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Treasured "Moon Rock" Is Petrified Wood
Hugh Pickens writes "BBC reports that a treasured piece at the Dutch national museum — a supposed moon rock from the first manned lunar landing given to former Prime Minister Willem Drees during a goodwill tour by the three Apollo-11 astronauts shortly after their moon mission in 1969 — has been revealed as nothing more than petrified wood, curators say. A jagged fist-size stone with reddish tints, it was mounted and placed above a plaque that said, 'With the compliments of the Ambassador of the United States of America... to commemorate the visit to The Netherlands of the Apollo-11 astronauts.' The plaque does not specify that the rock came from the moon's surface. Researchers from Amsterdam's Free University said they could see at a glance the rock was probably not from the moon. They followed the initial appraisal up with extensive testing. 'It's a nondescript, pretty-much-worthless stone,' wrote Geologist Frank Beunk in an article published by the museum. Beunk says the rock, which the museum at one point insured for more than half a million dollars, was worth no more than $70. The 'rock' had originally been been vetted through a phone call to NASA. As the US Embassy in the Hague said it was investigating the matter, the Rijksmuseum says it will keep the piece as a curiosity."
I hope this can be resolved peacefully, American forces are stretched a bit thin at the moment.
They'll be coming out of the (petrified) woodwork again...
Proof that the moon landing was faked!!!
;)
Funny may not give karma, but +5 Informative never made anyone snort coffee out their nose.
I wonder if someone swapped the fake rock for the real one back when it was presented.
Proverbs 21:19
...to commemorate the visit to The Netherlands of the Apollo-11 astronauts
o.O
Who would want to visit an astronaut's nether regions, and even if they did why would they need a commemoration
That's no moon rock...
Do you have any idea how long it takes to dig graves for twenty-three oak trees?
Officials in Lake Havasu City, Arizona have discovered that the "London Bridge" they purchased back in the 60's is actually made of moon rock.
Have you read my blog lately?
But they had a "A++, would buy again" rating!
Ok, this is many things but it is not a troll. Must we go through this every time a new set of idiots starts to get mod points?
If anything, I should be modded up for not making the easy dick joke! Petrified wood? Talk about low-hanging fruit! (which in itself could be easily subverted into a sexual reference. High five!)
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
"And when we held the rock up to the receiver, NASA said, 'Yep, that's just what a moon rock sounds like!'"
Well, the obvious jokes about trees on the moon and fake lunar landings have already been made, so I'll make a simple observation: The curators at the Dutch National Museum thought that a red rock the size of a fist was a moon rock?
I'm not a curator at a national museum, nor am I even an amateur geologist, but I'm pretty sure I would at least recognize that the rock described didn't look like any moon rock I had ever seen or heard about. It would be woefully sad if the piece of fossilized tree was one that you could still see the rings in.
Clearly, they never knew the demand for moon rocks, and thought that enormous pieces are handed out to foreign politicians all the time:
Each year an independent peer review panel evaluates new research proposals, and curators mail out about 400 lunar samples to 40 to 50 scientists worldwide. Almost all are less than one gram in size. "We donâ(TM)t hand them out, we only loan them," Mr. Allen said.
Yes, scientists studying moon rocks have to write research grants in order to borrow a piece less than one gram in size. Yet the Dutch prime minister was given a fist sized moon rock. Yeah, OK.
So Wan Hu made it to the moon after all!
Early in the sixteenth century, Wan decided to take advantage of China's advanced rocket and fireworks technology to launch himself into outer space. He supposedly had a chair built with forty-seven rockets attached. On the day of lift-off, Wan, splendidly attired, climbed into his rocket chair and forty seven servants lit the fuses and then hastily ran for cover. There was a huge explosion. When the smoke cleared, Wan and the chair were gone, and was said never to have been seen again.
The only hoax is NASA's claim that the moon is utterly barren! This revelation proves the existence of ancient moon trees!
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
Something as valuable as a moon rock can be pretty easily switched with something else that looks rather interesting. I don't doubt that the astronauts gave them a moon rock. What I doubt is that the silly Dutch have managed to safeguard it for all this time. A little research, including photos, can clear the matter up. Next question is; where did the moon rock go?
Best regards.