a co-worker (and good friend) informed me the other day that his youngest son was in a state of disconsolate grief, sobbing without control and unable to be comforted. it seems that he had just learned some bad news, the effect of which served to rock his proverbial world: he could not, as it happens, ever see a live t-rex. they are, after all, extinct - a detail which, until now, had not been fully comprehended. after a quick and somewhat stifled chuckle, my friend was off to try and console his son.

with his return, i asked if his son had calmed down.

"sure," my friend replied. "i just told him that scientists were working on ways to bring dinosaurs back."