That some fossils are just lying around will be my first surprise. I lose quite a bit of respect for paleontologists immediately. The word “fossil” means obtained by digging, but Mike explains that lots of fossils are discovered on the surface, which feels like cheating–and if not on the surface, then by digging where a fossil was found on the surface. Or if not that, then while digging for some other reason, like to make a tunnel or those stories of a farmer out plowing his field. Or, as a last-ditch effort, by digging a ditch, in the type of stone that’s the precise age and type of sediment that tends to preserve the specific things you’re looking for. But that approach takes time and money.
I sort of thought we got fossils by just digging straight down at random spots. I lose quite a bit of respect for myself realizing this is how I thought things worked. But I did sort of think it: that the search had a wilder hopefulness and randomness to it, that all ground had equal potential if you were willing to dig. A better word for “fossil” would be whatever the Latin is for “obtained by grant money and erosion.”
Grab a coffee.
Update: Or not.
This is a bit idiotic. Diggong rocks is a hard, messy and costly business, not mentioning the environmental difficulties. Mining companies do not dig at random, even for gold or diamonds, they start with a surface find. Why would paleontologists with a very limited budget dig at random? Every amateur fossil hunter knows this. I suspect he studied paleontology at YouTube U.
“I will fly out from Boston. Dan from New York City. Our flights will be delayed. ”
I gave up on the article at the first line. I had to reread it a couple times thinking about who Dan was and why the title gave me the premise it was a past experience but was clearly written in future tense. Beyond that, I didn’t care for the incomplete sentences and egregious use of periods.
I wondered what flights from Boston and New York had to do with digging and then wondered why I cared.
So…was that supposed to get our minds off of the election?
Reminds me of one of Margaret Attwood’s books….rambling, getting no where, and assuming profound statements.She did a ‘book’ on dinosaurs too….
Sunday morning cartoons are more entertaining….
Are we missing something Kate??
There are millions of wistful, nostalgic stories about growing up in the naked city. This has been one of them.
Now let me tell you mine …………
Thumb sucker, archaeology style.
I tired of the fatuous future tense when I found I really didn’t care what their wardrobes will be.
Well, I got my hopes up for nothing.
From the title, I thought we were in for a exciting game of “Find Bernie”.
How about a story on the “dig at Picton’s farm”.
Isn’t the Atlantic one of the tree-killer dino media icons staring at the comet?
I can see why when they publish these lame journo-adventure stories – if you have to go digging dino bones (a metaphor for MSM extinction?) at least don’t be boring about it.
Remember the good old days of journo-adventures? I’d go on a dino hunt with Hunter Thompson and doc gonzo any day, but this wimp is as interesting as a root canal job.
See, that came highly recommended, so I thought my first take might be unfair. It appears I’m with the majority.
Finding and examining fossils is important to oil & gas exploration geology. That work is very involved requiring extensive experience and knowledge to do well. It helps to create a picture of what local and regional near surface conditions were over particular period in time. That picture identifies areas with potential for deposition and/or hydrocarbon migration. And it involves careful examination of many subsurface rock cores – not just merely walking along a dry river bed on some rock hunting expedition.
I think people “lose respect” far too easily – and much of that is because they are too comfortable making denigrating conclusions based on little or no thought and then proclaiming how smart they are for making light of stuff they have no understanding of. It’s such mental laziness I have no respect for.
A better word for “fossil” would be whatever the Latin is for “obtained by grant money and erosion.”
Training for using public money. Just more parasites paid to put a particular interpretation on what is found of the past.
Let the oil and gas companies pay for their own picture that “identifies areas with potential for deposition and/or hydrocarbon migration.” Speaking of lazy…
I know an “amateur” palaeontologist who has managed to get a block of shale weighing tons out of the bush with the help of a pick-up and a couple of volunteers. This was after he dug it out of a cliff face fronting a river that had no road access and wasn’t navigable. With his most recent discovery he had to find someplace with room and heating so he could spend a prairie winter cleaning and then casting the ten foot fossil so it wouldn’t crumble when he tried to move it. The expertise definitely isn’t in finding a fossil. Any fool can “find” a fossil.
By the way, he does all this on his own because the last time he left one of his discoveries in the hands of the “experts”, they broke it.
I will not know, nor will I care, who will recommend this to you, but I will hope that you will bear this article in mind next time they will recommend an article to you. I really don’t know what the content of the article is, I couldn’t get past the horrid writing style.
I got less than halfway through it before giving up in disgust. And “fossil” may have once meant “obtained by digging” but that is an archaic meaning, to say the least. To a paleontologist, a fossil is a relic of the existence of a life form in the past. Either a fragment of the critter itself, or a cast of one, or tracks or trails made by one. Dinosaur footprints, for example are called “trace fossils”.
Bad writer, sorely in need of an editor.
Ah to be young and intensely inward looking.
They mostly do.
BTW among the most important fossils are the conodonts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conodont#/media/File:Conodonts.jpg
Oh yes; the link will catch on Ms. McMillan’s prissy span filter. Tant pi9s.
When I think fossil, I think of the crystal clear, amber colored liquid that goes into the fuel injection system of my Ford and comes out as horsepower. Now I wonder, was that a dead socialist that just came out of the exhaust pipe, or was that a T-Rex??
Since when were fossils always underground? On the banks of the Hay River, near Enterprise, you could pick brachiopods off the ground as the banks had eroded away. Just like picking shells off a beach.
Frances….you are so right. Spent 5 years in Ft. Simpson. Been along the Hay and MacKenzie and Liard many times. Hundreds of thousands of years of history laid bare there by simple erosion. I’d be back there in a heartbeat :):).
“See, that came highly recommended, so I thought my first take might be unfair. It appears I’m with the majority.”
Well, I’m not. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I like a bit of rambling whimsy on a Sunday.
Thanks for posting despite your reservations.
Since I also wasted time trying to find something worthwhile in his narrative, I thought I might as well waste some more and put in my opinion. Made it about one third through when I realized I already understand more about paleontology than the writer will probably ever care to.
stradivarious, when they start digging up dinosaur fossils with saddles on them then I will start to question the honesty of paleontology.
stradivarious, when they start digging up dinosaur fossils with saddles on them then I will start to question the honesty of paleontology.
I thought it was mostly leftards who used straw man arguments…guess I was right.
Leftardism doesn’t extend just to politics.
Funny it seams just a few years ago they discovred that lizard/reptile fossel then were announcing that all humans were decended from this dumb thing just like trying to claim afosselized chimp(Lucy)was what all humans decended from. Darn crazy Darwinists freakos
By sheer coincidence, I just got back from fossil hunting today. Perhaps I missed something, but I’m not nearly as philosophical about it as this guy.
Fossil hunting? I just look in the mirror.