Our Meetings

Guests are always welcome to the meetings if you would like see what we're all about. Meetings start at 7:00 pm and usually take place the first Saturday of the month, unless there is a holiday, then it's on the second Saturday of the month. Located at the USF Behavioral Science Room #103.

After the speaker finishes we have a short break. Then we draw for door prizes and some raffle items as well. We finish with any final announcements.

Upcoming Meetings and Guest Speakers (2024-2025 season):
NOTE: All meetings are the first Saturday of the month at 7:00 pm unless otherwise clearly noted.

Sept. 7 - Dr. Bob Sinibaldi
Prehistoric Fishing Technologies

If you’ve been around TBFC for more than a minute, you already know Dr. Bob. If you’re new to our group, Dr. Bob Sinibaldi routinely makes at least one presentation at a monthly meeting per season. He shows up to TBFC meetings each month with a presentation in his pocket, just in case our scheduled speaker doesn’t show up. Dr. Bob MC’s every auction we hold and is a past president of TBFC, a current Director, and author of four books on paleontology. Because of his status as a “doctor” and his obsession with paleontology he’s not even a paleontologist as most folks assume. In another world Dr. Bob did God’s work in his career teaching severely injured and sometimes terminally ill children.

Dr. Bob specialized in Exceptional Child Education teaching special needs children how to play. He made it possible for severely handicapped and ill/injured children to get outside and be able to participate in the activities and games most children take for granted. Dr. Bob has authored many papers and articles on Adaptive Education and invented numerous pieces of equipment and gear that allowed special needs children to have simple moments of enjoyment on the playground. He was also selected as National Teacher of the Year in his field.

Dr. Bob has proven himself as an authority in many areas of the prehistoric and at the September 7 meeting will make and explain comparisons of the Archaic Gulf Coast fishing practices to those of the historic Pacific Northwest and the Walmart Fisherman. The presentation will take an in-depth look at the similarities of all three fishing cultures. Although separated by over a thousand years temporaneously, and over 3,000 miles geographically, there are many consistent features between these three cultures that continue to crop up. So often what today's fishermen believe are new fishing techniques have existed for thousands of years through various cultures. While the Archaic Gulf Coast cultures disappeared over a thousand years ago and left only a spotty archaeological record, the indigenous population on the Pacific Northwest coast survived through early historic times leaving a fairly complete archaeological record. The Walmart fisherman still lives next door to you.

Oct. 5 - Mitchell Riegler, University of Florida

Snakes from the South and Alligators from the North: 19 Million Years of Florida's Fossil Reptiles

Mitchell Reigler has been interested in paleontology from a very young age. He attended the University of Texas at Austin with one goal in mind: to become a professor in paleontology. While in Austin, Mitchell developed an interest in the reptile fossil record almost immediately, leading him to pursue a Masters’ degree at Virginia Tech. Mitchell’s interests expanded while in Virginia to include systematic paleo, isotopic geochemistry, and paleoecology. His project on lizard response to the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum has led him to his current institution, the University of Florida, to pursue a PhD. At UF, Mitchell has worked on projects looking at fossil porcupines, fossil alligators, and as always, fossil lizards.

There are several new species to be discussed, and Mitchell would love people to bring anything they have that might be related to his presentation! He will be discussing a few “Wanted” fossils that the museum desires and is hoping somebody might have already collected and needed specimens that can be studied. So, if you have any Florida reptile fossils you would like to show off, or share with the Florida Museum of Natural History, bring them along.

Nov. 2 - Annual Auction

TBFC Scholarship Auction

Dec. 7 - No Meeting

No Meeting

Jan. 4 - Dr. Gregory Shanos
A Guide to Collecting Meteorites

If you’ve never met Dr. Greg Shanos, I can tell you he is one of the most quiet and reserved personalities you could come across. But, just say the word comet, shooting star, or meteorite and his enthusiasm and passion for the subject bursts like a jack in the box on the last wind.

Dr. Greg’s presentation is entitled: A Guide to Collecting Meteorites. Dr. Greg is a pharmacist by profession and fossil a nd meteorite collector by passion. His interest in astronomy and meteorites was sparked when Halley’s comet graced our skies back in 1986. Since then, Greg has written over 35 review articles in Meteorite and Meteorite-Times magazines regarding organic molecules in meteorites. If you think you have an odd-looking rock feel free to bring it in to see if it may possibly be a meteorite.

Feb. 1 - Donald Brunning
Fossil Hunter's TV Show

Due to unforeseen circumstance Dr. Richard Hulbert had to cancel as TBFC’s speaker for the February meeting. We are thankful that Donald Brunning from the television show FOSSIL HUNTERS has graciously arranged to step in for the February 1 meeting. FOSSIL HUNTERS follows the adventures of seven amateur paleontologists and friends as they search for prehistoric clues to our past. Donald Brunning made significant prehistoric discoveries in the 90s on the Wekiva River. Donald and his friend collect the remains of several animals including the remains of mastodon. His interest in fossil collecting led him to create the documentary style television show FOSSIL HUNTERS which airs on several PBS channels in Florida. Donald and some of his cast will be on hand to talk about his life of fossil collecting, showing off some scenes from FOSSIL HUNTERS, and is anxious to see and possibly film some of the finds that members from TBFC have made. Don’t miss the February meeting!

Mar. 1 - TBD

TBD

Apr. 5 - TBD

TBD



May 3 - TBD

TBD

June ? - End of Season Dinner, check the May 2025 issue of the Chronicles (TBFC Newsletter) for details.

View Our Past Virtual and In-Person Meetings

COVID-19 had forced us to adapt!
Since in-person meetings were not possible during that time, the club hosted Virtual Live Meetings on our YouTube channel.
Since COVID, we've tried to record in-person meetings and upload them to the site too. Unfortunately not all meetings are able to be recorded but please check the channel for any new content.

Subscribe to the channel to get notifications when we go live or a new video is uploaded!

All our club live streamed or recorded meetings will be saved and can be re-watched anytime! Not all meetings can be recorded for various reasons.
You can view past virtual or recorded meetings in the playlist below: