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Re: Paleocene dinosaurs





On Wed, 26 Apr 1995, Ray McAllister wrote:

> Hi, I saw Jurassic Park and the Making of JP both in the last week. I am 
> reasonably sure that, in spite of some discrepancies, Spielberg and crew 
> really tried to make it as accurate as possible (as laymen) and that we 
> should forgive the errors in favor of the enormous boost it gave to dinos 
> in general. 

Saw that last night and was sure glad they used the SGI machines rather 
than clay.  I bought both the made for television and the letter box 
versions of the movie.  I've got a great surround sound system with a 
very nice sub woofer and my dog loves to try and eat T-Rex when he roars.  
It was interesting that the first Velociraptors had snake like tongues.  
This apparently threw Horner for a loop.  Needless to say, they lost the 
tongues.  

I have to be really honest here and admit that my interest in Dinos really 
was started with JP.  I started collecting some art figures, sceleltons, the
PBS Dinosaur series and companion book.  Now I've discovered you folks and 
the news group, got a good t-shirt collection and am reading several 
Dino books: _Digging Dinosaurs_ and _Dinosaur Harassies_.  So yes, 
Speilberg definitely sparked my interest.  I've seen the Dinos at The 
Royal Ontario Museum, Denver Museum of Natural History, and the Museum in 
San Francisco.  Anyway, I was just trying to support your point with some 
evidence which I've learned is rather important in paleontology!

Now, if only I could make sense of all that jargon in _The Dinosauria_.  
That is one really difficult book to understand.  The other person who has 
had an impact on me from a media stand point is Robert Bakker.  It's a 
little frustrating to see that he doesn't seem to  be very well respected 
though.  I've seen threads recently that suggest he  makes up data to 
support his theories.  I'd hope this isn't true.  I'd really like to meet 
him and listen to him tell stories for about a week.
 
I'd like to listen to stories from any good paleotologist for that long 
or longer.  I've always wondered if wannabees like myself can get 
involved in a dig in say Montana, Utah, or Colorado.  I think the fun part 
would be the end of the day around a camp fire listening to the 
paleotologist tell the story.  Probably feel that way cause I'm reading 
_Digging_ I guess.  Sorry for all the band width here, but please don't 
under estimate the impact the media has in furthering your professions!

Oh, one last thing please.  If any of you folks find your selves 
lecturing or telling stories in the San Francisco Bay Area,  I would love 
to attend if possible.

        Greg (The Dino Nut) Claytor
        greg1@svpal.org