work-related news: good for a change

[Lt. Killer M]

I recently gave a talk at the annual conference of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. The content was - I expected - controversial, but it turned out that the vast majority seemed to like it. Anyways, Nature news wrote it up here:
http://www.nature.com/news/2011/111107/full/news.2011.631.html#B4

:) me happy

[Shabbaman]

Nice. I hate nordic walking by the way.

[Furiey]

I've had visions of power-walking T Rex all day after reading this!

[socralynnek]

Now we know why the dinosaurs were extinct. They were all nordic walkers...

[grs]

Nice one, gratz!

[Lt. Killer M]

Nordic walking? Nah, more like the video running on FastForward ;)

[akots]

This is really good news IMO! It might be controversial but attention is the most important aspect here. Eventually people will start recognizing you, reading the papers and discussion something like "Look, here, this Mallison wrote up something new again". It make this stuff exciting and good for established people also because they finally have someone to argue with since all who did not agree either quit or did not get funded and their manuscripts were rejected by the "ruling class". As long as you don't cross the line and from what I see, you did not, it should be OK. Eventually they must realize that they are going to die or retire and somebody has to take over.

[Aggie]

Truely awesome. Good one Killer!

[Lt. Killer M]

Eventually they must realize that they are going to die or retire and somebody has to take over.

Indeed!

I intentionally didn't use the words "paradigm shift" in the abstract and talk, and I refrained from speculation on how fast exactly what kind of dinosaur was able to go, because I knew it was important to retain a fully defensible position for now. The paper will go farther, but then there will be room to bring supporting data. A talk is not a place to do that, not when 90% of the audience have totally forgotten an physics they ever took in school ;)

And yes, as you point out, recognition is a big thing. I am started to get asked to review a lot, etc., which is really an important step following from recognition. Also, I get asked to joint projects. This talk and conference will help a lot.

[Shabbaman]

Well, even if a t-rex would move at crawl speed, wouldn't their prey also move at crawl speed?

[Lt. Killer M]

Well, even if a t-rex would move at crawl speed, wouldn't their prey also move at crawl speed?

That's one point - but why would neither evolve for greater speed? Dinosaurs seem NOT to do this for their entire existence, which is really weird - unless it is wrong ;)

[BCLG100]

Gentlemans agreement

[Shabbaman]

Couldn't they have evolved from snail pace to crawl pace?

[barbu1977]

Wasn't the T-Rex a scavenger?

If so, they do not need to be faster than their pray, just there before the real hunter has time to eat it.

[Beam]

A nice read by itself and good to read you are moving on in the dino business. :)

[Shabbaman]

Wasn't the T-Rex a scavenger?

If so, they do not need to be faster than their pray, just there before the real hunter has time to eat it.

Well, if your prey is dead, it's still useful to be faster than it otherwise you'll never reach it.

[Lt. Killer M]

The T. rex = obligate scavenger hypothesis has been pretty much shredded like a hadrosaur by a Rex.

[Furiey]

I was talking about this with my dad tonight. He says if you come to the UK he'd love for you to do a talk for his model engineering society!

[Lt. Killer M]

I was talking about this with my dad tonight. He says if you come to the UK he'd love for you to do a talk for his model engineering society!

And time! I'll be in the vicinity of London in mid-January, and then again in April. :)

[Rik Meleet]

I've got video evidence proving clearly that:

A - T.rex did run
B - T.rex and humans were alive at the same time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnHbkBOMvFI

Counter that !

[Lt. Killer M]

I've got video evidence proving clearly that:

A - T.rex did run
B - T.rex and humans were alive at the same time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnHbkBOMvFI

Counter that !
[rotfl][rotfl][rotfl][rotfl][rotfl][rotfl][rotfl][rotfl][rotfl][rotfl][rotfl][rotfl][rotfl][jumpD][jumpD][happy][happy][happy]

cool! I will need to contact them and ask for permission to use this video as a horror example of WRONG gaits!

[grahamiam]

Hi Killer,
My son (11yrs old) has a dinosaur question that I can't answer and I figured you were a good resource :) . I will let him type it below:

Hi there. My name is Jamie. I have a question about dinosaurs. Here it is: Why did some dinosaurs have their knees backwards instead of forwards and why did they evolve like that? Thanks, Jamie

[Lt. Killer M]

Hi Killer,
My son (11yrs old) has a dinosaur question that I can't answer and I figured you were a good resource :) . I will let him type it below:

Hi there. My name is Jamie. I have a question about dinosaurs. Here it is: Why did some dinosaurs have their knees backwards instead of forwards and why did they evolve like that? Thanks, Jamie

Hi Jamie,
the answer is pretty simple: they didn't have their knees backwards! I know that some lazy journalists sometimes write this or say it on TV, because they can't bother to check, but that doesn't make it true.

What confuses them (and now you) is that some dinosaurs, including birds, have quite short thighs, and very long feet. So when you look at them you think "oh, this is the ankle", but it really is the joint between toes and the midfoot. What looks like the knee is the ankle, and the real knee is hidden by the feathers.

http://dinosaurpalaeo.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/ostrichjoints.jpg

[Beam]

Ostrich, mjammie!

[Lt. Killer M]

In other news, I won the Ninth Award for Paleontological Research (Paleonturology 11). It comes with 4500 Euro. YAY!

http://dinosaurpalaeo.wordpress.com/2011/12/15/paleonturology-2011/

[Lt. Killer M]

linky:
http://www.naturkundemuseum-berlin.de/aktuelles/kurznachrichten/?Fsize=0&Lightversion=1%3Ftypo%3D1%3Ftypo%3D0

[akots]

linky:
http://www.naturkundemuseum-berlin.de/aktuelles/kurznachrichten/?Fsize=0&Lightversion=1%3Ftypo%3D1%3Ftypo%3D0

[beer1]

You need to ask them to update the English version of the page.

[Furiey]

Excellent!

[grahamiam]

Thanks Killer, congrats on the award!

[Lt. Killer M]

[beer1]

You need to ask them to update the English version of the page.
First thing Monday morning; I wasn't able to translate before she quit her work day after 10 hours(!) at 2 p.m. on Friday.

Our press people are massively overworked, but certainly neither stupid nor lazy.

[socralynnek]

Congratulations! Don't spend all that money at once ;-)

[Shabbaman]

First thing Monday morning; I wasn't able to translate before she quit her work day after 10 hours(!) at 2 p.m. on Friday.

Our press people are massively overworked, but certainly neither stupid nor lazy.

Hm... if you work 10 hours and subsequently quit at 2 p.m., you're doing something wrong.

[Aggie]

Congrats!

[Lt. Killer M]

Hm... if you work 10 hours and subsequently quit at 2 p.m., you're doing something wrong.
well, TV wanted to film her, edit stuff, then send at noon.

[Beam]

Congratulations!

[Shabbaman]

well, TV wanted to film her, edit stuff, then send at noon.

Porn?

[Lt. Killer M]

Porn?

*shudder*

not her, no. Pleeeeaaaseeee!!!!!!

[Shabbaman]

Well, germans are known for some nasty stuff...