Koch gives Smithsonian $35M for new dinosaur hall

[Viva_La_Revolution]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An energy businessman is donating a record $35 million to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History to build a new dinosaur hall on the National Mall, the museum complex announced Thursday.

The donation by David H. Koch, the executive vice president of Koch Industries Inc. of Wichita, Kan., is the single largest gift in the museum's 102-year history. The Smithsonian Board of Regents voted Monday to name the new dinosaur hall in Koch's honor.

Koch, an engineer trained at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is a billionaire who lives in New York City. He was the Libertarian Party's vice presidential candidate in 1980 and has been a major donor to conservative political causes targeting President Barack Obama's policies, as well as to educational, medical and cultural groups.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SMITHSONIAN_DINOSAURS_GIFT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

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what is that popping-splat sound from over by FR?

[klook]

1. Koch belongs in there himself

as one of the nation's leading dinosaurs.

[ProfessionalLeftist]

6. That's the first thing I thought. LOL! n/t

[kitt6]

16. I'm telling ya!

And take his brother with him.

[KansDem]

29. Yes, the "Kochosaurus." (nt)

[RobertEarl]

2. Stupid internet rumors..!!

Last edited Thu May 3, 2012, 11:53 PM - Edit history (1)

There once was a rumor that the reptilian republicans are really an ancient breed of evolved-into-humans-dinosaurs.

All this donation will do is feed that rumor, because it makes it look like dinosaurs are being put on some pedestal, and it is a modern day economic dinosaur that is making the donation to do so.

Hey, all i can do is warn ya. (smile)

[freshwest]

18. They're preparing for the return of the Annunaki! Run for your lives!

Internet rumor #3,489,126:

They're coming to eat all of us.

[KamaAina]

3. So will the Jebus-rode-a-dinosaur fundies now vote against all things Koch?

That's what I thought.

[freshwest]

19. No, this is their vindication. This and the Velocipator Jesus. A new religion will be born.

[KamaAina]

4. You know who else is into dinosaurs? Newt.

Makes you wonder why Koch didn't start bankrolling him after the casino guy pulled out. They could even have started a third party, with the dinosaur as their answer to the donkey and elephant.

[Sanity Claws]

5. Koch is a living dinosaur.

I guess he feels an affinity with the extinct ones.

[global1]

7. So How Much "Good Will" Will Koch Be Buying In D.C. With This Donation?........nt

[Fearless]

8. Wait wut? Evolution isn't real!

[zaj]

9. "The Kock Museum of Early American Oil"

:^/

[glinda]

11. yup. Fossil fuel.

[jberryhill]

10. He shares a close, personal bond with them

A monument to extinction. A present reminder that, however brief our individual lives on this planet are, our manifestation as a product of earth's ecosystem is but a wink of the eye of the cosmos - as is earth itself and the star it orbits.

The ultimate fate of the Universe is to end.

It'll have been fun while it lasted, so let's just fucking enjoy the ride while it's still here.

[allan01]

12. re:Koch gives Smithsonian $35M for new dinosaur hall

pay your taxes

[Archae]

13. Why do people constantly consider dinosaurs to be "failures?"

They were on the Earth a HELLUVA longer time than mammals, including those ugly pink ones called "humans."

Now if only that big rock hadn't gone splat...

[JI7]

14. because some people think dinosaurs and humans at one time lived on earth together

but humans survived while dinosaurs didn't.

[Archae]

15. Dinosaurs did survive.

But nowadays we call them "birds."

[AtheistCrusader]

20. And crocodiles.

Anything from the late triassic counts, I would think.

[AlbertCat]

27. And crocodiles.

Crocodiles are reptiles. Dinos are not (tho' for a while they were thought to be)

Mammals are in the late triassic too. "Mammal-like Reptiles" or Sinapsids...which became us... evolved long before the Dinos, but couldn't keep up as well after the Permian Extinction.


I know... I'm being a know-it-all. But it's so cool and fascinating!

Remember the BBC's "Walking With Dinosaurs"? There's a "prequel" called "Walking With Monsters". Put it in your Netfix queue!

[AtheistCrusader]

31. Crocs are more closely related to birds than snakes or lizards.

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/archosy.html

"Dinosaurs are a specific subgroup of the archosaurs, a group that also includes crocodiles, pterosaurs, and birds. although pterosaurs are close relations, they are not true dinosaurs. Even more distantly related to dinosaurs are the marine reptiles, which include the plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs."

I tend to agree with the classification, but you are correct, I should not call a croc a dinosaur. They are very, very close cousins and they existed at the same time, and crocs and birds share a common dino ancestor, but they are not dino's themselves.

[kitt6]

17. I truly believe

that old republican reptiles are the world's ills.

[crunch60]

21. Koch, spreading the Love $$$$, maintaining control, buying lots of support for their dynasty.

These are the wolves in sheep's clothing. Benevolent killers of democracy, buy and use as they see fit.

[Princess Turandot]

22. He's also paying for a new plaza in front of NYC's Met Museum of Art...

the project is being estimated at $60 million, which he's paying entirely. (It was announced in February; he's on the museum board.)

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20120207/upper-east-side/david-koch-funding-major-metropolitan-museum-of-art-plaza-renovation

[truthisfreedom]

23. What a wonderful mixed message!

Yes, he believes in dinosaurs because he knows where oil came from. Millions of years of decomposition of earlier life forms. The goo left from a lush, lush world filled with life. I wouldn't be surprised if he's an atheist.

[no_hypocrisy]

24. Koch is getting to be like Trump, putting his name graffiti-style on buildings after donations.

(New York) City Opera re-named its home the Koch Theater in Lincoln Center.

[wilt the stilt]

25. he's not really giving money

He's advertising. If he was really giving money his name wouldn't be displayed.

[tawadi]

33. You got it. eom

[LiberalEsto]

26. How perfectly appropriate!

Will they show people riiding the dinosaurs?

[AlbertCat]

28. The Kochs have money... y'know

They support a lot of the arts... like the NY State Theatre which is now the David H. Koch Theatre.

Of course if the USA would support the arts like every other civilized nation does, we wouldn't have to depend so much on Koch....

[cally]

30. An exhibit on human evolution was also paid for by Koch

I went to the Smithsonian a few weeks ago and was surprised to see the Koch name on a great exhibit on human evolution. Reminds me of some of the great buildings funded by the railroad tycoons a century ago. At least some of their money is going to a good cause.

[Igel]

34. More often than not.

We hear a lot about $300,000 donations to conservative causes. We hear less about more frequent, larger donations, even if we like the cause.

What's really important is what gets through our filters and feeds our beliefs. In this, we're but human.

[jpak]

32. With people riding them - just like in the bible

yup

[lynne]

35. One of my favorite spots at the Smithsonian -

- wonderful memories of my own grade-school trips, then taking my children, and now my grandchildren to the "Dinosaur Building" at the Smithsonian. My adult daughter still has the stuffed dinosaur she got there when she was 4 yrs. old.

Am glad to see this donation and am pleased to see his money benefiting everyone rather than just his own political interests.