In the course of work on a new project, a few months ago I discovered that topozone.com is no longer the topozone we knew, but a shoddy paid alternative. This really made me mad! It was great as it was (and free), why change it (other than greed). I tried their free trial, and it sucks.
The work I am doing, and will be doing over the next few months, requires me to use maps and topozone had been a good source in the past. I have been searching for an alternative and found the USGS Map Locator and Downloader yesterday. While I can't just enter UTM's and find a point on a map, its better than nothing. If anyone out there can suggest a free alternative, it would be appreciated.
USGS is also offering the GeoPDF Toolbar. "The free GeoPDF Toolbar turns Adobe Reader into a powerful geospatial application that gives users the ability to view, manipulate and update mapping data while leveraging Adobe collaboration capabilities to share information with others in the field and at home base. Geospatial professionals create a map with their GIS and then use Map2PDF to export the data to a GeoPDF file. GeoPDF files can be easily distributed and then viewed and used by anyone with Reader and the GeoPDF Toolbar, a free small-footprint plug-in." Read more here, and download the toolbar here.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
USGS Map Locator and Downloader
Friday, May 23, 2008
SVP rules on Aetogate
The SVP Executive Committee has posted their official findings into Aetogate. You can read their full statement here (pdf), along with a set of “best practices” in publishing and museum research (pdf) drafted by the SVP Ethics Education Committee. What it boils down too:
- the Ethics Education Committee concluded that the Spielmann et al. omission of citing Martz's correct orientation of an aetosaur scute in a figure does not imply plagiarism, but an oversight.
- the Ethics Education Committee was not able to resolve the allegations by Parker that Lucas et al. deliberately rushing to publish a new genus name for the aetosaur formerly known as Desmatosuchus chamaensis in favor of either side.
- "Achievement involves not only individual and collaborative discoveries and publications but also support of other workers, especially junior scientists, in one’s scientific community. Overly competitive behavior does not necessarily further our discipline."
- "We expect reviews of professional conduct to be unbiased and free of conflicts of interest (real or apparent), regardless of whether they are performed by professional societies, employers or editors." They then go on to state that the review by the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science regarding the complains was not handled well did little to help resolve the issue. (please read their specific statement regarding this)
- Scientist who work independently on the same material can reach the same concussions.
- "...the editorial practices of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin have left the authors vulnerable to the appearance of impropriety."
- Lack of communication, especially in this case, only helped to further the conflict.
- "...the expectation that theses and dissertations that have not been republished in widely read periodicals will be read by most workers or manuscript reviewers is unlikely to be realized." They then urge students to be more wary of distributing their thesis/dissertation work until publication is underway. They also note that if a worker is aware that a thesis/dissertation has been been written on a particular topic the thesis/dissertation writer should be given a reasonable amount of time to publish their findings.
- "Finally, the public posting of opinion and correspondence about these allegations on the Internet has not been helpful to resolving these matters, both in regard to the SVP Ethics Education Committee fairly resolving the matters, but also in that it has potentially polarized and biased the vertebrate paleontology community in a way that jeopardizes fair consideration of these matters as a community." (does this mean I should be keeping my mouth/blog shut about this and not even write this post??? Please advise
) :(
The review ends with a note that "the Ethics Education Committee and Executive Committee are in the process of evaluating whether to amend and expand the Bylaw on Ethics, so that any future such complaints – if found to have merit – can be acted upon more forcefully."
Official Press release here.
Statement on Allegations.
SVP Statement on Best practices from the Ethics Education Committee regarding research, publication, and museum work.
First Jurassic Ankylosaur track found
Jurassic track unearthed in Cactus Park
By GARY HARMON
The Daily Sentinel
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
The rocky outcrops of Cactus Park were a real Jurassic Park some 140 million years ago, home to a wide variety of dinosaurs.
One of them left a footprint that survived the eons to be discovered this spring by Kent Hups, a science teacher at Manual High School in Denver.
Hups unveiled the print on Wednesday in Denver, where he’s showing his students how to make casts of prints such as the one he found.
