[meteorite-list] PA fall media hype

From: Joe Kerchner <skyrockmeteorites_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2009 21:54:47 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <475288.83218.qm_at_web43407.mail.sp1.yahoo.com>

GREAT post Steve. I agree 100%. I have not read the 1999 Smithsonian mag, but I have seen Meteorite Men. I learned a lot from it and it got me wanting to hunt even more than I already do, that can't be a bad thing. I'm sure im not the only one. I am sure you show will help some new finds to undoubtedly be found by people who saw your show. Keep up the good work and I wish you, Geoff and everyone else hunting over there the best of luck on the July 6th fall hunt. Can't wait to see the pics of the new finds I am sure that will be found soon.
Best of Luck,
Joe Kerchner



----- Original Message ----
From: "MeteorHntr at aol.com" <MeteorHntr at aol.com>
To: meteoriteguy at yahoo.com; meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
Sent: Friday, July 10, 2009 11:31:05 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] PA fall media hype

Hello Michael and all,

I am sorry for being so delayed in responding to your post. I have been
busy today interviewing with the Fox TV station in York, and the NBC station
in Lancaster and some other network (maybe ABC) in Baltimore. Then I had a
radio interview with NPR after that. It has been a busy day doing all
this media stuff.

Back in the day, when your mentor Casper was still haunting the Meteorite
List, he tried to get people into online fights all the time. But back
then every time I was tempted to reply to him, I was reminded of an old
saying: "Don't get in a mud wrestling match with a pig, as you both will get
muddy, and the pig will just enjoy it."

I know you like nothing better than to get into arguments. And trust me,
I am not entering this dialog with you just so you can get your jollies. I
figure it is about time to make a response.

I have remained quiet for over a year as you just seem to go on and on and
on and on and on and on and on ad infinitum. In a way, it is funny. In a
way it really is sad.

Let me pick a few things to address, from your post:

"This is out of control..." Out of control? What makes you think it
isn't in control?

You are "sickened by these stories..." You? Sickened? By stories? LOL
I thought you were born with your condition.

You don't hold your cards to your chest? Umm...ok?

Offers in papers to pay more and not to sell to greedy dealers on the
ground??? Not sure what you mean by that...but ok.

The endless media hype is getting old to you? Get used to it, it is about
to get kicked up about 7 fold! Literally, 7 fold. I would say "I am
sorry," but I'm not. It is called marketing, and it will continue.

Every email? Are you referring to my signature of "Steve Arnold of
Meteorite Men" at the end of my Meteorite List emails? If so, let me clue you
in. If you haven't noticed, there is another person in our community and on
this list, who has the same name as I do. I used to sign my name "Steve
Arnold #1" then at times I would use "Steve Arnold from Arkansas." Neither
of those I was ever really comfortable in using, but I felt it was very
necessary to distinguish me from the Steve Arnold in Chicago.

Both, people on the List, and those off the List that stumble onto posts
such as this one, maybe via Google, might get confused at times. Now that I
am more known because of the Meteorite Men show I have figured that I
would rather start using the name from which I am now more known. It is not a
matter of "promoting the show" but more to identify me. I would say "I am
sorry that you are offended," but I'm not.

Every Ebay auction? Are you referring to my ebay auctions where I mention
who I am and how I am known to the general public? In this day of
questionable sellers on ebay, I list something that distinguishes me.

By the way, is this criticism coming from the same man that for at least 7
or 8 or 9 or 10 years ceaselessly mentioned in each and every one of his
Ebay auctions: "See me in the 1999 Smithsonian Magazine"??? ROTFLMAO My
prime time show first aired ONLY 60 days ago, and will air 4 more times in
this next week. And you are already tired of my Ebay listings mention it?
LOL

Besides, what on Earth is wrong with saying "Yes, I am that guy on the TV
show!"??? If you don't like it Mike, don't read "EVERY" one of my Ebay
listings. No one makes you read each and every one I put up. Chill out
dude, really it is ok.

How long must you endure this "hype?" Well, again, my suggestion is to
get used to the marketing, it will continue. I would say "I am sorry," but
you guessed it, I'm not.

"Just get out there an work" you say? Umm, as if I am not working now?
Or are you saying that listing things on Ebay is "not working"? LOL This
is too funny.

My fame is not even worth $1.00? And may I ask what you base that
calculation on? I would say my fame is worth at least $2.00, maybe even a quarter
more. How much is your 1999 Smithsonian Magazine fame worth anyway?

"Walking, blisters, sunburns, that will find meteorites..." Oh, you mean
like the 28 days in a row I spent in West walking, getting blisters (albeit
no sunburns) and kicking butt finding rather than buying meteorites? OK, I
will try to remember what impresses people like you. Oh wait, your
weren't impressed with what I did in West...now I am confused...

"In NONE of those articles is there a peep that locals in that area need
to get out and walk the streets, look for black burned stones, check the
lawn, parking lots, parks..... Why not?" Um, well, many of those stories
that ran were in the Baltimore, Maryland market and not in the Pennsylvania
market where the meteorites actually are. To tell people in Baltimore, over
an hour away from the strewnfield, to look for rocks would be a bit
misleading wouldn't it? Besides, when I did the first series of interviews, my
objective was to find more videos of the fireball (from security cameras
from far away places). With those I felt the strewnfield could better be
identified.

