Re: As the kids say, *facepalm*... [Scanned]

["darkin" <christian@darkin.demon.co.uk>]

hi
but I think this is really about the need for scientists to understand how 
the media works.  Either the "sabre toothed lemur "story or the "first use 
of fire for cooking" story could easily have taken the place of this story 
in the popular press.  All three stories were available on the same day, and 
all three would have been as editorialy attractive to (competent) news 
organisations.

So it really must come down to presentation - scientists with genuinely 
important stuff to say have something to learn from this.

Christian Darkin




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark Wildman" <m.wildman@cuphosco.co.uk>
To: <tholtz@umd.edu>; <dinosaur@usc.edu>; <VRTPALEO@usc.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2012 1:34 PM
Subject: RE: As the kids say, *facepalm*... [Scanned]


> Paul appears to have been remarkably tolerant when confronted by such a 
> notion - I am not so sure that many other people would have been. It's 
> interesting that yet another one of these pie-in-the-sky ideas has got the 
> palaeoworld ablaze again today and is right up there with the kraken story 
> of 2011. Part of me does not even want to give this guy the time of day 
> but, at the same time, this suggestion does need to be confronted 
> publicly -  I will be putting up a brief blog post later to refute this 
> preposterous idea.
>
> Regards,
> Mark
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-VRTPALEO@usc.edu [mailto:owner-VRTPALEO@usc.edu] On Behalf Of 
> Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
> Sent: 03 April 2012 13:22
> To: dinosaur@usc.edu; VRTPALEO@usc.edu
> Subject: As the kids say, *facepalm*... [Scanned]
>
> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/dinosaurs/9182551/Dinosaurs-must-have-lived-in-water-scientist-claims.html#disqus_thread
>
> "It's not that they could manage to cope with it, or that they swam, or 
> even that they were submerged; but that they lived in water that supported 
> their weight."
>
> The programme declared his theory "so revolutionary it stands the whole 
> world of palaeontology on its head."
>
> But Prof Ford's theory has not yet gained credence with fellow scientists, 
> with an expert from the Natural History Museum claiming a similar theory 
> had been discussed and largely dismissed up to 100 years ago.
>
> Dr Paul Barrett said: "Things have moved on quite a lot. I don't think we 
> will be re-writing the text books just yet."
>
> --Thank goodness Paul was interviewed as a reality check!
>
> Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
> Email: tholtz@umd.edu Phone: 301-405-4084
> Office: Centreville 1216
> Senior Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology Dept. of Geology, University of 
> Maryland http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/
> Fax: 301-314-9661
>
> Faculty Director, Science & Global Change Program, College Park Scholars 
> http://www.geol.umd.edu/sgc
> Fax: 301-314-9843
>
> Mailing Address: Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
> Department of Geology
> Building 237, Room 1117
> University of Maryland
> College Park, MD 20742 USA