His ankylosaur print is the first such print of the species from the Jurassic Period and the largest print of any ankylosaur from the Age of the Dinosaurs.
“This is a first in the Jurassic,” said Dr. Martin Lockley, a track expert from the Dinosaur Tracks Museum and the University of Colorado in Denver. “This is not just any old footprint. This is the first and only ankylosaur footprint ever found in the Jurassic — anywhere in the world. It is another tracking first for Colorado.”
Paleontologists have found fossils from Jurassic-era ankylosaurs, but none as large as the one suggested by Hups’ print, Lockley said.
Ankylosaurs were heavily armored creatures believed related to stegosaurs.
Finding the track was “blind luck,” Hups said.
He was searching on land administered by the Bureau of Land Management on Cactus Park this spring when he overturned a rock.
“Holy cow, that’s different,” he said when he saw the imprint, left apparently by an animal waddling through a flood plain or watering hole.
He and a companion hauled the rock weighing about 110 pounds back to their camp and contacted Lockley, who called it “the best track I’ve ever seen” when he got to inspect it.
Lockley, Hups and John Foster, Museum of Western Colorado paleontology curator, and Gerard Gierlinski of the Polish Geological Institute have submitted preliminary findings on the track to the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.
The size of the track suggests a much larger animal than is already familiar to researchers at the Museum of Western Colorado, Foster said.
The print appears larger than one that would be left by the animal unearthed from younger, Cretaceous-era rock at the Mygatt-Moore Quarry in Rabbit Valley, he said. [Mygatt-Moore is a quarry in the Jurassic Morrison Formation, the reporter made a mistake here]
The rarity of tracks from stegosaurs and ankylosaurs is puzzling, especially in light of the relative abundance of theropod and sauropod tracks, Foster said.
“That’s the thing that’s weird,” he said. “We can’t quite figure it out.”
The Museum of Western Colorado’s Dinosaur Journey in Fruita will get a cast of the print for study.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Professor Henry Jones is denied tenure
I know I have posted this before (way in the past on my old blog), but in honor of this great day (in case your living under a rock, Indiana Jones 4 is out today, and I will be seeing it at 6:40pm), I give you "Professor Henry Jones is denied tenure":
January 22, 1939
Assistant Professor Henry "Indiana" Jones Jr.
Department of Anthropology
Chapman Hall 227B
Marshall College
Dr. Jones:
As chairman of the Committee on Promotion and Tenure, I regret to inform you that your recent application for tenure has been denied by a vote of 6 to 1. Following past policies and procedures, proceedings from the committee's deliberations that were pertinent to our decision have been summarized below according to the assessment criteria.
Demonstrates suitable experience and expertise in chosen field:
The committee concurred that Dr. Jones does seem to possess a nearly superhuman breadth of linguistic knowledge and an uncanny familiarity with the history and material culture of the occult. However, his understanding and practice of archaeology gave the committee the greatest cause for alarm. Criticisms of Dr. Jones ranged from "possessing a perceptible methodological deficiency" to "practicing archaeology with a complete lack of, disregard for, and colossal ignorance of current methodology, theory, and ethics" to "unabashed grave-robbing." Given such appraisals, perhaps it isn't surprising to learn that several Central and South American countries recently assembled to enact legislation aimed at permanently prohibiting his entry.
Moreover, no one on the committee can identify who or what instilled Dr. Jones with the belief that an archaeologist's tool kit should consist solely of a bullwhip and a revolver.
Nationally recognized for an effectual program of scholarship or research supported by publications of high quality:
Though Dr. Jones conducts "field research" far more often than anyone else in the department, he has consistently failed to report the results of his excavations, provide any credible evidence of attending the archaeological conferences he claims to attend, or produce a single published article in any peer-reviewed journal. Someone might tell Dr. Jones that in academia "publish or perish" is the rule. Shockingly, there is little evidence to date that Dr. Jones has successfully excavated even one object since he arrived at Marshall College. Marcus Brody, curator of our natural-history museum, assured me this was not so and graciously pointed out several pieces in the collection that he claimed were procured through Dr. Jones's efforts, but, quite frankly, we have not one shred of documentation that can demonstrate the provenance or legal ownership of these objects.
