You already have professional riff raffs that cause trouble ... does not seem to matter. The goal is to get the meteorites out of the field as soon as possible, get them to science, get them to collectors, get them preserved. I say publish all available information as soon as possible ... anything that can aid in the recovery of the meteorites now, instead of later.
Michael Cottingham On Sep 7, 2012, at 10:30 AM, dorifry wrote: > Keeping it secret would weed out the unprofessional riff raffs that could > potentially cause problems for everybody. > > Phil Whitmer > Joshua Tree Earth & Space Musuem > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marc Fries" > <[email protected]> > To: "Meteorite List" <[email protected]> > Sent: Friday, September 07, 2012 11:12 AM > Subject: [meteorite-list] Some thoughts on find coords > > >> Greetings all >> >> I've been talking with a few people about logging the Battle Mountain >> meteorites, and I'd like to start some discussion on the topic of find >> coordinates. This is NOT directed at any one person, but I would like to >> editorialize a bit. I'm getting a lot of push-back about printing find >> coordinates and I'd like to open the topic to general discussion. >> >> Historically, the locations of found meteorites have been a closely guarded >> secret. That made a lot of sense when meteorite hunting relied most heavily >> on eyewitness reports. A hunter could easily put in many, many miles of >> walking before coming across a meteorite. For finds that are made with >> weather radar, however, I don't think its the same situation. When I post >> radar analyses, it is like posting a treasure map that says, "Go Here". At >> that point everyone knows where the meteorites are, and it seems to me that >> the locations of individual stones aren't nearly as important as they were >> in the past. (Strewn fields without detailed radar data are another matter, >> of course.) Where those locations do matter are to A) the science behind >> describing the meteorite fall, and B) the value of the individual meteorite >> since a well-documented meteorite should be worth more than a random stone >> from a given fall. >> >> I am a scientist, and my first instinct is to collect, analyze, and -share- >> data. I understand where that is at odds with the level of secrecy needed in >> the past, but I think that that level of secrecy is no longer needed and >> actually works contrary to the value of meteorites, both monetary and >> scientific. On the Galactic Analytics website, I'm willing to go against my >> better instincts and hide find locations, at least until a scientific paper >> is released describing the fall. But to be honest, I think that's a little >> silly - I'll basically have a table showing meteorites with the find >> locations redacted, and then you can scroll down the page a bit and see a >> map showing where the meteorites are. >> >> So let me throw this out there as a general question - is it really >> important to hide the find locations? >> >> Cheers, >> Marc Fries >> ______________________________________________ >> >> Visit the Archives at >> http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html >> Meteorite-list mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list > > ______________________________________________ > > Visit the Archives at > http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html > Meteorite-list mailing list > [email protected] > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list ______________________________________________ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list [email protected] http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
