We recently wrote about the remake of the movie King Kong is historically accurate. Now a science historian says that the original film was inspired by an actual scientific expedition. Science historian Gregg Mitman says, “Elements of the 1933 Kong movie are based on the 1926 real-life expedition of William Douglas Burden, a trustee of the American Museum of Natural History. Burden traveled to Indonesia to film and capture the Komodo dragon, which he thought was the closest living relative of dinosaurs. When Burden brought back two live Komodo specimens and housed them in captivity in the Bronx Zoo, they died. Meridan Cooper, producer of the 1933 film version of Kong, wrote at the time, ‘I immediately thought of doing the same thing with a giant gorilla.'”

Burden attributed the Komodo dragon’s death to civilization. “This is why Cooper chose the Empire State Building and modern airplanes to kill off Kong,? Mitman says. ?They were fitting symbols of civilization and the machine age that many feared were destroying nature.”

There have now been three King Kong films: a 1976 version and the 1933 original.

Crop circles are something else that has been around for many years?but they’re still ignored by most of the US media. But those of us who love these magical designs look forward to the new crop circle calendar every year. And while supplies last (which won’t be long), you get a free 2005 calendar with every 2006 crop circle calendar you order. Get crop circle postcards too?they’re a great way to keep in touch with friends.

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