Meets professional standards of conduct in research and professional activities of the discipline:
The committee was particularly generous (and vociferous) in offering their opinions regarding this criterion. Permit me to list just a few of the more troubling accounts I was privy to during the committee's meeting. Far more times than I would care to mention, the name "Indiana Jones" (the adopted title Dr. Jones insists on being called) has appeared in governmental reports linking him to the Nazi Party, black-market antiquities dealers, underground cults, human sacrifice, Indian child slave labor, and the Chinese mafia. There are a plethora of international criminal charges against Dr. Jones, which include but are not limited to: bringing unregistered weapons into and out of the country; property damage; desecration of national and historical landmarks; impersonating officials; arson; grand theft (automobiles, motorcycles, aircraft, and watercraft in just a one week span last year); excavating without a permit; countless antiquities violations; public endangerment; voluntary and involuntary manslaughter; and, allegedly, murder.
Dr. Jones's interpersonal skills and relationships are no better. By Dr. Jones's own admission, he has repeatedly employed an underage Asian boy as a driver and "personal assistant" during his Far East travels. I will refrain from making any insinuations as to the nature of this relationship, but my intuition insists that it is not a healthy one, nor one to be encouraged. Though the committee may have overstepped the boundaries of its evaluation, I find it pertinent to note that Dr. Jones has been romantically linked to countless women of questionable character, an attribute very unbecoming of a Marshall College professor. One of these women was identified as a notorious nightclub singer whose heart he attempted to extract with his hands, and whom he then tried, and failed, to lower into a lake of magma. Another was a Nazi scholar he was seen courting just last year who, I'm told, plummeted into a fathomless abyss at Dr. Jones's hand. And, of course, no one can forget the slow decline and eventual death of Professor Abner Ravenwood after Dr. Jones's affair with Abner's underage daughter was made public, forcing her to emigrate to Nepal to escape the debacle.
Demonstrates successful record in undergraduate and graduate teaching:
In his nine years with the department, Dr. Jones has failed to complete even one uninterrupted semester of instruction. In fact, he hasn't been in attendance for more than four consecutive weeks since he was hired. Departmental records indicate Dr. Jones has taken more sabbaticals, sick time, personal days, conference allotments, and temporary leaves than all the other members of the department combined.
The lone student representative on the committee wished to convey that, besides being an exceptional instructor, a compassionate mentor, and an unparalleled gentleman, Dr. Jones was extraordinarily receptive to the female student body during and after the transition to a coeducational system at the college. However, his timeliness in grading and returning assignments was a concern.
Establishment of an appropriate record of departmental and campus service:
Dr. Jones's behavior on campus has led not only to disciplinary action but also to concerns as to the state of his mental health. In addition to multiple instances of public drunkenness, Dr. Jones, on three separate occasions, has attempted to set fire to the herpetology wing of the biology department. Perhaps most disturbing, however, are the statements that come directly from Dr. Jones's mouth. Several faculty members maintain that Dr. Jones informed them on multiple occasions of having discovered the Ark of the Covenant, magic diamond rocks, and the Holy Grail! When asked to provide evidence for such claims, he purportedly replied that he was "kind of immortal" and/or muttered derogatory statements about the "bureaucratic fools" running the U.S. government. Given his history with the Nazi Party, I fear where his loyalty lies.
- - - -
To summarize, the committee fails to recognize any indication that Dr. Jones is even remotely proficient when it comes to archaeological scholarship and practice. His aptitude as an instructor is questionable at best, his conduct while abroad is positively deplorable, and his behavior on campus is minimally better. Marshall College has a reputation to uphold. I need not say more.
My apologies,
Prof. G.L. Stevens
Chairman
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Parrot refuses to talk to cops
This is Awesome:
Lost parrot gives vet his name and address [link]
TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- When Yosuke the parrot flew out of his cage and got lost, he did exactly what he had been taught -- recite his name and address to a stranger willing to help.
