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Some Dr. Jane Questions

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Filksinger

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Mar 13, 2001, 9:19:07 PM3/13/01
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I have some questions about Dr. Jane and her filks.

1. I have heard that she is a PhD in paleontology, and I know that she
teaches/taught at a university somewhere. Where, and is she still there?

2. In her song "Plesiosaurnithology", she refers to an unnamed person who
wrote the original paper that declared that plesiosaur "rowed". My son is
convinced that the background singer's words, "It was her!" and "Shame on
you!" are aimed at Dr. Jane herself, and that she wrote the original paper.
Does anyone know who it was, or at least know that Dr. Jane is/isn't the
author?

Filksinger
AKA David Nasset, Sr.


Heather Rose Jones

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Mar 14, 2001, 12:47:28 AM3/14/01
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Filksinger wrote:
>
> I have some questions about Dr. Jane and her filks.
>
> 1. I have heard that she is a PhD in paleontology, and I know that she
> teaches/taught at a university somewhere. Where, and is she still there?

She hasn't taught in a long time -- I don't recall offhand where it was
that she taught back when she did.

> 2. In her song "Plesiosaurnithology", she refers to an unnamed person who
> wrote the original paper that declared that plesiosaur "rowed". My son is
> convinced that the background singer's words, "It was her!" and "Shame on
> you!" are aimed at Dr. Jane herself, and that she wrote the original paper.
> Does anyone know who it was, or at least know that Dr. Jane is/isn't the
> author?

Yes, the song is autobiographical (unless my memory utterly fails me).
One of an informal cycle of "academic hubris" songs. As she tells it,
the answers to questions 1 and 2 are not entirely unrelated.

--
*********
Heather Rose Jones
hrj...@socrates.berkeley.edu
*********

Rob Wynne

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Mar 14, 2001, 12:56:27 AM3/14/01
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Heather Rose Jones <hrj...@socrates.berkeley.edu> wrote:
>Filksinger wrote:
>>
>> I have some questions about Dr. Jane and her filks.
>>
>> 1. I have heard that she is a PhD in paleontology, and I know that she
>> teaches/taught at a university somewhere. Where, and is she still there?

>She hasn't taught in a long time -- I don't recall offhand where it was
>that she taught back when she did.

Didn't she actually teach AT Berkeley? I still recall the first time
I met Dr. Jane, back about 1996 when Kim and I were ungafiating. We
went up to Magic Carpet Con on Thursday night, and as we were decamping
into our hotel room, we ran into her roaming through the halls. "Are you
with the convention?" I asked, hopign to get some info about any informal
early activity. "No," she replied, grinning manically. "Just an escapee
from Berkeley". I didn't realize who she was until the next day. (I
recall this was the same year that Leslie Fish and Filthy Pierre were
there, and I met John and Mary Creasy. Fun convention!)

Rob

--
Rob Wynne / The Autographed Cat / d...@america.net
The best original science-fiction and fantasy on the web:
Aphelion Webzine: http://www.aphelion-webzine.com/
Gafilk 2002: Jan 11-13, 2002, Atlanta, GA -- http://www.gafilk.org/

"I've often said that the difference between British and American SF TV
series is that the British ones have three-dimensional characters and
cardboard spaceships, while the Americans do it the other way around."
--Ross Smith

Filksinger

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Mar 14, 2001, 1:20:22 AM3/14/01
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"Rob Wynne" <d...@america.net> wrote in message
news:fKDr6.295$4A2....@eagle.america.net...
<snip>

> Didn't she actually teach AT Berkeley? I still recall the first
time
> I met Dr. Jane, back about 1996 when Kim and I were ungafiating. We
> went up to Magic Carpet Con on Thursday night, and as we were
decamping
> into our hotel room, we ran into her roaming through the halls. "Are
you
> with the convention?" I asked, hopign to get some info about any
informal
> early activity. "No," she replied, grinning manically. "Just an
escapee
> from Berkeley". I didn't realize who she was until the next day.
(I
> recall this was the same year that Leslie Fish and Filthy Pierre
were
> there, and I met John and Mary Creasy. Fun convention!)

Sounds great. I only got to see Dr. Jane once in person, at a
Westercon, I believe, or Norwescon, in Seattle. I recall her telling
her story about the "audio-clitoral nerve", and thus realized that she
really was a doctor, though for the longest time I thought she was a
physician.

Filksinger


Sandy Tyra

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Mar 31, 2001, 5:44:44 PM3/31/01
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She's currently retired, but she made her living as a massage therapist
and a chiropratic assistant for a long time.

