[meteorite-list] Censorship on Meteorite Central? Post not going through.

From: Michael L Blood <mlblood_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 14:24:03 -0800
Message-ID: <C2089E03.33566%mlblood_at_cox.net>

Greetings Randal,
        I cannot be sure how to respond to someone who's "logic" is to
state he suspects the list has "restricted" his response - since I am
reading his response on the list.
(This is major brake with rationality #1)
        I, personally, did not read all the back & forth posts to which
you refer, as so many like me pick and choose which threads to follow.
I consider myself both limited in insight, therefore, while, at the same
time free of any biases as I read your post.
        You next attack Mike Farmer for dropping out of college because
he was making so much money.... Gee, Mr. Gregory - while I certainly
do consider a college education well worth having to provide one with
a broader perception and appreciation of the world, history, other cultures,
etc. it is not the be all and end all. As Bob Dylan said, much which is
"learned" is "useless and senseless knowledge" (I would add that a great
deal goes into understanding the difference between wisdom vs knowledge,
but no one can debate the fact that college does not provide one with
wisdom, only knowledge). Furthermore, sad to say, but the truth is that
the vast majority of people attend college for the nearly exclusive purpose
of earning more money. Second most popular motivation is to provide one
with the option of pursuing an interesting and meaningful career.
Therefore, to attack MF for leaving college to pursue his passion (which is
obviously financially rewarding) is both irrational AND lacking in
appreciation of living one's life in the way that is most meaningful to that
individual.
        (so far, that's zero for two, Mr. Gregory).
        Now, as to MF's character.... well, that doesn't need expanding
upon. Mike frequently expresses himself in a way that, as he says, indicates
he is in need of increasing his meds.
        So, in the end, you appear to be 1 for 3 and that is stating the
obvious. However, I do hope whatever the dispute was about to begin with
was addressed by you in a more rational manor than your latest post,
because, frankly, Mr. Gregory, anyone who STARTS a post ranting about
how they are being persecuted by Meteorite Central via their posts being
censored has pretty much painted themselves into a corner of near zero
credibility before they have gotten started.
        Sincerely, Michael Blood (PS: I occasionally get ticked off at MF,
myself, as, like all of us, he is less than perfect {he just expresses his
imperfection more loudly and aggressively than most of us})



on 2/26/07 1:08 PM, Randall Gregory at r.randall.gregory at gmail.com wrote:

> Gentlemen,
>
> Does meteorite-central censor posts? Is freedom of speech restricted? I
> don't know. I wanted to respond to Mr. Farmer's repeated assults on my
> character, but apparently my reply doesn't make to the list. Anyone know
> why? Below is the post I tried to send. It is not an abusive post and I
> refrained from name-calling, only facts and personal observations.
>
>
>
> Randall
>
>
>
>
>
> Dear List,
>
>
> Thanks for the support. I can take the heat, but only for so long. My
> turn to respond. The fire was quite large and many people so willing to
> throw in a log or so. My tongue is sore from repeated biting. lol ;)
> Anyway,
> I've made a few enemies and some new friends. I treasure opinions and
> insights from my friends. Some have given me solid information,
> opinions, and good advice. And others well?
>
>
> *The intelligent and level-headed people that have kept up with the thread
> saw thru the psychology. The biggest fish to come out of the net was Mike
> Farmer. The globe-trotting, aggressive, and very greedy meteorite hunter. He
> was the most offended thus, the most potential risk. He'll jump on a plane
> at moment's notice to anywhere in the world where he thinks he can make a
> profit. He's been to Atacama , Chile and he knows South America* . He's
> always hawking and looking for opportunities.
>
> Anyone that threatens to have me killed, calls me a friggin idiot and jerk,
> says everything I've done is a scam, said the crater was a volcano cone, and
> started a link with the subject: Peruvian nut job , sparked my interest. I
> wanted to know what type of person he is and what is his character. I think
> my impression is accurate. Here are his comments :
>
>
>
> What a frigging idiot this jerk is. WOW, thieves stole lots of $$$$$. It
> tends to happen, and outside the meteorite world I might ad. This guy is
> truly a nutcase. I have seen the photos of his "crater". It is not a crater,
> there are no meteorites, it is all a scam.
>
>
>
> He also said in another forum:
>
>
>
> It is NOT meteorite. Most likely a lightning struck something and melted
> and scorched some stuff. Again, NO Meteorite fall in Tucson :( *??? Profit
> motivation ???*
>
> Mike Farmer
>
>
>
> It appears he's so quite to dish it out. But can he take it? *Someone
> labeled him a crybaby and he quit the forum because of it!*
>
> * *
>
> * *>* >----- Original Message -----*
>
>> * >From: Space Rocks <spacerox at verizon.net>*
>
>> *To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>*
>
>
>> * >Sent: **Wednesday, January 30, 2002** **4:42 PM***
>
>> * >Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] List failure*
>
> *
> * Michael Farmer wrote:
>
> *Well everyone. It has been nice knowing you, but I am now**
> unsubscribing from the meteorite central list*
> .It has been a great 7 years, but now it is time to cut loose of this
> medium.I wish to leave now before I get driven over the edge. I stand
> up for myself Dean and because of that I need to be off this list,
> where submission seems to be the order of the day. *How dare you call
> me a crybaby*. Ill see you.
>
> Mike Farmer
>
> * *
>
> In a way, I can't blame him. It's his business. How he handles his business
> is a different matter. I did a little research and found that he dropped out
> of college in his first year to pursue meteorite hunting after making a
> small fortune. How pathetic, greed over education. He's is very good at
> hawking meteorites on many forums. The greed and avarice just pours out of
> him and is clearly visible to all. Most would agree that my picture of him
> is clearer than my photos of the crater that he called a scam. Enclosed are
> some excerpts from various *"public"* sources on the Internet.
>
> I rest my case?
>
>
>
>
> It's a *cutthroat business*, Farmer says, where there is a huge demand for a
> very small amount of material
>
>
> Eight years ago Farmer was still in college when he bought his first
> meteorite at the Tucson Gem Show. "I was so fascinated," he says. Farmer's
> wife, Melodye, was "apprehensive," she says--"I mean, selling rocks?" She
> began to soften after Farmer acquired a moon rock in 2000 for $11,700 from a
> broker in Morocco, *sold his share for $280,000, and then bought her a
> house, a mega-SUV, and a vacation in **Tahiti** .*
>
>
>
> Farmer said, finding pieces of the meteor can be like *"finding **$100
> bills."*
>
>
>
> "He called me up a couple days before Christmas and needed money," Farmer
> said, "I told him I'd be there the next day with cash *. I got it -- for a
> much lower price *than I offered originally."
>
>
>
> Breaking into the business was difficult, Farmer recalls, but he earned the
> respect of established dealers by being *first on the scene of three
> high-profile meteorite falls *
>
>
>
> So that made a name for me," Farmer said. "The community realized that I was
> going to do it *whether they liked it or not*." Plus, Farmer got a hold of
