[meteorite-list] Further precision re "Bessey Specks"

From: Steve Schoner <schoner_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue Oct 17 22:28:22 2006
Message-ID: <20061017.192741.8480.814739_at_webmail35.nyc.untd.com>

All of this brings to my mind the entire "Bessey Speck" issue. Back
then, nine or so years ago I took extreme objection to such.

Well in 2003 in the month of January, I came down with ADEM... I nearly
died.

But I recovered.

And I received from many of you messages wishing me well, from all over
the world.

Well... Back to "Bessey Specks"...

Dean sent me a package and letter of condolence which the nurse opened
read to me, and inside the package was a round cylinder very tightly
taped together, and there was a card with it with the words "SAYH AL
UHAYMIR 90"

At the time, I was speechless, (literally) and the nurse was perplexed.
 She thought that there was something inside the plastic capsule but
could not open it due to the fact that it was so tightly taped. After
a while, she gave up and left it on my bedside desk. At that time I
could not use my right arm, which was paralyzed along with my leg and
everything else on my right side. Others came in and noticed it at my
beside, read the letter to me again, and a few tried to open it to show
what Dean had sent.

In my weird state of mind and being I was curious, too. I had no idea
what the "gift" was. The name meant nothing to me in my then weird
state of mind, or lack thereof.

At the time many spoken words and written words were as
incomprehensible as hearing or reading Russian backwards-- or forwards.
 But I picked up the plastic capsule with my left hand and looked at it
intensely, wondering what it was.

Then after nearly a month of recovery, I was able to look at it more
closely, and with some degree of comprehension.

Then, and only then, with a degree of comprehension back, did I realize
that the little container had... you guessed it "Bessey Specks" Two,
nearly microscopic specks of SAY AL HYMIE 90. The specks had migrated
to the edge of the container to the point that they would easily be missed.

Had it been opened by me or anyone else, they would have become nothing
more than dust on the hospital floor (as if there is much dust there
anyway in intensive care).

Well...

I still have those two tiny Bessey Specks and the card that he sent me
on my meteorite shelf, along with dozens of really large in comparison
meteorites.

But those two specks have a treasured spot in my heart and on my
display shelf. They are a memento of the time when I could have been
numbered among the departed. And oddly they are part of the process
that came about to bring my comprehension back.

I hate the idea of reducing meteorites to "Bessey Specks"... but these
two tiny ones... I like.

So... One needs not muli-billion dollar equipment to appreciate them...

Just a weird state of mind caused by a disease that shuts down the
brain. And as it reboots, then the appreciation begins.

Steve Schoner
IMCA #4470



Re: [meteorite-list] Further precision re "Bessey Specks"

dean bessey
Tue, 17 Oct 2006 13:51:05 -0700

> In other words, you need a Superconducting Super
> Collider Particle
> Accelerator in order to study one of these
> specimens!
>
Yes, Bessey specks are of such extreme importance that
governments spend billions of dollars building special
equipment for the sole purpose of studying them
Cheers
DEAN
http://www.meteoriteshop.com

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Received on Tue 17 Oct 2006 10:27:36 PM PDT