Smithsonian.com

Some Assembly Required: Dinochick has posted some very amusing, time-elapsed videos of replica dinosaur skeletons being put together at the Tellus Museum in Cartersville, Georgia.

Fossil Fuel Initiative Fuels Controversy Over Fossils: The federal government recently opened tens of thousands of acres in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming to oil-shale extraction. Environmentalists are up in arms over the potential threat to pristine wilderness. At Switchboard, a blog published by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Frances Beinecke — the president of NRDC — warns that Dinosaur National Monument, “where dinosaur-loving children watch paleontologists at work on active digs,” is among the threatened sites.

However, political observers predict that incoming President Barack Obama will immediately reverse the policy, while the Wall Street Journal notes that “the recent slump in oil prices could damp the petroleum industry’s interest in the oil-shale region.”

Jurassic Zen: Bob Strauss, over at the appropriately titled Bob’s Dinosaur Blog, has written twenty dinosaur-themed haikus. (Note: The market niche for bawdy dinosaur limericks remains wide open.) Also, Bob reports on how the economic recession is devastating the animatronic dinosaur industry. (And you thought only auto companies had problems….)