Boneyard 2.4 is Live!

Happy to announce that after my desperate, down-on-my-knees pleas of last Friday, the Boneyard received a bunch of submissions. Plus, I discovered that my gmail accounts were not properly synced, and found a few previous submissions.

David Bressan has posted Boneyard 2.4 at History of Geology, and I want to thank him for doing such a great job, using vintage images throughout and organizing the pieces with a "life of a fossil" structure. Head on over and read it, and show David some love for being a fine host.

Boneyard 2.4 Plea for Entries

UPDATE: Just discovered I had a problem with my gmail accounts that prevented the submissions sent to the carnival's email account from getting to me. It's fixed. Still, response has been light, so for the most part, what I wrote applies.

Yep, not so much a "call" as a "plea." No sugarcoating here. I haven't had a single submission to Boneyard 2.4, which is due to be posted at History of Geology on Tuesday, December 7. I really, really, really want to make the Boneyard work, and so far it has been progressing slowly but steadily. Until now. This is a big hurdle.

There are carnivals dedicated to all kinds of cool scientific topics, and paleontology deserves one, too. I have no intention of giving up on it yet, but I have to admit... I'm a little pessimistic about it, as Brian Switek's first go at the Boneyard fizzled out due to lack of interest. And in the blogosphere, he's an elephant and I'm a mouse. So I have every reason to believe that it might have the same outcome in my hands. I'm certainly not trying to guilt people into submitting. I want its growth to be natural, because there is genuine interest. But I'm willing to do some heavy lifting to nurture it and get it to that point. For a little while.

I'm interested in some constructive feedback here. Have any ideas for how I can better promote the carnival? Ideas for why the paleo-blogosphere either doesn't know about it or isn't as receptive to carnivals as those dedicated to other branches of science? War stories of getting your own carnival off the ground? I have a feeling that the problem is multi-faceted.

Anyhow. Thanks for reading, helping, and advising.

This post simul-blogged at Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs!

Call for Submissions for Boneyard 2.4 - Two Weeks Out!

Issue 2.4 of the Boneyard Blog Carnival, to be hosted by David Bressan at The History of Geology, is scheduled to be posted on the first Tuesday of December, which is the 7th. If you've blogged about paleontology, please consider submitting one of your posts, whether it's recent or from the distant past. The dealine for submissions is midnight on Monday, December 6, 2010.

Preferred method of submission is to email the URL of your post(s) to boneyardblogcarnival(at)gmail(dot)com, though we won't turn away submissions left in the comments of this post. But it's just as easy to email, so... just do that, eh?

If you would like to help spread the word about the carnival, please feel free to post our new badge, available for download at Flickr.

Bring 'em on!

New badge!

Well, I've finally made the badge I've been trying to wrap up for two months. Feel free to grab it from Flickr and post it far and wide.



It's loosely based on an old french matchbook package from the Agence Eureka photostream. I chose a trilobite as the central icon because I've noticed that some folks assume that the Boneyard is focused on dinosaur paleontology - probably because of my blog - and I wanted to demonstrate that all flavors of paleontology are welcome.

Heads Up! New Email Address for Submissions

Because I'm a dingus, I chose an easily misspelled address for my blog and email address.* To make it easier for folks to submit to the Boneyard, I've set up a new address dedicated to it:

boneyardblogcarnival(at)gmail(dot)com

I wish it could have been simply "boneyard," but that's been grabbed already. Thanks again to all submitters to 2.3, and please let me know if your submission was lost because it went to the wrong place. Just email it to the correct address, which is the one before this paragraph with all of the big, bold letters. That's the one.

*It's "chasmosaurs," which prompts people to make the totally understandable mistake of adding a "u" to make it "chasmosaurus." If I knew then what I know now!

Boneyard Blog Carnival 2.3 is here!

Boneyard 2.3 is now up over at Ian Garofalo's blog, Other Branch. Head on over to read some great paleo-blogging. Thanks to Ian for doing a great job with 2.3. I hope he sees a nice bump in traffic. Thanks also to all of the submitters, who all brought their A-games.

I know I've been promising a badge forever. I almost had it done... then I had a much better idea, which is now in progress. I'll post it here as soon as it's done!

