[meteorite-list] Nebraska Man Says...

From: Walter Branch <branchw_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri Jul 1 17:18:49 2005
Message-ID: <00a601c57e82$94fa3140$6101a8c0_at_launchmodem.com>

Hi Sterling,

>accounts of multiple human hits. In 1949,
>a shower in a remote Mexican village

I predict the soon we will hear from "Mexico" Doug
on that one!

Readers Digest version: Didn't happen.

-Walter
---------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sterling K. Webb" <kelly_at_bhil.com>
To: "MeteoriteCentral" <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Cc: "Jerry A. Wallace" <jwal2000_at_swbell.net>
Sent: Friday, July 01, 2005 3:59 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Nebraska Man Says...


> Hi, Jerry,
>
>
> Whoops! I truly forgot New Orleans! Sawrrie, y'all!
>
> Actually, I left out a lot of them, as there are so many! Like I said,
it's a
> long, long list.
>
> I regretted afterward leaving out WETHERSFIELD (Connecticut), a small
town of
> 26,271 people (2000 census).
>
> On April 8, 1971, a small energetic stone penetrated a home, zinged
around
> inside, and came to rest without hitting anybody.
>
> Ok, ok, this sort of thing happens, even in Wethersfield. Almost worth
the
> brief attention you get. I can imagine calling your insurance agent, "You
want to
> report -- what? ASTEROID damage?!"
>
> Then, on November 8, 1982, a small energetic stone penetrated ANOTHER
home in
> Wethersfield in the SAME neighborhood, zinged around inside, and came to
rest
> without hitting anybody, about than half a mile away from the first home!
>
> Both stones were both L6's, of similar compositions (different
exposure ages).
> Maybe they're moving into the neighborhood. Wonder what that will do to
property
> values?
>
> Historically, there are a great number of accounts, many of hits
directly on
> human beings, besides the poor Alabama lady, who only got a really
colorful and
> painful bruise.
>
> A Swedish man was struck by a meteorite in the arm. The arm was so
damaged that
> it had to be amputated! The (preserved) arm, by the way, is buried with
him, but
> nobody knows what became of the stone. I imagine even the most unemotional
Swede
> would have been pretty mad at that stone. Smash! Smash! Smash! With your
good arm,
> of course...
>
> While most incidents are of a meteorite strike to a single person,
there are
> accounts of multiple human hits. In 1949, a shower in a remote Mexican
village
> "wounded" 28 people, one of whom later died. (And we on the List make a
big fuss
> over one lousy dog...)
>
> The most intriguing case is a very old and somewhat fragmentary
Chinese Annual
> entry of a "rain of stones" in a Chinese city (we got population density
here) that
> left "10,000 dead"! Probably an exaggeration; I bet it was only 800 or
1200
> people... A thousand people snuffed?!
>
> Somebody mentioned War of the Worlds? Already started, been going on a
long
> while. All of these incidents are only the LITTLE bullets. There's larger
calibre
> stuff readily available.
>
> Chance is luck, and luck is blind, blind in both directions, good and
bad. It
> is only we who define good and bad. What if Sikhote-Alin had hit not in
the hills a
> few miles from town, but IN the town of Sikhote-Alin?
>
> What if Tunguska had been a tiny bit tardy and arrived at the same
latitude on
> Earth six hours or so later, namely, over Victorian LONDON, then the
largest city
> on Earth?
>
> A Tunguska size airburst about an hour earlier than a hypothetical
London one
> would be over Belgium (also the same latitude). It would obliterate a
entire
> NATION, with 90%+ dead.
>
> The casualties in either case would be pretty much the same, about 10
or 12
> million people dead. that's almost as bad as what we have already done to
each
> other...
>
>
> Sterling K. Webb
> -----------------------------------------------------
> "Jerry A. Wallace" wrote:
>
> > Hi Sterling and List,
> >
> > Sterling cited:
> >
> > >Park Forest, M'Bale, Holbrook, Benld, Gao and Noblesville.
> >
> > Lets not forget New Orleans...or the one that almost landed in my
backyard-
> > Monahans.
> >
