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| Redescription of the Cleveland skull, circa 1995-1996: my original handwritten notes (left), measurements and sketch of occiput and basicranium (right), and printed manuscript (center). Thankfully, I've rescued this long-shelved work by incorporating it into the Jane monograph. |
December 5, 2015
10:47 am: Late start; taking a second look at the section on
the braincase before resuming the final pass of edits. I noticed last day that
I did not check off the red ink; I’m not sure if that was an oversight on my
part or if I haven’t actually made the changes.
12:28 pm: List
for the Cleveland skull, continued: (17) length from basal tuber to
basipterygoid process; (18) height of the postorbital region of the skull
through the laterotemporal fenestra; (19) length of dorsotemporal fenestra;
(20) width of dorsotemporal fenestra, (21) rostral margin of the dorsotemporal
fenestra across the postorbital.
12:33 pm: OK – braincase taken care of – finally! Now, back
to the final set of edits.
1:05 pm: Break for lunch.
2:05 pm: Back from lunch. The manuscript is 1,013 pages and
304,070 words in length.
3:17 pm: Still at 1,013 pages, but 304,222 words have been
reached even though I am trying to delete as much as I can!
3:24 pm: Have to shower and run errands; I hate to leave this.
4:06 pm: Back to revisions!
5:12 pm: Stop.
Night thoughts among tyrannosaurs
Landscapes of fear, terror, & the tall
wraiths
Torrential bloodshed
Savagery in gold leaf
Scissors, blood, & incisors
Ivory sockets sprout scarlet razors;
From your lawless skin
Wrought a flawless drape
December 6, 2015
10:26 am: Back to revisions to the section that compares the
laterotemporal fenestrae of the articulated Cleveland, Jane, and adult T. rex (AMNH FARB 5027) skulls.
12:03 pm: Expansion of the description of the bony choana
and addition of the palatine fenestra has brought the ms up to 304,908 words
and 1,015 pages. This isn’t the desired trend, but it can be reduced. Going
back to the choana to see if I can shorten things down.
12:32 pm: Stop.
Night thoughts among tyrannosaurs
All in silver
All in pearl
All in ice that melt unworlds
December 8, 2015
10:38 am: Another late start to bemoan; I’ll read over the
choana and then proceed from there to the palatine and suborbital fenestrae. I’m
starting with a page count of 1,016; I’ll try to reduce that by at least a page
this morning.
11:57 am: Still at 1,016 pages, despite some additions. I’m
done with the primary fenestrae, now I’m moving on to the primary cranial arches,
starting with the postorbital bar.
12:24 pm: I just reached the dorsal temporal arch, and I’m
losing the battle on page count – after adding to the postorbital bar, it crept
up to 1,017 pages. Despite that, I am trimming along the way! Done with the
dorsal temporal arch. Stopping for lunch.
December 10, 2015
~4:40 pm-5:00 pm: Today I started to print out hard copy of
the Jane ms to proof and correct; made it to page eight!
December 11, 2015
~2:30-3:00 pm: Additional red ink to the new hard copy.
Night thoughts among tyrannosaurs
The East is severed from its fingers
The North drowns in ink
The South is tarnished blight
The West dies upon a flowered knife
December 12, 2015
10:33 am: Resuming the trimming down of the manuscript,
picking up at the ventral temporal arch.
Music: Mozart’s
Requiem.
Missing data for BMRP 2002.4.1: (1) premaxilla, body,
dorsoventral height. Started a list in Excel for loose threads.
12:47 pm: Time for lunch.
2:17 pm: Back to wheel & rudder the whale. I’ve reached
the maxillary process of the premaxilla. Despite trimming, the monograph is
still at 1,017 pages.
3:00 pm: Reached the nasals!
3:21 pm: Good grief – I found a gap in the description of
the nasals: the joint surface for the premaxilla. Some text to add, which
hopefully won’t push the manuscript above 1,017 pages!
3:47 pm: I tried to be brief, but the manuscript is now
1,018 pages in length.
4:50 pm: Stop.
Night thoughts among tyrannosaurs
You don’t read
You don’t need
You let time bleed:
Artisan of scrimshaw
Harvester of shagreen;
I want a triumph
A governance
A masterpiece
A sleeping Sun
To die in
A death to kill religion
(especially that one)
A tomb for the Song
To shriek in;
I
wish your name
To
fill every mouth with
Blood
& adoration
December 13, 2015
11:55 am: Terribly late start. Tackling the nasal.
