Hello, is there anybody in there?

Well the "real" me is an amateur in the world of zoology and palaeo. I've worked at a few museums which probably ups me to something like a 2nd year student in the subject, but nothing formal (besides a really terribly run palaeo class for none science majors by a Conodont expert... and all we heard about were bleeping conodonts BOO). I do have 2 degrees though to answer that question. One in Poli-Sci and another in Education

As for my web persona and my blog's mascot (traumador...) he's got no formal education, and knows everything he does from first hand experience.

I'll just disclaim for anyone who checks out his website (as I know some people have been off my comments here) traumador's blog has been an excercise of keeping an old puppet character from my museum days alive. The website started as part of a unit for my grade 4-5 kids at school, but they loved him so much I've kept it up. I have only just been inspired recently to try and expand the concept beyond this simple beginning. I'm aiming to have more science content, more prehistoric critters, and make the site more friendly for the overall world wide web.

The most important thing to emphasis: though the website has living Dinosaurs as its subject it is not and I am NOT creationist by any means! Think of it more as the ultimate palaeotologist dream of a few dinosaurs somehow surviving through the KT and other previous extinctions (a modern urban Dinotopia my friends have coined it).

Anyways sorry if this is too much info... ;p

Hey Brian.

I'm still reading!

You've probably noticed that I don't post anything on my site anymore. But regardless of my own non-blogging, I'm still keeping up with Laelaps.

I'll try to comment more in the future.

Chris

Craig; No worries; most of what I know that gets filtered onto this blog I've learned on my own, and you probably have much more hands-on experience than I do.

Chris; I figured you were still here, but you know, actually paying attention to your schoolwork. I hope everything well is going well for you and it's good to know you'll still here.

I am getting Laelaps in GoogleReader, but to be honest have a hard time keeping up with your posting frequency and volume! But, it might have something to do with finishing that dang PhD taking up my time. I hope to actually read your posts and not just skim through them soon, so keep at it.

I'm still here, Brian.

My day job I work with supercomputers (Crays, IBMs, and various cluster vendors' toys). While most of my compatriots here are ubereducated, I have no degree: I've worked my tail off to get here via various oddball-ish jobs (death rays, suicidal precursors to the terminator, etc).

As for all things paleo, I'm a 100% amateur. I just read. alot. Mass extinctions are the focus of my curiousity for paleo reading. For now. At one time it was paleoanthropolgy. Before that the dinosaurs. I really crave a good book on the therapsids. Darren Naish has said he'll write it if I pony up the cash. I might jsut take him up on the offer. ;)

Most of the time I read and don't comment. Your posts are ones that need time to think about and if I spent as much time replying as I'd like I'd never get anything up on The Dragon's Tales.

Plant ecology PhD. I read your blog through Google Reader, click over at least once a day, I think.

Bachelor's in math, myself. Strong effort to view myself as a polymath + guilt for leaving academia = reading your blog. I rarely comment, because I'm usually reading at work, and I can justify reading much easier than I can posting.

Perfect degree, B.S. in Political Science, read in bloglines and try to keep up and broaden my mind

Hi Brian,

Still checking your blog updates and have to send some artwork for you to post, as per our last conversation

Helleo there!
I'm Henrik, professional lurger and undergrad palaeontology student.

Hi Brian,
I am a 24-year-old college drop-out (but I plan to go back next year to purse a biology degree). Currently, I am a mortgage loan-processor for a major home equity lender, but thanks to the bottom falling out of the market, I'll soon be losing my job.

I'm lover of all things science and a huge consumer of science blogs and Science Blogs. I found Laelaps after PZ linked to you, and I've been enjoying your thoughtful and informative posts ever since.

I have my own blog, but it consists mostly of me amusing myself (and pretty much nobody else) with the occasional serious-minded posts on primates and conservation.

Keep up the good work!
Dave

I just answered this ("Who are you?") over at Chad Orzel's Uncertain Principles. 59 year old high school dropout, science freak, probably a minority demographic. Via ScienceBlogs combined feed on Google reader.

