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Dinosaur Auction In Las Vegas

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the seven-thousand-years-old dept.

Xerfas writes "If you ever dreamed of owning your own dinosaur, here's your chance. Possibly the most impressive natural history auction ever is set to take place Oct. 3 at the Venetian Casino in Las Vegas. Here you can find everything from the T.rex to a duck-billed dinosaur and a mammoth skeleton."

5 of 82 comments (clear)

  1. Re:But who is selling? by NotQuiteReal · · Score: 3, Informative

    You need to read each item description.

    An auction house is running it, and as far as I can tell, each item comes from somewhere different - the T. Rex is from Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, the Shark Jaws from Vito Bertucci, etc.

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    This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
  2. Re:IT Dept by Maquis196 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Thats nothing, sometimes you can just ask for a +5 mod.

    How about it mods? +5 informative?

    --Maquis196

  3. Re:But who is selling? by SpinyNorman · · Score: 4, Informative

    They come from different places. The description of the duck bill dinosaur (hadrosaur) says it had been owned by a Japanese museum which closed, and was then bought by a private American collector who is now selling it.

    There's another article here about the auction which mentions the T.Rex also currently being privately owned:

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32705922/ns/technology_and_science-science/

    Sign of the recession I guess that some fat cat has to sell his T.Rex.

  4. Re:Pedantic Note: Troll Vs Trawl by Hatta · · Score: 4, Informative

    Trolling is a method of fishing where one or more fishing lines, baited with lures or bait fish, are drawn through the water. This may be behind a moving boat, or by slowly winding the line in when fishing from a static position, or even sweeping the line from side-to-side, eg when fishing from a jetty. Trolling is used to catch pelagic fish such as salmon, mackerel and kingfish.

    Trolling can be phonetically confused with trawling, a completely different method of fishing, where a net (trawl) is drawn through the water instead of lines. Trolling is used both for recreational and commercial fishing whereas trawling is used mainly for commercial fishing.

    From Wikipedia

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    Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
  5. Re:Is our economy so bad... by Quothz · · Score: 3, Informative

    The real tragedy is that most of these fossils probably came from private digs. Like archeology, paleontology relies on context. The location where it was found, it's position in the geological strata, other fossils found with it. All these factors can enrich our understanding of these species.

    Alan Detrich pulled 'em out of the ground. I can't imagine why you'd worry just because he's a lunatic. He fancies himself a sculptor, he's a staunch proponent of intelligent design who ran for the Kansas Board of Education and famously called those who oppose him "evil-lutionists", and he owns a private fossil excavation company. I can't for the life of me see any reason to be concerned.