[meteorite-list] Re: who does what for what cause?

[MexicoDoug at aol.com]

Darren G. wrote:
>Give the finder a fair  finder's fee, yes, but don't let him sell it to any 
ass with a wad
of  cash.

Hey Darren, I am sympathetic to your intentions and the importance  of good 
science being done by qualified individuals to increase the sphere of  human 
knowledge.  But the solution you offer to the problem you have framed  here 
doesn't seem to add value.  Please bear with me, as I too want it  studied to the 
hilt.

There are a few assumptions behind the scenes:   The first assumption is that 
someone has done something wrong in rescuing the  fossil from its resting 
place.  Is Kansas a state with a law that says "It  is prohibited that private 
citizens rescue dinosaur eggs for profit?"  "The  state has the right to 
expropriate below market anything you find that is later  determined to be of value?" 
 

I checked and couldn't confirm this,  but I did learn that in the progressive 
town of Wichita, it is illegal to carry  a bean snapper concealed in your 
pocket, or sue for divorce on the grounds of  mistreatment of one's 
mother-in-law.  So it sounds like they have covered  all the important bases.

A socialist or communist or dictatorial system  might agree with you, but it 
is a hard problem for a free market.  As for  the "ass with the wad of cash", 
we don't know any of those, do we?  Value  is a tricky thing.  I feel that the 
increased value the market gives these  items helps insure more than anything 
they are protected, and I may add in  better conditions than most museums I 
have seen typically hurting for funds even  for air conditioning.  And then big 
guys eventually donate to museums to  preserve their names, anyway.  What 
"ass with enough sense to get a wad of  cash" would not know how to protect his 
investment?

What we don't know is  what was expended in the process of the the 
recuperation of the egg, assuming it  is authentic - and I believe it is.  I am 100% for 
preservation, but if the  guy that recovered it was an expert enough to 
recognize it, instead of a typical  person running around with a hammer smashing 
all the rocks to see what's in 'em,  and will cooperate with studies (we don't 
know), that guy has done a whole lot  more for science than an academic who 
dedicates his life to preying on  well-intentioned, legal hunters who have 
potentially performed a rescue  operation when in its place there would only be 
crushed gravel or sandstone and  beaurocracy.

It seems to me a pity that the hypothetical situation could  exist where 
someone dedicates their life to recovering a fossil, legally, and  then that the 
fossil would be taken away from him.  Then on the other hand  we have someone 
who harvests a quarry destroying so many priceless specimens and  could care 
less, but in the process becoms a millionaire in the construction  supply 
business.

Since we don't know any of these details, I find yours a  somewhat antiquated 
view which is as dangerous as it could be helpful to  science.  The basic 
problem here I would say is that museums are run as  charities, and nobody wants 
to patronize them enough to pay hard-working finders  fair market value.  If 
the fossil hunter has invested a good part of his  life in preparation ... and 
you only want to offer him paultry sum (yes, give me  a break with this "fair 
finders fee - we all know what that means) while another  has a a job that 
hypothetically destroys (construction materials, building over  formations, 
highways, making reservoirs, driving, agriculture that turns fields  into errosion 
sinks and destroys remains, and all those who support them, living  in homes, 
building things, eating, dynamiting wells for oil exploration,  minerals, salt 
water intrusion, etc.).

So here this guy is being painted  as a devil?  I think the best strategy for 
us, is to be nice to the guys  that find the stuff and build an understanding 
all around the table of the  reality we live in, and make them feel good 
about donating. Not another Boston  Tea Party, please - remember where the .the 
goods ended up.  And if you  want to condemn anyone, do it to the politicians 
and all of us -you and me-  equally for not supporting the arts and sciences 
with our tithe.  But don't  ream the one guy who actually made the recovery.  And 
if it is a legal  sale, let Michael promote it.  Having Michael involved may 
not seem of much  value to you, but I think he is an ethical person and it is 
good all around  therefore that he is participating.  Michael would not be 
stupid enough to  ship it with a big campo in the same box, for example, and he 
will be sure it is  authenticated, too.  It is not like fossils fall out of the 
sky in flames  announcing themselves.

I hope you and Michael make up, because there was  no need for the energetic 
personal attacks in public when private could  suffice.  Those are passé on 
such a distinguished list.  
Saludos,  Doug