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Museum Director Indicted for Stealing NASA Artifacts
NBrooke271 writes "Max Ary, former Director of the Kansas Cosmosphere, has been hit with an eleven-count federal indictment, charging that he sold NASA space artifacts on loan to the museum, including an astronaut's in-flight T-shirt, a control panel from Air Force One and an Apollo 12 water valve for a personal profit of around $180,000. 'Mr. Ary, on behalf of the Cosmosphere, continued to sign documents reporting and verifying to NASA that the watch was still in its possession and collection,' said U.S. Attorney Eric Melgren. Ary currently serves as the Executive Director of Omniplex Science Museum in Oklahoma City, where he has taken a leave of absence. Read official statements from the Cosmosphere, the Omniplex, and Ary's attorney regarding the indictment."
How do stupid people get such jobs? I mean, the guy sells NASA stuff, then keeps signing papers that say he still has them. Didn't he wonder if someday NASA might want their stuff back, and when they found out it was gone, who they would look to first?
Don't take life so seriously. No one makes it out alive.
1 - The prosecuters contend that Ary sold items and a figure of $180,000 is mentioned.
2 - Ary's lawyer mentions tens of thousands of items. The defense will be that he is at most guilty of careless management.
I have trouble putting 1 and 2 together. Presumably the prosecutors have disclosed their evidence to the defense. Do they have evidence that Ary sold anything to anyone? I think if they had any real evidence of that sort that Ary would quietly plead guilty and try for a reduced sentence. This has the smell of a case where all the evidence is circustantial.
I'm sure not calling this guy guilty without seeing a lot more evidence.
I am about to read the article, but I find this to be a horrible offense. Our national treasures are here for the entire population to enjoy. Anytime I hear about someone stealing or selling items of this type I am appalled. I can't believe that people can be so motivated my money. And it's only $180,000 that's not even that much.
Those who know, do not speak. Those who speak, do not know. ~Lao Tzu
An indictment not being a conviction, most news organizations would try and work the word "allegedly" into such a report as this one. But It seems /. is exempt from that kind of responsibility.
eh ... Fuck it ... let's hang him!
It's surprising how much some people will pay for a tap. A tap! I should go buy some water valves, scratch off the brand name and write NASA on it with a marker. The only thing more reliable than a get-rich-quick scheme, is the stupidity of people.
How are the brains wired in people who commit crimes like this? In an "honest" bank robbery, you are committing an obvious crime and only trying to conceal your identity. In fraud, you are creating a deliberate facade to hide what you are doing until you can safely vanish.
To sell highly visible pieces of property that you do not own, then lie quite openly (with documentation!) that you still have them, seems to require being out of touch with reality. How can you not get found out?
Do crimes like this indicate some mental issue, perhaps like kleptomania? I would be his driving force wasn't even the money, but some other compulsion or need.
Unfortunately, this is an urban legend. The reason not to use pencils is the tiny particles of graphite would get into the air, and that would be really bad to breathe, and also have an adverse effect on some systems.
Reality has a liberal bias
How Max got the job at the Cosmosphere is simple.
He built the place. It started out as a planetarium at a state fair, and Max (and Patty Carey) worked their asses off to make it one of the leading space museums in the world.
He is ANYTHING but a moron. He was one of the cageiest individuals around. He spent years combing junkyards in Florida, Huston, and Huntsville, finding gear that NASA had thown away when the program it was associated with was no longer funded.
He found the best people to restore the artifacts, and built a museum collection that was the envy of other space museums.
Before you spout off on the subject (and moderators, before you moderate this tripe as insightful) you might want to actually do some research on the history of the Cosmosphere.
All of that makes this EVEN WORSE - Max could have just as easily continued to do as he had done, locating artifacts in junkheaps, having Spaceworks (the artifact restoration arm of the Cosmosphere) restore them, and legally sell them. He didn't have to do this!
And if he did indeed misappropriate artifacts (and while it sure looks that way, do remember - he has not yet been convicted in a court of law), then that was not merely a carrer-limiting move, that was a carrer-ending move - no museum will ever touch him again.
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You cant alter it, improve it, use it.
Do you think the private collectors who probably bought this are going to alter, improve or use it? No, it'll be in a glass case that only one guy can look at, instead of tens of thousands of people.
I think precisely the opposite, private (i.e. for personal use only) collections of objects of this sort should not be allowed or at least be discouraged (unless the object in question is of secondary importance), because the guy who really wants to see these objects often can go to a museum like the rest of us. Or start a museum and let other people see the objects.
Ayn Rand was as big of an idiot as Marx was. They where both clueless. ,and improving public property. So here are also concrete examples that the statement is wrong.
"thing about "public" property is that its definitely not "public". You cant alter it, improve it, use it."
Really? I go and use mountain bike trails at a local park that a club built. That is "Public" land. Do you not use your streets? Public property also. Never go to a park or a beach? Never helped to pick up trash at a park or beach? Helped to build a playground. Here are a few concrete examples of people using, altering
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
The items alledged to be sold are obviously very rare, some must be on-off pieces, and anything made for the govt. is going to have a serial # on it.
A museum curator is going to have a record of each object, its serial #, description, photos, restoration record, provenance, etc. etc... That's what curators DO!
So while it's fun to grab a pitchfork and torch and join the mob, let's step back a bit and see how the evidence plays out here.
But does not indictment means you are accused, and now it is the job of the prosecutor to proove the accusation : aka he is not yet judged ? If this is right then you have no ground of putting a statement like "he stole" or "he is a moron". Reserve your judgement until the end of the prosecution. And moderator, how can you moderate the parent post as insightful ? the guy has only been charged, not yet judged ! Is innocent until proven guilty only empty words in the US ??
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Unfortunately, this is an urban legend. The reason not to use pencils is the tiny particles of graphite would get into the air, and that would be really bad to breathe, and also have an adverse effect on some systems.
Graphite is a conductor. Graphite dust + sensitive/small electronics = shorts.