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Re: Meteorite! article

Martin Horejsi writes:
>Thank you Michael, for you kind words.  I have yet to see the latest 
>issue of M! since the mail here in Idaho seems a little slower than 
>the rest of the country.

I just received my issue yesterday, and I agree with Michael, it is a
well written article.

>One observation I made while working on the review is how large the 
>communication difference is between those online and those not.  Our 
>meteorite discussions and postings are creating a subculture that 
>ebbs and flows around certain issues.  Our words are "published" 
>instantly, and replies come in minutes rather than months or years.  
>Those who are not part of this subculture go along unaware of many 
>issues until they hit the printed medium.  

While your article concentrated mainly on home pages, you could
say the same thing about the Internet 20 years ago when there was no
World Wide Web and the main staple then was email, newsgroups and ftp sites.

>We become intamate with Mt. Tazerzait, Sikhote-Alin, Cape York, 
>Orgueil, Zagami, Murchision, Allende, Gao, and many others while 
>those not online wait for the next mailing or catalog on which to 
base their views and collecting needs. Those who read the books are 
>left with Nortons's Rocks from Space as the latest word on 
>meteorites.  And even that book is several years out of date.  While 
>we all wait with baited breath for Phil Bagnal's upcoming second 
>edition, I'm sure much more will be shared, questioned, wondered, and 
>speculated upon through the quiet clicks of our collective keyboard.

Again, that is the nature of the Internet, the quick dissimination of
up-to-date information.  There are more people on the Internet than ever 
before now.  There have been discussions on meteorites in the astronomy and
space newsgroups before the creation of this mailing list and the arrival
of home pages. I still remember the discussions about the Peekskill 
meteorite hitting the car in 1992 from the newsgroups, 
and obtaining my first Peekskill fragment (with red car paint on the
fusion crust!) just 2 weeks after the meteorite had fallen.

Ron Baalke