Re: educational materials

["Michael Schmidt" <dmschmidt@sprint.ca>]

Mr. Lipka,

The first thing I said in my letter was to forgive me if this was not an
appropritae forum for my request.

To insinuate that this is some little "scam" for me to collect fossils is
ridiculous.

You and Mary are both entitled to your opinions.  As am I, so let me
express it.

Had you have contacted me with something to offer the child(as so many
others have) you would have been given both my address, and the address and
name of the child.

In retrospect, I regret making this post to the dinosaur list.  There are a
few of you out there that just seem to be so jaded and mistrusting that it
has left a very bad taste in my mouth.

Precious resources?  A couple of bucks (maybe) in postage, and maybe a
brachiopod fossil, partial triobite, etc.  Yeah, that's really going to be
a great loss to the academic community, isn't it.

To those of you who have contacted me with offers, again thank you very
much.

For those of you who see some sinister little plot here, or that it really
isn't worth the time because he will probably grow out of it in a week,
shame on you.

To encourage a child with his interests is a wonderful thing.  To dismiss
them simply because of his age is shameful.  I am thankful he has parents
who do actively support his interests, and do not dissuade him by expecting
it to be a passing fancy.

The people that I really thought would be the most supportive have turned
out to be the least, and that's really a shame.

Be assured, Mr. Lipka, that I will not make the mistake of sharing my good
intentions with this list again, so you will not have to view my "spam"
anymore.

Michael Schmidt

----------
> From: Tompaleo@aol.com
> To: dinosaur@usc.edu
> Subject: Re: educational materials
> Date: Tuesday, September 01, 1998 2:04 PM
> 
> In a message dated 9/1/98 10:10:37 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
MKIRKALDY@AOL.COM
> writes:
> 
> <snip>
> 
> > But what does he want to do at three?  He loves his dinosaur toys, but
> didn't 
> > 
> >  we all, and many still do.  Which leads to my long-held platform that 
> >  dinosaurs are >not< just for children.  Marketing them as such is the
> surest
> >  way to ensure minimum funding for serious research.  If I had a choice
of 
> >  whether to send the three year old to the AMNH to see the dinosaurs or
to
> >  send Jim Farlow to see the Bolivian footprints, there is no question
that
> >  Dr. Farlow would be packing.  
> 
> Here here!  Damn good point Mary!  There is another factor to consider
here as
> well.  We all are aware of Internet scams.  Remember the one I exposed on
this
> list , not too long ago in fact,  regarding the alleged finder of Fran
the
> Acrocanthosaurus?  Assuming this recent plea is legitimate, imagine the
> torrent of sob stories we will be inundated with on this list if somehow
this
> plea were answered by one or more list members.  This also invites
crooks,
> cranks and frauds as well.  Frankly, I did not sigh on to hear this.  We
all
> have our disadvantages and problems.  Deal with them.  In the case of
this
> alleged three-year old, as Mary pointed out, this is much too young of an
age
> to sink valuable and limited resources on one individual whose interests
> especiallynat this tender age, are as in flux as the tides!  Next year
he'll
> want to be an Astronomer  then someone will have to give him a telescope.
 I
> say give the kid a few years to learn about himself, etc.  If' he's
bright and
> ambitious enough and works hard like the rest of us, he will have no
problem
> getting into the field.
> 
> 
> IMNHO, this is still SPAMM and should not be tolerated.
> 
> Regards,
> Thomas R. Lipka
> Paleontological/Geological Studies