[meteorite-list] BCC "Meteorites" [was Milestones] PLEASE READ

[Notkin]

<x-rich><fixed>Jonathan posted:


>  I'm back on the list. What is BCC meteorites about? I have heard a 
>lot about it and read their site but I still don't understand. Odd.



Dear Jonathan and Fellow Listees:


Jonathan, yes you are absolutely right. It is very "odd" and nobody 
else understands their site either because their site is nonsense.


I would like all my fellow List members to be made aware of something 
important: These BCC "Meteorites" characters filed an actual lawsuit 
against a number of prominent, respected and very well-liked senior 
meteoriticists here in the U.S (one of whom is a personal friend of 
mine). The suit was -- of course -- thrown out by the judge for being 
utterly frivolous. It's just too bad these clowns weren't heavily 
fined for wasting court time.


BCC "Meteorites" seems to believe that there's some kind of 
high-level conspiracy/cover-up going on between NASA and major 
meteoritical institutions -- all because BCC "Meteorites" have been 
told (nicely and repeatedly) that the junk items they dig out of 
their bog, or whatever, in Texas are not actually fossilized alien 
brains, UFO warp core spare parts, Lunar meteorites, Dick Tracy wrist 
watch radios, etc., but just plain old dull terrestrial rocks. I 
think we all enjoy a good eccentric, and the whole thing would have 
been somewhat amusing in a "Benny Hill" sort of way if these guys 
hadn't been really nasty to some really nice people during their 
imaginary scientific journey.


We have our squabbles on the List from time to time, but we are all 
united in our interest in the SCIENCE of meteoritics. The 
technobabble/gobbledygook pseudo-science offered up on the BCC 
"Meteorites" website -- and written, I might add, in appalling 
elementary school English so laden with spelling errors and 
grammatical mistakes that you couldn't follow their argument even if 
it *were* sound -- should not be allowed promotion here on the 
Meteorite List. Novice collectors, still learning about meteorites, 
might be hoodwinked into believing some of the fatuous claims that 
are made on the BCC website.


So, I strongly suggest that we -- as a community -- block the email 
addresses of these guys DeRusse and Cutler immediately and 
permanently. They just want attention, and the best way to eradicate 
this kind of fake science rubbish is to ignore the perpetrators 
entirely. They'll likely get bored and wander off to some UFO 
conspiracy theory/Creationist mailing list of which -- unfortunately 
-- there are probably several. A request from a few of you to List 
Moderator Art Jones ( listman at meteoritecentral.com ) to have them 
removed from the List wouldn't hurt either.


Oh, and BTW, if you look at the first photo on their website, the guy 
with the white gloves looks like "Dr. No."   : )



Not at all respectfully,


Geoff Notkin

Science writer interested in actual science and real 
meteorites</fixed></x-rich>