May 2018 Program Information
May 2018 Program
President Mike Pabst presented 2 informative talks.The first was on “Spear Phishing – Target Rock and Mineral Clubs” which was a summary of information published in our regional newsletter. (This is sent out by email to members.)
The article alerted everyone to be aware of phishing techniques that are becoming more of our daily lives. These are attempts to gain access to a person’s personal information and money.
The ploy is to send an email letter with reference to a friend or contact’s name asking for donations or requesting payments. The return might be to a fake web address such as using a #1 for the letter L or dropping the M from .com.
Other hackers use “drive-bys” which can collect all your private information or “time bombs” which are set to go off at a later date, perhaps after you have changed security sites, and which will totally delete all your information.
Mike warned us to just be aware, and that new hacks are being developed every day.
Mike’s main focus was to take us on a virtual field trip to the mineral show in Munich, Germany. (Delicious food and brewskies aside, the minerals were for sale if you wanted to trade your retirement for one!)
Mike showed a DVD called “What’s Hot in Munich!” There were vendors from all over the world – Spain, Germany, Italy, France, Australia, and the US.
Most of the minerals were in locked cabinets or behind locked doors.
An interesting “Bouquet” of quartz crystals that was several feet wide came from Arkansas, USA.
Most of the specimens were one of a kind, with green fluorite, Faden quartz, vesuvianite, tourmaline, smithsonite, and pure gold chunks!
We were impressed with the clarity and beauty of the minerals, but were very interested in how they packed and delivered these tons of material safely to Munich!
Click on this link see some images from the Munich Mineral Show:
http://tinyurl.com/y8zlhwsn