[meteorite-list] New Orleans meteorite caused Katrina!

[Michael Murray]

"as meteorites go, it was pretty low-grade"

Uh, any stones falling out of the sky that are too "low-grade" for  
anyone, don't fret, just leave them lay where they landed.  I'll come  
get them.  : )

MIke


On Oct 19, 2008, at 11:25 AM, Darren Garrison wrote:


> I really hope this guy was kidding-- it would sadden me to think a  

> superstitous

> nitwit flake owned a nice meteorite like that.

>

>

> http://blog.nola.com/chrisrose/2008/10/ 

> the_rock_that_ruined_new_orlea.html

>

> The rock that ruined New Orleans

>

> It's taken three years since The Thing, but we've finally found an  

> explanation

> why so much has gone wrong around here the past few years. And it's  

> probably not

> what you suspect.

>

> Just over five years ago, a meteorite crashed through the ceiling  

> of a home in

> Broadmoor, and since then everything has gone down the toilet.

>

> Yep, that's it. That's the cause of Katrina, the flood, FEMA, Ray  

> Nagin and

> everything else that's happened since then, down to and presumably  

> including

> Martin Gramatica's missed field goals.

>

> All this, of course, depends on whether you believe the theory of  

> one Robert

> McDade, New Orleans scientist, mineral collector and certified  

> eccentric.

>

> McDade, a retired petroleum engineer, is the proprietor of the  

> Southern Fossil

> and Mineral Exchange on Magazine Street. "My little rock shop," he  

> calls it. And

> he is convinced that the Broadmoor meteorite is the source of our  

> communal

> sorrow.

>

> Some background: Five years ago -- Sept. 23, 2003, to be exact -- a  

> 40-pound

> meteorite crashed through the roof of the house owned by Roy and  

> Kay Fausset, on

> Joseph Street, between Claiborne and Fontainebleau. It was a rare  

> occurrence,

> enough to merit not only a story in The Times-Picayune, but People  

> magazine as

> well.

>

> The meteorite was not particularly notable for its size, structure or

> composition. In fact, as meteorites go, it was pretty low-grade.

>

> "It was not magnetic," McDade says. "This one basically looks like  

> a piece of

> concrete. It looks like a piece of street corner curb that got  

> busted up and is

> lying in the street."

>

> To the naked eye it would be hard to tell that this was a messenger  

> from the

> heavens.

>

> "In general, it can be very hard to tell" what is a meteorite and  

> what is not,

> McDade says. "But there are tell-tale signs."

>

> One sign would be the combination of the minerals olivine,  

> pyroxene, plagioclase

> and troilite -- all of which were contained in the Broadmoor  

> meteorite.

>

> And there's another clue.

>

> "When one falls through your roof, that's a pretty good indicator,"  

> McDade

> notes.

>

> Such a phenomenon is called a "witnessed fall," which makes the  

> heavenly debris

> not only an extremely rare object, but also a particularly valuable  

> one, at

> least in the eyes of meteorite collectors, a group McDade calls "a  

> fanatical

> bunch."

>

> It took McDade six months to negotiate a deal with the Faussets to  

> acquire the

> meteorite; to specialized collectors, these things are like  

> baseballs hit by

> Babe Ruth or locks of hair from Marilyn Monroe.

>

> "I don't know that I want to tell you exactly what I paid," McDade  

> says. "But

> let's just say that witnessed falls can fetch a good price."

>

> The Faussets have been generally media shy about the whole episode  

> and did not

> want to comment for this story. But Roy Fausset did say, in a 2003  

> interview:

> "I'm in shock. I will certainly go to church this Sunday, because  

> the Lord was

> certainly sending me a message."

>

> And that brings us to the point, the connection to Katrina, to the  

> deluge, to

> the horror of it all, and why that dang meteorite screwed the pooch  

> for all of

> us.

>

> "Historically, meteorites, especially observed meteorites --  

> witnessed falls --

> have been considered bad omens or good omens," McDade says. "People  

> take this

> stuff seriously. Through the ages, there has been much significance  

> when a

> meteorite falls. It makes a very dramatic entrance. It breaks the  

> sound barrier.

> It leaves a vapor trail.

>

> "People have always asked: What's this all about? What was the  

> message? What was

> it trying to tell me? In the Middle Ages, that was always the  

> question. For

> instance, in times of war, it meant you have been given the  

> blessing for

> battle."

>

> As for the question of whether a particular meteorite spells great  

> fortune or

> doom, McDade says, "Often, it takes a couple of years to find out."

>

> That's the gig with New Orleans. Just 10 days before the fifth  

> anniversary of

> the meteorite strike, Louisiana was severely impacted by its fifth  

> named storm

> in five years.

>

> "Very rare," McDade says, ticking off the names Cindy, Katrina,  

> Rita, Gustav and

> Ike.

>

> Coincidence? That's for you to decide. McDade has little doubt.

>

> "Five years after the fall, five hurricanes have happened. That's a  

> bad sign, I

> would say. Five years later, if you consider the circumstances, you  

> would have

> to say this was a bad omen. It heralded not great things coming our  

> way --

> hurricanes, politics, the disappearance of the wetlands."

>

> Not convinced? Well, consider that the house it hit took 8 feet of  

> water and was

> destroyed by Katrina. By any measure, that's bad karma.

>

> "The message was: New Orleans, get your act together," McDade says.

>

> But, with the sequence of "5"s played out, McDade suggests the  

> stretch of the

> meteorite's message of dread may be over. He suggests we're in the  

> clear. And he

> also says, in the Big Picture, maybe we got lucky.

>

> "It could have been worse," he says. "I'll tell you what would be  

> bad luck: If

> New Orleans got hit by an asteroid. That would be bad luck indeed.  

> If that

> happened, we would be wiped out. We should be thankful it was just  

> a meteorite."

>

> So, who says there's no good news? Just be careful with this  

> information. And

> remember: Next time you pray to the heavens for a sign, keep in  

> mind that you

> might get more than you're asking for.

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