4 - Wednesday, November 12, THE BIG fad this year, you might not be aware, is dinosaurs. As the marketers shift into high gear for Christmas, the trend is toward dinosaur toys, dinosaur shirts, dinosaur notebooks, dinosaur bedsheets, dinosaur barbecue aprons, stuf- fed dinosaurs, inflatable dinosaurs — my God, even columns about dinosaurs! The dinosaur has become, believe it or not, a pop culture icon. The current dinosaur fad got started by accident when a Los Angeles toy company brought out a. six-foot-high inflatable dinosaur as a promotion for the Japanese film Godzilla. Godzilla, you will recall, was the monster mutated in the dep- ths of the Pacific as a result of American atomic tests, who clambered cinematically ashore on the edge of Tokyo Bay, creating havoc among the train _sets and model buildings, some 30 years ago. it was the first successful ex- ported Japanese movie, | remember fondly. The remake fast year was actually less memorable, even though the special effects had improved, This was a rare case where special effects weren't the issue. The issue was that Godzilla, basically a monster from = the future, was plainly a giant rein- carnated Tyrannosaurus Rex. Aha! This was material being disgorged from the planetary mass consciousness, absolutely no doubt about it! Walt Disney's animated por- trayal of the death of the last of the dinosaurs collapsing in the screeching desert wind is the best depiction ever done. The image of the massive prehistoric beasts has been with us ever since the first palcon- | tologists unearthed the first huge bones and realized what they meant: a race of giant creatures had passed away be- fore we had even been a glint in evolution’s eye. Extinct reptiles are hot for a good reason. The fate of the dinosaurs, we all instinctively know, is a story that contains a lot of very useful information for our own species and its sur- vival. Soft Contact Lenses Capilano Optical CAPILANO MALL 980-2517 EXERCISE REGULARLY For information on how the YMCAcan improve your lifestyle call: 681-0221 “The Best You Can Do For You" 1986 - North Share News Bob Hunter @ strictly personal ® es ee ree ra Lf How did the great extinction come? The question is far from answered. In the last few years, the old vision of a slow, agonized death of the mighty dinosaurs — a kind of evolu- tionary niass regicide — caused by apocalyptic changes in climate, has been breathed grim new life by the theory of nu- clear winter. No one thinks the dinosaurs nuked themselves, but an in- triguing theory has emerged that if the dinosaurs hadn't died out, they would very likely have evolved into a reptilian humanoid which would have occupied humanity's niche in evolution by getting there first! The world would by now probably be cun by the deseen- dants of a 10-foot dinosaur named Stenonychosaurus ine. qualius who had a brain-to-body ratio approaching that of primitive animals. So, a lite respect here for the big fellas, never mind all this talk about them being so dumb, What got) the dinosaurs, another unpleasant modern theory holds, is something that could very casily get us, bays and girls. It could be & supernova hap- pening on a onearby | star, spreading lethal particles and radiation. It might be a collision with a comet or an interstellar dust cloud. But most likely it was, for the dinosaur — and very easily could be for us — a matter of RENOVATE: ONS being whacked by an asteroid. The last one to nearly hit the Earth was in 1937, when Hermes, an asteroid the size of Newfoundland, came within 400,000 miles, a aear-miss in cosmic terms. There is evidence to strongly suggest that something as bad as this happens every 30 million years or so. There are peaks in extinction rates fo be found among fossils of shellfish and mollusks, the last) measurable peak being about 11) million years ago, well before humanity appeared in’ any recognizable form. The dinosaurs simply got wiped out in one of these peri- odic holocausts. The timing in all this, not in- cidentally, -'m sure, fits in perfectly with the orbit of a hy- pothetical star named Nemesis, which might pass near our dear old solar systeny every few gealogical epochs. No doubt you'll be as happy as me to know that, by all these accounts, the next big evolu- tionary burn-out isn’t scheduled for four million years, give or take a few possible order-of- magnitude miscalculations. One thing about the dinosaur fad is that it is at least in- telligent. Not all fads are, you know. [It brings to mind a sense of the great time-cyeles by which the universe actually operates. That's good, lest one gets too caught up in the woes of this afternoon or tomorrow morn- ing. You know how it happens. BATHROOMS and KITCHENS = . pe dontal Estimates 987-3655 formerly | Luxury Marble Ruma , ULI at Showroom 153 W. 3rd | WHOLESALE & RETAIL—FREE CATALOGUES AVAILABLE Re-Elect Responsible Decision \ CRAIG CLARK FOR N.V. DISTRICT ALDERMAN Re-elect W.V. ALDERMAN GORDON ROWNTREE Served 5 Years as Alderman COUNCIL ae: ... sincerely working to control expenditures that would seriously increase taxes. * Serves as Director of Lions Gate Hospital e Chairman § Union Board of Health ¢ Acting Mayor Apriland May © # Chariman Pitch & Putt Tournament * Long Range WV hospital planning committee * Court of Revision « has served on Library Board ° Parks and Recreation On Nov. 15th ELECT BILL RODGERS North Vancouver District Council ~ lowyer - resident of North Van for 9 years ~ married with a 2 yr. old daughter - member of the Canadian Bar Assoc. and the West Coast Environmental Law Assoc. ~ director of Mountain Equipment Co-op (1978-1982) and Bridge Society for Behaviorally Handicapped Persons. BILL RODGERS WILL WORK FOR NORTH VAN by: - encouraging business development through consistent zoning and planning policies - preserving the integrity and cheracter of existing neighbourhoods. ~ improving youth programs and recreational facilities. BILL RODGERS CAMPAIGN OFFICE #202 1217 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver 984-3646 “serving you in North Vancouver District’’