Rare Meteorite Found by Missouri Farmer Worth $3.4 Million
In 2006, a farmer found a meteorite buried in a hillside in the Missouri town of Conception Junction (population 202). But only now has the out-of-this-world value of the space rock discovery come to light. Geochemist Randy Korotev of Washington University in St. Louis and his colleagues have identified the space rock as a rare type of pallasite meteorite worth about $3.4 million, the researchers said today (Nov. 10). Only 19 other pallasites had ever been found in the United States before.
The meteorite traveled a long road to find its way into Korotev's hands.
Researchers think this meteorite was once part of an asteroid that orbited the sun in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. At some point, this fragment was knocked into an orbit that crossed Earth's path, and it was pulled down to our planet by gravity.
Scientists aren't sure when the meteorite hit Earth, but it was uncovered in 2006 when a farmer, who asked to remain anonymous, found an especially heavy rock in the hillside of Conception Junction.
Though the stone looked ordinary from the outside, when the farmer sawed off an edge of it, a beautiful and unusual interior was revealed. Green crystals of a mineral called olivine were sprinkled throughout an iron-nickel matrix like chocolate chips in a cookie. These are the markings of a pallasite.
In 2009, Karl Aston, a St. Louis chemist and amateur meteorite hunter and collector, heard about the rock and joined with friends to buy it.
To determine what kind of stone they had on their hands, the collectors brought the rock to Korotev, who was well known among meteorite enthusiasts for his website about identifying space rocks.
"We wouldn't have been involved in the validation of the Conception Junction meteorite if Karl hadn't found my site," Korotev said in a statement. The scientist and meteorite lover was eager to inspect the stone, which they allowed him "to fondle briefly," he said.
Korotev and his team took a sample of the rock and analyzed the elemental composition of the olivine crystals within to classify it. They found that it was part of a main group of pallasite rocks, similar to most of the other 19 that had been found in this country before.
To find out whether it was a piece of a known meteorite that had already been studied, or if it was a new stone altogether, the scientists needed further tests. Korotev sent Aston and the meteorite collectors to John Wasson of UCLA, who had special tools to analyze the metal matrix the crystals were set within.
Wasson concluded that the rock was unique, unrelated to any of the previous pallasites that had already been found. That qualified the meteorite for its own name. On Aug. 27, 2011, the Nomenclature Committee of the Meteoritical Society officially named the rock Conception Junction, after the location where it was found.
Most meteorites are made of one type of material, but pallasites like Conception Junction are different. These stones come from large asteroids that produced enough internal heat to partially melt their insides, creating a liquid metal core and a rocky exterior.
Pallasites, which contain a mixture of metal and rock, are thought to come from the boundary in an asteroid between its metal core and the olivine mineral in its middle layer, called the mantle.
Asteroids are thought to be the remnants left over after planets formed in the solar system, so they are made of the same stuff as Earth. Researchers think the boundary between our own planet's core and mantle is much like the makeup of a pallasite meteorite, so they offer a unique study opportunity.
"We can't break the Earth open," Korotev said. "We can't go down there and sample the rock, but we've got these pieces of broken asteroids that land on Earth, and they're made of the same stuff, they're just a lot smaller."
When sliced and polished, the Conception Junction meteorite is worth between $30 to $50 a gram. In contrast, common meteorites sell for $2 or $3 a gram, while the first lunar meteorite found by a private collector went for $40,000 a gram, Korotev said.
Despite the high price fetched by this rock, Korotev said that meteorites are not a good get-rich quick scheme.
"I don’t know any rich meteorite collectors," Korotev said. "They do it mostly for the fun." - space
Field Guide to Meteors and Meteorites (Patrick Moore's Practical Astronomy Series)
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Doctor turned serial killer in WW2 Paris
Nazi-occupied Paris was a terrible place to be in the waning days of World War Two, with Jews, Resistance fighters and ordinary citizens all hoping to escape. Disappearances became so common they often weren't followed up.
And one man used the lawlessness for his own terrible purposes, killing perhaps as many as 150 people.
Yet it wasn't until thick black smoke seeped into buildings in a fashionable part of the city that firefighters and police were called to an elegant townhouse where they found body parts scattered around -- setting off a manhunt that led them, eventually, to Marcel Petiot.