Police rescued the African grey parrot two weeks ago from a neighbor's roof in the city of Nagareyama, near Tokyo. After spending a night at the station, he was transferred to a nearby veterinary hospital while police searched for clues, local policeman Shinjiro Uemura said.
He kept mum with the cops, but began chatting after a few days with the vet.
"I'm Mr. Yosuke Nakamura," the bird told the veterinarian, according to Uemura. The parrot also provided his full home address, down to the street number, and even entertained the hospital staff by singing songs.
"We checked the address, and what do you know, a Nakamura family really lived there. So we told them we've found Yosuke," Uemura said.
The Nakamura family told police they had been teaching the bird its name and address for about two years.
But Yosuke apparently wasn't keen on opening up to police officials.
"I tried to be friendly and talked to him, but he completely ignored me," Uemura said.
Congrats Manger & Zach!!
This month Dr.s Walter Manger and Doy Zachry were surprised with a scholarship in each of their names! Dr. Manger and Zach were my advisor's when I was an undergrad at the University of Arkansas. They are truly wonderful teachers, and I learned so much from them! Some of my best memories are during my time spent as an undergrad at the U of AR geology program. I am very happy that these two scholarship could be given (fully endowed as well!) in their names! I only wish I could have been there to see the look on their faces, since the whole thing was a surprise and had been in the works for some time.
"The Walter Manger and Doy Zachry Scholarships will be awarded for the first time next year to students in the [University of Arkansas] geology program. Over eighty alumni have donated to the two funds thus far and more than twenty-five attended the banquet. Should you be interested in making a contribution, please contact either Teresa Center (tcenter@uark.edu) in the Department of Geosciences or Emily Smith (egsmith@uark.edu) in Fulbright College."
more pictures here
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
FontStruct
I am a huge fan of fonts! Anything that is different than the normal boring fonts, I love. Now there is finally a site, FontStruct, where you can easily make your own fonts, or snag cool ones others have made (if you have money, which, I do not). From the ReadyMade Blog:
"Want to create your own logo or spice up the header for your blog? Create a personalized font that suits the project perfectly with Fonstruct. The free font-building tool lets you construct custom fonts by arranging geometric shapes inside a grid. The process is a little reminiscent of Tetris, but without the overwhelming feeling that sets in when the pieces start dropping at an impossibly rapid pace.
Once your creations are complete, they’re ready for any Mac or Windows application and can be proudly displayed via widget on your blog. Of course, if Times New Romanis about all you can handle, check out the site’s gallery, where other users’ “Fontstructions”—which carry such names as Structurosa and IronManic—will rock your pre-installed world."
Jurassic Joe and the Cretaceous Crew
Check this site out (thanks for JH for pointing this out) If you live in Australia Jurassic Joe will even visit your school:
Jurassic Joe and the Cretaceous Crew present a collection of songs for children of all ages, in a variety of musical styles. Singalong, dance, count, laugh and learn to the mesozoic sounds of DANGER DANGER DINOSAUR (listen to the MP3 here - really, you should listen to it, seriously)
Danger Danger Velociraptor
Danger Danger They’ve got the sharp claw
Danger Danger Velociraptor
Danger Danger Rrrraaah!
Look out baby protoceratops
Something moving there behind the rocks
Something in the bushes and the trees
Something hiding there behind the leaves.
