A little over three weeks ago, Dave Hone and I kicked off the 2010 Paleo Project Challenge. Basically, it is an opportunity to finish off those nagging projects (whether they be manuscripts, artwork, blog posts, fossils to prep, or whatever) by the end of the year, or else face public shame. Lazy individuals that we are, we know that unless we make a public commitment to finish some projects, they will never get done!
So far, a number of individuals have accepted the challenge. It's not too late to join in - just post in the comments section. Remember. . .the goal is to finish the project by December 31. Everyone is watching!
Participants in the Paleo Project Challenge
Brian Beatty - paper on meningeal ossification in cetaceans
Andrea Cau - describe new theropod remains from north Africa
Andy Farke - finish paper for ODP; finish paper on ceratopsian anatomy
Nick Gardner - paper piggybacked with one of Casey's
Casey Holliday - either a new croc species description or paper related to frontoparietal fossae
Dave Hone - the necks paper
Heinrich Mallison - finish Plateosaurus CAE paper; sauropod rearing paper; sauropodomorph rapid locomotion paper
Jordan Mallon - Anchiceratops manuscript
Anthony Maltese - sharks scavenging on mosasaur paper; Niobrara ammonite paper
Patty Ralrick - paper on subfossil mass mortality site
Manabu Sakamoto - finish Pachyrhinosaurus drawing; finish and submit theropod bite force paper
Mike Taylor - finally finish the Archbishop sauropod description
Bruce Woolatt - 1/10 scale Quetzalcoatlus northropi flesh restoration
Anonymous - find job; paper for Paleobiology; prep alligator fossil
Jay - finish sauropod description
I cautiously join the club...
ReplyDeleteSign me up for illustrating Heinrich M.'s Kentrosaurus, focusing on muscle volume and defense strategies.
Alright, I'm in, too. Here's what I hope to finish during the timeframe of the challenge:
ReplyDelete- Finish my book proposal about the "Dinosaur Enlightenment"
- Polish and submit my paper on the debate over "Alabamornis"
- Write up and submit a short notice of an exceptionally large Thoracosaurus specimen
I'll have a go.
ReplyDeleteI want to paint the flip side of the Tarbosaur scavenging bite pattern illustrations I did for Dave Hone.
So it'll be some Tarbosaur hunting behavior.
(fancy description for a Tarbosaur attacking a Saurolophus)
Perhaps the public shaming will help push me to complete the following paleo-related tasks:
ReplyDeleteEducation: Take a course or practice test, and actually sign up for the GRE so I can start applying to graduate programs.
Art: Submit one piece to each of the ART Evolved "Time Capsules" (9 pieces total)
Blog: Overhaul the template and design of my blog, as well as create a new banner.
Ok, I'm in. I want to get my Cloverly paleobotany paper submitted. Means I have to finish the draft, send to coauthor, then do his revisions.
ReplyDeleteThis is great. Thanks for joining in people (and do please advertise this on your own blogs etc.).
ReplyDeleteMatt, cool! I know how much you waned to do that one.
Yeah, this is a good idea. I need to turn my thesis on Einiosaurus histology into a paper and send it for submission. Jack's riding my ass but some looming public humiliation won't hurt.
ReplyDeleteFinish my paper critiquing model-based approaches to phylogeny reconstruction, which I presented at SVP last year.
ReplyDeleteHaha I should vow to illustrate Raptorex, and really want to have a glance at Andy's ODP manuscript besides starting to draft this year's review paper on cosmetic surgery...
ReplyDeleteI am in:
ReplyDeleteFinish descriptions for my Katian graptolite systematic paper.
I've even put off accepting the challenge. I suppose that's a bad sign.
ReplyDelete-Finish and submit the Foram Macroevolution Paper
-Write a first draft of the clade shape paper
Finish a Heterodontosaurus painting I have been working on for... gosh, five years now. Time to get it out the door.
ReplyDeleteWell John, it's been so long you can make it more accurate by adding filaments now!
ReplyDeleteCount me in; I'm trying to finish writing up late Oligocene lizards from Riversleigh (my 'oldest Varanus' got pipped by one just published from the Fayum).
ReplyDeleteAlso hope to finish processing and sorting samples from a mid-to-late Miocene site (five snake skull bones on the last sieve-load, yummy).
I need to have my first draft of my master's thesis on marine vertebrate taphonomy completed by the end of the semester, so count me in.
ReplyDelete