[meteorite-list] Re: It's Justa Dog Gone Goof

From: MARSROX_at_aol.com <MARSROX_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:52:08 2004
Message-ID: <91.213fcca1.2a842b5f_at_aol.com>

Rob (and list members):

I've corresponded a couple of times lately with Alan Rubin regarding his new
book and a nonexistent dog.

He wrote back:

July 15/02 - "I apologize, but I had simply forgotten about your paper in
"M!" The only double-checking I did was to look up Nakhla in the latest BM
Catalogue where the story is still mentioned."

July 17/02 - "There are so many thousands of details involved in writing a
book that I confess I didn't even think about checking up on the dog story.
Upon reflection, it does have all the hallmarks of a tall tale. If there is a
second edition of the book, I'll be sure to correct that mistake."

The Cat of Meteorites description of the event (Nakhla p.356) Alan referred
to was actually modified by Monica. The Hutchinson edition of the mid-1980's
simply proclaimed "a meteorite killed a dog." Her version reads "One of the
stones reputedly killed a dog."

"Reputedly" - Generally considered, assumed, or supposed. (American Heritage
Dict.- 2nd edition)

You know what happens when you "ass-you-and-me" things. I've written Monica
to remove this reference from the epitome of a scientific tome but she's not
responded. Unfortunately, the Cat of Mets reaches a far larger audience with
much more impact than one feature appearing in a magazine from New Zealand.

Thousands of books exist with the reference, which cannot be erased by me.
It's been four years since the article was published, I have climbed a lot of
other mountains since then. I see more mountains in front of me. At some
point, everyone will agree that the Earth is round. If not, oh well. No
worries.

The article, originally published in "M" has been long available on Dave
Weir's Wonderful Website. If you're new to the list, you'll find the "dog
story" at the end of the article (go to "Nakhla" and click).

On the other hand, without fanfare, Ron Baalke and I were able to hammer out
language about the topic that now appears on the website he administers for
NASA. I would refer list-members to that for a conservative read.

Ultimately, if the "dog legend" is like a "Santa thing" to you, we can have
fun and jokes forever. Hey I love Santa. Santa for President. A nakhlite in
every stocking. But, really friends, I don't put cookies and milk out for him
anymore.

For those that want to "seriously," "scientifically" smell the doogie-do, I
have these words.......the doggie don't.

Kevin Kichinka
Received on Thu 08 Aug 2002 04:15:27 PM PDT