Danger Danger Velociraptor…
Back one hundred million years ago
Something had a very dangerous toe
I’m so glad that it’s not here today
I’m so glad that we don’t have to say,
Danger Danger Velociraptor…
Picture from their siteSaturday, May 17, 2008
A detailed description of Desmatosuchus
Description of new material of the aetosaur Desmatosuchus spurensis (Archosauria: Suchia) from the Chinle Formation of Arizona and a revision of the genus Desmatosuchus
William Parker, PaleoBios 28(1):1–40, May 12, 2008
Abstract: A new specimen of Desmatosuchus from northeastern Arizona (MNA V9300) preserves almost the entire vertebral column, the pelvis, and the majority of the armor carapace, allowing for an unprecedented detailed description of the taxon. Articulation and reconstruction of the armor carapace demonstrates that previous reconstructions of Desmatosuchus are erroneous in the orientation and position of the lateral armor. Lateral plates of the anterior dorsal region possess low rounded knobs instead of developed spines. The dorsal flange of the lateral plates of the dorsal region is longer than the lateral or ventral flange making the carapace transversely wider than previously thought. As a result, previous reconstructions articulate the lateral armor not only backwards but also on the wrong sides of the body. Posterior presacral vertebrae are extremely robust and possess fused ribs and the last presacral vertebra has been fused to the sacrum, a character that may be taxonomically useful. A prefrontal bone is also present in Desmatosuchus, contrary to previous descriptions. Reinvestigation of the genus Desmatosuchus suggests that there are only two valid species, D. spurensis and D. smalli. The lectotype of Episcoposaurus haplocerus is referable to Desmatosuchus but indeterminate at the species level, and therefore represents a nomen dubium. Accordingly, D. spurensis is reinstated as the type species of Desmatosuchus and the new Arizona specimen is assigned to this taxon. Acaenasuchus geoffreyi, a purported juvenile form of Desmatosuchus, is not referable to Desmatosuchus.
Friday, May 16, 2008
National Endangered Species Day
12 Species on the Brink of Extinction
posted: 16 May 2008 06:54 am ET
The Wildlife Conservation Society has released a list of the "Rarest of the Rare," a dozen animals most in danger of extinction.The eclectic list includes birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, amphibians, and insects. Some are well known, such as the northern right whale and Sumatran rhino, while others are more obscure, including Abbot's booby, an ocean-going bird that only nests on Christmas Island.
The animals were highlighted today because it is National Endangered Species Day. They are:
* Abbott's booby: A large black-and-white seabird that breeds on Christmas Island, a remote Australian island in the Indian Ocean.
* Addax: A nocturnal antelope species with long spiral horns, found the sand dunes of the Sahara desert.
* Angel shark: Bottom-dwelling, nocturnal predators once common throughout the Northeast Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean and Black seas, but now critically endangered.
* Bengal florican: A large terrestrial bustard bird native to Cambodia, Nepal, Vietnam, and India.
* Black-faced lion tamarin: A small primate that sleeps in tree holes dug out by woodpeckers and feeds on insects, fruit, and plants. Discovered on the island of Superagui, Brazil, in 1990, there are now only 400 in the wild.
* Burmese roofed turtle: One of Myanmar’s seven native turtles, once abundant in the major rivers of central and southern Burma, threatened by hunting and egg poaching.
* Dragonflies of Sri Lanka: Of the 53 endemic species of dragonfly found in Sri Lanka, at least 20 are threatened.
* Golden arrow poison frog: An amphibian native to Panama, threatened by a highly-infectious fungal disease.
* North Atlantic right whale: Hunted since the 10th century, only 350 of these slow-moving, 220,000-pound (100,000 kg) cetaceans remain.
* Ricord's iguana: A reptile native to two isolated locations in the arid southwestern Dominican Republic
* Pygmy hippopotamus: A small hippo from the Upper Guinean Forest of Liberia, Guinea, Ivory Coast, and Sierra Leone.
* Sumatran rhino: Also known as the hairy or Asian two-horned rhinoceros, fewer than 300 survive today in the subtropical and tropical dry forests of Indonesia and Malaysia.
Threats to each species vary widely. In the case of Abbot’s booby, the introduction of yellow crazy ants to Easter Island has severely altered their nesting habitat. Meanwhile, the addax has been severely impacted by desertification of its habitat and overhunting. Other species suffer from diseases, as in the case of the golden arrow poison frog, or poaching for the Chinese medicinal trade, which has reduced the population of Sumatran rhinos to fewer than 300 individuals.
The 2007 World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List revealed a continuing rise in the number of species threatened with extinction. Although only a fraction of all plant and animal species have been evaluated, the number of species listed as threatened stands at 16,306, an increase of 188 species since 2006.
