Amelia Posted June 24, 2007 Posted June 24, 2007 Science Imitates (Comic Book) Art Paleontologists adopt a technical term from The Far Side. 06.20.2007 discovermagazine.com thagomizer, n. The cluster of spikes at the end of a Stegosaurus’s tail. "Now this end is called the thagomizer, after the late Thag Simmons." Gary Larson, creator of The Far Side, crossed over into anatomical nomenclature with a 1982 comic in which a caveman teaches a class this faux-scientific word. (Larson later joked, “Father, I have sinned—I have drawn dinosaurs and hominids together in the same cartoon.”) But when fossil evidence suggested that the dinosaur used its stego-tail as a weapon, scientists co-opted the moniker. Ken Carpenter, a paleontologist at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, was the first to use the term professionally, quipping, “And now, on to the thagomizer,” when describing a specimen with broken tail spikes at a 1993 meeting. These days, the word appears in reference books and museum exhibits. It’s no surprise that scientists adopted Larson’s terminology, says Carpenter. “He has a completely warped mind, which we absolutely love.” Quote <p><span style="color:#0000FF;"><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;">"Do not use harmful words, but only helpful words, the kind that build up and provide what is needed, so that what you say will do good to those who hear you."</span></span> Eph 4:29</span><br><br><img src="http://banners.wunderground.com/weathersticker/gizmotimetemp_both/US/OR/Fairview.gif" alt="Fairview.gif"> Fairview Or</p>
Neil D Posted June 24, 2007 Posted June 24, 2007 Quote: “He has a completely warped mind, which we absolutely love.” Yeah, the medical world loves him too... Quote Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve. George Bernard Shaw
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