Thursday, September 23, 2010

Bizarre New Dinosaur Species Found In Utah

An artist reconstruction of  Utahceratops
An artist reconstruction of Kosmoceratops , one of two new dinosaur species  discovered in Utah.

Scientists say they've found  two new dinosaur spieces in Utah that are among the most bizarre and blinged out ever discovered.

The Utah reptiles belong to the horned-dinosaur family, which is known for outlandish anatomy , and are wowing seasoned fossil hunrers . Even the three-horned tricertops , the most familiar horned dinosaur , looks like the no-frills model compared with the newcomers.

The species named Kosmoceratops had 15 horns decorating it's massive head , giving it the most elaborate dinosaur headdress known to science . At 15 feet long , it was larger than  Ford Fiesta . Its name mean "ornate horned-face" in  Latin.

The Utahceratops was adorned with unusual short horns that stuck out to the side like  a bison's. It was roughly 20 feet long and weighed 3 to 4 tons, as much as a large pickup truck. Its name is  Latin for "Utah horned -face."

The new species  "would've both been quite spectacular ," Michael Getty of the Utah Museum  of Natural History , who first spotted the first Utahceratops , he told the AOL News . And quite big : The skulls alone can be in axcess of 6 feet long [among]  the largest heads on any land animal that ever lived," he said.

The new discoveries are "first class finds , no doubt  about it," said the University of Pennsylvania's Peter Dodson , an authority on horned dinosaurs. Kosmoceratops in particular  "is absurd , a really ,really bizarre-lookong animal. Kosmoceratops is an outier even in its class," he said. The dinosaurs probably used those formidable horns to beackon lady dinosaurs , perhaps to fend off rival suiters , but certainly not to impaale prey.

The hooks at the back of the skull would've been relatively useless as weapons , but they're great for showing off," said study leader Scott Sampson of the Utah Museum of Natural History told the press. "These are effectively the Peacock feathers ...of the dinosaur world.."

Both species were plant eaters , somehow  swellling to a massive size o the vegetation  that thrived in the warm , swampy landscape that Utah had during the Late Certaceous period , more than 70 million years ago.  Today these dinosaurs would quickly strave in their once-lush homeland. The bone yards that yielded the fossils lie in what is now the Grand Staircase-Esaalante National Monument , an isolated ,rocky desert granted strict federal protection in 1996.

Fossil hunting at Grand Staircase is an endurance sport. The researches live in research camps that are among the most remote in the U.S.  , Getty says. The water source is a 90-minute  drive from camp. The scientists walk several miles from their camp to the dig site , sometimes carrying jackhammers and the heavy plaster needed to protect fossils. Getty was stung by a scorpion earlier this year , which at least was not as bad as being bitten by the local rattlesnakes.

But Getty says the hardships  are worth it. In addition to uncovering two eye-popping new speices  , the researches helped solidify the theory that a no-zone in nothern Utah divided dinosaurs into northern and southern populations . Dinosaurs from Canada are completely different from those in Utah .  Something , perphaps  a change in climate , kept the two groups from mixing.

Getty vividly recalled uncovering the first Utahceratops. "Finding such a significant  animal ...[that] looked liked a new species , different from  anything else we'd seen -- it couldn't get much more exciting," he said.
Happy fossil hunting ...

90 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:00:00 PM

    Hi ya doing...sent you mail 7:PM my time...
    BITCHY WITCHY

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  2. Hi Witchy, how's it going? I'm just going to have a quick look at that email.Be right back . Make youself at home.

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  3. Anonymous9:56:00 PM

    Hi cutie...Thankyou I will have a small glass of wine while I'm waiting.

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  4. Anonymous10:01:00 PM

    Did Nana enjoy her lunch ??
    How's the 'ROCK' doing?? I know he gave you his jiggle dance and a wink and said more to come.[giggles]
    Did the twins enjoy teaching the little ones at karate today??

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  5. Wow, you sure pack a lot of info into an email.What a lot of information. I will write to you later.

    And good luck on that yard sale. You will have a ball with it. Sis's idea about bringing our new stuff every day is brilliant.How long will you keep it gooing?

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  6. Nana liked her lunch and behaved. How did you know Brian winked at me? Do you have a hidden camera in here? The twins like teaching and tomorrow night they will be babysitting about fifteen 'little dragons';They are about four/five yrs old and have just started martial arts.They have to take care of them for about three hours.They are thinking up games tonight.