2.3 On Its Way

Just a quick message to let you know that Boneyard 2.3 has been a bit delayed, but is on its way. It should be up sometime today at Other Branch. As soon as it's up, I'll post a note about it!

Less than a Week Until Boneyard 2.3!

Boneyard 2.3, hosted by Other Branch, is quickly approaching! Deadline is this Monday evening, November 1. If you've written about paleontology at your blog, come on and submit. You'll feel so good when that warm glow of accomplishment washes over you. Do glows "wash?" Debatable, but I'm sticking to my guns. This glow washes. Feel it for yourself: submit!

I also need to get my patoot in gear and finish up this badge to help advertise the carnival. I've been pretty swamped with other things this month, but I'm going to try to have it done this weekend.

Concerning the new banner

Looking at the new Boneyard banner, you may be wondering who those fetching fossils are. From left to right, I present:

1. The late Ordovician eurypterid Stylonurus
2. The late Carboniferous snail Worthenia tabulata
3. The Cambrian trilobite Crepicephalus
4. A pair of the Devonian brachipod Spirifer murchisoni
5. The late Cretaceous pterosaur Pteranodon
6. The Ordovician crinoid Glyptocrinus decadactylus

They come from the following sources:

1, 2, 6: Geology, Physical and Historical by Herdman Fitzgerald Cleland (1916.
3, 4: Geology, Vol. 2 by Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin and Rollin D. Salisbury
5: George Francis Eaton's Osteology of Pteranodon (1910).

Next up, badges to help spread the word. I'm almost done with a few different designs and will have them available soon!

Thanks again to all of the bloggers who submitted posts to Boneyard 2.2.

Boneyard 2.2 is out of the gates!

Head on over to Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs for issue 2.2 of the Boneyard, in which we wish T. rex a happy birthday, learn about the possible Precambrian origin of the crustacea, and take a look at one of the most awkward size comparison charts imaginable.

Deadline in less than 24 hours!

Do you write about paleontology at your blog? Submit to issue 2.2 of the Boneyard Blog Carnival. Send the URL of your blog post to chasmosaurs(at)gmail(dot)com by the end of the day today, Monday, October 4. I'm looking to stock this puppy chock full. Help me do it!

Don't get this guy ticked off.


"I ain't no blogger," says the dinosauroid. "But if I was, I'd submit to the Boneyard with a quickness!" (Photo by skeggy, via Flickr)

Two Days Until Boneyard 2.2 Deadline

This is a very short post to remind you to sumbit your loveliest paleoblog post to the Boneyard, the world's finest paleontology-themed blog carnival. Email the URL to chasmosaurs(at)gmail(dot)com by Monday night and tune in on Tuesday to read the pithy commentary I offer.

Do it for the children.

Six Days Out

Time flies, doesn't it? The second edition of Boneyard 2.0 hits the interwebs in six days, on October 5. This, of course, means that y'all have five days to decide which piece of superlative paleo-blogging you'd like to submit! While your choice may be among the most difficult you have to make in your entire life, I've made the submission process way easy! Send the URL to your post, be it brand new or years old, to chasmosaurs(at)gmail(dot)com.

I've already had some good submissions, but I want to be drowning in them by Monday. Let's make this a blog carnival to be proud of!

Blogcarnival.com Listing Now Active

In order to help spread the word about submission deadlines - and the simple existence of Boneyard 2.0, I've listed it at Blogcarnival.com. Unfortunately because of naming restrictions, I couldn't call it Boneyard 2.0 there, and had to settle for "the new boneyard." Oh, well.

That's it for now. Deadline for issue 2.2 is the first Monday in October, which is the fourth. I don't turn away early submissions!

Some Gratitude and a Look Ahead

First of all, I want to thank everyone who tweeted, blogged, or posted on Facebook about The Boneyard 2.1. I think that my suspicion that 2.1 would help spread the word further than the call for submissions did is going to pan out, and I anticipate a bigger, more diverse 2.2.

As mentioned yesterday, as I feel like Boneyard 2.0 is still learning to walk, I'm going to go ahead and hold its hand for the second month. Here is the updated list of hosts. I'm really happy that the Boneyard has a host booked through February!

