To the handful of you who commented on the actual blog posts at the blog, I accidentally deleted them all today. You might get notices about that, you might not. I’m sorry. :(
Of all the aspects of a dragon, perhaps the most overlooked is its ability to fly, something that makes it stand out (further) as a (presumed) biological improbability. The current known catalog of terrestrial organisms has reserved all flying vertebrate spots for four-limbed creatures only, with the upper limbs reserved for wings, to say nothing of the dragon’s prodigious size. Even as an arthropod, it would be unlikely.
Hmmm… Arthropod dragons…
Anyway, the Dickinsonian gas/fire theory springs to mind, though I personally don’t think that it requires spherical dragons. At any rate, I don’t know enough about kinesiology nor aerodynamics to discuss this intelligently at this point in time, so here are some sketches of the heavyweight dragon from Sunday launching itself into the air.