12:29 pm: Reached the maxilla!
12:36 pm: Stop.
Night thoughts among tyrannosaurs
I long for the bronze years when
Grief was freighted in warships
Of self mutilation
December 14, 2015
9:56 pm: Back to the maxilla.
10:35 pm: Some good progress made; I’ll have more energy for
this tomorrow morning.
December 15, 2015
~10:20 am: Resuming the maxilla.
December 16, 2015
9:49 am: Resuming the maxilla.
10:37 am: Time to yield to other demands; reached the
lateral alveolar margin of the maxilla.
Night thoughts among tyrannosaurs
From
the carapace crown
Wrought
in Art Nouveau
From
the lyre of the Cupid’s bow
To
the bob and sway
Of
the pelvic arcade;
The
cradle of our grave
The
mind of our sky
The
constellation joined
By
malice & inaction
December 17, 2015
4:43 pm: A brief,
brief return to the ms.
4:48 pm: I’ve reached the maxillary sinus system; but it is
time to go – dammit.
Night thoughts among tyrannosaurs
I
just want to listen
I
just want to learn things
I
just want to burn gold
And
make the decision before
The
high noon wastes
Into
long shadows
And
I just want everyone
To
shut up
So
that I can hear the
Woman
sing
About
her stupid, stupid heart
On
the daily main.
December 18, 2015
8:25 pm: Back to the ms!
9:39 pm: Stop.
Night thoughts among tyrannosaurs
The
longest night
I
don’t want to know anything
I
don’t want to be anything
I
don’t need to feel alive
I
don’t need to be rich
Or aware
Or
educated or brought
On
board;
I’ll take the guillotine
I’ll take the firing squad;
The
aftermath
Will
glisten like bat teeth
Around
the sonar shriek:
“All’s
clear”.
December 19, 2015
11:00 am: A late start, but classes are over.
12:50 pm: Stop for lunch.
2:10 pm: Back from lunch. I have completed the pass through
the maxilla and found a couple of gaps along the way, including the joint surface
for the premaxilla on the nasal vestibule, and the entire intermaxillary
process! I’ll wrap those parts up on a return visit to the Burpee once my
entire proofread of the ms is done.
I still have not decreased the length of the ms by any
amount, but it has not exceeded 1,018 pages. I now proceed to the lacrimal.
3:02 pm: I have several errands to run. Stop.
Night thoughts among tyrannosaurs
Become alien
Become fascinating
Become the thing that misled me
In the first instance
Pharyngeal jaws
Extracalvarial dome
Become beautiful
Become hideous
You be the shower of gold
I’ll be the tomb.
December 20, 2015
10:26 am: Back to revisions.
Music: Beethoven’s
5th.
11:29 am: Short break. Reached the medial pneumatic recess
of the lacrimal.
12:33 pm: Back to the lacrimal, briefly.
12:38 pm: Time to go.
December 21, 2015
10:14 am: Good grief – a late start, but a start
nonetheless. Resuming the lacrimal; at the supraorbital process.
Music: Mozart’s
Requiem, followed by a return to Beethoven’s 5th.
12:00 pm: Found a loose thread in the description of the
lacrimal: the neurovascular foramina that penetrate the rostral and caudal
surfaces of the ventral ramus. I’ll take care of that after lunch. Stop.
1:09 pm: Back to work!
1:28 pm: Completed the new section on the foramina. The word
count is 306,065, so I still have
plenty of cutting down to do! I’ll now
proceed onto the jugal.
Music: Beethoven’s
2nd and 4th.
1:47 pm: Stopping for an errand.
3:19 pm: Resuming the jugal, at its pneumatic recess.
Criminy – I just bumped the ms up to
1,019 pages!
3:55 pm: A loose thread in the jugal spotted – I need to add the subcutaneous
texture of the jugal for adult T. rex.
Stop.
Night thoughts among tyrannosaurs
I think of you now and then
A little bit more than now and then
When we first met
I wasn’t your friend
I think of you now and then
A little bit more than now and then
December 22, 2015
11:00 am: A dispiritingly late start; resuming the medial
surface of the jugal.
11:11 am: Deleted a redundant part of a paragraph – back
down to 1,018 pages!
11:32 am: Perhaps there is an effective way of quantifying
the length of the base of the postorbital process than comparing it with the
length of the bone – suborbital height?
12:15 pm: Adult condition of the joint surface on the
ventral quadratojugal process, orientation of the process, form of ventral
margin, dorsal view, medial view.
