[meteorite-list] When is a fall historical?

From: Charlie Devine <moonrock25_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:10:02 2004
Message-ID: <7298-3E8C178F-1440_at_storefull-2358.public.lawson.webtv.net>

Regarding Park Forest, Matteo wrote:

>Historical?? Historical is after over minimum
>40 years, no after 4 days....historical only
>probably for the USA persons of the zone,
>but for meteorite collectors is not
>historical.

Maybe we're splitting hairs here. In Matteo's interpretation,
historical is synonymous with "old". A certain passage of time must
occur before a fall can be called historical. I don't know how we
decide how many years must pass. Historical can also be use to convey
the belief that something is "important" as in the phrase "today an
historic event transpired".
Most of us, when we hear "historical fall" probably think "old fall".
But I know when I first heard the news of Park Forest, with all its'
house smashing stones, I thought this was an historic fall. Historic as
in important. That is why I said a few days ago that were I lucky
enough to own a piece of one of the house smashers from this fall I
would not need 50 years to know I owned a piece of meteorite history.
Best,
Charlie
Received on Thu 03 Apr 2003 06:14:23 AM PST