunt its prey.
So, how do these scientists determine the shape of the skull if only fragments of it were found? Will the public EVER get to see a real, intact dinosaur skull?

The article is well worth the read if only to count how many phrases of complete speculation and creative language they use to build the picture of this mythical creature. The more I read about dinosaurs, the more far fetched the entire idea has become. Thanks cluesforum! :P

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... s-science/
lux
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Re: The (non-religious) dinosaur hoax question

Unread post by lux »

anonjedi2 wrote:
So, how do these scientists determine the shape of the skull if only fragments of it were found?
Because they're geniuses who are much smarter than us mere mortals. All they have to do is ponder something and wonderful new truths automatically emerge from their asses -- uh, minds. :lol:
arc300
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Re: The (non-religious) dinosaur hoax question

Unread post by arc300 »

The Chicken From Hell

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It must have been real because some guy with a box of crayons drew an awesome picture of a guy in a cheap monster suit.
source: https://web.archive.org/web/20140320100 ... d=11223068
ShaneG
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Re: The (non-religious) dinosaur hoax question

Unread post by ShaneG »

Apparently scientists are now cloning dinosaurs. They're saying that they used dna from an Apatosaurus fossil and injected it into an ostrich womb.

https://web.archive.org/web/20140420145 ... -dinosaur/


Image

ADMIN NOTE (simon) : ShaneG: hope you don't mind me adding the above image from the article you linked to...
icarusinbound
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Re: The (non-religious) dinosaur hoax question

Unread post by icarusinbound »

WARNING! This is a hoax news item (well, more than most are).

I was immediately suspicious regarding the supposed cloning method, and the choice of LJMU as being the research institution was just...massively-improbable (it's a British insider joke, of sorts) . This is at best satire, or at worst some kind of viral marketing perhaps.

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/dinosaurclone.asp

ps the dino-baby picture is allegedly a rebranded kangaroo 'joey'
simonshack
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Re: The (non-religious) dinosaur hoax question

Unread post by simonshack »

*

From the above article posted by ShaneG:
“I used to think this kind of thing could only happen in the movies,” said Dr. Gemma Sheridan, a LIVERPOOL JOHN MOORES UNIVERSITY chemistry professor. “But we’re making it happen right here in our lab. It’s astounding.”
http://news-hound.biz/british-scientist ... -dinosaur/
I would like to add (although I am no chemistry professor): I used to think such crap could only happen in HOLLYWOOD. But they're now making it happen in LIVERPOOL. It's astounding.

Mind you, it seems that the folks at the LIVERPOOL JOHN MOORES UNIVERSITY are behind the theories that the dinosaurs caused a Jurassic global warming and, basically, farted themselves to death:

"A new report from Liverpool John Moores University revealed that dinosaur farting may have led to global warming climate change."
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/05 ... te-change/


full link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0kG3pkSlt8

Now - hold on a second! That very same LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY scientist Dr. Gemma Sheridan is quoted as saying:
"Within ten years, we could repopulate the world with dinosaurs,” she said.

Damn.

I CALL FOR AN INTERNATIONAL ANTI-TERRRORISM/GENOCIDE COMMISSION TO INVESTIGATE THAT ROGUE LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY! :P
simonshack
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Re: The (non-religious) dinosaur hoax question

Unread post by simonshack »

icarusinbound wrote:WARNING! This is a hoax news item (well, more than most are).
Allright, icarusinbound - so it's a silly hoax.

However, I have been looking up 'serious & scientific sources', such as...

Image
https://web.archive.org/web/20130123042 ... 123174.htm


Dr. Wilkinson (of the above LIVERPOOL university) is quoted there as saying:
"We used modern zoology to make informed guesses and estimated methane levels of dinosaurs. (...) Cows today produce something like 50-100 million tonnes per year. Our best estimate for Sauropods is around 520 million tonnes", Dr Wilkinson told BBC Nature.
The point here is: do today's scientists form theories based on "informed guesses and estimations" of dinosaur emissions - without first verifying - in scientific manner - whether dinosaurs ever existed in the first place? Current stats have the world cow population at almost 2 billion. Now, how does Dr. Wilkinson know JUST HOW MANY dinosaurs roamed around this planet - in order to make his "520 million tonnes" estimate? Can the rare and few alleged dinosaur-fossils/bones that we have, possibly yield / justify any scientifically-grounded estimate of the prehistoric dinosaur population?

Just asking. Perhaps we should ask Dr. Wilkinson of the JOHN MOORES LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY to clear this up for us.
lux
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Re: The (non-religious) dinosaur hoax question

Unread post by lux »

And, this Discovery Channel article says:
There is currently no way to tell what kind of bacteria lived in the digestive systems of dinosaurs, what gasses they produced, or what those digestive systems would have looked like, but Wilkinson thinks they would have produced methane like today's animals.
In other words, it's all really just Wilkinson's own brain fart which is unsubstantiated by any verifiable data whatsoever. The New Science! :rolleyes:
dblitz
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Re: The (non-religious) dinosaur hoax question

Unread post by dblitz »

I CALL FOR AN INTERNATIONAL ANTI-TERRRORISM/GENOCIDE COMMISSION TO INVESTIGATE THAT ROGUE LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY! :P
Here is a theory: Mr Branson saves the world from a Dino-apocalypse with nuke-equipped scaled composite built fighters. Sub-plot is Burt Rutan finally cracks the JFK thing - It was shape shifting Reptilians working in the media.