Sandy

Mark A. Mandel

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Mar 31, 2001, 7:32:22 PM3/31/01
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: Filksinger wrote:

:> Sounds great. I only got to see Dr. Jane once in person, at a


:> Westercon, I believe, or Norwescon, in Seattle. I recall her telling
:> her story about the "audio-clitoral nerve", and thus realized that she
:> really was a doctor, though for the longest time I thought she was a
:> physician.

You mean, "really was a doctor of something other than medicine"? What's
her degree in? I'm confused because when I hear "X is a doctor" I think of
M.D. rather than, well, Ph.D. in some non-medical field, which I'm pretty
sure is the commonest *other* way in which people are called "Dr. [name]".

-- Mark A. Mandel
"Dr. Mandel" professionally, on rare occasions, but not an
"I'm a doctor" doctor; see
http://world.std.com/~mam/why-a-test.html
--
To reply by email, remove the obvious spam-blocker from my edress.

Karen Rodgers

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Apr 1, 2001, 12:35:35 PM4/1/01
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On Sun, 1 Apr 2001 00:32:22 GMT, "Mark A. Mandel"
<m...@world.std.Take.This.Out.com> wrote:

>: Filksinger wrote:
>
>:> Sounds great. I only got to see Dr. Jane once in person, at a
>:> Westercon, I believe, or Norwescon, in Seattle. I recall her telling
>:> her story about the "audio-clitoral nerve", and thus realized that she
>:> really was a doctor, though for the longest time I thought she was a
>:> physician.
>
>You mean, "really was a doctor of something other than medicine"? What's
>her degree in? I'm confused because when I hear "X is a doctor" I think of
>M.D. rather than, well, Ph.D. in some non-medical field, which I'm pretty
>sure is the commonest *other* way in which people are called "Dr. [name]".
>

(Oh, Lord protect me from my spelling!) Dr. Jane has a PhD in
Palioentology. (See her song about giving her distertation on how
pleaseasaurs move.)

Karen Rodgers

**********
Windbourne, folk singers of the future
http://www.windbourne.com/
please remove "rice_" to contact me
**********

Sandy Tyra

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Apr 2, 2001, 10:38:51 PM4/2/01
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No - it was stated that she WAS the author of the dissertation. (I just went
back through all the messages and checked because I remembered that the
message said that it was her, but I wasn't sure if I remembered correctly.
I often don't.) See Heather Rose Jones' message.

Sandy

Gary McGath wrote:

> In article <3ac75875...@news.elcjn1.sdca.home.com>,


> krodgers@rice_home.com (Karen Rodgers) wrote:
>
> > (Oh, Lord protect me from my spelling!) Dr. Jane has a PhD in
> > Palioentology. (See her song about giving her distertation on how
> > pleaseasaurs move.)
>

> I don't know how plesiosaurs move, but this discussion seems to be
> moving in a circle. A while back in this discussion, it was stated that
> Dr. Jane was not the author of the dissertation in which she wrote the
> song about.
>
> --
> Gary McGath gmc...@REMOVETHISmcgath.com
> http://www.shore.net/~gmcgath/

Larry Kirby

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Apr 3, 2001, 9:38:21 AM4/3/01
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In article <gmcgath-C75992...@news.shore.net>, Gary McGath
<gmc...@REMOVETHISmcgath.com> writes:

>- Dr. Jane's dissertation rebuts the claims of that original.
>

Now I like that, putting a disertation to music...only a filker...and what
sweet revenge...

Larry

SF fen are like rabbits
Everything in the world wants to kill them and eat them
But put a group of them together and they'll fight amongst themselves

Sandy Tyra

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Apr 5, 2001, 1:11:31 AM4/5/01
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Maybe we should ask her. <g> The story as I heard it was that the dissertation
the song is aobut was indeed Dr. Jane's, but that just as she was about to
present it and defend it, she relalized that she was completely wrong and why
she was wrong. But, she on in and did her best and got her PhD. And that this
is in part why she is. . .less the thrilled. . .with academia. I guess her
years teaching added and added to her disillusionment. But the only way to
find out what the real story is would be to ask her.

Sandy

Gary McGath wrote:

> In article <3AC937BB...@sa-tech.com>, Sandy Tyra


> <sa...@sa-tech.com> wrote:
>
> > No - it was stated that she WAS the author of the dissertation. (I just
> > went
> > back through all the messages and checked because I remembered that the
> > message said that it was her, but I wasn't sure if I remembered
> > correctly.
> > I often don't.) See Heather Rose Jones' message.
>

> I see the confusion now. The following was one of the messages on
> Google relating to the subject, though Filksinger's message (which is
> actually the relevant one) wasn't present. If I understand it
> correctly, this is the situation:
>
> - The original paper on plesiosaurs predates Dr. Jane.


