Re: paleonet fantastic flint forms

["ak" <ak@xxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Andrew Rindsberg" <arindsberg@gsa.state.al.us>
To: <PaleoNet@nhm.ac.uk>
Sent: Friday, January 18, 2002 4:49 PM
Subject: Re: paleonet fantastic flint forms


> Dear Ms. Gjerløff,
>
> This is an interesting topic, and a few possibilities come to mind:
>
> 1. Dr. Richard G. Bromley, professor emeritus at the Dept. of Geology,
> University of Copenhagen, has worked with chalk flints for most of his
> career and may have some information on flint pseudofossils.
>
> 2. People have an innate ability to recognize faces, therefore we see
faces
> everywhere, even in a few lines. ;-) A few people lack this ability in
> varying degrees, even to the distressing degree of not recognizing family
> members on the street. This is prosopagnosia or 'face-blindness' and you
may
> be able to find more information about it on the Web.
>
> 3. I vaguely remember an article on common optical illusions as they
affect
> geologic mapping. (Does anyone remember where it is?) For example, there
is
> the tendency to link dots into lines when dealing with remote imagery,
which
> can sometimes lead to dramatic mistakes, e.g., the mapping of canals on
> Mars.
>
> 4. Every academic paleontologist has been presented pseudofossils by
people
> who are absolutely certain that they have found (or their grandfather
found)
> a fossilized toe, wasp's nest, egg, footprint, etc. It is not the
> misconception, but the certainty, that paleontologists find puzzling;
> perhaps it is due to the emotional weight of having a possibly valuable
> specimen or a valued family memento. Of course, there are many others who
> are broad-minded about their finds.
>
> 5. A few centuries ago, there were no professional paleontologists, and
the
> earliest works on paleontology are full of such wonders. See Martin
> Rudwick's wonderful book on the early history of paleontology, 'The
Meaning
> of Fossils' (2nd edition).
>
> When you publish your work (which I presume may be in a historical
journal),
> please post the citation on PaleoNet so interested paleontologists may
find
> it readily.
>
> Andrew K. Rindsberg
> Geological Survey of Alabama
> Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA
>
>
>