12:19 pm: Done with the run through the jugal; time to eat.
The next step is to take care of the loose threads for the jugal before
proceeding on with the postorbital.
3:22 pm: Back to the Jane ms; I’m a bit fatigued, so I’ll
start on the postorbital before taking care of the loose threads for the jugal.
4:13 pm: I have to stop for coffee.
4:16 pm: Back to it!
4:30 pm: Stop.
December 25, 2015
2:54 pm: Back to the ms, finally! I’ll back up to take care
of all of the loose threads that are currently hanging over my head, which
means back to the jugal I go!
4:14 pm: Phew – done with the jugal! Now, on to the
postorbital to first take care of the loose threads accumulated so far.
4:25 pm: Hunger’s forcing me upstairs; brief break.
December 26, 2015
10:38 am: Just answered a question about privately owned
specimens left on my "Nanotyrannus isn’t real, really" post. Now, back to the
postorbital section of the monograph to add in the information on the joint
surface for the frontal for adult T. rex.
Music: Mozart’s
Requiem.
11:15 am: Crumbs – the manuscript is 1,020 pages long!
11:51 am: Finally reached the cornual process of the
postorbital, which means that the adult conditions will have already been
included!
12:22 pm: Lunch break.
1:48 pm: Back to work!
2:10 pm: Done with the joint surface for the squamosal, now
proceeding with the jugal process of the postorbital. The bad news is that the
monograph has reached a page count of 1,021. I have to find ways to cut this
down without sacrificing content.
2:28 pm: Stop.
December 27, 2015
10:52 am: Back to the jugal process of the postorbital;
hopefully, I won’t be adding too much.
Music: Mozart’s
Requiem.
11:40 am: A few additions made that have brought the
monograph up to 1,022 pages; I am now at the subocular process of the
postorbital, which shouldn’t require any new text since comparisons with adults
have been made.
11:46 am: Made it to the squamosal!
12:24 pm: Stop.
Night thoughts among tyrannosaurs
In night thought
In light sought
From heights dropped
Into sight brought
From might fought
In right caught
A flight wrought
From blight flock.
December 28, 2015
12:51 pm: Back to the ms. Heavy snow and wind storm today,
so I am at home unexpectedly early. Resuming the proofread of the squamosal!
1:43 pm: Time for lunch; stop.
~2:15 pm: Back to work.
2:52 pm: Errand to run; stop.
Night thoughts among tyrannosaurs
How
many cities
Do your hands hold?
How many sunsets
Must you pluck
To cherry rum?
Head
for tail
Tail
for head
Regret
surfaces
&
serpents the
world;
Whatever
you drink
It’ll
be too much
Whatever
I drink
It’ll
be too little
&
what separates us
is
the electron thread
painted
in gold
on
the chest
of
a black flesh eater.
December 29, 2015
11:41 am: Dismally late start, with an immanent departure.
Regardless, I found two loose threads in the squamosal: the description of the
quadrate cotyle and joint surface for the otoccipital. I also found a loose
thread regarding the skull frame, namely, the secondary laterotemporal
fenestra. Squamosal: page 203+.
11:50 am: Stop.
4:30 pm: Resuming with the secondary laterotemporal
fenestra.
4:59 pm: The secondary laterotemporal fenestra is completed!
Now, on to the quadrate cotyle.
5:18 pm: Done with the quadrate cotyle, now on to the joint
surface for the otoccipital and prootic.
5:42 pm: Stop.
Night thoughts among tyrannosaurs
Tyrants, lizards, kings
Then as the whale do not breath
Then as the crocodile do not spare
Then as the mantle do not sheave
Then as the deity do not appear
Then as the night do not reveal
Then as day do not fail;
“I can’t work anymore at night.”
Why not?
“I have no motivation, my mind’s off
the task; sleep looks so much better
in her leaden sunder; and I sit will-less
& wasting.”
December 30, 2015
10:02 am: Resuming the joint surface for the otoccipital and
prootic of the squamosal.
10:10 am: Section completed! Now I can proceed to the
quadratojugal! Unfortunately, the additions have brought the ms up to 1,026
pages.
10:40 am: Errand to run; stop.
11:06 am: Back to the quadratojugal!
11:44 am: Errand to run. Stop.
12:17 pm: Resuming the quadratojugal.
12:54 pm: Done with the quadratojugal! Now on to the
quadrate! Stopped at page 236.
