Shark presentation

[Darktooth]

Today was time for me to give my Shark presentation at the Onandaga County Free Library, in Syracuse, New York. Originally I was to do a presentation on sharks, for the kids in the morning, and a second presentation on New York trilobites, for adults, in the afternoon. Due to the death of a friend, I had to cancel the trilobite presentation to attend to funeral services. But I gave the presentation on sharks as I did not want to cancel that, and let the kids down, who had registered for this event with the library, in advance. I really enjoyed giving this presentation today. While I never claim to anyone about being an expert, I do enjoy sharing the knowledge that I do have, with others. There were about 16, of the 23 kids, who had signed up for this, as well as their parents. Not a large group, but that's ok. I talked a bit about sharks of the past, modern sharks, shark fossils, and how and where to find them. I only had an hour to talk, and the time seemed to fly by, but the smiles on the children's and parents faces made it rewarding. At the end of the discussion I gave each kid 2 sharkteeth and 2 stingray plates to take home.They all seemed very pleased with that. The teeth I gave away were all from my recent hunt from Cookie Cutter Creek, as I had plenty. The highlight was when one of the children approached me after the talk. She looked at me and whispered " You know, you talked just a little too much". I had to chuckle. I told her how much a appreciate constructive criticism.  

[Darktooth]

[Darktooth]

Me and my boys. They helped to bring items close up to the audience members to look at and touch. My wife also came along to be supportive.

[Tidgy's Dad]

Well played, sir! 

Always great to share what one knows and spark some interest and enthusiasm in the young. 

Very sorry about your friend. 

[ynot]

  Cool!

 

 

And condolences on the loss!

[fossilsonwheels]

Awesome !! It is great to have the kids there with you. Well done. The kids dig free fossils don't they ?

[Pagurus]

 

Kids say the darndest things. I'm glad you were able to fit the kid program into your day, Dave. I'm so sorry to hear about your friend. 

 

 

[Fossildude19]

Well done, Dave!  You are a natural, with your gift of gab.  

My condolences on your loss, as well.   

[Al Tahan]

It’s really cool you do these talks Dave! It’s a great thing for kids in the community. Science education should be exciting and fun and everyone should participate, not just scientists!!! Scientific literacy is in decline so it’s nice seeing things like this.  

[Ludwigia]

Nice to see you in action, Dave.

[Darktooth]

@Tidgy's Dad @ynot  @fossilsonwheels

@Pagurus @Fossildude19 @Ludwigia @Al Tahan

Thank-you all for the kind words. It was a great experience to be able do something like this for the community. I have given a few presentations for my local Rock Club in the past but never anything outside of that. The lady that asked me to do this is a club member who heard me speak about sharks at the club in the fall of last year. She was very appreciative  of me doing this for the Library, in which she is a volunteer. We have talked about rescheduling the Trilobite presentation possibly in the fall. That being said, another club member has asked me to do a presentation for the Syracuse Gem and Mineral show this year in July. As for my friend who passed, she was in her early 30's and leaves behind her husband and 7 children. I met her and her husband when I decided  to change careers 8 years ago. He was in my welding class and she was going to school to become a dental assistant. That is how and when their romance started. She already had 3 of her owns kids when they met and they ended up getting married and had 4 of their own. She just gave birth to their baby girl a few weeks ago and she passed 11 days after. Now her husband is left to take care of the kids on his own. He is in for a long road. He works with me and my job has taken up a collection and many other friends and family have donated to him so atleast he has help. Plus they both come from large families so he will have much support. Definitely a very sad situation.

[Al Tahan]

That’s really sad to hear . I feel awful for the family. Do you have Venmo or PayPal? I can probably give a little to the cause. Also on a side note if you need help with the trilobite presentation let me know. I have a lot of specimens I could show and even a lot of extra material (trilo-bits +associated fauna) to give away  

[Darktooth]

@Al TahanThank-you Al. My friend has a Go fund me on Facebook I will PM the info to you, if you would like. Also I was actually planning on asking if you would like to participate in the trilo presentation as I know that you have collected more different species than I have and it would be nice to be able to show those to the audience as well as have someone else's insight. Fyi, I dont know if you can make it, but the club is doing the annual auction tomorrow evening. It is usually a fun time, hopefully there will be some good stuff to bid on. I will be searching through my stuff tonight to see if I have anything I can make a few dollars from. 

[Al Tahan]

6 hours ago, Darktooth said:

@Al TahanThank-you Al. My friend has a Go fund me on Facebook I will PM the info to you, if you would like. Also I was actually planning on asking if you would like to participate in the trilo presentation as I know that you have collected more different species than I have and it would be nice to be able to show those to the audience as well as have someone else's insight. Fyi, I dont know if you can make it, but the club is doing the annual auction tomorrow evening. It is usually a fun time, hopefully there will be some good stuff to bid on. I will be searching through my stuff tonight to see if I haveanything I can make a few dollars from

Oh boy I may have to come hang tomorrow night lol. I’m thinking that auction will be very fun 

[Darktooth]

41 minutes ago, Al Tahan said:

Oh boy I may have to come hang tomorrow night lol. I’m thinking that auction will be very fun 

The  auctions we have usually are fun even if I dont buy or sell anything. It is always interesting  to see what is being offered and watch the bidding wars!

