SVP and dancing

[Ralph Chapman <MNHAD002@SIVM.SI.EDU>]

The dancining comment by Tom needs an explanation. SVP had a Puget Sound
cruise that happened on one of the most horrific nights there, so the
waters were choppy. We all went to talk constantly with other SVPers, as
usual, and were sitting at tables near where the food was to be placed,
naturally. As we were leaving the dock, the waiters and the band all of a
sudden broke into this strange up-with-people number which they later picked
up on later after being our servers. It was mondo-bizarro when they went
into it heavily and cleared out the SVP crowd pretty quickly onto the
cold decks for the duration - not before one member - who shall remain name-
less (not me!) got dragged on the dance floor and made to dance for a
couple minutes. It was about as non-SVP as you can get, although the
non-SVP types seemed to be into it. Get down.

This contrasts with the wedding of one of our preparators a couple years ago
where the stuffy Smithsonian crowd became infamous for dancing to
"walk the Dinosaur" while one member would call out different taxa and
the various paleo types would dance to mimic it. The Velociraptor was
the most popular as I recall.

Anyway - as you can figure out - SVP has its lighter moments, peaking
at the annual auction of books arts, casts etc. Dan Chaney and friends
keep it pretty light and very bawdy and everyone has a good time - raised
>$9000 this year highlighted by the purchase for around $200 of a cast of
a fossil bent (in life by accident) baculum.

MOre on the science part later ....

Ralph Chapman