James VanDyke » Misc

A Vision of Students Today

james — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 19:55:08 +0000

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

Change the State Dinosaur

james — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 21:06:51 +0000

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.

Eight facts about Charlottesville Virginia

james — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 22:51:41 +0000

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.

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

Tokyo Edition

james — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 13:50:34 +0000

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)