1:04 pm: Shifting gears by giving my attention to the
corrected hard copy.
1:57 pm: Red-inked the premaxilla; time to print the
description of the nasals!
2:12 pm: Have some errands to run. Stop.
2:33 pm: Back to red inking the hard copy!
3:08 pm: Finished red-inking the nasal; I’ll now print the
maxilla!
3:10 pm: I just caught a gap in the description of the
maxilla – the joint surface for the premaxilla on page 105. I’ll take care of
this before resuming the quadrate.
3:13 pm: Section of the maxilla description printed out; I
have to head home to eat something for lunch. Stop.
Night thoughts among tyrannosaurs
Tyrant lizard king
Cradle descending
Magisteria burned through at the neck
It’s not me that you shear
It
isn’t you that I hear
It’s the Corinthian pillar leafing song
The blossom & bloom of the Chorus of
Deaths;
The welt & weal of Dawn’s topaz scald
December 31, 2015
3:14 pm: After another catastrophic delay I am taking a step
backward to complete the descriptions of the joint surfaces for the nasal and
premaxilla of the maxilla.
3:37 pm: The rostral end of the joint surface for the nasal
is done! Now, on to the joint surface for the premaxilla.
4:00 pm: Finished with the joint surface for the premaxilla;
by this addition, the monograph has been nudged up to 1,027 pages. Now, on to
the quadrate!
5:18 pm: Stop.
Night thoughts among tyrannosaurs
No, no commitment
No, no revision
No, no evasion
No, I’m no example.
I'd never be one to complain about detail in a theropod description, but it strikes me that a thousand pages is about 66 times the length of most theropod descriptions. Even the iconic theropod monographs are mostly less than 50 pages of text. I wonder if time would be better spent writing 50 page monographs for twenty specimens instead of going into the minutia of articulation surfaces and such that aren't discussed/known in many if any other taxa. Even among North American tyrannosaurids, I'd take 20 Sinraptor dongi-length papers (45 pages including the numerous figures) on each Daspletosaurus species, Gorgosaurus and Albertosaurus which haven't been described in depth for about a century, Tyrannosaurus specimens besides Sue, etc. over one 1000 page paper on a juvenile Tyrannosaurus. I'm sure it will be a great paper, but with so many taxa and specimens needing to be described in more detail, it seems like an oddly huge amount of effort to devote to one.
ReplyDeleteThere is indeed a good guide regarding certain other professional abilities so it will again be so easy for them to get started writing about their cover letter and much more things alike. esthetician cover letter
ReplyDeleteHmmm…I think Mickey has a point, although I am not a professional and admittedly have zero experience in the matter. Admittedly, it is probably my own bias, since I’d also like to see a wide range of descriptions of various specimens, even though Jane is highly important and this will finally put an end to the “Nanotyrannus debate”! (Even though there’s not much of a debate anymore, you know what I mean.)
ReplyDeleteAlso, if I might change the topic, this might be a better venue of discussion than Facebook. I also hope that I’m not causing any annoyance, but since you are one of THE (and I’m not using the term lightly!) world’s foremost experts in tyrannosaurids, I’d especially value your opinion of my paleoart, both from an artistic standpoint and, especially, how it stands up to anatomical accuracy. (I know, I haven’t illustrated any tyrannosaurids yet, but I’m worried I wouldn’t be able to do them justice with my skills as they stand right now…I also don’t quite think I did any of the dinosaurs I drew justice, but that’s another topic entirely.)
I think I can see a lot of my own errors (the Dilophosaurus in side profile’s legs and proportions especially turned out wonky), but a professional eye would help see what’s essentially invisible to me.
I also hope to be a paleoartist that can bring some of the most accurate restorations of my favorite taxa to life, eventually…once I improve. I’d like to avoid so called “paleoart memes” and also not fall victim to outrageous theories floating around online…(which I’ll ask your opinion on in the next post). I think artwork can basically convey important information to an audience that may not be scientifically informed, and even spark an interest in paleontology proper.
Although I lost my motivation to participate in scientific research (due to bad experiences in the past), I hope that I can help the field of paleontology in another way: by making artistic reconstructions that also convey facts and are interesting. As an artist / blogger I could also, potentially, help fund important paleo research, by encouraging people to donate to and support museums as they visit my site to see my artwork. I even thought of maybe taking on commissioned artwork from individuals, and donating the proceeds to a museum, but who knows if that would ever be successful…I need to get better first!
-Leandra W.