October 5: Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs
November 2: Other Branch
December 7: The History of Geology
January 4: When Pigs Fly Returns
February 1 Deep Sea News

Don't be bashful, send in your submissions for Boneyard 2.2. The post can be recent or from the past, and there won't be an overarching theme this time around. I look forward to themed issues, but right now, I just want to get it filled with as many different bloggers' writings as possible and not limit it in any way (other than the paleontology focus of the carnival, natch). So be sure to subscribe to the blog by clicking the feed line in the upper right hand corner.

Also, I'm finishing up some more proper artwork for this page and for badges to spread around the science blogosphere. I'll definitely finish it up before 2.2 goes live. I have an unfortunate perfectionist streak when it comes to design... but it's my goal to have it done by the end of the month.

That's all for now. Want to host? Want to submit? Let me know at chasmosaurs(at)gmail(dot)com.

The Boneyard 2.1 is Live!

Check out the first installment of the new Boneyard blog carnival at Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs.

In order to avoid placing an undue burden on my fellow bloggers, I've decided to go ahead and host 2.2 at LITC, as well. I'll bump the confirmed hosts a month back. This will let me use 2.1 as a way to get the word out and attract more submissions, as well as finalizing the graphics I've been working on.

Thanks to all who contributed, and all who plan to!

Your Labor? Submitting to the Boneyard!

In the US of A, Labor Day is just about here. What better way to celebrate the labors of paleontologists, fossil hunters, preparators, paleoartists than to submit to the boneyard?

Email the URL to your paleontologically themed blog post to chasmosaurs (at) gmail (dot) com today. Did I mention that it's the last day for submissions? Well, consider it mentioned.

I'll now go to a special message from Quaker paleontologist of some renown, Edward Drinker Cope.


You heard the man!

Five Days Left!

Hey all, just a quick update. The deadline for submissions for Boneyard 2.1 is Monday, September 6. Which makes some sense, as the first new Boneyard will go up on Tuesday, September 7.

What labyrinthine set of steps must the intrepid blogger follow to submit a post for inclusion in the Boneyard? Unable to resist my penchant for devious, soul-squishing bureacracies, I've invented a painfully cumbersome process. Ready? Steel yourselves for this:

1. Decide on a post to include (recent or not).
2. Email me at chasmosaurs(at)gmail(dot)com, including the URL for the post

I can feel the wills of a thousand paleo-bloggers withering in the face of my sinister invention, and I delight in their torment.

Think you've got the cojones to survive this brutally excruciating chore? Prove it! Submit to the Boneyard 2.1!

Welcome (Back) to the Boneyard

The Boneyard, a blog carnival devoted to paleontology, was founded in 2007 by Brian Switek. It eventually fizzled out, but after the Pepsigate brouhaha and a heightened discussion about networking among science bloggers, I was impelled to take another crack at it. Brian was kind enough to hand me the keys. This is me starting the engine.

Schedule
I'll kick things off myself. The carnival will appear on the first Tuesday of each month. Here's the schedule for the first six, then:

September 7: Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs
October 5: Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs
November 2: Other Branch
December 7: The History of Geology
January 4: When Pigs Fly Returns
February 1 Deep Sea News

Hosting
Its crucial that we get plenty of people stepping up to host editions of the Boneyard. If you would like to host one of the above dates, email me at chasmosaurs(at)gmail(dot)com and I'll update the list. Your duties are pretty simple: write up a post explaining the links. While some carnivals have themes for each edition, I've decided to hold off on that, until we see how well the Boneyard is received. To reflect that this is the second life of the Boneyard, I've decided to number them 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, etc. You get the point.

As for how hosts moderate their editions, I leave that to their own judgment. Besides paleontology, posts about geology and other related sciences under the banner of natural history seem like fair game to me. Since I write primarily about dinosaurs, I'll even include relevant bird research.

Why Bother?
You may not be entirely familiar with the concept of a blog carnival. You may be wondering why you should bother. I can do no better than to urge you to read this characteristically wonderful post by Bora. He makes a good case for them, and lays out the benefits and responsibilities.

I am excited to start this up, and a little nervous that it won't be greeted by the same. I believe in the possibilities of blog carnivals, so I'm optimistic. As I noted at my dinosaur blog, Love in the time of Chasmosaurs, I will need loads of help to get the word out.

Need Input!
In other words... send in your submissions! Simply email a link to the post you'd like to include in Boneyard 2.1 to chasmosaurs(at)gmail(dot)com.