"'Rarest of the Rare' is a snapshot of just a handful of the most critically endangered species that serves to illustrate their plight and inspire the public to join the fight for their continued survival," said Kent Redford, director of the Wildlife Conservation Society Institute.
link
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Another move: half way there
In case you didn't know already, I am moving (yes, again - #26? Its starting to get fuzzy). Today I was very luck to have several of our geology students from Augustana, plus Allison and Patrick, come over for various amounts of time to help with the loading up. Since, between John and I, we will have alot of things when I get to Colorado, we decided to have a huge garage sale and try to get rid of a bunch of stuff. So I loaded as much of that up as I could as well. U-haul is WAY to expensive of an option right now ($1200 before gas!), so I went with a ReloCube from ABF u-pack that was 8X6X7 (this alternative was $700, they drive and pay for the gas, and it can be stored for a month).
When we first pulled up I was like "no way is all of this stuff going to fit in there." But after 2 hours of the worlds largest tetris game made of boxes we were some how able to get it all in there. Thank goodness for the students who stuck around to help with that part! I would not have been able to do any of this today without their help for sure! Everything but 3 dinning room chairs, an old desk and my bed fit, which is fine, since the latter two were in the garage sale pile anyway. And they found a new home with one of the students anyway, so I didn't have to figure out how to get rid of them, which is an added bonus. The chairs are going to be crammed into the Blazer with the rest of the more important things I own. I will be Colorado bound June 12 after work is over that day. The badlands trip is also quickly approaching, so I will be in northwestern Nebraska doing field work the week and half prior to that. Things are moving quickly and I am sure these next 85 days are going to whiz past!!
Journey To the Center of the Earth
I had missed this one. Thanks to Laura for pointing it out! I wonder how many times this movie has been remade now....
3-D Trailer:
Alternate Trailer:
Release Date: July 11, 2008
An exciting adventure based on the classic Jules Verne novel “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” Journey to the Center of the Earth stars Brendan Fraser (Crash, The Mummy) as a science professor whose untraditional hypotheses have made him the laughing stock of the academic community. But on an expedition in Iceland, he and his nephew stumble upon a major discovery that launches them on a thrilling journey deep beneath the Earth’s surface, where they travel through never-before-seen worlds and encounter a variety of unusual creatures. Journey to the Center of the Earth is directed by Academy Award-winning visual effects veteran Eric Brevig (Total Recall, Pearl Harbor) from a screenplay by Michael Weiss and Jennifer Flackett & Mark Levin. The film is a co-venture between New Line Cinema and Walden Media.
Official site
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
LOL Soda?
I love Jones Soda so I had to share this:
Soda company to put LOLcats on bottle labels
OK. I love Icanhascheezburger.com, and LOLcats in general, as much as the next guy. Truly. I have spent hours, in aggregate, laughing myself to tears on the site.
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Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Storm Over Everest
Be sure to check out the new David Breashears documentary "Storm Over Everest" tonight on PBS (9 to 11 P.M. ET; check your local listings for times). I am an Everest, and general mountain climbing junky, so I really love to see these types of documentaries with shots of these awesome mountains. Its just unfortunate that this particular story has so many sad things in it, which have been the topic of numerous books (Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster , Left for Dead: My Journey Home from Everest, Touching My Fathers Soul, High Exposure, The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest, The Other Side of Everest: Climbing the North Face Through the Killer Storm, Ultimate High: My Everest Odyssey, Climbing High: A Woman's Account of Surviving the Everest Tragedy, Doctor on Everest: Emergency Medicine at the Top of the World - A Personal Account of the 1996 Disaster, Everest : Mountain Without Mercy...). On May 11, 1996 8 people lost their lives on Everest. This is still regarded as the most deadly year on Everest ever (15 died in total trying to reach the summit that year).
From the press release:
"Everybody always says that the definition of character is what you do when nobody is looking. And when we were up there, we didn't think anybody was looking. And so everybody did pretty much what the inner person, the real them, the exposed them would do.... I got to witness those acts--the good ones, the bad ones. And the individuals that came through, that did well, that were selfless. ... Every one of them to me is a hero...."
