Sea serpents, humor, and misc.

[paleo@ix.netcom.com (Glen J. Kuban)]

Ladies and germs,

Ben Roesch recently mentioned that he is compiling 
accounts of alleged "sea serpent" carcasses.  I wanted 
to mention, for anyone who may have missed my 
annoucement several weeks ago, that I have a web 
site article addressing one of the most famous 
"sea monster" carcasses, netted by a Japanese 
trawler in 1977 off the coast of New Zealand.   
Although often cited as a likely modern plesiosaur 
by creationists and popular press authors, several 
lines of evidence strongly point to the carcass 
being a decayed bsaking shark.  The article should 
be published in NCSE Reports later this year.  The 
URL of the web version is:

http://members.aol.com/paluxy2/plesios.htm

I also wanted to mention that I've added some 
new pages to my K-Paleo web site.  One is 
"Paleo Humor"--a collection of jokes, stories,
and student/teacher humor on relating to 
paleontology and science in general. 

I've also expanded my Field Trip Preparation page, 
adding links to trip checklists, mapping 
sites, weather, motel and hotel directories, 
etc.  

The address of K-Paleo is:

http://members.aol.com/fostrak/kpaleo.htm

One last thing.  A friend sent me a copy of a booklet from
creationist John Morris of ICR in California 
reviewing the Lost World movie.  It contains many 
errors, but one point especially caught my 
attention.  Morris asserts that at the rate 
at which DNA normally degrades, none should be 
found after about 10,000 years.  I know claims 
about finding Mesozoic DNA have been disputed, but 
does anyone know the approximate age of the oldest 
DNA finds that have not been disputed?

Thanks.

Glen Kuban
paleo@ix.netcom.com



Later, 

Glen