Posts Made By: Paul Gustafson

This is a fairly rare 60 g Bediasite from Texas. The North American strewn fields are the oldest by far of all the tektite strewn fields, about 35 million years. It is jet black.

This little guy is pretty rare. It's a 13.7 g Georgite flattened teardrop. The color when illuminated from behind is an olive green, quite different from the coke bottle green of the Moldavite.

http://www.tektites.co.uk/bediasites-georgiaites.html

http://www.meteoriteassociationofgeorgia.org/GATektitesList.htm

This is an Austalite flanged button, with a 360 degree flange. These are the rarest Australites and are difficult to obtain in this condition. This is the prize of my tektite collection.

http://www.australites.com/australi1.htm

http://www.tektites.co.uk/australites.html

That plant and the Resurrection plant, Selaginella lepidophylla, are the two most ancient vascular plants in existence. Nice shot.

7 or 8 x42's. I use my 7x42's on a regular basis, nice wide field and easy to hand hold.

My system is not very esoteric. Our home was gutted by Hurricane Ernesto and when we renovated it we incorporated a surround sound system in the living room. I previously had large floor standing Canton speakers but my wife wasn't very happy with them in the living room. Here is the current setup:



The front three channels are Thiel Powerpoint 1.2 speakers. Our living room is long and these speakers project into the room well:

http://www.thielaudio.com/THIEL_Site05/Pages/models/Current_Models/PowerPoint/pwrpt.html



The sub is a McIntosh, the four surrounds are Thiel Higher Plane 1.2's:

http://www.thielaudio.com/THIEL_Site05/Pages/models/Current_Models/HigherPlane/hplane.html



The display is a Pioneer Kuro 55". We replaced the fireplace with a custom audio cabinet that holds the equipment out of view, including a Denon AVR 3808CI, LG Bluray player, Denon DCM 390 cd player, Xbox 360, AudoiControl AEQ26 Architechtural Equalizer, Universal Remote MSC-400 Master System Controller with RF control, XM Radio receiver, and miscellaneous accessories. Cabinet doors closed, the system is unobtrusive, although my wife thought the Thiel front speakers looked a little George Jetson. She's used to it now.



Overall, I'm very happy with the system. The audio is very impressive, the Thiels do their job without sounding like in-ceiling speakers. The Pioneer has a nice picture. The system is unobtrusive enough to please my wife's aesthetic eye and has good enough audio and video to please my inner child. For the rest of me, the furniture is Ekornes Stressless Paradise and Vision. Each seat in the sofa reclines, headrests are adjustable, so it is a killer nap setup, too

http://www.ekornes.com/us/stressless/stressless_recliners/stressless-vision--dream--spir/]Ekornes

Orgueil, France

Observed fall May 14, 1864

Carbonaceous Chondrite CI1, 1g

These very fragile and friable meteorites are the most primitive in terms of solar elemental composition, have the highest volatile hydrocarbons, and the highest content of water (17-22% of weight). They are chondrites that have no chondrules.

There are only nine CI1 specimens in existence, five falls including Orgueil, and four found in Antarctica.

Murchison, Victoria, Australia

Observed fall September 28, 1969

Caronaceous Chondrite CM2, 12g

This meteorite contains 230 amino acids of extraterrestrial origin. Some feel it is of cometary origin, but it is a close spectral match for the asteroid 19 Fortuna.

Allende, Chihuahua, Mexico, February 8, 1969

Carbonaceous Chondrite Type III CV3

Allende contains interstellar grains (star dust) and is believed to have formed during an explosion of a supernova/red giant star before the birth of our solar system over 4.6 billion years ago, making it one of the oldest known substances known to man.

Dar Al Gani

Carbonaceous Chondrite CO3, 4 g

Average chondrule diameter smaller than CV