posted August 01, 2014 05:22 AM            

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Scientists Name Large Extinct Lizard After The Doors' Jim Morrison

A group of scientists have paid tribute to late Doors singer Jim Morrison by naming a newly described extinct reptile after him, BBC News reports. Barbaturex morrisoni was a plant-eating iguana-like creature that lived in Southeast Asia around 40 million years ago. It is believed to have weighed 60 pounds and grew to more than six feet in length, making it the largest herbivorous lizard ever discovered.

The animal's genus name, Barbaturex, is Latin for "bearded king," while one of the famous nicknames for Morrison is, of course, "The Lizard King."

Jason Head, an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln who was lead researcher in the study of the creature, came up with the idea to name the reptile after Morrison.

"I was listening to The Doors quite a bit during the research," Head tells the BBC. "Some of their musical imagery includes reptiles and ancient places, and Jim Morrison was of course 'The Lizard King,' so it all kind of came together."

One of the interesting aspects of the lizard, says researcher Russell Ciochon, a professor from the University of Iowa, was that it lived alongside and competed with plant-eating mammals that were comparable in size.

"Large lizards on the Earth today, such Indonesia's Komodo Dragon…are all carnivores," Ciochon explains to the BBC, adding that these plus-sized reptiles usually eat the mammals they co-exist with.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

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Just another example how writers and poets influence, mold and shape language, I guess...

Also interesting about ancient lizards being plant eating, but are now carnivorous.

posted August 01, 2014 05:33 AM            

Texas Radio And The Big Beat ~ The Doors

I wanna tell you about Texas Radio and the Big Beat
Comes out of the Virginia swamps
Cool and slow with plenty of precision
With a back beat narrow and hard to master

Some call it heavenly in it's brilliance
Others, mean and rueful of the Western dream
I love the friends I have gathered together on this thin raft
We have constructed pyramids in honor of our escaping
This is the land where the Pharaoh died

The Negroes in the forest brightly feathered
They are saying, "Forget the night.
Live with us in forests of azure.
Out here on the perimeter there are no stars
Out here we is stoned immaculate."

Listen to this, and I'll tell you 'bout the heartache
I'll tell you 'bout the heartache and the loss of God

I'll tell you 'bout the hopeless night
The meager Food for Souls forgot (for 'Soul Food' go to Soul Kitchen)
I'll tell you 'bout the maiden with wrought iron soul

I'll tell you this
No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn

I'll tell you 'bout Texas Radio and the Big Beat
Soft drivin', slow and mad, like some NEW LANGUAGE

Now, listen to this, and I'll tell you 'bout the Texas
I'll tell you 'bout the Texas Radio
I'll tell you 'bout the hopeless night
Wandering the Western dream
Tell you 'bout the maiden with wrought iron soul

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SOUL KITCHEN ~ The Doors

Well, the clock says it's time to close now
I guess I'd better go now
I'd really like to stay here all night
The cars crawl past all stuffed with eyes
Street lights share their hollow glow
Your brain seems bruised with numb surprise
Still one place to go
Still one place to go

Let me sleep all night in your soul kitchen
Warm my mind near your gentle stove
Turn me out and I'll wander baby
Stumblin' in the neon groves

Well, your fingers weave quick minarets
Speak in SECRET ALPHABETS (aka. Sign Language)
I light another cigarette
Learn to forget, learn to forget