> some meteorite material that nobody else in the world was selling
>
>
>
>
>
> A football-size meteorite fell on Monahans,
> Texas<http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/monahans_diary.html>in
> March 1998.
> *Within **30 hours, Farmer* *was** on the scene,*
>
>
>
> Three months later a mess of meteorites from a rock that exploded in the air
> fell near Portales Valley, New Mexico , not far from the Texas
> panhandle. *Farmer
> again went straight to the desert region where people had seen the fall *
>
>
>
> In April 1999, Farmer heard about a new fall in Ourique , Portugal . *Without
> a second thought*, he bought a ticket to Lisbon and jumped on a plane with
> $10,000 cash.
>
>
>
> My wife could care less about meteorites, but she has taken the time to
> learn the basics so she can help me at shows like Tokyo and Gifhorn.
>
> "It was a very tiny little village, so everybody heard about the crazy
> American buying those darn rocks," Farmer said. "I was paying anywhere from
> 50 cents a gram to $2 a gram," (between $15 and $55 per ounce) he said. "I
> sat at the bar just drinking beers and I had my scales there and people were
> lined up."
>
> By the end of the day Farmer had spent all his money and had bought almost 9
> kilograms (20 pounds) of the Ourique meteorite -- nearly all of what had
> fallen on the town.
>
> The investment paid off, though. *Having the entire world market of a brand
> new fall, Farmer had no trouble unloading the material *. It became a rock
> that everybody had to have. From museums to private collectors, everyone
> wanted a piece.
>
> He traded some pieces with museums for other rare meteorite types, and sold
> the rest through his website at $10 a gram.
>
> In three years, Farmer's business has grown from making a few hundred
> dollars in sales a month to approaching *$8,000 or $9,000 per month, *he
> says. This February at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, Farmer sold an
> 11-pound (5-kilogram) piece of the Portales Valley meteorite for $30,000.
> That may have been the most expensive piece of meteorite sold at the show,
> he said. One of the world's major meteorite collectors purchased it.
>
> *He was in **Uruguay **in January arranging a big purchase. He sped to
> Canada* in March when he heard that pieces of a meteorite that exploded in
> the sky above the Yukon
> Territory<http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/planetearth/yukon_search_00031
> 6.html>had
> been found on the ground.
>
>
>
> Farmer is a professional meteorite hunter, one of a handful in the U.S. In
> 2003, he says, he *grossed a half-million dollars, netting $125,000 (he
> spends $120,000 on travel). If he's not scouring the world's whitest
> deserts, searching for objects that look out of place, he's chasing a
> reported fall*
>
>
>
> The 116-gram meteorite, carved from one that weighed 180 grams, is being
> relinquished by Michael Farmer of Tucson, a globe-trotting meteorite dealer,
> who says he resented the implication of police that the rock was stolen.
>
> "It would be worth fighting over, but I don't have time for that," Farmer
> said Tuesday. *"I'm leaving for **South America** tomorrow morning. I'm
> going to **Africa **next week." *
>
>
>
> I was visiting my friend in Arkansas when I heard of the fall, my friend *and
> I immediately jumped on a flight to **New Orleans** *
>
>
>
> Farmer, now 27, chose not to complete his degree so he could dump all his
> time and energy into meteorite hunting and dealing. He built a
> webpage<http://www.concentric.net/~Farmerm/> for
> selling his wares and began conducting business from his two-bedroom
> apartment in Tucson
>
> Now Farmer is camping in the high deserts of Chile , hoping to find pieces
> of a meteorite called Imilac, a breathtaking meteorite that is a mix of
> stone and iron, speckled with beautiful green crystals.
>
> "There's still some *goodies* to be pulled out of that area, so it's
> prodding me to go back and look," Farmer said before he left.
>
> *(MF) *I hunt for meteorites all over the world. My meteorite hunting trips
> include Australia , Chile , Bolivia , Canada , all over the USA , Oman
> , Burkina
> Faso , Lesotho , Portugal , Spain , Morocco , Western Sahara , India and
> Mexico . I have found several hundred Oman meteorites, including a LUNAR! I
> have also found pieces of these famous meteorites, Portales Valley,
> Mundrabilla, Canyon Diablo, Holbrook, Gold basin, al Mahbas, Imilac,
> Monturaqui, Park Forest , and many others
>
>
>
> Otherwise, *I want any historic fall I can get*
>
>
>
> *BTW, Has anyone seen the Mr. college dropout, Where's Waldo? I suspect on
> a plane to **South America**.*
>
>
>
> *Randall*
>

--
You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice
because thorns have roses.
            - Ziggy - in a comic strip by Tom Wilson
--
  

Received on Mon 26 Feb 2007 05:24:03 PM PST