[meteorite-list] Rocks From Space Picture of the Day - June 4, 2005

[Jerry A. Wallace]

Hi Dave,

You were absolutely right about there being little joy in the lives
of most folks in the "old days". Times were hard, living was tough.
Most found their rare joys in the simple things that were free yet
priceless.

However, I don't think that's what's causing the sour expressions
on the faces of Harvey and Addie in the photo of June 4th.

Exposure to that many tektites clustered in one place can cause
catastrophic sadness, illness, and dismay to a human. Although
'New Age' advocates claim miraculous healing and curative powers
to be associated with these strange glass objects, actually the exact
opposite is true.

A friend of mine who is a teacher of geology at one of our local
colleges gave me a very nice Chinese tektite several years ago.
In that it was my first tektite I was fascinated by it and began studying
the controversial subject as well as the object itself. I left it placed in
front of my monitor when not actually handling it. Within a couple of
hours of doing this I began thinking that my monitor was going bad
because the images and text it displayed began appearing blurry.
But then I noticed that other things that I looked at were also a bit
blurry and distorted when I sat at my computer desk. Time for new
glasses, I thought.

My friendly, overpriced optometrist assured me that my current
eyeglass prescription should work fine and that perhaps my vision
problem might be caused by something else and maybe I should give
it a little time to see if would clear up on its own. If my vision didn't
improve in a week or two I should go to an opthamologist he could
recommend for further tests. "Thank you and that'll be $75.00," said he.
About the same thing as an MD saying, "Take two aspirin and call me
in the morning. We'll send a bill."

A couple of days after that, I decided to put the tektite in a labeled
collection box and move it to a back room where I store most of my
meteorite collection. Within hours of doing that my eyesight began
improving when reading my monitor or books and papers. Whatever
the problem had been it now appeared to have passed. I was thankful.
There was no recurrence of the problem so I put it out of my mind.

A couple of months later there was to be a rare meeting of several of
the local meteorite enthusiasts at a coffee shop. On perusing my collection
for the show-and-tell I decided to take a couple of my latest Texas
acquisitions and, almost as an afterthought, I slipped the beautiful 
tektite
specimen that my friend had given me into my pocket, the four and one-half
inch tubular Wangdong. At the gathering, while having my second cup of
coffee, I began feeling distinctly nauseous, so much so, in fact, that I 
regretfully
excused myself and drove immediately home.

Once home, I only wanted to lie down for awhile until I felt better. 
After about
thirty minutes of misery, I went to the bathroom to wash my face. I noticed
several things had fallen: my arches, some of my hair, and it seemed 
that some
of my teeth were about to fall out as well. While leaning over the sink 
counter
to get a closer look in the mirror at my considerably bloodshot eyes, I 
felt the
Wangdong tektite in my pocket that I had forgotten to remove. Not wanting
any harm to befall it, I took it and the Texas specimens and replaced 
them in
their boxes in the back room. On the way back I felt the need to lie 
down again.

After an hour or so of some (finally) restful sleep, I awakened feeling 
considerably
better. I went back to the bathroom to again check my eyes. They looked 
much
better though still having some streaked veins. The nausea had mostly 
passed and
my color had returned pretty much to normal from the hideous shade of 
green that
I had been colored earlier.

I sat in my darkened, cool living room reflecting on the disastrous 
evening. I thought
back to the meeting at the coffee house and regretted not being able to 
show the
other collectors my new Texas specimens and especially my outstanding 
Wangdong
tektite. Tektite. TEKTITE! Wait a minute. I suddenly made the 
association between
my ill feelings and that TEKTITE. Every time I had been in close 
proximity with that
tektite for any real length of time that's when I was having my 
problems. Could that
truly be the answer? To be honest I'm not certain. But I haven't yet 
worked up the
necessary bravery to test the theory. I will, at some point, but not soon.

To be on the safe side, I built a cedar box and lined it with quarter 
inch lead
sheathing and, using a long handled set of kitchen tongs, I carefully 
placed the tektite
into it and sealed it well. I put the box in a storage shed way at the 
rear of my property.
That was over two and one-half years ago and except for a minor cold 
last winter,
I've felt great ever since.

To be honest, I have given some thought of late to pulling a Steve stunt 
and offering
to give it away- and then keeping tabs on the health of the recipient. 
But I can't
bring myself to do that. After all, it was a gift from a friend (a 
friendship I've been
keeping a wary eye on for awhile.)

And so it is, Dave, that my considered opinion of the sorry state of 
Harvey and Addie
in the old photograph is caused by that pile of malevolent tektites 
lying there radiating
their evil rays causing emotional and digestive stress and disorders, 
sour disposition,
distorted eyesight, bad breath, baldness, and who knows what else.

The Truth Is Out There,

Jerry


Dave Freeman mjwy wrote:

> There were times back in the old days when people had no joy in their 
> lives.
> Reading my "Find A Falling Star", there were a few days that Mr. and 
> Mrs. Ninninger had days of uncertainty and doubt.
>
> Possibly this was one of those days.
>
> Thanks for the picture!
> Dave F.


>
> SPACEROCKSINC at aol.com wrote:
>
>> http://www.spacerocksinc.com/June4.html 
>>