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  7. Anonymous10:07:00 PM

    I try to write it all while it's fresh and you can see my family is talkers.
    We are going to do it uniil October 16 and see how many will go DC...

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  8. Anonymous10:10:00 PM

    Hahaha...Now I'm spooky ...of course I have a camera in there, my eyeball is tuned into you my dear.
    OOooooooooo.

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  9. Jeremy got a pretty good job with Allstate. It's a big company and he has a future there. They like him.

    Our wild man out in the Rockies just got a promotion, even though he is only there on school leave.And he comes home in a couple more months.
    He got the partying and boozing out of his system after a couple of weeks and got serious.

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  10. Anonymous10:12:00 PM

    I know the twins will enjoy it and tell Jakey all those wee ones want to go to the restroom at the same time.Hahaha

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  11. I get the impression a lot of girls are visiting the wild man in his room. I hope he is careful. He is a pretty carefree, happy go lucky guy. I hope he uses his big head more than the little head....HA!

    And keep your spooky eyeball out of the 'hidey hole'

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  12. Anonymous10:19:00 PM

    Oh I am so happy for Jer..Allstate is a great company,and I know he will enjoy and they have great benefits...I think I told you a long while back that my daddy had a franchise in N.O. and moved it here...he started out as a saleman and Jer can go far.

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  13. That's a good point PIC. I will tell them to be ready for taking the little ones potty. Sam won't like that. He won't wipe anyone's butt, especially if it has a Las Vegas.

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  14. Anonymous10:21:00 PM

    Good for our wild man and I know he will be glad to get home.
    Guess what...he's not leaving any little wild man.
    I can feel how proud a 'Gunna" you are.
    Toot your horn sweetie ...you deserve to have great kids.

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  15. Another word Sam won't say is the word boob. He says 'tube'. I think that kid has some hangups.

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  16. Anonymous10:25:00 PM

    Just give Sam a couple more years, maybe about 13/14 .
    Sammy reminds me of Jill, she has an answer for everything and don't mind telling you.

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  17. Jer is in the financial department but I don't have a clue what his job is. It would be an entry level job.But the pay is good.

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  18. Anonymous10:29:00 PM

    When Sam hits that age he will be singing a different tune...
    Middle school you will hear a different tune because all the boys around him will be growing up.
    Haha

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  19. Anonymous10:33:00 PM

    Jer is keeping up with the money and where it's going.
    Thats the type of job he wanted...HUH ?
    You told him something good was coming along soon...if Jer had taken another job he would have missed this one.
    I'm happy for him to get what he wants and with good pay.

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  20. Does Jonny know the facts of life?If he doesn't, it can wait until he is curious and asks you. Also, They do teach it in school now.

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  21. Sammy is growing up really fast.
    He is a bit of a smart ass now. He always has a smart remark.

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  22. Anonymous10:36:00 PM

    Is the s****i back ???

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  23. HA!...I didn,t understand your secret code.

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  24. Anonymous10:39:00 PM

    I left a note on Sesame Street and some parents are so stupid.
    Remember me telling you Gilly was saying shit and you told me not to make a big deal out of it and he will move on to other things.

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  25. Anonymous10:40:00 PM

    Karate....is the code.

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  26. He's back but no one knows what the deal is. He is not talking and no one has asked him.I think they are too scared to.

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  27. Anonymous10:43:00 PM

    I going to let Gil deal with the boys and I will teach the girls when they ask, don't want to rush them .
    Dad went to the office with me today and Leon saw us ..went in his office and didn't come out.

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  28. Anonymous10:45:00 PM

    I think you and I was right about what happen..now everything is back to normal.

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  29. Well he sure doesn't seem worried about it. So I'm not worried.

    That sounds like a fair division of responsibility. Girls take it better than boys.

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  30. Anonymous10:50:00 PM

    What you think about the paper fold in half with Nanook's story on the front page and My/Nanook notes on the inside ...
    The web addresses will be on the outside with Nanook's story???

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  31. Did you see that video? There was nothing offensive about it. Children know about boobies and they are not frightened of them. She was decently covered.

    People who took offense at that video have a few sexual hangups that they will probably pass on to their kids. Or maybe they are all bible thumping fundamentalists.

