funds

["Barry Kazmer" <kazmer@hotmail.com>]

Dr. Carpenter gave me permission to include this to the list. I am a 
very broke (money wise) Grad Student in Paleontology.

Dr. Carpenter,
I just saw your reply to the comments made by George 
Olshevsky.I of course am a little prejudiced to your side from 
all your help. I do know from actual experience that most of 
the well known paleontologists pay much of their own costs and 
I thought that everyone knew this. I was told this by a few 
people when I switched to paleontology from straight bio.that 
this was definitely not a field to go into if you wanted to 
make lots of money. Quite the opposite is true, since most 
people in paleontology are not as blessed as Marsh was to have 
family benefactors. I have payed out of my pocket, costs for 
two dinosaur digs and a trip to the Museum of Geology at SDSM&T 
to see the plesiosaur material and will pay again to go there 
as soon as I can to meet with Dr. Martin. Just in working on my 
thesis it was very obvious that one cannot do the research 
without examining the specimens. What I needed for 
identification, I HAD to see with my own eyes and make my own 
notes, drawings and photographs. I am amazed that there is any 
controversy on this subject at all. There shouldn't be.
All of the paleontologists I have contacted on my research have 
given gladly their time and many sent reprints. Most 
importantly ALL have suggested going to the museums and working 
on the specimens, to do my own science.
I have learned so much from this experience, that I can see why 
it is necessary now. Someone else's interpretation of a fossil 
through a drawing or photograph can be biased as to what they 
are trying to illustrate. I found through trial and error that 
all he very small details in a fossil can't be delineated or 
the diagnostic evidence used for that fossil may be lost in the 
blizzard of lines. I thank you, in particular, Dr. Carpenter, 
for that one.
I know this isn't very well put so far, but I wanted to let you 
know that many people do know, and will be on your side in 
this. Thank you, Barry S. Kazmer



Barry S. Kazmer    407 5th. Ave. N.E. St. Cloud, MN 56304
320-255-9481    fax 320-259-8719
kazmeb01@tigger.stcloudstate.edu
kazmer@hotmail.com    bkazmer@yahoo.com   
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hall/1189/


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