The crime was very much of its time, said David King, who chronicled the hunt for Petiot in Death in the City of Light: The Serial Killer of Nazi-Occupied Paris
"Paris was not a good place to be. A lot of people were trying to leave Paris, a lot of people just disappearing. He had it plotted out, a very devious plan," said King, in a telephone interview.
"Respect for the law was tarnished under the Nazis. Even if you suspected something, a lot of people were very, very reluctant to go forward, especially if they were Jewish."
Petiot, as it turned out, was a respected physician who turned serial killer by night, preying largely on Jews desperate to leave Paris by luring them in with promises of escape. He was accused of murdering "only" some 27, but authorities suspected his real toll was far higher.
King, a former history professor, first stumbled across reference to the killings while browsing in a bookstore and picking up a World War Two memoir by a spy. At first, he couldn't believe what he read.
But the grisly details stuck with him, and after he confirmed the story was true, he finished his other projects and came back to it.
"Here's a guy -- Marcel Petiot, who was accused of all the murders. Obviously very intelligent, charismatic, has a respected position, is into collecting antiques, interested in the arts," he said.
"And yet, you get to the other side, when he's accused of some of the most disturbing things you can think of: savagely dismembering bodies."
Through years of research, including perusal of Parisian police archives closed since the crimes took place, King pieced together the story of how Petiot claimed to be a member of the resistance and lured many of his victims in by promising them safe passage to South America in return for payment.
Once in Petiot's hands, the victims were told to write letters to their relatives, telling them that they were fine and would return once times had settled down. Then they were killed, most likely by lethal gas, and dismembered or burned.
"It's a microcosm of the whole Nazi terror and Paris being a bad place to be. There's got to be more than just exploiting peoples' hopes and dreams and desperation, but that's what he does," King said.
Though Petiot eluded police on at least one occasion, after appearing amid the crowd that gathered after the initial grisly discovery and speaking with a patrolman before riding off on his bicycle, he was eventually captured, tried and executed.
King, the author of several other books, said this one was particularly hard to immerse himself in due to the content, however horrifically fascinating the story.
It also had an impact on him personally.
"I'm generally a pretty outgoing person, but I'm probably a little bit more reluctant about things now," he said.
"Dr. Petiot seemed like the nicest guy -- charming, intelligent, friendly. You could just strike up a conversation with somebody like this ... I found myself on my guard more." - reuters
Death in the City of Light: The Serial Killer of Nazi-Occupied Paris
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Man claims abduction by girls in blood-drenched satanic ritual
Two young Milwaukee women were arrested this week after an 18-year-old Arizona man--who traveled to Wisconsin by bus after meeting one of the suspects online--told cops that he was held captive in the duo’s apartment for two days and slashed and stabbed more than 300 times as part of an apparent satanic sex ritual.
A Milwaukee Police Department search warrant for the East Knapp Street apartment where the man was held details his ordeal. The warrant authorized cops to seize an assortment of items from the residence, including “knives or other cutting instruments,” blood and DNA evidence, duct tape, restraining devices, and “Books or literature relating to Satanism or the occult.”
The police investigation began Sunday night after cops responded to a report of a possible stabbing. Officers found the Arizona man “bleeding from the neck, arms and back.” He told cops that after arriving at the home of a woman he met online, he “was bound and was stabbed numerous times over a timeframe of what he described as ‘two days.’”
The man was transported to a local hospital, where medical personnel “estimated the number of wounds to be in excess of 300,” according to a search warrant affidavit sworn by Detective Michael Walisiciwicz. “He suffered multiple puncture wounds as well as lacerations and slash wounds to his back, face, arms, legs and neck,” noted Walisiciwicz.
Officers responding to the reported stabbing discovered “bloody duct tape, which was fashioned in a manner that appeared to be a restraint, as well as a bloody length of rope” in the area where the victim was found.
A blood trail led police to Apartment 9 on the third floor of 918 East Knapp Street. Inside, cops spotted a “large amount of blood on the floor and on bedding in a bedroom.” They also saw “duct tape, which was fashioned in a manner that appeared to be a restraint.”
While at the apartment building, police were approached by Rebecca Chandler, 22, who stated, “I think you are here looking for me.” Chandler told cops that she had engaged in sexual relations with the Arizona man “and that the cutting was consensual but that it got quickly out of hand.”
Chandler claimed that her roommate--whom she identified only as “Scarlett”--was “the one who did the majority of the cutting” during the incident. Chandler, police reported, “also made reference to ‘Scarlett’ possibly being involved in satanic or occult activities.”
