[meteorite-list] Erwin Rivera Carancas Recognition -Suggestion for Mike "Tiger Man" Farmer

From: Kevin Kichinka <marsrox_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 22:39:07 -0600
Message-ID: <5bb98d570710092139q68e90e6ckdbe1188f747410c5_at_mail.gmail.com>

Hola don Michael:

re: The Peru meteorite.

My patience with your "impact" on the hobby I love has ended. I regret
that I am making these public remarks, lets call it a "family
discussion", but as the present "face of the hobby" you are
jeopardizing the kind and gentle nature of collecting meteorites. I
don't understand why this is being tolerated by others, but I do not
accept your actions as representative of this pasttime.

You wrote:

"Good luck getting your pieces from Bolivia. I give a 1 in 10 chance
for a package to arrive unpilfered."

But a free package of the Peru meteorite from a Cochabamba mineral
dealer arrives safely to a client in the USA.

Then you wonder:

"I am confused, he sends free meteorites and photos, in
the mail, from Bolivia?
Why? What is the catch? Why is he throwing money away?
Michael Farmer"

I suppose that it is because for some people, reputation or generosity
is more important than pursuing fame and money. This dealer actually
just changed his website to defend his honor. Why? Were there so many
people commenting on this individuals poor business practices, or was
it just you, Mike Farmer, on the m-list alluding to a negative outcome
to anyone who would send money to a Bolivian dealer?

Aren't you the one who always claims untoward remarks are slander?

Because of your Peruvian visit, arguably an "attractive nuisance" in
legal terms as you arrived passing out US dollars for "dangerous"
rocks in a place with a per capita income less than Haiti, the bulk of
the police force of the area is now out of work, and the locals
without whatever degree of protection they previously enjoyed. The
crater is being guarded 24 hours a day to protect it from the likes of
you.

Of course, Desaguaderos is a "craphole, the definition that would come
up first."

The scientists involved? "The people from the University of Peru are clueless."

Are you campaigning to become the next "anti-Christ"? You have my vote.

You write:

"The meteorite in the crater weighs in excess of 4,000 to 5,000 kilos."

You write:

".... taken by locals mostly crumbs and dust, we got nice pieces, all
pristine, not rusted crap."

You write:

".... meteorite is mostly lost/rusted away...."

You write:

"... twenty to thirty kilos were found by tourists and locals"

You write:

"Forget it, this meteorite will be lost, is already
three weeks under water as of today, is being damaged
beyond repair.
There are a few kilos recovered. Whatever is now left
in the crater will be mud, or extremely
damaged/weathered material.
We are selling by the way.... Michael Farmer"

So according to you, there are 4,000 to 5,000 kilos in the ground and
perhaps thirty kilos recovered.But it is all "crumbs and dust", "lost
and rusty".

ATTENTION SHOPPERS! Only Tiger Man can sell you, "by the way",
authenticated pristine specimens.

And this dialogue runs to forty-eight (48) messages in nine days.

And some thought Steve (Chicago) abused the list.

Mike, your cost for the 300 grams you say you collected was $1,000
according to you. Your RT plane ticket from Cali, Columbia was less
than $600 as per Expedia.com, your hotel room $4/night ("We
overpaid.."), taxi from the border was $40. "Gifts" to the police was
$300 ($100 each). Food and beer is almost nothing. Your estimated cost
per gram is about $7.

Let me not forget the price you paid for the rights to the photo of
the meteorite contrail, "I gave him enough to buy a new camera and
take 1000 photos."

So we're at $7.25/gm.

You are selling this for $100/gm, right? 300gms. times $100 =
$30,000. Is your profit about $28,000 for less than a weeks "work"? So
you expect a $28K profit AND a vacation tax write-off of $2K?

You go, capitalism!

You write:

"Come on, these people are poor, the country had an
earthquake that left tens of thousands homeless barely
two months ago.
It is simple, we pumped the water from the crater. It
worked OK, of course will immediately begins to
refill. You need 10 men with buckets and shovels,
nothing more. You dig, you pump, you dig, you pump and
in one or two days, the entire crater can be
excavated.
No equipment needed other than pumps and manpower,
which we had."

So you have a plan. Good. I propose that the meteorite is NOT "rusty
crap". The water it sits in is from a spring and is fresh.

I remind all that Pena Blanca Springs sat in a pond until it was
drained and the pieces dug out of the mud. No less than the the
angrite Angra dos Reis was retrieved from the Atlantic Ocean.

Mike, a gesture, call it penance, really the least you could do, would
be to return to Peru and pay the couple of thousand bucks in that
fifty cent economy and dig up the rock.

After all, it was money sent to YOU directly from Heaven, so do
something once to pretend to be an Angel, not a Tiger.

>From Nine Degrees North,

Kevin Kichinka
Received on Wed 10 Oct 2007 12:39:07 AM PDT