- Beck Weathers, storm survivor and author, "Left for Dead"
In May 1996, the world-renowned climber and filmmaker David Breashears was making his third ascent up Mount Everest, leading an IMAX film team, when a swift and ferocious storm unexpectedly hit the mountain, trapping three exhausted climbing teams near the top of the world's highest peak.
In the FRONTLINE special presentation Storm Over Everest, airing Tuesday, May 13, 2008, from 9 to 11 P.M. ET on PBS (check local listings), Breashears returns to summit Everest and to reflect on that fateful storm that resulted in the deaths of five climbers on the south side of the mountain. Combining breathtaking original cinematography with dramatic recreations of the storm conditions of May 1996, the two-hour, high-definition documentary transports viewers to the slopes of Mount Everest. Interviews with climbers who survived the harrowing ordeal recount the events that occurred--and the decisions that were made--that resulted in seasoned mountaineers losing their lives alongside less experienced climbers drawn to the mystique of Mount Everest.
"The mountain doesn't care whether we're here or not," Breashears says in the film. "Everything it means to us is only what we bring to it. It's what the mountain reveals about us that has any lasting value."
In Storm Over Everest, survivors recount the progress of three separate expeditions up the South Col of Mount Everest--and the near-intoxication some climbers felt as they approached the prized summit on May 10, 1996. "You've gone so far up the mountain, you've come so far from home, and you spent six months preparing for this goal," climber Charlotte Fox says. "There's no way you're going to turn around unless things are really going south."
Go south they did, and quickly. As victorious climbers celebrated on the summit and waited--perhaps too long--for the rest of their parties, an intense storm roared across Mount Everest, transforming what had been a beautiful day of mountain climbing into the ultimate struggle for survival. "Within the space of five minutes, it changed from really a good day with a little bit of wind to desperate conditions, something I'd never experienced the ferocity of before," climber John Taske says.
The expeditions began a frantic descent toward the safety of camp, even as their two experienced guides remained high on the mountain assisting other climbers. Hurricane-strength winds reached 80 miles an hour, and temperatures plummeted to 30 below zero. Then darkness fell. The climbers found themselves hopelessly lost in an unrelenting blizzard--blinded by the wind-blasted ice and unable to find their way back to high camp. "People who have all run out of oxygen, some of them really start collapsing, and those of us who are still able to walk try and pick them up, make them keep walking," recalls climber Lene Gammelgaard. "This is survival."
Storm Over Everest recounts the next pivotal 48 hours, when those in the wind-battered tents wrestled with whether to risk additional lives by attempting to rescue the missing climbers. Taske reflects on a life-or-death decision made in the chaos of the storm--ultimately to leave two climbers where they lay, frozen and barely conscious, one of whom had gone blind. "The decision to leave [them] where they were was not really a difficult decision...," he says. "Here were these other people exposed to phenomenal winds, at least 80 miles an hour, 20, 30 below zero at night. We thought it was kinder to leave them rather than cause them pain, even in a semiconscious state, by dragging them over to where we were. They were basically dead."
In the end, some climbers would miraculously find their way back to camp. Others would be rescued by the heroic efforts of those who risked their own lives by venturing out in the storm to lead them to safety. Five climbers--two of them expedition leaders--would not return."
Monday, May 12, 2008
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Congrats Allison and Patrick
Congratulationsto the newlyweds!!
Allison is a professor of Biology (and fellow paleontologist) here at Augustana College. Patrick is a professor in the Chemistry department.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Shared memory: pollinators
Check out my favorite artist, Dan McCarthy's, awesome new print for this month:
Sure would make a nice wedding gift for someone ;)
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Books part 2: What I am currently reading
Here is what I am currently reading. I have only been reading journal articles lately, as far as paleo things go, so I decided it was time to read an actual book, since I have a backlog of those. I am also reading a new mountain climbing book, which has been really interesting. I typically try to limit myself to no more than two books at a time, just to keep the confusion down.