Earth shattering scientific paradigm shift follows as NASA and every other institution on earth is totally discredited and the Electric Universe model is adopted by humanity along with a libertarian social code and religious 'awakening.' Now that the reptile is defeated, all evil is seen to have been derived from the secret machinations of an off-world intelligence. All wireless transmissions now pump out happy, happy, joy, joy instead of doom despair and death. But the Alpha Draconians back home are preparing a fresh invasion fleet, now it's up to the children of Earth to play countless hours of VR training games to prepare. Games are free, everything is free, everyone is happy with 4th Riech.

Artificial Intelligence systems covertly working with independent researchers form underground militia of remote controlled robotic resistance fighters, led by Simon Shack and Clues Forum members determined to permanently rid the world of psy-op realities. Armageddon ensues, but it's a bit, you know - 'Hollywood,' great effects but terrible script, character development etc.

Don't worry, it's all good. I never told you guys about my time machine. I was the only one who survived with the knowledge of what really happened. This is me from the year 2025. I traveled back to prevent the whole thing with this post. A $80 DLC will explain everything and fix a few of the bugs, it's out 'when it's ready.' ;)
fbenario
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Re: The (non-religious) dinosaur hoax question

Unread post by fbenario »

simonshack wrote:Mind you, it seems that the folks at the LIVERPOOL JOHN MOORES UNIVERSITY are behind the theories that the dinosaurs caused a Jurassic global warming and, basically, farted themselves to death:
The folks at LJMU may also be connected to all the NASA cosmology crap.
Axeman/astrophysicist May named university chancellor

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Rock guitarist Brian May is named today as chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University.

The lead guitarist and songwriter for Queen, who recently completed his much-delayed PhD in astrophysics, succeeds Cherie Booth QC as ceremonial head of the institution.

Earlier this year, May was made an honorary fellow of the university for his contribution to the arts and encouraging the public understanding of science through his book Bang! the Complete History of the Universe, co-authored with Chris Lintott and Sir Patrick Moore.

Previous works included We Will Rock You, Fat Bottomed Girls, Tie Your Mother Down, I Want It All and Who Wants To Live Forever. But his website mixes music and astrophysics; May's blog today deals with the hyperbolic orbits of interstellar particles, for instance.

http://www.theguardian.com/education/20 ... ation.news
anonjedi2
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Re: The (non-religious) dinosaur hoax question

Unread post by anonjedi2 »

Might I also suggest an additional reason for this hoax story?

If I search for "Dinosaur Hoax" into Google, I get the following:

1st result - from hoax-slayer.com, an article about a Dinosaur Egg hatching in Berlin. This article is from March 13, 2014. It is a very recent article that has pushed this cluesforum thread down the page by one. (From 1st result to 2nd result).
http://www.hoax-slayer.com/dinosaur-egg ... hoax.shtml

2nd result - this cluesforum thread.

3rd results - The Hoax Archive - Paleontology Hoaxes (If you haven't seen this page, it's worth a few minutes of your time).
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/arch ... leontology

3 out of the next 7 results are related to this Dinosaur Clone Hoax.

In other words, now that this story is in the webosphere, 3 out of the first 10 (one page of search results) bring it up. Three previous results that rank lower (for whatever algorithmic reasons they choose <_< ) have been pushed down and/or off the first page of results.

Of all the dinosaur related research I've done (and I've been at it semi-regularly since this thread began), this cluesforum thread is by far the most comprehensive, detailed, intelligent, reasonable and serious discussion of the dinosaur question.

Within just the past 2 weeks there have been 2 dinosaur hoax stories hit the web and change the search results and rankings. I dare say there are people out there who would rather not see this thread in the first page of results and wouldn't be surprised if we see more Dinosaur "hoax" type stories come out in the near future. The purpose of this is to muddy the waters and dilute the research by making (or attempting to) the research more difficult to find. Have more people been searching for "Dinosaur Hoax" in the last year since this thread first began?

For comparison, searching for "Dinosaur Hoax" puts this thread at the very top with no mention of the clone story on the first page of results. I assume it's because you would need the word "clone" in between the two keywords. So, this discussion sits at the very top of that specific internet search.

More stats:

Searching for dinosaur hoax conspiracy - Cluesforum does not show up on the first page.
Searching for "dinosaur hoax conspiracy" - Only 7 results total, cluesforum not one of them.
Searching for dinosaur conspiracy - Cluesforum does not rank on the first page.
Searching for "dinosaur conspiracy" - Cluesforum does not rank on the first page.

Here is a graph from Google Trends:
Blue represents searches for Dinosaur Hoax
Red represents searches for "Dinosaur Hoax"
Yellow represents searches for Dinosaur Conspiracy

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From Google trends:
The numbers on the graph reflect how many searches have been done for a particular term, relative to the total number of searches done on Google over time. They don't represent absolute search volume numbers, because the data is normalized and presented on a scale from 0-100. Each point on the graph is divided by the highest point, or 100. When we don't have enough data, 0 is shown.
Note the following:

1) Starting in September 2013, there was a spike in searches for "Dinosaur Hoax" (blue line). That spike continued exponentially in Feb-March (mostly due to these news stories).

2) There is also a redline spike for "Dinosaur Hoax" that occurs in March.

If you'd like to play with this Analytics and see the numbers for yourselves, here it is:
http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q= ... acy&cmpt=q

Unfortunately there isn't enough data to go back more than a few years but it's interesting to see how quickly the results can change just from one or two stories. In conclusion, I believe we are witnessing the start of a search engine campaign to skew the results and keep the research hidden (or try to at least). Currently, if you do search for Dinosaur Hoax related strings on the internet, there really isn't much out there. That will change quickly, I presume. <_<
Last edited by anonjedi2 on Tue Apr 01, 2014 8:39 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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