Hi Tweets,

Andy Sorenson writes, re dino/bird/crocodilian evolution:

(snip)
>Seems that one of the sides believes it is unlikely that the very complex
>bird lung evolved from the more simple breathing organ found in earlier
>reptiles.

(from the ABC story):
>> Ruben acknowledged resistance to his ideas "is going to
>> be unusually strong," he says. "This is bucking the trend."
>> According to Ruben, many museums,such as the
>> American Museum of Natural History in New York City,
>> have spent millions of dollars revamping their dinosaur
>> exhibits to say birds are latter-day dinosaurs, and they're not
>> about to change their mind. "It's a real threat to their
>> investment," he says.

In the article itself, which gives the overview on the competing positions,
it seems impossible to come to any firm conclusion: not enough data in the
fossil record either way; however, I find the excerpted bit above to a
unpersuasive if not outright specious type of supportive argument. His
self-declared 'bucking the trend' and reference to seeming vested interest
lends a maverick, slightly romantic, establishment-fighting air to the
hypothesis whether it is *actually* supportable or not--as if strong
resistance is proof of actual intellectual worth--and seems designed to
enlist and persuade emotionally those who are 'a priori' given to
antiauthoritarian tendency--i.e., "He must be right *because* the
Establishment says he's wrong.". Twenty years ago, even perhaps ten, I might
have found this an attractive technique, but now its presence simply makes
me suspicious of some intellectual smoke and mirrors, wary that there's
perhaps less to Ruben's case than meets the eye.

But it is interesting, the way that similarities between birds, theropods
(you'd think a huge outfit like ABC would take time to get the spelling
right. hmmph. not impressed) and crocodilians keep cropping up.

>Now, just where did our feathered friends actually come from?

This might come as a bit of a shock, Andy: Eggs. Birds come from eggs. '-)

Michael Price A brave world, Sir,
Vancouver BC Canada full of religion, knavery and change;
mprice at mindlink.net we shall shortly see better days.
Aphra Behn (1640-1689)