[Coco]

Sad news Darktooth

 

Coco

[Darktooth]

2 hours ago, Coco said:

Sad news Darktooth

 

Coco

Thanks Coco. Very sad indeed. Times like this makes me even more grateful for my family and friends.

[sixgill pete]

Dave, great job on the presentation. Especially under the circumstances. I cannot even begin to imagine how this will affect his and the children's lives. Saying a prayer for them surely could not hurt.

[Darktooth]

23 hours ago, sixgill pete said:

Dave, great job on the presentation. Especially under the circumstances. I cannot even begin to imagine how this will affect his and the children's lives. Saying a prayer for them surely could not hurt.

Thank-you. I did choke up a bit during the talk. I had to turn my head and take a deep breath, to get myself back on track. I went to calling hours early, before the presentation, but after was the service, then funeral then a gathering at the American Legion, for food and drinks. Seeing my friend with all the kids and thinking about the long road ahead, was to much to comprehend. Plus the Wifes side of the family, especially her siblings, were not taking it well at all. I was glad that I was still able to come through for the kids though. Seeing them and their parents smile was well worth my time.

[siteseer]

On 4/15/2019 at 5:53 PM, Darktooth said:

Thank-you. I did choke up a bit during the talk. I had to turn my head and take a deep breath, to get myself back on track. I went to calling hours early, before the presentation, but after was the service, then funeral then a gathering at the American Legion, for food and drinks. Seeing my friend with all the kids and thinking about the long road ahead, was to much to comprehend. Plus the Wifes side of the family, especially her siblings, were not taking it well at all. I was glad that I was still able to come through for the kids though. Seeing them and their parents smile was well worth my time.

 

I was very sad to hear about the loss of your friend.  Her husband is going to need a lot of support.  He has to mourn the loss of his wife and help his kids with the loss of their mom.  When my grandfather died, it was tough for us but at least he had the good fortune of a long life.  It helped us that one of my cousins was expecting a baby two months later.  Babies are so joyful.  It sounds like there's lots of family around, though, and they will all feel the loss but they will also understand that your friend is going to need help beyond the financial part day-to-day.  Some of the kids might understand they have to grow up a little faster to help their dad.  What a tough situation that is.

 

A few years ago, I had to tell my mom when a friend of the family died after battling breast cancer.  I couldn't finish the sentence but she knew what I was saying.  I can only imagine the strength needed to get it together on the day of a friend's funeral and go on with a presentation that you could have understandably postponed.  You have good kids.  They knew Dad needed some back-up that day.

 

Jess

[Darktooth]

22 minutes ago, siteseer said:

 

I was very sad to hear about the loss of your friend.  Her husband is going to need a lot of support.  He has to mourn the loss of his wife and help his kids with the loss of their mom.  When my grandfather died, it was tough for us but at least he had the good fortune of a long life.  It helped us that one of my cousins was expecting a baby two months later.  Babies are so joyful.  It sounds like there's lots of family around, though, and they will all feel the loss but they will also understand that your friend is going to need help beyond the financial part day-to-day.  Some of the kids might understand they have to grow up a little faster to help their dad.  What a tough situation that is.

 

A few years ago, I had to tell my mom when a friend of the family died after battling breast cancer.  I couldn't finish the sentence but she knew what I was saying.  I can only imagine the strength needed to get it together on the day of a friend's funeral and go on with a presentation that you could have understandably postponed.  You have good kids.  They knew Dad needed some back-up that day.

 

Jess

Thank-you Jess!

[siteseer]

3 minutes ago, Darktooth said:

Thank-you Jess!

 

You showed your kids and all of us mental toughness.  Thank you.

 

On a lighter note I really liked your display.  That's old-school stuff.  You took a lot of time to put that together.  As one shark collector to another, nice work!

 

Jess

[Darktooth]

23 minutes ago, siteseer said:

 

You showed your kids and all of us mental toughness.  Thank you.

 

On a lighter note I really liked your display.  That's old-school stuff.  You took a lot of time to put that together.  As one shark collector to another, nice work!

 

Jess

I appreciate the kind words!

[xxxhalsteren]

On 14-4-2019 at 2:56 AM, Darktooth said:

Me and my boys. They helped to bring items close up to the audience members to look at and touch. My wife also came along to be supportive.

 

If you ever are in need of shark teeth for the kids or just adults let me know. I'm a big fan off sharing our passion and that's why I donated buckets full of teeth that are not good enough for my collection. Just recently I donated 20kilo's of Megalodon's parts to the Museum to give away to the kids. I have buckets full with species like Escheri,Mako's,Oxy,Retroflexus etc. That will come your way for free.

[Darktooth]

9 hours ago, xxxhalsteren said:

If you ever are in need of shark teeth for the kids or just adults let me know. I'm a big fan off sharing our passion and that's why I donated buckets full of teeth that are not good enough for my collection. Just recently I donated 20kilo's of Megalodon's parts to the Museum to give away to the kids. I have buckets full with species like Escheri,Mako's,Oxy,Retroflexus etc. That will come your way for free.

I appreciate  the offer and may take you up on it. Thank-you.