Comments on: Dinosaur Report III: The Journey Home

By: The Boneyard #1 « Laelaps

The Boneyard #1 « Laelaps — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 22:40:11 +0000

[…] Sean Carroll of Cosmic Variance has put up some excellent photographs from his adventures with Project Exploration; be sure to check out his post Dinosaur Report III: The Journey Home. […]

By: Laelaps

Laelaps — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 18:11:33 +0000

Thanks for sharing this! I’ve been out on a few collecting trips to the marl pits here in New Jersey, but I definitely can’t wait until I can go out to some of the more famous locales in the West. Hopefully that will happen sooner rather than later, but who knows.

By: J-Dog

J-Dog — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:23:07 +0000

Pictures don’t show it, but fieldwork is one of THE best ways to lose weight… hot sun, sweat, hard work, long days, more sweat…

I only dug up Middle- Woodland Indian sites, but it was always fun and intersting, and I want to go dig up some dinosaurss too!

By: Torbjörn Larsson, OM

Torbjörn Larsson, OM — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 05:25:23 +0000

Okay, now I know the flip side of field work.

… one ton (about a thousand kilograms, for you foreigners).

Um, sum’ furriners have tons as well.

We even have miles, of sorts. Most often nautical miles of course (here “sjömil”, from “sea mile”), but sometimes also on land. (Here “mil”; and curiously it is as metric as the metric ton, it is 10 kilometers. Or about ten thousand meters, for you foreigners.)

Now, inches and pounds have passed into history. But the only way a pint will pass is down a throat it seems. Curiously that.

By: citrine

citrine — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 00:15:52 +0000

Some very illuminating illustrations on how some scientists do field work. In addition to having discipline specific scientific knowlege, one needs to be able to deal with the various practicalities and logistics of the operation. Plus, the field scientist needs to be camp leader and I presume have at least rudimentary first aid skills (unless they make a point to include someone like that in the team)! Wow, Sean, is it easier being a theoretical physicist?

By: graviton383

graviton383 — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 23:14:06 +0000

Sounds like fun to me too..this is something I’ve wanted to do since I was 5 years old..

By: Blake Stacey

Blake Stacey — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 12:39:38 +0000

Each morning we’d get up bright and early to have breakfast at Dirty Annie’s (the finest dining establishment in all of Shell, Wyoming, featuring chokecherry pancakes the size of garbage-can lids).

Note to self: comparisons of food with garbage-handling products are not appetizing, even when the comparison only involves size. Curious.

By: Jonathan Lubin

Jonathan Lubin — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 06:10:28 +0000

I think the paleontologists’ use of “matrix” is the original usage, much older than the mathematical. My 1936 dictionary spends a lot of space giving examples of the word being used to mean “that which incloses anything”, including fossils in stone.

By: JoAnne

JoAnne — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 06:05:43 +0000

Wow - have to admit - this adventure sounds like a ton of fun!