Quotations

Inquiries That Started Out in a Polite and/or Provocative Way

"So like there I am taking a shower when I hear this wild screaming pitch sound and all of a sudden a rock crashes through my bathroom ceiling, shatters the shower door, knocks me down and the space rock thing then blows through the tub, goes downstairs at 10 thousand miles per hour and wipes out my poor fluff cat the wild thing.
     OK, the truth, I suspect you don't want yet another crazy person dropping you an email about another "meteorite" attribution? So I tried the attention grabbing first paragraph?"

" Dear Rude Admonishments (aka Dr. Randy Korotev),"

"Rude but to the point. Saved us both a lot of time."

"So you get your personality and charm from the darker side of the moon. Humor me! I read your entire site, well almost."

"I live in West Cork in Ireland - and I apologise in advance for more than likely wasting your time! - but the other day I found a very unusual stone on our site (property)."

"Your site has convinced me that what I have is probably not a meteorite but your great sense of humour emboldens me to send this e-mail anyway. "

"I have no doubt you keep a very hectic schedule, so I'll make this concise: ..."

"You have the coolest website! I am a little chapped, though. Before I found your website, I had six meteorite trasures that I had found. Now, thanks to your, "It's probably not a meteorite", I have NONE!"

"I want to thank you for your time. I realize you are very busy with your studies/work."

"I'm sure you get quite a few of these inquiries so I be brief and to the point."

"I read your rude admonishment section and couldnt help but laugh. I know you have to be going crazy with people bugging you but alas, I might have to join their ranks."

"I do not think you are "rude" I find you refreshingly straight-forward. I only wish more people were so up-front. It would make life far simpler in the end."

"To keep this short, I will get to the point."

"My grandmother found this rock in 1936 on her farm in Namibia. She has been using it all the years as a door stop"

"I have had a great time exploring your webpages this Sunday morning -- the tone is great, not too dumbed down, not too technical, and I've learned a lot. (I came across them because a friend was curious why weather science is called meteorology, and which page linked to yours.)"

"I am hopeful that you would be interested to test this strange looking rock as a possible lunar meteorite?"

"I live in Chile and I am at present working in a construction project at the atacama desert. I was walking on a plain without roads looking for good deposits to be used as backfill material for the project. My attention was called to this rock laying alone surrounded by sand and in the middle of a depression. I have to mention this area is in the middle of nowhere, 70 km away from the nearest town, with only minor mines which have been under explotation for decades."

"Last year I've found (in the NE part of Poland) some interesting stones (one of them contains metal and is similar to mesosiderite), I think they could be of extra-terrestrial origin."

"I hope you are well and doing fine. I have been studying planetary geology and meteorites as an intense hobby for approximately 35 years and 15 years, respectively. I am most interested in Lunar geology, and my most prized specimens are my Lunar meteorite fragments (Dar al Gani 262 and 400)."

"Please help me identify a meteorite that hit my home in Nanuet NY, Rockland county."

"YES WE THINK WE FOUND A METEORITE   REASON #1 ..."

"This stone comes from someplace in Zimbabwe and I brought it back from a 1996 trip to that country. It is basaltic with an age of - 1.35 billion years. It is an oriented stone with flow lines,thumbprints and about 90% glassy fusion crust that's a little weathered. I am having it analysed at this time in one of our local labs and the results are promising so far but still not complete but one thing that is sure is that it has no known local analogue and it is to young to be an local basalt."

"I hate to tell you I believe I have found a rare lunar meterorite. I hate to tell it because everybody nowadays seems to be saying the same thing..."

"Herewith we would like to ask for your assistance and help. We are from Bulgaria and we are new in the sphere of searching and exp loving of little parts from the space room, which can be found on the Earth, i.e. in the sphere of planetary science and space chemistry."

"I live in Guyana, South America..."

"CHER DOCTEUR , BONJOUR. MES EXCUSES JE NE PARLE PAS ANGLAIS, J'ESPERE QUE VOUS COMPRENEZ LE FRANCAIS."

"I realize from reading what is said on this and other sites how rare finding a meteorite is and I am not one of those people who can not be reasoned with, or explained to. Cutting to the chase, this is why I suspect the 20 pound rock I have may be a meteorite..."

"First, thank you for your time. I appreciate it. Your website is the most helpful of those I found concerning the identification of possible meteorites."

"i was just wondering if u had received the rocks that i had sent u."

"I love your rude admonishments"

"I am in possession of what I believe is a lunar meteorite."

"Loved the Meteorite Wrongs site. Great information that helped me to identify some rocks that I had picked up over the years, far better than any rock identification page on the web that I could find."

"I appreciate your time to take a quick look at the picures of 2 rocks I found in the California Desert."

"This is Julia from China. I have some photos for stones which we think they are meteorite. But are not very sure."

