Dinosaur tracks in Arkansas.

I am a reasonably opened-minded fellow. I can objectively listen to the other person’s narrow point of view. People, who know me well, would likely violently disagree with this self analysis, but so be it. 

In my open-minded self, I understand that science must research arcane concepts that on the face make no sense to a non-intellectual like me. I reluctantly accept my own limitations. However, I recently read an urgent report from the Associated Press that researchers at the University of Arkansas had discovered dinosaur tracks in Arkansas. 

For an instant, I became genuinely  excited. I envisioned a 5 story, 3 toed behemoth crashing through Wal-Mart warehouses and wrecking havoc on all those Chinese made products. I came to my senses, however, because as I continued to read, I learned the tracks were probably made more than 120 million years ago. Yawn! The research was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation. A university researcher said,”Through tracks we can learn all sorts of things about dinosaur biomechanics and behavior.”

I read on. The article said that the post-doctoral research team, “Used traditional tools, including hammers, chisels and brooms, but also cutting edge technology to take images and make measurements at the site.” Do you find this detailed explanation on the powerful research tools as funny as I do? In my itsy bitsy menial mind, I imagined a research team composed of several people with multi-disciplined doctorate degrees representing thousands and thousands of dollars of tuition money and dozens upon dozens of years of academic studies, hammering on a rock, gently digging with a chisel, carefully sweeping the dust away with tiny brooms left over from an old Indiana Jones movie, then taking a picture with their iPhone for their office. 

I apologize for my narrow minded view, but I believe this is an outrageous waste of tax payer money. Let me save the NSF and taxpayers some money. Dinosaurs were big. They were ornery. They lived 100 million years ago. They are gone. 

My suggestion to the National Science Foundation is develop a cure for cancer and a few other diseases, provide food for the foodless, build homes for the homeless, and if there is any money left over, spend it on anything, but dinosaur behavior research.