> > Newspaper reports (thanks to Mark Bostick) noted that...well- here are
the
> > actual excerpts:
> >
> > "A four-inch piece of rock, believed to be a meteorite, landed about
> > 30 yards
> > from a group of youngsters playing basketball on the north side of
> > Monahans, while
> > a second, slightly larger rock, was found by a Ward County Sheriff's
> > Deputy at a
> > nearby site this morning."
> >
> > Dang it. Missed that magic 65' circle by 25'.
> >
> > Another quote from the same newspaper report:
> >
> > "One of the youths, ranging in age from 8 to 16, said the rock "glowed
> > red hot,"
> > when it first landed, according to the Monahans News."
> >
> > Well, putting that particular kid's wide age range aside (could have
> > been a wild juvenile
> > hormone fluctuation, or even the result of being in close proximity and
> > getting a massive
> > dose of gamma rays from the newly fallen meteorite)- one wonders whether
> > one of our
> > brilliant 'hick' reporters might not have excitedly asked the question,
> > "Was the rock glowing
> > red hot when you first saw it?" OBJECTION! LEADING THE WITNESS!
> > It happens.
> >
> > Lest they be not forgotten.
> >
> > Jerry
> >
> > PS...Great math, Sterling. Don't understand it all, but it's good mental
> > exercise trying to.
> >
> > Sterling K. Webb wrote:
> >
> > >Ron Baalke wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >>http://www.theomahachannel.com/news/4672177/detail.html
> > >>Fairbury Man Says He Was Nearly Hit By Meteorite
> > >>The chances of this close of an encounter are one in 100 billion,
expert
> > >>said... The object landed about 65 feet from where Kinzie was.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >
> > >Hi,
> > >
> > > This (unnamed) expert needs a basic course in statistics. Assuming
one
> > >defines this approach (65 feet) as a criteria for "close", then the
number of
> > cases of a fall being within 65 feet of a human being are substantial.
> > >
> > > How many people were within 65 feet of the fall of any fragment of
PARK
> > >FOREST? There were reports of much closer approaches in M'BALE. A
meteorite
> > which hits an occupied car is, of course, closer than 65 feet (and most
> > >unoccupied cars, too).
> > >
> > Any frag that strikes an occupied house or building less than 65
feet square
> > is a case (dozens and dozens of those). "Maw, it's raining rocks!"
(HOLBROOK) The
> > BENLD car smasher hit only 25 feet from the human occupants of
> > the house. Several GAO frags hit people. Don't forget the Alabama lady
in the
> > >town I can't spell and am too lazy to look up..
> > >
> > The NOBLESVILLE (Indiana) stone fell literally at the feet of a
young boy,
> > within inches! It's a long, long list.
> > >
> > Forget the Nebraska glowing rock whacko.
> > >
> > > Integrating for the varying size of the human population over this
time
> > >period, I get odds of about 4,000,000,000 to one per year. Lifetime
odds are
> > less than 100,000,000 to one! This assumes the individual perceives the
fall,
> > >hence these odds are for observed falls only.
> > >
> > 65 feet is far enough away that the fall of a small fragment, which
is what
> > most of them are (remember the power law), is easily missed, just like
the small
> > fragment itself, so the actual rate is much higher.
> > >
> > A 130 foot circle has over 53,000 square feet, a big target.
Assuming that
> > those humans don't bunch up too much (they do, but they all count as one
person
> > only in this survey), from low to high fall rate estimates, I gauge 6
>to 15
> > cases per year, observed or not.
> > >
> > Spread out, people! Wait for the meteorites to fall in your lap (or
130 >foot
> > circle)!
> > >
> > >
> > Sterling K. Webb
> > >-------------------------------
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> > ______________________________________________
> > Meteorite-list mailing list
> > Meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com
> > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
>
>
> ______________________________________________
> Meteorite-list mailing list
> Meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Received on Fri 01 Jul 2005 05:19:35 PM PDT