"Hi, I put something on Ebay that is a neat looking piece of something. Rock, metal, I honestly do not know. I received an email from a potential buyer that said it could be a meterorite. Since then (about two hours ago) I have been online trying to find anything that looks like mine." [In the description of the rock the seller mentioned that it had been painted. Nevertheless, he wanted to know if I thought it was a meteorite.]

"my name is [XXX] A.K.A roof top hunter yes i hunt the roof tops of phx az "

"How are you? Sorry about you, I am bothering you again"

"End of last week I sent two CDs for you. ... PS: New two CD has total more than 230 stones."

"First of all, I'm not going to let on about how I saw a massive fire ball fall from the sky and land in my swimming pool."

"Of all the websites featuring meteorites I chose to contact you because you seem to be strait to the point."

"I make a living buying and selling the contents of storage units that don't get paid for. I found this piece in Topeka Kansas"

"Hey i was outside today and i had lost a nut . I took a magnetic and started to see if it would pick up but it did not ....... the only thing i picked up was rocks."  

"Please debunk this rock so my wife will stop insisting it's a meteorite"

"My wife will kill me if she figures out I'm spending money on this. She doesn't understand that these rocks could further science and our understanding of the universe. The only thing she really cares about are the specials going on down at Macy's. That's probably something a lot of guys have to deal with not just me."

"I found a possible?? meteorite ...maybe???...
P.S. After you tell me it's just an ordinary earth rock my wife is going to laugh her ass off."

"First of all, thank you for taking a look at my pictures. Out of everyone I have sent them to, you are the only one who has instructed me on how to pursue the answers to my questions."

"Recently, my uncle gave me an object he found in Texas that he is sure is a meteorite. I was extremely skeptical, and set out to “prove” it was not a meteorite…but now I’m skeptical about my skepticism"

"I found your website trying to find some characteristics of meteorites. I enjoyed it very much along with the sarcasm :) "

"k, i give up im no scientist.... "

"Was fishing, then went off the trail to pee. Noted one, then two rocks or pieces that might be meteorites."

"WOw, I really appreciate you replying to this message."

From Australia: "I found a chunk of wot I thought was iron out bush... curious enough to snaffle and take home..".

"i found this rock in 1998 or 99 in roswell new mexico or the greek islands, i cant remember but im sure it was one of them."

"I have just been all through your website and i like your style, esspecially the rude part. You probably get sick of all the Meteor-Nots."

"Im waiting for Yours consent in order to send CD and the sample.I suspect that "Libya" maybe to interest CIA so - I worked in xxxxx"

"Thanks Randy, I can HEAR your frusteration with idiots who are trying to make money on stupid crap. I GET IT."

"Hi, I am in possesion of a rock, i have never seen in my lifetime."

"My wife does agree about there being no volcanoes in NH, and since she is a self appointed expert on everything, you must be correct!"

"Looking at your website and the fact that you are from Wisconsin, a UW grad and were wearing a GREEN BAY PACKERS hat in one of your photos, I felt I could trust you."

"I am not insensitive, but have little regard for silly sensitivities. I read through the remarks sent to you by hopeful meteorite finders that apparently feel as though you've dashed their hopes, dreams and future by merely stating a very educated opinion."

"i have been searching the meteorite everywhere and i have lost a bit of money.
Would you mind to send me funding just US $ 600 to recover my energy in searching the meteorites...i am so sorry for this unpleasant e-mail."

"I am almost 8 years old and I live in Ontario. Yesterday I found this rock near lake ontario while walking with my great Grandmother. She is 86 years old and she says she has never seen a rock like it and perhaps it could be a meteorite?"

"Thank you for you highly entertaining web site. My husband found a rock that he kept swearing was a meteorite. The probability was high he was enjoying yanking my chain - his favorite pass time. Much like when he told me that some You Tube Thomas The Tank Engine videos were done by Stephen Hawking because of their computer generated voiceover.

As I generally think most things he says are done to make me look stupid I decided to try to find out what he did find. According to your web site it looks like we have a lava rock. This is still a cool thing as we live in NJ and I don't get away much. It also makes sense as we just inherited a pile of landscaping rocks from a neighbor which is most likely where he found it.

I truly appreciated all the photos and links posted and greatly enjoyed the "Rude Admonishments" as sarcasm is my number one hobby".

" You have the coolest website! I am a little chapped, though. Before I found your website, I had six meteorite trasures that I had found. Now, thanks to your, "It's probably not a meteorite", I have NONE!"

"About a week ago I was on some deserted island in a very remote part
of the carribbean side of Panama doing some metal detecting for
relics."

www.catchafallingstar.com
www.catchafallingstar.com


Prepared by:

Randy L. Korotev


Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Washington University in St. Louis


Please don't contact me about the meteorite you think you’ve found until you read this and this.

e-mailkorotev@wustl.edu