April 2010

April 27, 2010

Guest Blog: Rodney Chilton author of 'Sudden Cold: An Examination of the Younger Dryas Cold Reversal'

Rod Chilton, author of the most recent (and perhaps only) comprehensive review of Younger Dryas science, was kind to contribute this fine critique of David Morrison’s recent paper in Skeptical Enquirer. I am reading Rod’s excellent book and look forward to reviewing it soon: The debate continues as to the cause of the more than 1,000 year-long cold interval known as the Younger Dryas.

817

Random Tusks

April 27, 2010

Adults in Charge?: NASA #2 Lori Garver published Neo-Catastrophist!

The frequency of impacts of objects of various sizes is known only to limited precisions. In particular, objects up to several meters in diameter explode in the atmosphere without reaching the surface. Although the energy released in these explosions may be many times greater than that released by the Hiroshima bomb, they most frequently occur over the ocean or sparsely inhabited regions of Earth…

634

Random Tusks

April 26, 2010

Smoke Linked to Gun: Napier upheld by Nesvorný and Jenniskens on Zodiacal Cloud and short-period Comets

Richard Kerr, the oldest rat in the barn over at Tusk competitor Science Magazine, has written a disturbingly matter-of-fact piece reporting the myth busting work of David Nesvorný and Peter Jenniskens (hereafter N&J) on the source of Interplanetary Dust and the Zodiacal Cloud. N&J are the same fellows who last month deduced massive ancient meteoritic airburts in Antarctica from ice…

469

Random Tusks

April 25, 2010

Creepy notes: E.P. Grondine fingers Obama Asteroid Mission as reaction to comet Schwassmann Wachmann's next pass

I’ve asked Ed Grondine to put some more some flesh on these bones, but he recently sent me some notes with background on the lead up to Obama’s bold asteroid mission. One can devine his drift — but the Tusk needs more…. BTW, Ed’s “Dead Car Book Special” is still underway, I recommend his Man and Impact in the Americas. WILL PASS THROUGH INNER SOAR SYSTEM…

496

Random Tusks

April 21, 2010

Wisconsin fireball causes....fires?

Bob Kobres is a good friend and a peer when it comes to finding intellectually provocative information about strange things from space and posting or reposting the info and speculation regarding it on the Internet. In addition, Bob has an encyclopedic knowledge of all things bolide. Gene Shoemaker among others has appreciated Bob’s contributions to the study of impact phenomena. For…

454

Random Tusks

April 19, 2010

Obama whipsaws nation from Moon to Asteroid: Is he WISEing up?

You’ve got to wonder sometimes what could be going on behind the scenes. Could it be that the early results of the WISE mission and other disturbing government science projects are encouraging the bold (but not entirely unexpected) move of the White House to ditch the return to Moon in order to land on an Asteroid, or — dare we say — a Comet!? It could be. I think the…

429

Random Tusks

April 14, 2010

Oldie but Goodie: The 2350 BC Middle East Anomaly Evidenced By Micro-debris Fallout, Surface Combustion And Soil Explosion

Abstract of talk by Marie-Agnès Courty CNRS-CM. Lab. de Science des Sols et Hydrologic, INA P-G, 78850 Grignon, France. email: fedoroff[at]diamant.jouy.inra.dr Presented at the SIS Conference: Natural Catastrophes during Bronze Age Civilisations (11th-13th July 1997) Further investigations allow to re-examine the nature, age, causes and effects of the third millennium catastrophe identified from…

753

Random Tusks

April 13, 2010

Dutch spurns geology and challenges Firestone on his home turf -- Isotopic Chemistry

Steve Dutch, a geologist and avocational skeptic, has gone from criticism of the Great Lakes as impacts craters (not a central claim of the YDB team, in any case) to taking on Rick Firestone and others in Isotopic Chemistry. The interdisciplinary nature of this debate is fun and healthy, but if were Dutch, I would stick with midwestern geology, and leave the isotopic chemistry to Firestone &#8212…

446

Random Tusks

April 13, 2010

Heinrich and Dutch to Firestone: Hang it up on Great Lakes crater speculation

Dear Friends, Dr. Firestone wrote: “The other argument against the YD impact is that there is no crater near the Great Lakes. That is not necessarily true. The second deepest terrestrial place on earth is the Lake Superior basin and the basins of three other Great Lakes are deeper than Death Valley despite lying in the flat Midwest far from major tectonic activity. The mid-Continental…

657

Random Tusks

April 12, 2010

Tusk bullish on old Taurid Comet papers

Articles pertaining to the Taurid Complex: Title: Meteor observations in Japan: new implications for a Taurid meteoroid swarm Authors: ASHER, D. J.; IZUMI, K. Affiliation: AA(Communications Research Laboratory, 893-1, Hirai, Kashima-shi, Ibaraki-ken 314-0012, Japan), AB(Nippon Meteor Society, 812-8 Namiki-machi, Shibukawa-shi, Gunma-ken 377-0033, Japan) Journal: Monthly Notices…

439

Guest Blog: Rodney Chilton author of 'Sudden Cold: An Examination of the Younger Dryas Cold Reversal'

Adults in Charge?: NASA #2 Lori Garver published Neo-Catastrophist!

Smoke Linked to Gun: Napier upheld by Nesvorný and Jenniskens on Zodiacal Cloud and short-period Comets

Creepy notes: E.P. Grondine fingers Obama Asteroid Mission as reaction to comet Schwassmann Wachmann's next pass

Wisconsin fireball causes....fires?

Obama whipsaws nation from Moon to Asteroid: Is he WISEing up?

Oldie but Goodie: The 2350 BC Middle East Anomaly Evidenced By Micro-debris Fallout, Surface Combustion And Soil Explosion

Dutch spurns geology and challenges Firestone on his home turf -- Isotopic Chemistry

Heinrich and Dutch to Firestone: Hang it up on Great Lakes crater speculation

Tusk bullish on old Taurid Comet papers

Archive

Don’t miss

Marc Young to Holden Thorp: Retract Sun et al.

Journal of Academic Ethics: Data vs. Derision: The Ethics of Language in Scientific Publication. The Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis as a Case Study