And one history school dropout.

27 year old; used to attend a state university, studying Computer Science and Communications. Had some troubles, went to community college and got an Associate of Science in Computer Science, but along the way, took Historical Geology and really liked it, and took the rest of geology offered by the college (Physical, 2 semester of Oceanography, and some local field courses). Now I'm attending a different state university, going for BSs in Earth Science and Math. I'm very interested in geobio and paleobio stuff, but haven't had a lot of formal course work in them yet. Currently leaning towards paleontology or some such for grad work (assuming I go on in geosciences -- if I go on in math instead, then I'd probably study combinatorics or scientific computational junk), but I'll worry more about that after I figure out if I can actually get in anywhere with my checkered academic background -- which is something we sort of have in common.

Just nod if you can hear me; is there anyone home?

Hi, Brian. I didn't find your blog until you moved to this location, but I've been in love with it ever since. I'm a science nut and a tree hugger and a naturalist, not to mention a writer and photographer and overall insane person.

So I feel right at home here!

i followed you here man, good stuff. i am just a guy who is interested in the sciences as a whole with no real interest in academia, i only have an associates degree from a community college, but i still like to keep up to date with zoology, evolutionary biology, language, anthropology, mega fauna...the whole nine yards. i wish i knew people with similar interests here in Pennsylvania.....

Math PhD. I like reading about all the sciences except for, you know, THAT one.

Hello, I've been reading your blog for around 3 or 4 months now but never could figure out how to say hi. Call me an odd duck here as I'm but a mere science enthusiast. Professionally I'm a graphic artist with a degree in computer animation and another in fine arts and a high level of interest in evolution and dinosaur paleontology. Your blog was my doorway to discovery of the rich science blog community. Though I found many other interesting sites, yours remains my favorite as I find your writing style very clear and approachable for somebody like me who only has a passing familiarity with the technical side of (many) science discussions. Please keep up the excellent work.

Hi. I'm a botanist/mycologist/artist (that's multiple degrees) by training. I'm currently teaching biology at the local junior college and painting landscapes. Never took a formal paleo class, but am deeply interested in evolution. I found your blog recently, and am enjoying your mix.

Not that you don't already know, but to help the ScienceBlog data base, I have a BA in English Ed and a MS in Meteorology. I am a 60 yr old female (get lots of Mr. Jeremi's) retired to Newfoundland. Never been the blog reader til now. I only found Science Blogs through your being here, but I am really enjoying myself exploring all kinds of sites. Learning a lot on many subjects. Love your photography. Enjoy the science, even if I skip over some of the more technical names for lack of updated schooling. When I took biology there were just plants and animals. Dinosaurs were still a bit of a myth to the general public. Think you are a very good writer and you do a good job of combining hard science, passion and an easy style of covering lots of topics.

Hello other Brian,

I could arguably be called an amateur zoologist and paleontologist because of keeping up developments in that field. I am not a professional in this at all; I'm (almost) a teacher of history and geography in real life. I should graduate as such within a year and a half.

Zoology and paleontology have been a fascination of mine since I was very little however and never has the trouble in finding people in your peer group (or even outside it) without the same idiosyncracy and thus with an ability to realise the greatness of both subjects, stopped me from indulging myself in both. To me, the world of blogs is great. It's people like you and Darren Naish that are, in my view, among the greater bloggers out there.

My last couple comments were apparently too long and ended up not going through after being held for approval, so I'll make this one shorter.

I'm a Canadian male, 25 years old. I have a B. Sc. in physics and a B. Ed. I graduated from the education program this spring and I'm currently teaching biology and math in a Canadian-partnered English-language program in China. I've only been following your blog since you came to ScienceBlogs (which I also only discovered recently), but I quickly became a fan. I've loved natural history since I was a kid, even though I haven't studied it at the post-secondary level except on my own time.

