Frank C. Müller, Baden-Baden + official White House portrait
Most presidents get at least an elementary school named after them. Some get airports. Our current president, however, now has a dinosaur named after him: the Obamadon, a small lizard with straight teeth.
Now, you may wonder why the choice to name this specific, previously unknown species after the president. Could it be that it represented a significant difference on the evolutionary scale that signified change? Was it differently colored from the majority, but in a manner that most other dinosaurs didn't notice or hold against it? Was it a reptile that believed in the redistribution of resources between all dinosaurs?
No.
"The genus name refers to Barack Hussein Obama and odon (tooth in Greek), in reference to the tall, straight teeth, and the manner in which Mr Obama has acted as a role model of good oral hygiene for the world."
So you're saying they'll never name a dinosaur after an English prime minister, then. (I kid, I kid...I am half-English, and we get to roast one another.)
But then there's also this:
"No one should impute any political significance to the decision to name the extinct lizard after the recently re-elected U.S. president. We're just having fun with taxonomy."
So which is it? Having fun with taxonomy, or rejoicing in our commander-in-chief's supposedly exemplary dental hygiene? If it's all about the teeth, we'd have suggested the Robbinsaurus or the Peetadon first.
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27 comments
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Real-life fun taxonomy facts:
In 1997, paleontologist wanted to name a Triassic ceolophysid dinosaur he discovered Godzillasaurus. Sony Pictures, which was in the process of making its Emmerich/Devlin Godzilla movie, took a dim view of this unlicensed use of a trademarked name for which they paid a assload of money, had their lawyers send Carpenter a nasty letter. Undaunted, Carpenter contacted Toho studios and asked if he could name the dinosaur Gojirosaurus. Toho allowed it.
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The Obamadon's behavior was characterized by its nearly-constant efforts to confiscate food from more successful dinosaurs and giving it to less successful dinosaurs, conditioning the less successful ones to continually demand more until the Obamadon was forced to borrow massive amount of food from Chinese dinosaurs. Eventually, its food-redistribution schemes became unsustainable and collapsed, leading to mass starvation.
And that's how dinosaurs became extinct. Against all the available evidence, many paleontologists continue to blame it on the Bushasaurus.
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@theshadow Look, an "uneducated-odon". Common in the south and the Midwest. Known for using Ad Hominem, and not actually researching facts. Often known to reproduce with siblings.
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Wait....Really? Just for having straight teeth? I don't really care that they named it after him, just their weak reason for doing so. I want a Tesladon! Or a Dr. Seussasaur!!
http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lu6fj8GQBi1qdv1zg.gif
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@Timely-Tardis-Lego I want a Tesladon, too.
...
...
...Especially since I'm now picturing it as a Stegosaurus that shoots lightning arcs out of its spikes.
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@Anony-Mouse When they gave a Nobel Peace Prize to someone whose biggest accomplishments were popularizing the "bomb-belt-for-children" and stealing money from Palastinian humanitarian relief funds so he could buy a summer place in the French Riviera - the Nobel committee kinda lost any credibility
@Gallen_Dugall @Anony-Mouse the two of you should try reading a newspaper instead of sleeping under them.
@gregseth619 @Gallen_Dugall @Anony-Mouse I read that as "go team go rah rah rah"
to which I respond "cram your pom poms"
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@Canadian.Scott I wish I could like that a couple more times. Do you guys rip on your prime minister a lot?
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@East_Threadly @Canadian.Scott It's not a rip on the president. It's a rip on all the ignorant, redneck, uneducated haters who seem to have all suffered memory loss PRIOR to Obama's tenure, and blame every little problem on him.
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@East_Threadly Yeah we like to rip on him a bit too. Here is a fine example...
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/MCfk2.jpg[/IMG]
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It's too bad they couldn't do this four years ago, when this would've made for perfect fuel when it came to talk show hosts needing John McCain jokes.
Also, I now look forward to when SyFy cashes in on this by releasing Crocosaurus vs. Megaobamadon.
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@SlyDante777 And the cover could be that picture above and this...
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/qY2Tm.jpg[/IMG]
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@vangald it certainly isn't because smokers have good teeth
yes, he still smokes... cigarettes
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@Gallen_Dugall @vangald Look, more people that can't articulate any intelligent reason for hating him.
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@gregseth619 @Gallen_Dugall @vangald I have no strong feelings for the man any more than I cared about Bush - by any objective analysis they are practically identical in every aspect of their administrations.
I do loath Obama's legions of hypocrite mindlessly shallow cheerleaders who praise him for continuing all the same policies that they railed against as proof that Bush was worse than Hitler. Seriously you people who treat politics as sports are responsible for everything that is wrong with the world - not the politicians or the corporations - it's you people who say it's wonderful when your team does it but awful when the other team does (mirrored by your equally mindless opposite numbers on the other side of each "issue") that allow all the bullshit in the world to get progressively worse because ultimately you don't give a shit about anything beyond being on the winning team so that you can lord it over the losing team.
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The dinosaur or the president that is doing the same shit as the last one but people want to kiss his ass anyhow? Because I really hate the dinosaur with those qualities.
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Ok so if I find previously unknown spices that liked to cram itself into tight spaces I can name it Braxosaurus.
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There are days when reality is infinitely more ridiculous than anything my imagination could conceive. This is one of those days.
I'm guessing the latter explanation is the actual reason for the change, and the former is the completely ludicrous "justification" they sold to whoever needed a serious(?) rationale for the name.