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  32. Anonymous10:53:00 PM

    Dad said he think boys start getting boners around 12/13.

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  33. I think that will be a more attractive and effective pamphlet.I like the idea.

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  34. Anonymous10:56:00 PM

    I left a note on the video and called my babies to see it , I think I replayed it 3/4 times for them and they loved it and wanted one..shit they see more skin everyday and on TV...

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  35. Dad's right, so you only have a couple of years to go before you have to change the sheets more often.

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  36. By the way I love the new fossils they found. Just when they thought there was nothing new to find.We are still learning about our planet even while we are destroying it.

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  37. Anonymous11:03:00 PM

    I guess they don't carry their kids to the beach...You had 5 kids and now you have a bunch of grands and and for them to have a healthy sexual appetite is good for them.
    Hell I grew up on a farm and asked questions and glad Sis was open minded like you are and wasn't a prude, if she was i would hiding under the covers and not letting my man see my tits.

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  38. Anonymous11:06:00 PM

    They are very weird looking...they say there was some in Canada but different.
    Am I getting better????

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  39. Anonymous11:10:00 PM

    I wonder what happen to the rats/frogs and others taht scientists found in the bottom of the volcano in a rain forest I think..it was one of your posts.

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  40. Yeah, the article was good and the pictures also.

    Did you read about my new genetically engineered potato.This is the answer to a lot of hunger in the world. There will be enough nutrition in the new potato that they won't need much else to survive. And the potato will grow pretty much anywhere.

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  41. That was one of my posts, with a video. I believe the scientists left the volcano in peace. They want protect the biodiversity of the world, not exploit it.

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  42. Anonymous11:15:00 PM

    Yes...my folks love patotoes and they love when I give them hash browns for breakfast .
    You can fix patotoes so many ways.

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  43. Anonymous11:16:00 PM

    Thankyou...you just gave me an idea...I'm going to make patoto soup tomorrow.

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  44. All the frogs disappeared from our stream this year. And my neighbor always had dozens of them in his pond;only a couple this year.

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  45. Anonymous11:21:00 PM

    The heat...a lot of times frogs will go underground. we had a lot of squirrels but not as many this year. I think it's the heat...when will people notice that things are changing.

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  46. Love potato soup with bacon in it.

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  47. Now it's getting cooler I will start making stews again.

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  48. Anonymous11:25:00 PM

    Lois is working her butt off and she says we want a tour bus not one of those small shutter buses.

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  49. Anonymous11:27:00 PM

    I love the bacon also and for a change I chop up ham in the chopper.

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  50. If you quickly turn to Jay Leno you will see that little girl sing

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  51. Too late you missed her. She is nine years old and came in second on America's Got Talent. She has a wonderful voice;sounds like a grown-up.

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  52. Anonymous11:32:00 PM

    I missed her I think all I'm getting is commericals.

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  53. Anonymous11:35:00 PM

    Is that the little girl you had the video post ??
    Now those fools sound like us when we are partying and they are drunk.
    You know they say they have a band and I guess when you're drunk anything sound good.Hahaha

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  54. Oh for sure you need your own mini-bus.What a great time you guys will have in DC.I wonder how long you will stay.You have to be annoying then people tend to remember you. Can you handle it? You have to take your faithful sidekick with you.Between the two of you, you could tear that town apart and even come to the attention of BamBam.

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  55. Anonymous11:36:00 PM

    She is very pretty .

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  56. Anonymous11:39:00 PM

    My man would be home with the kids and if I get close to BamBam michelle would get mad because I would squeeze his buns and you know the side kick is comng if I go.

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  57. Anonymous11:43:00 PM

    They want a tour bus one of those big passenger buses ..Nan/Lois/Anita and I would go in my SUV and follow them in.

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  58. HA!..You wouldn't be able to resist pinching his ass, just for good luck, of course. I would like to know what he looks like close up and in person.

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  59. Michelle needs to lighten up.Get a sense of humor honey.

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  60. Anonymous11:46:00 PM

    If I'm not able to go, I will have the satisfaction of knowing we are making a difference and that I will be thankful.

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  61. You mean a tour bus that has all the comforts of home in it.Beds etc.?

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  62. Anonymous11:48:00 PM

    I know he's graying real fast...premature I guess , he's aged quite a bit.

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  63. You and I would go gray too if we had to deal with all the crap he has to.

