Everyone is bashing the British press reports on all counts, but this is what I know about the early exportation of Chelyabinsk. Within days of the February 15th fall, the Russian Duma Committee did declare exportation off-limits (seemingly to protect Russian scientists to have access to material for research) and the Ministry of Culture rejected all applications for meteorite exportation.
At this point, at least one independent seller of Chelyabinsk was hiding the Russian meteorites in vintage analog vacuum tubes when shipping them out of the country. Others followed suit by hiding meteorites within macrame figures and other innocuous objects. These bits of information were probably not supplied by Elliot, but any journalist could have ferreted them out, and they appear to be early reports as the reference to Elliot's specimen being "one of the only pieces of the Russian meteorite Chelyabinsk to have made it to the west…" is clearly inaccurate. gary On Aug 19, 2013, at 12:12 PM, drtanuki <drtan...@yahoo.com> wrote: > Graham and list, > I find it odd that the Guardian Newspaper "reporter" was able to pull the > details of packaging the meteorites carefully hidden with electronic > equipment for the "smuggling" through the mails out of thin air? I would > guess the British press reports about what they are told or do they just make > it up as they go? > Best Regards, Dirk Ross...Tokyo > > > ________________________________ > From: Graham Ensor <graham.en...@gmail.com> > To: Anne Black <impact...@aol.com> > Cc: mprin...@mit.edu; meteorite list <meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com> > Sent: Tuesday, August 20, 2013 6:59 AM > Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Meteorite hunter takes £10,000 rock to > auction - And a particularly BAD quote > > > In my experience of complaining about the rubbish reported in > newspapers I have never even had the courtesy of a reply...just not > worth it....they may listen to Rob perhaps? > > Graham > > On Mon, Aug 19, 2013 at 8:01 PM, Anne Black <impact...@aol.com> wrote: >> Thank you Malcolm and Mendy, >> >> Yes, the Guardian joins the NewYork Times on our list of newspapers to >> avoid. Personally the only publication I will give an interview to anymore >> is Astronomy Magazine. Thank you David Eicher! >> Maybe the UK members of the MetList (Graham, Martin, Jim, Peter,.....) will >> contact the Guardian, the Auction House and Rob Elliott and explain to them >> how wrong they are. >> And Chelyabinsk, I have plenty of them, the 3kilos mass I presented on >> "Picture of the Day" is sold, but I have more (thin-sections too!) and yes, >> they certainly can be shipped from Russia. >> >> >> Anne M. Black >> www.IMPACTIKA.com >> impact...@aol.com >> >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Malcolm S Pringle <mprin...@mit.edu> >> To: meteorite-list <meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com> >> Sent: Mon, Aug 19, 2013 9:41 am >> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Meteorite hunter takes £10,000 rock to auction >> - And a particularly BAD quote >> >> >> Hi, all -- >> >> Further to Mendy's comments -- I'm a list newbie (I joined to help acquire a >> mini-teaching collection to use in K-12 schools in the Boston area) -- but I >> had seen the original article, and found it amusing enough that I almost >> pointed it out to you all a couple of days ago: >> >> http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/aug/16/hambleton-chelyabinsk-meteorite-auction-rob-elliott >> >> In other words, this was in the Guardian, supposedly one of the more >> reputable >> newspapers worldwide (for example, the lead investigatory paper in the >> Snowden/NSA stories), attributed to the Press Association (supposedly one of >> the UK's leading news organizations, http://www.pressassociation.com). >> There >> wasn't an option to comment on the article directly, and the Press >> Association >> doesn't appear to have an ombudsman, but here is the press officer / >> communications manager, in case anyone with more experience/local UK >> perspective wants to take up the gauntlet: >> >> sean.ott...@pressassociation.com >> >> The most amusing misinformation seemed to be in the figure caption: >> >> "Other items to be auctioned include one of the only pieces of the Russian >> meteorite Chelyabinsk to have made it to the west" >> >> [well, not quite accurate, with like 300+ active auctions on ebay as of this >> morning alone ...] >> >> ;-) >> >> As usual, reiterates that we have to be careful what info we get from even >> the >> "good" news outlets. Also, as Mendy suggests, how careful we need to be >> when >> we ourselves are the source of information? >> >> -- Malcolm >> >> Quoting Mendy Ouzillou <ouzil...@yahoo.com>: >> >>> >> http://www.astrowatch.net/2013/08/meteorite-hunter-takes-10000-rock-to.html >>> >>> >>> Dear list members, >>> >>> This is an interesting article but what really caught my eye was the >>> following quote: "The Russian government told the local residents >>> that they would arrest anyone selling pieces of the meteorite >>> overseas, so my contact had to disguise the airmail package and mix >>> the meteorites with pieces of electronic equipment to hide them," >>> >>> >>> The intricacies of Russian export laws are as dense as as any Russian >>> novel and less decipherable as highlighted by some of our own >>> conversations regarding the topic. This quote unfortunately removes >>> any doubt that the Chelyabinsk meteorites were smuggled out and only >>> reinforces the misconception that our (a)vocation is run like a black >>> market. >>> >>> I am sure that the actual interview was filled with more details and >>> clarifying comments, but that is clearly NOT what was printed. >>> Dealing with the press is a skill like any other that requires >>> training and experience. At the very least ask for the questions in >>> advance and respond by email if at all possible. The most important >>> thing to do is to ask for the ability to review and make edits to the >>> article BEFORE agreeing to doing the interview. >>> >>> Though you will figure out easily who was quoted, this is not about >>> the individual. I was not there during the interview (obviously) and >>> can't say what was or was not said. I really just want to highlight >>> this story as a cautionary tale. >>> >>> As a final thought, not all reporters are bad or out to get people. >>> They have a job to do and are motivated by a different set of >>> requirements than what we may understand. They want a good story and >>> you (may) want the public recognition. This is a symbiotic >>> relationship, but if you do not understand how the game is played, >>> you will likely get played. >>> >>> Sincerely, >>> >>> Mendy Ouzillou >>> ______________________________________________ >>> >>> Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com >>> Meteorite-list mailing list >>> Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com >>> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list >> >> >> ====================================================================== >> If you don't feed the teachers, they will eat the children. >> Anonymous teacher, told to Linda Albert, Cooperative Discipline, 1996. >> ====================================================================== >> But none of that will transform education if we fail to cherish -- >> and challenge -- the human heart that is the source of good teaching. >> Parker J Palmer, The Courage to Teach, 1998. >> ====================================================================== >> Malcolm S Pringle, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences >> Massachusetts Inst of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave Bldg 54-1210 >> Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 USA Cell: 617-319-6584 >> ====================================================================== >> ______________________________________________ >> >> Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com >> Meteorite-list mailing list >> Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com >> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list >> >> ______________________________________________ >> >> Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com >> Meteorite-list mailing list >> Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com >> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list > ______________________________________________ > > Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com > Meteorite-list mailing list > Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list > ______________________________________________ > > Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com > Meteorite-list mailing list > Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list Gary Fujihara Big Kahuna Meteorites Inc. PO Box 4175, Hilo, HI 96720 (808) 640-9161 http://bigkahuna-meteorites.com/ http://www.ebay.com/sch/fujmon/m.html ______________________________________________ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteorite-list-archives.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
