James VanDyke

In preparation for an upcoming presentation I came across this video that I thought was interesting.

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It appears the Official Dinosaur of Texas got it’s title through a case of mistaken identity. About 10 years ago the state legistator awarded the Pleurocoelus the right to call itself Texas’ Dinosaur after some bones were found on a Texas ranch. Apparently the dinosaur earned its moniker for “Texas-scale size and power”.

An SMU graduate student studying the bones for his master’s thesis, noticed that the bones didn’t match a known Pleurocoelus specimen at the Smithsonian.

When Peter Rose published his findings, he announced that the bones belong to a new species he has named Paluxysaurus.

So write your state legislator and encourage them to submit their and their seatmate’s vote for Paluxysaurus as the state dinosaur of Texas.

Some friends of mine are headed to Charlottesville, Virgina for a new job so I compiled a few facts about their new abode to share.

1. 1207 – Driving distance in miles from Dallas, TX 
2. 40,437 – Population
3. John Warner – Senior Senator for Virgina
4. Knights - High school mascot
5. Rutgers University, Strelitza Reginae and Queen’s University – Also named for Queen Sophia Charlotte wife of King George the 3rd of England
6. Monticello – Famous home in town
7. 1325 – Average SAT score of the University of Virgina (located in Charlottesville
8. Dogwood Festival – Town festival

A friend of ours is moving to Tokyo so I’ve compiled a list of facts about Tokyo.

• The word Toyko means “Eastern capital”
• 35 million people live in the greater Tokyo area making it the largest metropolitan area in the world. Dallas-Fort Worth has 4.6 million making it the 53rd largest
• Symbols: Flower – Cherry Blossom; Tree – Ginko biloba; Bird – Black-headed Gull
• Governor of Tokyo is Shintaro Ishihara who said in a 2001 interview, “old women who live after they have lost their reproductive function are useless and are committing a sin.”
• Average temperature in August 27C (80.6F) in January 4C (39.2F)
• 1 Dollar = 118.8 yen
• Nikkei stock exchange close at 17283.81 on Friday
• One bedroom apartment in suburb 80000 yen ($673)