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Post by exoticimports on Oct 21, 2021 13:03:19 GMT -8
Try a credit card.
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Post by boghaunter1 on Oct 21, 2021 13:55:13 GMT -8
Just tried yet again...the option to use a credit card does not work when clicked on (repeatedly)... only the Paypal otion is available & tells me the same old thing when clicked on... error encountered… try, try again.
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Post by exoticimports on Oct 22, 2021 8:58:36 GMT -8
I could order one sent to NY.
Having sent an expensive book to Bill O in Canada, I understand customs really screwed him on the taxes.
We could meet on the Peace Bridge and push it over the border. Or meet under the TI bridge, the lagoon is only 30m wide and 2’ deep, it will be frozen in January; they’ll spot us on camera, so you’d need a good story. Or come June I leave it on the Cape Vincent ferry and you grab it on Wolfe Island. I won’t be breaking any laws, but the Canadian revenuers won’t be happy with you, and your claiming all you want is a book is going to get more suspicion than if it were cigarettes or beer.
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Post by exoticimports on Oct 23, 2021 3:57:53 GMT -8
I just finished the book, and like all great books, I miss Meek already.
Still, I feel like I know him as an industrious business person, not so much as a researcher. Meek spent far more time complaining about money than talking about his discoveries. Fortunately, JT interjects both additional information, and his own experiences, otherwise wading through Meeks correspondence would have been quite the chore.
It is astonishing the quantity- tens of thousand of specimens- that Meek sent to Tring. That’s even in light of the thousands of specimens I’ve brought back from Solomon Islands.
What is truly amazing is that Meek somehow survived the multitude of tropical diseases that killed not only white men, but islanders as well. The risk is still very real, and I’d given myself up as dead on a trail on Rendova. To this day, whites get sick and flee back to Australia, whereas most of my island friends are dead. The risk of death due to cultural misunderstandings or voodoo still exists.
I do wish JT had included more photos from the BMNH Meek collection.
The level of research is astonishing. JT tracked down many of Meeks surviving family, and even found his travel chests. All so he could truly explain Meek.
The book is an incredible, accurate snapshot of natural history adventure at its highest days. I enjoy contrasting what’s changed, and what has not. Bougainville and Malaita still carry substantial risk for visitors, while the only thing being beheaded in Roviana today is your cabbage salad at Loyley’s eco resort.
Early in the book, JT asks, then answers, whether he LIKES Meek. Certainly, I find him astonishing and am in awe. Do I LIKE him? I don’t think I do. But then, I have no doubt Meek wouldn’t care what I think.
Chuck
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Post by jhyatt on Oct 23, 2021 6:18:47 GMT -8
Chuck,
Did you find it as astonishing as I did that Meek spread so much of his material in the field?
jh
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Post by exoticimports on Oct 23, 2021 14:19:59 GMT -8
As John pointed out, Tennent's Meek book makes it clear that on each trip (1-3 months) he personally set thousands of specimens, and sent them to Tring (UK) that way!
From a financial perspective, there is monetary value in specimen setting. SOMEBODY is going to do it; either Tring pays people, or it's rolled into the value of Meek's set specimens. Further, doing so was an invaluable service to Tring- they arrived "completed" and everyone wants a completed job. However, it undoubtedly differentiated Meek's services, since AFAIK he's the only one who did field set leps.
There are a few other benefits: First, it retains the original shape of the abdomen (though this is of dubious value, since Tring got birds that were "squished" and didn't care) and second he could remove the guts on the larger specimens, avoiding rot in the Ornithoptera (note repeated complaints that the large beetles were no good.)
I remember Charlie Covell field-setting specimens in Ecuador (just a thorax pin, though time consuming) when he could have packaged them for later. It's not unknown today. Not totally the same, my summer nights are oft spent setting fresh specimens because they're there, they're fresh, and the abdomen shape isn't squished. There are "better" things I could be doing.
I would think though that the monetary benefit of Meek's field set specimens was offset by the recurring damage. So ultimately I'd say he did it because he would, and Tring liked it, and thus he retained Favored Supplier status.
.........................
But still, was it all about the money? Meek was, without a doubt, an intrepid, explorer. I would say fanatic, for who else suffers as one does for bugs? I did, as did Laurie Wills, as does JT. This is the mark of an obsessed, addicted fanatic. He could have sat his ranch and made just as much money. So why did Meek sit inside all day setting specimens? I cannot imagine doing that. But he did, and there are few statements in his own writings about being out catching butterflies. I cannot imagine- no matter what the financial reward- sitting and setting specimens while there are so many to be found outside! Truly that is the thing I cannot fathom- so, I presume it defaults to money. If I were Meek, I'd have taught some young kid and brought him to do it; it wouldn't have cost much, and would have freed him up to enjoy the outdoors and thrill of the hunt. Was he that much of a tightwad? Well, he was British.
Chuck
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Post by jhyatt on Oct 23, 2021 14:49:23 GMT -8
I guess Meek must have decided that having native collectors catch and bring specimens to him for spreading was the most efficient way to amass the large collections that Rothschild wanted. Somewhere in the book there's a Meek letter declining to make an expedition to some island because Meek did not think the he could possibly "make it pay". I think he was a businessman first, and butterfly aficionado second, with an inborn desire to explore.
Cheers, jh
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Post by exoticimports on Oct 23, 2021 15:21:17 GMT -8
There’s no doubt Meek was an adventure junkie. And interested in nature. It appears that early on he was worried about risk, since a failed trip would bankrupt him; later he was amassing money. And stuck with what worked for him, even after he didn’t have to. Not unlike most of us.
I think the refusal to do a particular trip was his way of telling Tring he’d do it, if they funded it. But Tring was also risk averse. Never did Tring fund an expedition in return for the discoveries.
Contrast that with JTs research which most is pre-funded. As is most research these days.
I on the other hand paid my own way. I never asked any organization for a dime, yet have specimens donated to the significant museums.
It just dawned on me that I’m an idiot.
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