[meteorite-list] Murchison Price Difference

From: Matthias Bärmann <majbaermann_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Oct 5 19:51:37 2006
Message-ID: <000801c6e8d9$2edc3ad0$0200a8c0_at_ibmtp23>

Hello Doug , -


You wrote: "Meteorites are a recyclable resource ... you can cultivate and
prune and they do multiply..."

That's a nice concept indeed. With my inner eyes I can see a pretty garden
with meteorite-beds. In springtime you only have to put the little
micromounts in the earth, give them a few dips for developing regmaglypts,
yes, do some pruning work (for orientation) and, not to forget: they need a
good amount of water each day, early in the morning and in the late
afternoon. Especially the irons. The result?


You also wrote: "Meteorites don't die"

I'm sure: they will be as dead as mutton in a few weeks, at least months.

With other words: it may not be a main aspect, but we must not neglect the
loss of meteoritical material through rust (not only the irons), erosion,
wrong treatment etc. Each slice one cuts, each process of abrading,
(re-)polishing,(re-)etching etc. means to loose material. Not so much in
the single case. But in addition? Anyway, we have to book it under "debit".

By the way: "Cultivating the meteorite-garden" would be a perfect subject
for comic-artist Mark Bostick (I remember with pleasure his "Hunting
Meteorites in a Perfect World" :-) ...

Kind regards,

Matthias





----- Original Message -----
From: "MexicoDoug" <MexicoDoug_at_aim.com>
To: "Martin Altmann" <altmann_at_meteorite-martin.de>;
<meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2006 7:19 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Murchison Price Difference


Martin wrote:
"...Doug, tulips you can grow and multiply.(snip)...Meteorites you can't
cultivate - and where in future shall such amounts of meteorites grow again,
when Sahara and Oman will be over?"

Hello again, Martin (and also Matthias:)),

Well, maybe under the sea? There's still an untapped 70-75% of the world.
Then there is strewn field some collectors have between their meteorite
showcases and their mailboxes. Not to mention that storehouse of all my
unmatched socks and the meteorites lost by postal services worldwide. Maybe
we won't be so lucky there., but:

Meteorites are a recyclable resource ... you can cultivate and prune and
they do multiply... Meteorites don't die, at worst they just whittle away...

Collectors, they do die, and their meteorites are the seed and bulbs of new
generations...They are the new strewn fields of the future...along with tons
of meteorites hoarded in garbage cans in the garages of speculative hunters
...

Today meteorites are a link to Solar system. Tomorrow Richard Branson will
have expeditions to see the orchestrated performances of meteoroid streams,
where you can dip a special ladle into the flow and catch a flying star and
put it in your pocket and save it for a stormy day. In 20 years a Moon
Colony will be established...The Japanese will jump start Asteroid mining
activities...Asteroid Slag will become a collectable, and the miners on the
asteroids will give you a ton of material for an attempted sniff or gaze
upon a tulip.

There is no choice. All resources are limited on earth. The only outlet is
out there. Over the long haul all of us are only renting meteorites anyway
.... We will run out of land to buy before we run out of meteorites to
exchange. And then you will want a plot of land for your family, not a
pound of space rubble.

Just a few thoughts on the future from our snapshot in time.
And before ideologies change and we catch up to it...

Best wishes, Doug
Received on Thu 05 Oct 2006 07:51:31 PM PDT