Chandler was placed in custody at the scene. During a subsequent search of the apartment, investigators seized copies of The Necromantic Ritual Book
and The Werewolf's Guide to Life: A Manual for the Newly Bitten
a humor book. The former book promises to enable a reader to “share consiousness with the Angel of Death.” Paperwork seized from the home was described by police as the “7 Pentacles” of planets. Additionally, a black folder was described as an “Intro to Sigilborne Spirits,” an apparent reference to “The Sigil-Born,” metaphysical entities that are “occultic practitioners” of necromancy, the purported ability to contact the dead.Cops subsequently identified “Scarlett” as Raven Larrabee, 20. She was arrested and booked yesterday into the Milwaukee County jail, where she is being held in lieu of $100,000 bond. Chandler is also in the county lockup, where her bond was set at $150,000. The women, who have not yet been charged by prosecutors, are being held for suspicion of reckless injury, a felony. - thesmokinggun
The Necromantic Ritual Book
The Werewolf's Guide to Life: A Manual for the Newly Bitten
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'Jack O Lantern' UFO over Tampa
Case Number: 33266
Log Number: US-11112011-0002
Submitted Date: 2011-11-11 02:21 GMT
Event Date: 2011-11-08 20:02 GMT
Status: Submitted
City: Tampa
Region: Florida
Country: US
Longitude: -82.4571776
Latitude: 27.950575
Shape: Circle,Oval,Sphere
Distance: One mile or less
Description: (unedited)
On November 8, 2011 in Tampa, Florida at approximately 8:02PM (Roughly) I was headed towards Lee Roy Selmons restaurant via Memorial Highway to then get on the Veterans Expressway. I was headed towards the airport, so East. I was right by the Scottish Rite Masonic Temple in an area called "Town and Country" Keep in mind, I live nearby to the airport and am quite used to seeing airplanes and helicopters. I have seen some UFO's in the past (about 5) but never made a report, but considering I took a video of this one, I see no excuse not to. Why did I have a camera with me to go out to eat? Especially my new one I just got for a trip? Good question. I'm one to definitely trust my "gut" and since my buddy recently had a sighting on Hilsborough and Racetrack Rd (my extremely skeptical friend who DOES NOT believe in this stuff), I felt the need to trust my gut and bring my camera with me. Its really just for pictures (Canon PowershotSX 150) but videos are always fun. So yes, a gut feeling told me to bring my camera and I did. Within about a mile of my house, I see this Orange Orb-like object quite low than what a normal airplane would be doing in the area. Living by the airport, you get quite used to seeing many many objects in the sky, and I knew IMMEDIATELY that this object was not normal. First, it was low and I could tell it was low. I had perspective. It loooked like a floating Jack O Lantern, a floating pumpkin, or some sort of illuminated object. But it wasnt lit from within, it was lit on the outside as well. When I say floating, I don't mean that it was ascending, not by any means. It did NOT ascend at all. I saw it coming towards me, below any cloud cover and much lower than any airplane. Do you realize how strange it is to see something and know IMMEDIATELY that it shouldn't be there? So I quick pulled over to a blocked entrance to a Scottish Rite Masonic Temple. I got my camera, turned it on and had enough time to catch the object seemingly pass over the Masonic building and continue its path along Memorial. Memorial does curve, so it's difficult to tell which way it was heading. I want to Say Northwest, over the bay. Not entirely sure. However, when I did see it, it was headed straight toward me (seemingly) on Memorial. I got out, saw it basically above me car, but out like 300 or 400 yards. It is difficult to judge distance when you don't know the size of the object you are seeing. To me visually, it looked like a large Basketball. Giving off Orange Hue. Glow, whatever you want to call it. There were NO FAA LIGHTS. And it was coming from the direction of the airport but not in any flight pattern I've ever seen. (When its windy, yes, the runways change) but it was too low to be an airplane from the airport, because it was unlike any flight plan i'd seen. It was moving in the same direction as Memorial Hwy, it was moving (from my vision) left to right if I'm facing the building that was in front of me. It did not ascend, it kept a distinct flight path. It moved quickly, but for how low it was, I would bet it was moving about 60 or 70mph. I do have contacts but I was not wearing them. Way too low, not ONE Flashing light. And thankfully, I caught an airplance in my shot. Unfortunately, I have a typical UFO video in that its shaky, and there are little reference points. I tried to do my best, but it all happened so fast. I zoomed in too much causing it to be blurry and zoom in RIGHT when the airplane was flying over it. But at least