>
> - Dr. Jane's dissertation rebuts the claims of that original.
>

> - Thus, the song "Plesiosaurnithology" (have I spelled that right?) is
> about her dissertation in the sense that it carries forward the ideas of
> her dissertation; but the paper which the song actually refers to is not
> her own.
>
> Did I get it all right this time?
>
> > Message 2 in threadFrom: Michael Liebmann (sff...@bellsouth.net)
> > Subject: Re: Dr. Jane
> > Newsgroups: rec.music.filk
> > Date: 2001-03-20 11:45:22 PST
> >
> > "Filksinger" <filks...@diespammerdie.earthling.net> wrote in message
> > news:7Ads6.121$Im6....@newsread1.prod.itd.earthlink.net...
> > >
> > >
> > > For those who are interested, Dr. Jane reports that she formerly taught
> > > at
> > > Berkley, and that she did _not_ write the original paper. Though she
> > > defended it early in her early arguments on the subject, her PhD argued
> > > the
> > > opposite. The original was published about 75 years ago, which is a bit
> > > early for Dr. Jane.
> > >
> > And Dr. Jane, who is eternally youthful, is ageless as well, as is her
> > lovely and talented SO, Cindy McQuillin, who I remember seeing at
> > CasualCon
> > back in the 1970's, where she was selling painted teeny pewter figurines
> > (I
> > think they were for D&D, but don't remember).
> >
> > Michael

Filksinger

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Apr 5, 2001, 7:32:22 PM4/5/01
to
In answer to my prior question of Dr. Jane, I received a response directly
from her.

The original paper was written in 1924 by one of Dr. Jane's heroes. The
"hero" part is why she decided not to name her while publicly making fun of
her. She, herself, argued in favor of this theory in her graduate work "very
early" (her words).

On the hearsay side, I understand that her final graduate thesis argued the
opposite, though Dr. Jane herself didn't mention her graduate work at all,
save to say that she argued the opposite, publicly, early on.

Filksinger
AKA David Nasset, Sr.


"Sandy Tyra" <sa...@sa-tech.com> wrote in message
news:3ACBFE83...@sa-tech.com...

Filksinger

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Apr 5, 2001, 7:42:05 PM4/5/01
to
In answer to my prior question of Dr. Jane, I received a response directly
from her.

The original paper was written in 1924 by one of Dr. Jane's heroes. The
"hero" part is why she decided not to name her while publicly making fun of
her. She, herself, argued in favor of this theory in her graduate work "very

early" (her words). If someone wants all the gory details, they can email
me.

On the hearsay side, I understand that her final graduate thesis argued the
opposite, though Dr. Jane herself didn't mention her graduate work at all,
save to say that she argued the opposite, publicly, early on.

Filksinger
AKA David Nasset, Sr.


"Sandy Tyra" <sa...@sa-tech.com> wrote in message
news:3ACBFE83...@sa-tech.com...

Sandy Tyra

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Apr 18, 2001, 9:46:54 PM4/18/01
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Ah - that explains the various versions of the tale. Good Lord, fandom has it's
own urban legends! <g>

Sandy

Bill Westfield

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May 3, 2001, 2:03:06 AM5/3/01
to
> 2. In her song "Plesiosaurnithology", she refers to an unnamed
> person who wrote the original paper that declared that plesiosaur
> "rowed". My son is convinced that the background singer's words, "It
> was her!" and "Shame on you!" are aimed at Dr. Jane herself, and
> that she wrote the original paper. Does anyone know who it was, or
> at least know that Dr. Jane is/isn't the author?

Yes, the song is autobiographical (unless my memory utterly fails me).
One of an informal cycle of "academic hubris" songs.

The impression I got from some of Dr Jane's spoken comments was that the
"rowing plesiosaur" was the subject of her PhD thesis...

BillW

Lee Gold

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May 3, 2001, 9:49:33 AM5/3/01
to

Dr. Jane wrote me, in regard to Filksinger's comments:

> 2. In her song "Plesiosaurnithology", she refers to an unnamed person who
> wrote the original paper that declared that plesiosaur "rowed". My son is
> convinced that the background singer's words, "It was her!" and "Shame on
> you!" are aimed at Dr. Jane herself, and that she wrote the original paper.

The *actual* original paper was by D.M.S. Watson: "The Elasmosaur
Shoulder Girdle and Forelimb" (Proc. Zool. Soc. London 2, 885-917 1924) I
don't like making public fun of my scientific heroes, even when they're
wrong! And I *did* stand up in front of my peers at a national
paleontological conference and argue *for* the rowing hypothesis very early in
my graduate work......

--Lee gold

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