Bonebeds: Genesis, Analysis, and Paleobiological Significance
by Raymond R. Rogers (Editor), David A. Eberth (Editor), Anthony R. Fiorillo (Editor)
Synopsis: The vertebrate fossil record extends back more than 500 million years, and bonebeds—localized concentrations of the skeletal remains of vertebrate animals—help unlock the secrets of this long history. Often spectacularly preserved, bonebeds—both modern and ancient—can reveal more about life histories, ecological associations, and preservation patterns than any single skeleton or bone. For this reason, bonebeds are frequently studied by paleobiologists, geologists, and archeologists seeking to piece together the vertebrate record. Thirteen respected researchers combine their experiences in Bonebeds, providing readers with workable definitions, theoretical frameworks, and a compendium of modern techniques in bonebed data collection and analysis. By addressing the historical, theoretical, and practical aspects of bonebed research, this edited volume—the first of its kind—provides the background and methods that students and professionals need to explore and understand these fantastic records of ancient life and death.
So far I am really enjoying this book. The book is very well laid out, easy to read and very informative. I have seen many things in it that I plan to work into a project this summer! I was disappointed to find that the supplemental material does not appear to be available on the University of Chicago Press website anymore however (which I brought to the attention of one of the editors, hopefully this will be fixed). And there are a few papers that are not included in the Bonebed Database in the middle of the book (which, other than those absences, is wonderful to have in one place). Has anyone else read this one yet (Brian, weren't you making it through this one)?
No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks 
by Ed Viesturs, with David Roberts
Synopsis: For eighteen years Ed Viesturs pursued climbing’s holy grail: to stand atop the world’s fourteen 8,000-meter peaks, without the aid of bottled oxygen. But No Shortcuts to the Top is as much about the man who would become the first American to achieve that goal as it is about his stunning quest. As Viesturs recounts the stories of his most harrowing climbs, he reveals a man torn between the flat, safe world he and his loved ones share and the majestic and deadly places where only he can go. A preternaturally cautious climber who once turned back 300 feet from the top of Everest but who would not shrink from a peak (Annapurna) known to claim the life of one climber for every two who reached its summit, Viesturs lives by an unyielding motto, “Reaching the summit is optional. Getting down is mandatory.” It is with this philosophy that he vividly describes fatal errors in judgment made by his fellow climbers as well as a few of his own close calls and gallant rescues. And, for the first time, he details his own pivotal and heroic role in the 1996 Everest disaster made famous in Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air. In addition to the raw excitement of Viesturs’s odyssey, No Shortcuts to the Top is leavened with many funny moments revealing the camaraderie between climbers. It is more than the first full account of one of the staggering accomplishments of our time; it is a portrait of a brave and devoted family man and his beliefs that shaped this most perilous and magnificent pursuit.
I am sort of a armchair mountain climbing junkie. I even climbed my first peak over 14,000 feet this past summer!! I was thrilled to read that Viesturs climbs like me - he takes his time, looks for land marks, and just plods forward (made me feel less freak-like). He is not to proud to say he can't go any further if that is the case (not that is has happened to often in the book so far). I love his mantra “Reaching the summit is optional. Getting down is mandatory.” Of course, that is where the differences between us ends, since if I tried to climb up a 8,000 meter peak my lungs would leap from my chest and never return. Heck, I would probably be hurting at Everest basecamp (even though I would still like to visit it). My ultimate weight loss plan is to just go hang out at Denali basecamp to loose 20 lbs in a month. That would be a fun reality show. But I regress.....Ed's book is very interesting. Its fun to read about a guy from Rockford, Illinois who was the first American to bag all of the 8,000 meter peaks. He has his share of sad stories and made me tear up at least once so far. This is the kind of book I love to read. He can take me away to these far away places and do things that I can only dream about, but his stories and words are so vivid that you feel like you are there with him. I am really enjoying this book so far. It give me something to look forward to everyday and make me look forward to climbing my next 14,000 foot peak (which is pretty hard for me)!
All images are from Barnes & Noble.com.
