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Re: more dinosaur extinction stuff (apology II)



Apparently my earlier apology for screwing up on a factual point (the  
date of extinction of ichthyosaurs) and coming down too hard on the  
originator of this thread has just gotten people even more steamed at  
me. So:

1) I apologize again if anyone has taken offense, especially Flying  
Goat. No harm was intended.

2) Part of my dismissive tone came out of having seen/participated in  
earlier, sometimes overheated discussions about dinosaur extinctions.  
I realize now that a lot of people weren't around for those  
discussions and have plenty of appetite for more.

3) At the risk of sounding even more pompous, the fact is that I DO  
study extinction patterns for a living (not dinosaur extinctions in  
particular, though). Sometimes it's hard to be calm and open-minded  
when the topic is your vocation and you've already thought about the  
issues over and over again.

4) Please give me a break, I'm having a REALLY bad week. The final  
draft of my thesis is due in five days and I'm preparing to give a  
talk just three days after that (hmm, just why am I typing this  
instead of working...?), so I'm a little burned out and testy. On  
that note, back to work...