[meteorite-list] AD - A FEW DANDYS

From: MexicoDoug_at_aol.com <MexicoDoug_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat May 21 12:58:57 2005
Message-ID: <11.45b44e5f.2fc0c2cb_at_aol.com>

Hola David,
 
Yes, I initially thought you were right, really. Smoking grapevines isn't
my thing so I wouldn't know about its effects; I was joking about the "bribe"
to science (though I think science can use all the bribes it can get and like
the idea) and what I perceive to be the grey area when a paper is accepted
for publication before it has an official published bulletin name for a
scientifically important meteorite that is handled on a case basis according to the
author guidlines, which I saw as a reasonable exception. I suppose it is
conceivable that such a hypothetically important meteorite could appear in
print in MAPS before the Bulletin entry is formalized by publication. However,
the practice of opening the Bulletin in provisional form for public comment
would seem to be more like a wedding when the marrying facilitator has no
objections but still asks if anyone else has any objections, so that is why I
agreed with you, since there is never anything wrong with telling the truth (The
name is approved provisionally for publication {in MB#}).
 
Mark, regarding my suspicion, which was more a opinion than a guess, it
certainly would be a magic email to short circuit the entire process and get an
official name out of an email. That is why I called it a magic email. But it
seems we're now on the same page after messing with David, since you have
acknowledged the difference between the more ambiguously word "approved" vs
"official"...
 
Saludos, Doug
 
 
David clobbered me with a good natured personal attack for not recognizing
the gravity of the issue:

>Hey Doug,
>I don't know what grapevine you've been smoking,
>but I highly doubt that the NomCom would accept
>bribes to get a meteorite deemed "official". Besides,
>the only way to tell if it's "official" is by looking at the
>MetBull; as Jeff G. wrote, "If it's not there, it's not an
>official name, period, no exceptions." He also said
>the following concerning provisional names: "Also,
>the journals MAPS and GCA have a policy that
>should prevent publication of scientific reports on
>these specimens." I would defer to these statements
>by the then-acting Editor of the Meteoritical Bulletin,
>and discount what you heard through the grapevine.

Mark retorted on a serious note from his own recent experience with an email:

>Hello Doug and list,

>Doug guessed, "I would suspect the only way the NomCom
>is going to give advance approval via magic emails...'

>I wouldn't say email is magic. People that submit
>information usually always know if what they
>submitted is approved or not before publication.
(Doug: Only at the point when the fat lady sings can we deal with the word
"official", your word approved is slightly ambiguous, and we three happily
conclude that that ambiguity doesn't usually always usurp the Bulletin)

Doug butted in and attempted a joke that miserably failed since even David
didn't get it:

> Hola Mark, A name is official when you are allowed to use it in a
> Meteoritical Society publication, right? I would suspect the only way the
 NomCom is
> going to give advance approval via magic emails, is if you promise you
are
> working on a peer-reviewed paper for publication in a scientific journal
> especially MAPS, and need an approved name for your rock, and have the don
to
> convince them. I heard through the grapevine, however, that those magic
emails were
> also available to commercial dealers with no publications, one of the
> amounts of: an additional 5 grams or 5% type specimen contribution, or
$500 to the
> endowment, as long as it isn't the smallest of the three. Saludos, Doug
 
Received on Sat 21 May 2005 12:58:51 PM PDT