[meteorite-list] Question Regarding Lunars

From: JoshuaTreeMuseum <joshuatreemuseum_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 2010 15:39:00 -0500
Message-ID: <58C49C4C6F01407B98EF9317777C684F_at_ET>

Hi Randy,

Wow, that guy cut you down so low you'll have to stand on a nickel to
micturate on a dime! I don't see how you can look at yourself in the mirror
in the morning! LOL!

Did you really spit in his eye? If not, why not?

Phil Whitmer

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Dear Jim:

Don't pay any attention to anything I say. I'm a narrow-minded,
egocentric fraud.

A few days ago a fellow sent me 32 rocks, all of which he thought
were meteorites. I told him I'd only look at the 3 he thought most
likely to be meteorites. He named three. I looked at them. None
had fusion crusts or regmaglypts. I showed them to a a guy here who
knows more about terrestrial rocks than I do. All three were
volcaniclastic rocks, in our opinion. Maybe one was a terrestrial
breccia. I told the guy what I thought. Here's how he responded.

=========================================================
I'm thinking, that asking a geologist to do the job of a lunar
geochemist, is like sending a carpenter to erect the next World Trade
Center. It is obvious, that you are unable to wrap your mind around
the idea that a discovery such as this could be possible, or even
feasible. It is also apparent, that the potential of this discovery
is not important to you, or to the science. Your attempts to deny,
denounce and destroy this effort has reached, "the end of the trail!"
Having said as much, I will be dismissing you from this case. I
will have the lab results sent to several other, more open-minded &
intelligent lunar geochemists, whom I am in contact with, and who
currently think that such a discovery is not only possible and
feasible, but probable & overdue. This project is deserving of
young, alert, provocative, curious and inquisitive minds, who are
willing to think outside the box. (There are meteorites that are
"Red"!!......check out the latest chat on your local Meteorite chat
room; courtesy of Mike Farmer). I've never known a scientist
wanting, offering or settling for a compromise on a potential
discovery. How egocentric & how terribly absurd!
I do thank you for your efforts, but you are not the "man of
science" I was expecting, or hoping, you would be. It is obvious,
too, that you introduced the specimens to your "terrestrial"
geologist (if there was one you associate with!) with
prejudice. This is not the type of scientific inquiry deserving of a
comment or compliment. Your arguments against these specimens being
meteoritic, should be directed against your own publications and
those of Richard Norton, NASA, JPL, Johnson Space Center, and every
single collection around the globe. I must suspect, that you are in
the game to protect your own precious fusion-crusted relics and the
value of your fraternity's collections. Your professional & personal
integrity are certainly in question, here! I have given you this
potential discovery on a silver platter, but you have chosen to spit
in my eye, as if I was some kind of lowly peon. Never, have I been
treated with such arrogant malice!
I wish you well on your retirement & may it be soon! A fella'
can look at just so many rocks, that he becomes one, himself!
=========================================================

I sure hope this guy finds someone else on The List to insult!

I need to retire,
Randy Korotev
Received on Sat 09 Jan 2010 03:39:00 PM PST