Ironically, today when I was interviewing with the York, PA and Lancaster,
PA, TV shows, I actually did talk about black rocks, showing them several
West stones, magnets attached and all. Why? Because those news stories
were being broadcast in the areas where the rocks are.

But just because they didn't print in the papers what you wanted to see,
at first doesn't mean that I didn't tell some things they didn't report on.
Of course, we all know you are the expert at getting reporters to write
exactly what you want them to.

For the rest of us, reporters have a way of writing stories they think
their readers will want to read, not always what we want them to. I had a
producer/cameraman with me, so when the print reporters asked me who this is
filming me and why, I told them who it was and that we were filming for the
Meteorite Men TV series. I guess the REPORTERS felt that this piece of
information was a news worthy enough thing to comment on. Did I actively
promote that is why we were here and that is what I wanted them to write about?
No. Did I mention it? Yes.

Of course, if it ads to my credibility, that maybe Discovery Networks and
Science Channel (who's International Headquarters so happens to be just
outside of Baltimore, Maryland) feel I am credible enough to be on their
networks, then maybe what I have to say on the matter of meteorites might hold
some significance, then why not use it?

Are you telling me that you would not mention that you are on a show that
is currently airing if you were?

I could say that I appeared in the Smithsonian Magazine in 1999 but I
decided not to...oh, wait, it is someone else that holds that claim to fame, not
me. LOL

If I keep hyping myself, you claim this July 6th meteorite will be lost?
I can tell you haven't even been following this story too closely, have
you? You have been too busy getting a sunburn I guess, which is cool, except
it makes yourself look foolish when you spout off like this. The single
person that started this is the reporter/blogger for the Baltimore Sun, Frank
Roylance. If you read his blogs, and read his stories this week,
including his replies to comments by his blog readers, you will see that early on
he strongly doubted that any meteorites would have survived this fall.
After persistent communication with him, he slowly opened to the idea that if
there were such strong sonic booms, then maybe, like I said from the start,
maybe there could be some rocks on the ground. I seriously doubt that if I
would have bombarded him with insisting that he write that everyone needs
to drop everything and start looking for black magnet-attracted rocks,
nothing extra would have been mentioned beyond his first blog post. Instead,
he found in my interview what he and his editor thought was an interesting
story that their readers would like to read.

But to have the gall to blame me that if nothing is recovered, it is all
my fault, is so typically you, Mike.

How about this theory instead: If the meteorite from July 6th is not
recovered and is thus "lost," it is all YOUR fault!!!

If only YOU cared enough to come up here yourself, you would have no doubt
done everything perfect. You would have led all the media into writing the
perfect stories. And then you would have led all of the citizens of
Pennsylvania and Maryland combined on a "Team Farmer Expedition" to not only
recover some of the meteorites, but ALL of them! And probably they would all
have been found by now, and we would all be reading your posts about how
great you and your exploits are.

Would I have written the stories and reported the TV news casts
differently if I could have? Sure.

Have I learned some things on this trip? Sure.

I plan on working on a Fact Sheet that might help get relevant issues and
facts at least in front of the reporters nest time, so that even if they
forget to ask me a question they don't know they should ask, and if I forget
to tell them something that I probably should, they will still have easy
access to those facts.

"Sad" you say? Yes! I finally agree with you on something Mike. Your
post was indeed "sad."

Now, I have to go shower and wash off all this mud. And then get back to
the leads that are still coming in.

Steve Arnold
of "Meteorite Men" ;-)





In a message dated 7/10/2009 2:44:08 P.M. Central Daylight Time,
meteoriteguy at yahoo.com writes:

This is out of control, endless media hype by those seeking nothing but
fame, and nothing about what the public should be looking for.
After days of walking, I am sitting here in Tucson, playing with two week
old meteorites, and resting my blister-covered feet and catching up on the
last few days of emails.
I am sickened by these stories, the backstabbing already in full swing out
east. We don't want and by holding our cards to our chest, we don't have
that problem out here. I hope everyone can see that now. Offers in papers
about "paying more, and don't sell to greedy dealers on the ground, just call
me" etc. Now you know why we don't want any help with our fall. We are
working together, and finding stones.

I speak for myself here, so any crap needs come to me, as my teammates and
friends are in the field right now, but work must be done since I am at
home and I am taking today to recuperate.

This endless media blitz over "Meteorite-Men" is getting old. Every email,
every eBay auction, every mention of some people to throw that quip in.
How long must we endure this hype? Come on, just get out there and work, your
fame is worth about $1.00 in the field. Walking, blisters, sunburns, that
will find meteorites, not talking about your show.
In NONE of those articles is there a peep that locals in that area need to
get out and walk the streets, look for black burned stones, check the
lawn, parking lots, parks..... Why not? Tell people what to do, not the prices
per gram, it has to be found to be sold.
If this PA stone is found, it won't be with the pictures but by a person
mowing their lawn, or driving down the road. Focus on the hunt, use the
locals and this can be found, keep hyping yourselves and it is just publicity,
and the meteorite will be lost.
Sad.
Michael Farmer

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Received on Sat 11 Jul 2009 12:54:47 AM PDT