Re: [meteorite-list] Warning to armchair fireball chasers
Hello List, I have just had some great off list correspondence with Dave Ghessling over at FallingRocks.com. He, like a gentleman, expressed off list with me a concern that I had mistakenly lumped the Georgia Fireball of this year in with the group of events that has revealed some of the so called armchair fireball chasers. I want to state on the record that I was mistaken. That it seems I was wrong, and that the only offers made in Georgia were by people on the ground in Georgia and not via others long distance. And in no way did I intend to implicate him personally in any wrong doing. In fact, I want to go so far as to say that I personally don't think there is anything wrong with people going public with making purchase offers. Of course I don't think one should claim to offer, for example, $10,000 for the first one pound rock, unless they are indeed willing and able to follow through with such an offer. I know different people have different opinions on this topic. I agree that those types of public offers can create problems in the field, but not making those public offers can also create problems (namely, fewer local people out looking). I personally don't currently make those kind of offers, but I don't stand in judgement against people who do. My whole intent of that post was to just let people know, when they do talk to people, such as the person who talked to Mike Hankey, long distance and over the phone, and asked him not to share his information with anyone else... those kinds of things can get repeated, and in the case of the Baltimore Sun, they can make the front page news. That's all. My post wasn't in opposition to or in support of chasing meteorites from home. I hope this clears this up. My apologies to Dave and to anyone else that might have taken my comment of the Georgia event incorrectly. I also want to thank Dave for being a stand up guy and talking to me directly about this and not going behind my back and bad mouthing me to others. And I want to thank Dave for taking this to me personally first instead of taking the opportunity to post publicly something that was so easily taken care of privately. I appreciate gentlemen like him in this business who act as such. Steve Arnold of Meteorite Men (ha, what are you looking for this time Mike?) **An Excellent Credit Score is 750. See Yours in Just 2 Easy Steps! (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1222377098x1201454399/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072hmpgID=62bcd=Jul yExcfooterNO62) __ http://www.meteoritecentral.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Re: [meteorite-list] Warning to armchair fireball chasers
Steve if you want to bring me Into your every email the I can play. Now we can both drop it tha would be ok Michael Sent from my iPhone Michael On Jul 12, 2009, at 1:59 PM, meteorh...@aol.com wrote: Hello List, I have just had some great off list correspondence with Dave Ghessling over at FallingRocks.com. He, like a gentleman, expressed off list with me a concern that I had mistakenly lumped the Georgia Fireball of this year in with the group of events that has revealed some of the so called armchair fireball chasers. I want to state on the record that I was mistaken. That it seems I was wrong, and that the only offers made in Georgia were by people on the ground in Georgia and not via others long distance. And in no way did I intend to implicate him personally in any wrong doing. In fact, I want to go so far as to say that I personally don't think there is anything wrong with people going public with making purchase offers. Of course I don't think one should claim to offer, for example, $10,000 for the first one pound rock, unless they are indeed willing and able to follow through with such an offer. I know different people have different opinions on this topic. I agree that those types of public offers can create problems in the field, but not making those public offers can also create problems (namely, fewer local people out looking). I personally don't currently make those kind of offers, but I don't stand in judgement against people who do. My whole intent of that post was to just let people know, when they do talk to people, such as the person who talked to Mike Hankey, long distance and over the phone, and asked him not to share his information with anyone else... those kinds of things can get repeated, and in the case of the Baltimore Sun, they can make the front page news. That's all. My post wasn't in opposition to or in support of chasing meteorites from home. I hope this clears this up. My apologies to Dave and to anyone else that might have taken my comment of the Georgia event incorrectly. I also want to thank Dave for being a stand up guy and talking to me directly about this and not going behind my back and bad mouthing me to others. And I want to thank Dave for taking this to me personally first instead of taking the opportunity to post publicly something that was so easily taken care of privately. I appreciate gentlemen like him in this business who act as such. Steve Arnold of Meteorite Men (ha, what are you looking for this time Mike?) **An Excellent Credit Score is 750. See Yours in Just 2 Easy Steps! (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1222377098x1201454399/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072hmpgID=62bcd=Jul yExcfooterNO62) __ http://www.meteoritecentral.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list __ http://www.meteoritecentral.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Warning to armchair fireball chasers
Hey All, I wanted to add something here. As noted in the Baltimore Sun story today, Mike Hankey was quoted that a lot of people were contacting him by phone about the photo he captured of the fireball. I spent a couple hours with Mike at his house and at his scope, and he is really a great guy. Excited that his hobby of just 6 months produced such a lucky outcome, he was on one hand glad that people appreciate his results. On the other hand, he was starting to notice a pattern when talking with people, that while they wanted to extract information from him, they all to often were trying to hint that he shouldn't share this same information with others that might ask later. At least one had boldly asked him not to share it with anyone else. He told me that there was an offer of official recognition made if a meteorite turned up, due to his cooperation with them AND if he didn't cooperate with others. He asked me in an email, if maybe the meteorite might be able to be named after him if it was found. Now, I am not sure if such a bribe was actually offered to him, or if his ego was maybe puffed up a bit by being made to think that his contribution to some of us really made him important enough to warrant the rock being named after him? Maybe he came up with that on his own, or maybe the idea was planted with him. My caution to those of you working the phones, it is NOT just those of us in the field that say and do things that affect the stories that go to print. Mike was impacted by what he was getting from emails and phone calls from others enough to comment to me, and to comment to the reporter, who did end up writing about it. Sometimes it is easy for our guard to be let down, that if we are not talking directly to a reporter, that what we are saying will just stay between us and the person we are talking to. We saw today that this is not always the case. We saw in Buzzard Coulee, West and Georgia how people can offer cash rewards to buy rocks from their home, not from the field, and how that can also affect the stories in the papers. I am not being overly critical here, I just wanted people to know that many things influence a story that goes to print, not just what is said in interviews by people on the ground. Steve Arnold of Meteorite Men **A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps! (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1221323031x1201367232/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072hmpgID=62bcd= JulystepsfooterNO62) __ http://www.meteoritecentral.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Re: [meteorite-list] Warning to armchair fireball chasers
On Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:27:31 EDT, you wrote: He asked me in an email, if maybe the meteorite might be able to be named after him if it was found. Now, I am not sure if such a bribe was actually offered to him, or if his ego was maybe puffed up a bit by being made to think that his contribution to some of us really made him important enough to warrant the rock being named after him? Probably simple ignorance of how meteorites are named. You discover a comet, it is named after you. You discover an asteroid or plutazoid, you get to name it (within guidelines). __ http://www.meteoritecentral.com Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