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  64. Anonymous11:50:00 PM

    No a passenger bus, not one like the celebrities have..with 2 drivers and we should make it there in about 10/12 hours driving straight through.

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  65. Anonymous11:54:00 PM

    I wouldn't want that job for no amount of money...everything he do they find fault with it.
    I want BamBam to say fuck it and just do what he thinks is right, that what Bush did...

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  66. How many people are going?

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  67. You can get a lot of folks on a big bus like that.

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  68. It better at least have a bathroom.

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  69. BAmBam's got a good head on his shoulders; he ain't no fool. He should take your advice and trust himself.You can't please racists, no matter what you do.

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  70. Anonymous12:02:00 AM

    They have 2 restrooms and I don't know how many will be able to go, depends on how much money we raise.
    I know the bus will cost $400 a day and Gil said he would match what we raise.
    I will tell them at the meeting tomorrow that we need as much as we can get.
    I want to go but it depends on how things are going for Jonny, we hope his papers come through next month...

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  71. Anonymous12:08:00 AM

    That's the problem...he is a very smart man with a high I.Q. but they can't get past the color and that's wrong.

    Remember I told you it was like two different states...a north and a south and we have all the racist fucks here in the north and the ones in the south know when they see a black person they may be kin .

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  72. I sure hope you can go honey. It would be the culmination of everything you have been trying to do.

    We have created petitions up here to send to our parliament to get more protection for the bears.They are on our endangered list but we need to get them on our critically endangered list.One of the petitions for Canada is under Nanook.

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  73. Anonymous12:14:00 AM

    I talked to Gil this evening and he said I was going and If Jonny's papers wasn't here by that time we would pulled the kids out of school for a week and he would take us, so I will still have room.
    He said this was my baby and he wanted me to see it through.

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  74. Anonymous12:17:00 AM

    He says he will tell children services that we had some very important business to attend to out of town .

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  75. How wonderful that Long Shank supports you in your endeavors.Wow!..He will even drive you there. You'd probably have a wonderful time with the whole family along for the ride.

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  76. Anonymous12:18:00 AM

    He says always tell the truth you just don't have to go into details

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  77. Anonymous12:22:00 AM

    He says he's proud of me and what I'm doing, he always known Canada was fighting for the bears and he seen what a difference I have made and it will be nice for my babies.

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  78. By the way, I have an update on Jaycee.Her abductors have finally been indicted. They sure took their time with that.

    And Jaycee celebrates a year of freedom and the government has awarded her, I think, twenty million dollars because they were not monitoring a sex offender.

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  79. Anonymous12:24:00 AM

    It's gettimg to be about that time. boy , it's more fun talking about my bears than those damn C****o's.

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  80. Anonymous12:26:00 AM

    Do you have a post for it ?
    I'm so happy for Jaycee and her girls ...but it's still a long road for her to recovery.

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  81. We better cool off our key boards and crawl into bed. You have to have a lot of energy tomorrow to peel a hundred potatos.

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  82. Anonymous12:28:00 AM

    Well that's better than giving it to octo-mom...I posted on SK's she going on welfare.

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  83. You can make a good clam chowder with potato soup.

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  84. Anonymous12:31:00 AM

    Hash browns is made and in the frig.[giggles]

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  85. Jaycee and her girls will need lifelong psychological treatment.The government is footing the bill and they say it will cost an additional ten million

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  86. I don't think they can pay her enough.How can you put a price on eighteen years of captivity and torture?

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  87. Anonymous12:35:00 AM

    Sweetie...I will say goodnight and dream about making money for our bears...keep those letters going for Nanook and we will be taking a bunch of pamphlets with us...

    GOODNITE...HUGS & KISSES...PIC
    Kiss the ROCK

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  88. Well, sweet dreams and pleasant thoughts. Goodnight honey, take care of yourself.

    I'll be in DC in the crowd. I'll be the one waving the Canadian flag and wearing moose antlers.

    Luv ...PIC

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  89. Anonymous12:38:00 AM

    PS:
    If they stop payinf leeches like Octo-mom and other leeches they would be able to pay her.
    I think Jaycee deserves all she get and then some.

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  90. Anonymous12:41:00 AM

    PPs: I don't know if we will get in ...but we will damn sure make they know we are there.
    NITE

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Through this ever open gate
None come too early
None too late
Thanks for dropping in ... the PICs