Hollywood’s big turkeys
QUESTION Is the depiction of Velociraptors in Jurassic Park incorrect?
AUTHOR Michael Crichton based the fearsome protagonists for his novel on a dinosaur called Deinonychus, but used the name Velociraptor because it sounded more dramatic. The real Velociraptors were turkey-like in size and aggressiveness.
Jurassic Park was Crichton’s 1990 cautionary sci-fi tale about the perils of genetic engineering. It presents the dramatic downfall of an amusement park featuring recreated dinosaurs. his Velociraptors are intelligent and hunt in packs.
The real Velociraptors lived in Asia during the late Cretaceous epoch, 75 to 71 million years ago. Fossilised remains were discovered in the Gobi desert in 1923.
The name is derived from the latin words velox, meaning swift, and raptor, meaning robber or plunderer.
It refers to the dinosaur having limbs adapted for running and a carnivorous diet.
They were 3 ft tall and 6 ft long, weighed a couple of stone and had a 3 ft balancing tail. With hollow bones and a fine, featherlike covering, they built nests for their eggs, so behaved like birds.
One of the most scary scenes in the Jurassic Park films shows a pack of Velociraptors hunting the hero’s children. however, fossils indicate they were most likely solitary creatures.
The Deinonychus raptors were significantly bigger than Velociraptors: 12 ft long, 6 ft tall and weighing 11 st. It’s not known whether they had feathers.
Their habitat was the forests of North America and they roamed the earth during the early Cretaceous period, 115 to 108 million years ago. Their fossils were first found in 1931.
Deinonychus were thought to have hunted in packs to bring down larger prey and to have been very fast. Their name is derived from the Greek words deins, meaning terrible, and onukhos, meaning claw. This refers to the large, sickle-shaped talon on the second toe of each hind foot.
Adam Cullen, Lyme Regis, Dorset.
QUESTION Do microwaves cook from the inside out or the outside in?
There’s a widespread myth that microwave ovens cook from the inside out. They heat from the outside in, which is the conventional manner.
Microwaves are produced inside the oven by an electron tube called a magnetron. They are reflected within the metal interior where they are absorbed by the food and agitate the water molecules in the outer layers.
This vibration causes friction between the molecules in the food, which produces heat. That then causes neighbouring molecules to vibrate, which in turn heat up and so on. The inside of the food is cooked by the conduction of heat from the hot outer layers.
Nicholas Caines, Bushey, Herts.
QUESTION Other than embassies, is the acre given to the U.S. for the John F. Kennedy memorial the only plot of land in Britain that is technically a foreign territory?
The acre of land on which the JFK memorial stands in runnymede, surrey, is unique in that it is a piece of U.s. territory in Britain. It’s a myth that the ground on which embassies stand belong to the guest country. A host nation selects the location for an embassy, grants it and has the right to take it back.
The 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic relations stipulates the obligations on host nations and immunities enjoyed by diplomatic missions.
Article 22 states: ‘The premises of the mission shall be inviolable. The agents of the receiving state may not enter them, except with the consent of the head of the mission.’ Article 24 states: ‘The archives and documents of the mission shall be inviolable at any time and wherever they may be.’
however, the status of any embassy can be withdrawn, according to Article 43, ‘ on notification by the sending state to the receiving state that the function of the diplomatic agent has come to an end’.
This is provided certain rules are followed regarding repatriation of officials and property. Article 45 states: ‘The receiving state must, even in case of armed conflict, respect and protect the premises of the mission, together with its property and archives.’
Runnymede is where the Magna Carta was signed in 1215. This document, sealed by King John to end a revolt by the barons, is considered to be the foundation of modern democracy as it started the process of restricting the power of the monarchy.
Following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, the British government commemorated him with a Jacob’s ladder monument of granite steps leading to a stone block with an inscription. The American scarlet oak planted behind the monument turns red in November, the month of JFK’s death.
The acre was gifted to the U.s. federal government by the Queen so that the memorial would stand on American soil.
Katheryn Moore, High Wycombe, Bucks.
SCOTLAND Yard in london is theoretically land that is foreign owned.
Originally within the grounds of Whitehall Palace, it was designated as the scottish embassy where visiting royalty could stay safely.
After the Act of Union in 1707, it seems no one remembered to abolish the foreign status of this little street running off Whitehall near Trafalgar square. Alan Greenwood, Epsom, Surrey.
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