[Rockhounds] More foolishness about the '800 million dollar' emerald

[J Bryan Kramer]

No you aren't being overly harsh, but you are missing the point. They write
these things with a purpose, to sell papers. There is a rule in journalism
today: blood leads. meaning any stories with blood in them ends up on the
front page and I'd guess money and sex scandals follow blood tho.

So she doesn't want to know if that $400000 emerald is a $4000 beryl. One
sounds more interesting and the truth wouldn't even make it to the paper in
the first place, who would care about a not so valuable rock being fought
over.

You notice that there is no attribution for the appraiser who probably only
exists in the mind of one of the complainants. Journalism is dead and all
you see in the papers any more are opinion pieces and scandal stories of one
sort or the other. There is no editorial supervision, no editor to ask "who
says it is worth X?"

 That is why these papers are vanishing all over the country.

BK



On Thu, Mar 5, 2009 at 22:09, Kris Rowe <lapidary.specialties at gmail.com>wrote:

> I'm echoing your comments, Pete. However, isn't it amazing how an 800 lb
> hunk of matrix and (from the pic I've seen) pretty pedestrian
> "emerald"/green beryl feeds media interest? Ooooooooo ... CONFLICT!
> (Yaaaaaawwnnn ... )
>
> It's great to see that "Brazilian appraisers" are setting such high price
> points on such pedestrian material. Perhaps we all should send our biggest
> specimens to Brazil! Just think, a couple of So. Dakota or No. Carolina
> spudomene crystals would certainly fetch enough to retire the National
> Debt!
> (Okay, maybe only "dent" it, these days ... *grin!*) Certainly the huge
> feldspar's found in Maine would be worth a kings ransom!
>
> Okay, all kidding aside, this is obviously just another in the seemingly
> endless series of "news bulletins" that are absolutely, completely, and
> (sadly) PROUDLY full of poorly researched information. Perhaps if we
> reached
> out to the Wall St. Journal reporter and pointed her toward the obscure,
> hard-to-find sources that we're privy to, such as The Smithsonian, The GIA,
> Mineral Record, Rocks & Minerals, Rock & Gem or any one of *THOUSANDS* of
> G&M Society Bulletins, she'd benefit. Heck, even the crafters at today's
> Lapidary Journal ... errrrr ... "Jewelry Artist" magazine could write a
> more
> factually correct article. (Sarcasm intended, and IMHO, deserved.)
>
> The shocking thing is that this "opinion blog" class article appeared in
> such an august periodical. Just goes to show that (Personal Quote) "If you
> give a dunce a soapbox, they will still remain a dunce."
>
> My apologies to anyone who feels I'm being overly harsh on this
> "Journalist." (*smile*)
>
> Q: What's that whining noise?
> A: Edward R. Murrow spinning in his grave! Call the Fire Department!
>
> Be Well, y'all!
>                      Kris
>                      Lapidary Specialties
>                      Blog & Gallery: R&R
> Rockhound<http://r-and-r-rockhound.blogspot.com/>
>
> "Seems like Silly Season starts earlier every year ..." - Me
>
>
> On Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 3:47 PM, Tim <nospam at orerockon.com> wrote:
>
> > Not to mention worth a few thousand (OK MAYBE $10k) if you are too lazy
> to
> > save a few thou and fly to Paraiba and pick out one for yourself out of
> the
> > spoils heaps. Would get charged a pretty big extra luggage fee though...
> >
> > Tim Fisher
> > Ore-ROCK-On!
> > Email address at http://OreRockOn.com
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com
> > [mailto:rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com] On Behalf Of
> > pmodreski at aol.com
> > Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 10:58 AM
> > To: rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com
> > Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] More foolishness about the '800 million dollar'
> > emerald
> >
> > Yeah, the most idiotic thing about all these news stories that the media
> > keep repeating, is referring to this as "an emerald".? For heaven's
> sakes,
> > it is a big hunk of dirty old rock, with a bunch of emerald-green mostly
> > non-gemmy beryl crystals sticking up out of it.
> >
> > P.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: J Bryan Kramer <codeburner at gmail.com>
> > To: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors
> > <rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
> > Sent: Tue, 3 Mar 2009 11:24 am
> > Subject: [Rockhounds] More foolishness about the '800 million dollar'
> > emerald
> >
> >
> >
> > <http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,503808,00.html>
> >
> > BK
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
> > multipart/alternative
> >  text/plain (text body -- kept)
> >  text/html
> > ---
> > --
> > _______________________________________________
> > Rockhounds at drizzle Mailing List
> > Subscription Services:
> > http://lists.drizzle.com/mailman/listinfo/rockhounds
> > List Home Page, with a link to the List Usage Policy:
> > http://www.eclecticlapidary.com/Rockhounds/index.html
> >
> > --
> > _______________________________________________
> > Rockhounds at drizzle Mailing List
> > Subscription Services:
> > http://lists.drizzle.com/mailman/listinfo/rockhounds
> > List Home Page, with a link to the List Usage Policy:
> > http://www.eclecticlapidary.com/Rockhounds/index.html
> >
>
>
> --- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
> multipart/alternative
>  text/plain (text body -- kept)
>  text/html
> ---
> --
> _______________________________________________
> Rockhounds at drizzle Mailing List
> Subscription Services:
> http://lists.drizzle.com/mailman/listinfo/rockhounds
> List Home Page, with a link to the List Usage Policy:
> http://www.eclecticlapidary.com/Rockhounds/index.html
>



-- 

“"It often seems to me that the night is much more alive and richly colored
than the day."

                      Vincent van Gogh
J Bryan Krämer
North Florida, USA
photos at:
http://pbase.com/photoburner


--- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
multipart/alternative
  text/plain (text body -- kept)
  text/html
---