I caught that. So again, I saw an object, headed toward me, I saw it from my field of Vision while driving. It was low enough for me to basically slam on my brakes and pull over meaning that I knew it was abnormal as far as an airplane or helicopter are concerned. It couldn't have been a Hot Air balloon. It couldn't have been a remote controlled helicopter and it wasn't a blimp (Ive seen plenty living in Tampa) However, suppose it was a Chinese Lantern, well, it wasn't internally lit. and it moved laterally not up. Never once to did it seeem to rise in height. My first thought was "Wow, that looks like a pumpkin shooting across the sky." I have seen a ball of light very similar and at the same height over St Pete beach (I have no visual evidence of this event). About a year after seeing the Orange ball over the beach, i googled it and found out they are seen ALL over Florida (with video) and there is one instance in Indiana, where I'm from. (I saw a pinpoint of white light fly around an airplane over Grissom AFB while driving by and saw an Orange Orb over the base as well while recounting the pinpoint of light story to my sister...) the more you get into the UFO phenomenon, the more you notice the synchronicity of when and where you see them, and yes, they do seem to know when you see them. So I had the sense literally IMMEDIATELY upon seeing this pumpkin (at this point, coming toward me) Upon stopping, hopping out and grabbing the video, the object was now over me (but i was looking up at it, not directly up, but definitely below any cloud cover and definitely low enough to realize it was way too low? Hard to explain. No flashing or internal light, outside illumination only. No pulsing really, maybe a slight slow strobe, couldn't really make out a shape. I could understand if this was a remote control floating Pumpkin, but darn it if it wasn't out of my sight in about a minute. What kind of long range antennae did this thing have? If it was a prank. IF IF IF, why would they risk being so close to the airport and violating there airspace? Where were ANY flashing lights per FAA regulations? Just another note, the sighting in June or so from the Gandy bridge, the girl and her boyfriend witnessing a giant object that came up to the bridge, was an aquaintance of mine. I have friends left and RIGHT seeeing things in Tampa. My guess is this, there are SOOOO many airplanes in the sky at all times, that a majority of people don't take notice to the objects, so in essence, its a perfect environment for them to blend in. The sightings in Clearwater and St Pete (which are all within an half hour drive) are also quite frequent.
Click for video
NOTE: there have been a fair number of orange orb sightings over north and central Florida the past few weeks...Lon
Florida UFO's & Extraterrestrials!: A Look at the Sightings & Science in Our State! (Carole Marsh Florida Books)
Chronicles of the Strange and Uncanny in Florida
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Missouri woman found fused to recliner in home
A suburban Kansas City woman was left sitting in a vinyl recliner for so long that her skin had fused to the chair and she had to be pried out to be taken to a hospital after suffering an apparent stroke, authorities said.
Carol F. Brown's adult son told a state official he had left his 74-year-old mother in the chair for five days without helping her get up to use the bathroom or bathe because he was honoring her wishes to die in her Independence home, according to court documents that described the woman as a "rotting corpse that was still breathing." Brown later died.
"It is an incredible story to me," Independence police spokesman Tom Gentry said Wednesday.
Police were contacted after Brown was taken to a hospital Oct. 27 and found to have a maggot infestation inside an open wound around her ankle, according to the court documents that said Brown's home was "filthy with a heavy smell of bodily fluids and feces."
Brown's son, James Owens, told an official with the Missouri Division of Senior and Disability Services that his mother had been in the chair since Oct. 23 and that he was honoring her wishes to be left to die, the documents said.
Owens, who the documents said had started the application process to gain state aid to be his mother's caretaker, said he did give the woman tomato and chicken noodle soup.
No working telephone listing for a James Owens could be found Wednesday and a number listed under Brown's name rang unanswered.
Police who searched Brown's home took prescription drug bottles and pills, a section of the recliner and a soiled towel, court records show.
Jackson County prosecutor's office spokesman Mike Mansur said no decision will be made about possible charges until the medical examiner rules on Brown's cause of death.
"I've heard it could take some time," Mansur said. "I don't yet know how quickly it will come." - yahoo
PLEASE NOTE
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