Member of the Month - April 2017 - Kane

[Fossildude19]

Well,... it seems as if spring is about to arrive any day now, and with a new month, comes a new wearer of the MotM crown.  

By staff consensus, this month's elected winner is:

 

 

 

Kane

 

For nearly 3 years, this Canadian Renaissance Man has contributed trip reports,

thoughtful insight into fossil ID requests, friendly jests,

and shared in the spirit of what this forum is all about.

A consultant, author and college professor,

as well as a self proclaimed human Back Hoe, Kane brings a

fresh enthusiasm and helpful manner to this Forum. 

Kane, thanks for all of your contributions, which help to make this forum what it is. 

Congratulations on a well deserved win.  

Keep up the good work. 

[JohnJ]

Congratulations, Kane. 

[ynot]

Congratulations on the well deserved honorarium!!!

[Mike from North Queensland]

Congratulations Kane from the other side of the planet.

 

 

Mike D'Arcy

[BobWill]

Well deserved Kane thanks for your contributions!

[Ludwigia]

Congrats, Kane!

[Coco]

Congrats Kane !

 

Coco

[Kane]

!!! I am... honoured, verklempt? 

Thanks, all! - Couldn't happen at a more auspicious time, too (a milestone bday this week, yikes ).

 

This is, by far, an exceptional community, and one I am proud to be a part of - so thanks for having me! 

 

[Fossildude19]

2 minutes ago, Kane said:

!!! I am... honoured, verklempt? 

Thanks, all! - Couldn't happen at a more auspicious time, too (a milestone bday this week, yikes ).

 

This is, by far, an exceptional community, and one I am proud to be a part of - so thanks for having me! 

 

 

 

This ^^^^^^^^ is not Kane, the word smith  that I have become familiar with.      

Please share your journey to fossil collecting with us.  

[Kane]

Lol... I just woke up to this wonderful surprise, and getting my coffee injection  Ok, short story long:

 

When I was but a wee lad in proverbial britches, living in Ottawa, I found my first fossil by the Ottawa River (maybe aged 6 or so?). It was a three-inch wide Pseudogygites latimarginatus trilobite, but to my young eyes, it may as well have been a foot wide. Road cuts in my childhood neighbourhood of Sandy Hill exposed deep, black shales glittering with flattened, pyritized nautiloids. At around age 8, I wrote the Geological Survey of Canada a letter, and they were kind enough to send me a geological map of the region. I wore that map right out in marathon-long treks from one end of the city to the other. At about 10 or so, I started giving myself little research projects, going to the public library to hand draw trilobite species into a catalogue, and even visited the Geo Survey of Canada on my own, going through their stacks of periodicals. It felt exciting, like I was on a mission.

 

And then adolescence came, and fossils were put aside for Nirvana cassettes, baseball, drawing, writing, 8-bit Nintendo, role playing games, and girls.  A few fantastic fossils were found near my high school, none of which I have any more as I gifted them to my mother's friend's daughter, along with my entire mineral collection. And then a decade in university gumming up my mental works with poststructuralism, deconstruction, and the airy philosophy and literary theory isms. Novel and academic article writing sucked up a lot of time.

 

An ongoing tragedy in life was the source of a reflective turning point. As sophomoric as it sounds, with all the sad things I could not control, I took inventory of my life and what I wanted to do with the rest of it. I made my incremental return to all those things that brought me joy in my younger days, and fossils were one of them. And, as they say, youth is wasted on the young - and so this return saw me enjoying this childhood passion much more, with the benefit of hindsight and a wee bit more knowledge. I started lurking here in search of more knowledge to complement my long hikes in the woods where rocks may be. And then I joined!

 

The postscript to the journey is now that it is shared - and I mean more than just with this community. And that is when I met Deb, my missus. When I introduced my little geeky, outdoorsy passion, she took to it immediately, herself having a natural curiousity of the world and being an outdoorsy type like me. And so now we are a fossiling couple, our spare time devoted to the hunt, and our home crowded by an ever expanding array of new finds. I couldn't ask for a better companion on this incredible journey

[doushantuo]

I vehemently disagree.Someone who looks down on fossil corals can NEVER become MOTM.

And another thing:he's from Canada,where the national sport seems to be ice hockey.

This also precludes him from any honorifics.

In short: the brassband can come in,but they have to play something by Rush or Bryan Adams.

And out of tune.

He can come back at me and exact his revenge for this vitriolic diatribe in 2034,when the revamped forum will have voted me MOTA(Member of the Afternoon).

the necessary coinage to bring this about is accumulating in my vaults as we speak

[doushantuo]

I fear tears are welling up,that's as good as any oscar acceptance speech

[doushantuo]

Now,before our normally acerbic relation degrades into one of genuine hostility and invective gets thrown about,I will,with beads of perspiration running down my

low sloping forehead,grudgingly admit that there's something to be said for the Forum's viewpoint.

The carefully worded email from  his spouse has nothing to do with this miniscule concession on my side.

His posts have had some merit,I am told, and betray a modicum of knowledge about locality,fossil content,preparation of material,etc.

 

 

[doushantuo]

the reception of another email leaves me no other course of action : i will remit some recompensatory funds,utter apologies herewith,and voice the opinion

that there 's no better human being on this planet than Kane.

And that he fully deserves this recognition.

 

 

 

[Troodon]

Congratulations Kane,  thanks for your participation in the forum  

 

[Susan from PA]

Congratulations, Kane!   

[jcbshark]

Congrats and thanks for your contributions 

[digit]

Huzzah!

 

 

Glad your contributions have resulted in this recognition. But, you well know that the true prize--as you have elaborated above--is to have a life partner and a hunting partner who are one and the same. Having someone to plan hunting trips with and to share the moment of discovery of a great find is worth all the accolades in the world. But, for the moment, enjoy our well-wishing accolades for your part in making this forum an inviting place to learn and mix with like-minded folk.

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[abyssunder]

Congratulations, Kane! Well deserved trophy!

[PFOOLEY]

Congratulations, Kane. 

[Fruitbat]

Congratulations Kane!  Well-deserved!

 

-Joe

[Pagurus]

               

[FossilDudeCO]

Congratulations Kane!

Well deserved, I know I have commonly found myself perusing your informative posts!

[Darktooth]

Congratulations Kane! 

[Monica]

Congratulations, Kane, from a fellow Canuck!!!

 

Thanks for all that you've contributed to the forum - I look forward to continuing to read your informative posts!!!

 

Monica

 

PS - Happy early birthday!!!