the stamp issue

in the year 1989, the united states postal service decided to make 60 million dinosaur stamps. good idea, right?

the four "dinosaurs" chosen for the stamp collection were: tyrannosaurus, stegosaurus, pteradon, and brontosaurus. ok, there are clearly 2 inaccuracies here; pteranodon is misspelled (and is actually a pterosaur, not a dinosaur) and, of course, the brontosaurus.

so, 2 of the 4 weren't even dinosaurs.

well, the scientific community was irate! the postal service was repeatedly accused of "fostering scientific illiteracy" and all hell broke loose.

if anyone out there has their dirty mitts on one of these bad boys, hook me up.

it's time for people to know the truth

here's the concise version, as most of my friends have a short attention span:

in the year 1877, a paleontologist by the name of Othniel Charles Marsh published the name apatasaurus. in 1879, the very same man published the name brontosaurus. in 1903, a man named Elmer Riggs came along and noted that the two were so similar, they were actually in the same genus! the older of the two names holds priority (as per the {ICZM} International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature).
Mike Taylor, a paleobiologist from the UK, states that "the world continued and continues to use "Brontosaurus''; but Apatosaurus should be used in all serious writing."

the proof is in the pudding! but if you're lactose intolerant, go here:

http://www.iczn.org/Palaeontology.htm