Open letter to Fourth Estate

I believe thats "News speak", they said this AM (as if responding to some assertion that a reporter may have made)
" I must say that we have not done any dating of the bone (if they did a std C14 and it was said to be 2 million years old, can you see the possible error implicate with that statement??

If theyve done some thermoluminescence, that too is limited to a specific upper age (usually less than 800K years), optical stimulated luminescence ( limited to lass than 900K), or electron spin resonance--This may work but since its from a cave, they would have to develop a series of standard curves for ionizing radiation getting in the caves

Flourine dating (limited to about 250K).
Cave depoit accretion rates (if a Carbonate crust develops over the bone material, often they are able to do C14 of specific layers of the Carbonate and then determine an approximate deposition rate and taking a wild ass guess (aided by many math formulae).

In any casem these bones have been collected and sectioned for only about 2 years and all the more exotic dating techniques will require time for replicates and duplicates

Most all of the radiological dating with exception of the above and C14 and C13/14 are only good for rad "clocks" reset by extreme heat or actual melting.

Bummer

Ive begun reading the geo paper and theyve done some initial stratigrqphy but their initial conclusions (IMHO) may be circular in reasoning and need some careful QA to cut down any systematic errors .


I hope theyve taken some pollen or spore cores to do counts of pollen that may have been drug in by rats and other seed eaters.
While these arent exact dating techniques, they are "environmental indicators" that can be compared to what we already know about the climate of specific Pleistocene sub epochs.

We should wait. There is waaay more to come and getting our science from newspapers is not the best. Oralloys posting of the e-science articles is much closer to understand whats doing

Well done, rag. Guess just don't have the patience of youth

I've been mean enough to Dale over the years so I'll try to temper my comments.

Dale likes to shorten names, and that is the way it is. Complaining doesn't make a dent.

Dale likes writing and I gather was an erstwhile writer, erstwhile a word he likes a lot but didn't use this time. I can understand still enjoying that and being listened to.

Dale likes to cite the total signed up people - over a thirteen year period at A2K - to decry against a lack of responses here. I'm not sure that is what he means this particular time.

On another thread of his today, re his coffee making apparatus, I'd agree with him and Banana Breath if I had one of those.
To Banana Breath - I do have a bialetti espresso maker. That is one cool machina; mine is smaller than the one in your picture on the other thread, but just as beautiful.

I probably owe Dale an ice cream cone after all my whining about his posts.

But I remembered this time. However would you mind if I called you "O"

Sounds more impressive than "former"

Anytime, Man, I'm addicted to the substance. Let us know if or when you'd plan to visit the High Desert

I know that he will ask for something and then, when responded to, he ignores many folks who give fairly good avice.
I like him but its like losing patience with your father who already hs his mind made up and doesnt seem to take in any guidance or information.

OH WELL enjoy your lattes , or whatever thats about

Yes, concede, awful habit, one I must address

Hope you don't experience it at 84

You can call me osso, as many other people do here. I detest being called oss.

I'm not a man.

I already live in a high desert, just not in your area.

Aha Osso I'll remember that. It's more than 5 that sets me to the abbr

Once more my apologies

Now intensely curious

Don't call me "O" either. That reminds me of a certain movie.

Osso, or Ossobuco, or nothing.

I should have said that on the other thread, I was being lazy. I don't make espresso, actually, I'm too cheap to buy the really good coffee.

Yea me too Osso. But in addition with guests I'm too lazy to use my Keurig; with apologies to one of our best friends Bro Michelson

http://able2know.org/topic/292796-1

Albuquerque is where I live now. However, I'm a dyed in the wool Californian.

I'm not quite sure what 'dyed in the wool' means, and should look it up. I meant it that I am a native, born in Los Angeles in 1941, and lived in California almost fifty years, off and on, mostly on. I miss it.

Pray Osso from whence

You might be surprised. I've been part of a design team for housing tracts near your area, for a certain then big developer. Maybe the company still is big, I haven't checked lately; last time I did, they were still cooking. We didn't work for them, they were the clients.

I'm not bragging about that, that was when I was a beginner in landscape architecture. I wormed my way out of it when I could.. too many city rules or developer rules wanting green lawns, which were even back then, stupid.


Dale, you could check a2ker's profiles. Some of us actually fill them out. Some people are very interesting.
Just click on my name at the top of this post, and you'll get to the profile, and then you will know how to do it.

That's all well and good, man, and I hope you don't mind me shortening your name to 'man'. I know there is a potential for confusing because you shorten Farmerman's name to man, but I'm sure hoping we won't confuse you with man.

oh man!

Not at all Rog

Man oh Man

Did someone say O man?
http://cdn.opentip.com/Home-Kitchen/Eagle-Emblems-Flagoman-p-1518080.html

that was onan...