Thanks for speaking up everyone! This thread definitely gave me an ego boost if nothing else (thanks for all the compliments and kind words). Zach gets the prize for being the first to bring up that the post's title was a Pink Floyd reference, but I'm glad to see the the readership here is rather diverse.

Also, there's no need to make apologies about commenting; I read many blogs but I often don't comment unless I have something significant/witty to add to the conversation, so while commenting definitely helps spur a sense of community and I encourage it it's not a "requirement" that I'm going to chastise anyone about. I'm just glad that you're here and like the material, especially since many of you are people who simply love natural history no matter what you make actually be doing to put bread on the table.

I also know I need to do some updating on my blogroll, so expect an announcement about open blogroll enrollment soon, too.

I found you before your move to ScienceBlogs. I am a classic lurker as I rarely comment, mainly due to a lack of previous knowledge. You have taught me much through your blog. I was quite surprised and greatly impressed after finding out you were an undergraduate. I attend a school you might have heard of ... Rutgers.... I will be defending my PhD in Geology in about 1 week.

Ph.D. back in the dark ages in what would now be called cognitive science (cogpsych, neuro, some CS and miscellaneous philosophy coursework); most recent 15 years spent building evolutionary algorithms for use in an applied context. Mostly read you in Google Reader.

26 year old Belgian here, with a bachelor degree in company management and environmental administration. Long time amateur and lover of several sciences, but paleontology foremost. (I would have loved to study paleontology but I doubted my ability and attention span to work myself through two years of geology first before I could get to paleontology. I'm content to be an amateur now.) My day job is doing administration in a family owned shop.

I'm a recent reader of Laelaps, only discovering this blog after it came on scienceblogs, but it has become my favourite. I never left comments since I never have anything interesting to add. But I suppose this is as good a time as any to say I've quite enjoyed reading Laelaps so far and will continue to do so for hopefully a long time still to come. Keep up the good work, I say.

Just a high-school science nut with a paleo-streak who loves AP Biology way too much

53-year-old high-school dropout, retired submariner. Would have majored in history if I'd finished school and gone on to college; would go for palaeoanthropology if I started now. Been interested in palaeontology since junior high school; specific interests have varied through the years, but currently it's mostly Pleistocene mammals and ancient hominids. Started reading your blog recently, after it was recommended by Darren Naish.

54 years old, federal employee (language instructor), no advanced degrees, crazy about astronomy and dinos though

Ph.D. and a couple other degrees; I'm an immunologist/virologist/other things as required. Professional scientist, recently became a PI. Interested in most aspects of biology, and some aspects of most other sciences as well. I've been reading Laelaps for a while (a year plus?), mostly via RSS, and followed you over here. I believe I've commented once or twice, but not often.

Aw you know me Brian! But for the sake of the SB folks, I'm a 27-year-old part-time palaeontology grad student in London. I think I've been reading your blog on Wordpress since about March-April, but it feels like we've been pals for longer. I read your blog through Google Reader, but occasionally come back to your homepage to have a longer read through older posts again.

14, been reading your blog on WordPress since summer. No degrees (duh).

I started reading you on WordPress about a year ago. Anon, it's nice to see I'm not the only high-schooler here.

Hello everyone, I'm Mo, I'm 22 years old from London. I'm kind of a Masters student at the Natural History Museum, but I'm taking some time out at the moment. I'm currently writing the definitive dictionary on the etymology of tetrapod scientific names, which is fun and challenging at the same time. Other than taxonomy and nomenclature, my interests are palaeontology (especially vertebrates and trilobites), wildlife art, wildlife photography and a bit of geology. I don't like to advertise, but see my blog for examples of my art and photography! I like to travel around the UK to different zoos and museums to build up my portfolio.

I discovered this blog through Tetrapod Zoology; I can't wait for a new photo of the day every day from here, they truly are great photos that show patience, clarity and observation skills that I often lack when it comes to wildlife photography!