Random Tusks

Typical: Boslough ignores LeCompte

 [See comments: Boslough responds!] Boslough et al’s recent paper gives no less than nine separate citations to Todd Surovell’s 2009 publication: An independent evaluation of the Younger Dryas extra-terrestrial hypothesis. The multiple references are not surprising given that the Surovell paper has become a totem of Boslough and other’s crusade to end research into…
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Charles Appleton Day

2021 Tall el-Hammam study makes final Jeopardy! question

Random Tusks

Holy Hagiography!: Boslough "Jonesed" By Sandia Labs

I have seen some fawning press releases in my day but this is the most obsequious schlock I have ever encountered. Mark or his mum must have stayed up real late writing this one. I seriously doubt any “synthesis” rebuttal paper containing so little original work (What did kill all those animals? Global warming?) has ever been touted by a federally funded institution in so silly and…
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Charles Appleton Day

2021 Tall el-Hammam study makes final Jeopardy! question

Random Tusks

Roger That: Ancient Chronicles Inform Modern Science

From The Telegraph: Some experts highlighted an entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle which refers to a “red crucifix” seen in the night sky, but this occurred in 776 – a year too late – and does not explain why no remnants of the event have since been detected by astronomers.  From Roger of Wendover regarding 794 AD: “In the year of our Lord 794, Humbert, archbishop of…
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Charles Appleton Day

2021 Tall el-Hammam study makes final Jeopardy! question

Random Tusks

The Tusk: Comments Better than Blog

The recent comments from Jonny on the Tusk are some of the most insightful internet analysis anywhere regarding the orbit of Comet ISON and somewhat related matters.  I recommend the developing thread to anyone who cares to stand in awe of intelligence beyond our own. The painting on the left, by the 17th century Dutch painter Atlas van Stolk, depicts the famous comet of 1680. The…
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Charles Appleton Day

2021 Tall el-Hammam study makes final Jeopardy! question

Random Tusks

Comet ISON, Newton's Great Comet of 1680, Solar Flares, and the 775 AD Eichler Event

Newton’s Great Comet of 1680 Update: A couple of useful links and a popular article on the subject. I just learned of the discovery of Comet ISON which has apparently electrified the astronomy world for months. What then caught my eye was a paper from David Eichler of Ben Gurion University published just two months later and curiously does not mention the newly discovered…
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Charles Appleton Day

2021 Tall el-Hammam study makes final Jeopardy! question

Random Tusks

Mayan Match: Baillie discovers correlation between ice core chemistry spikes and Mayan Long Count Calendar

Mayan Calendar A Mike Baillie fan passed along this fascinating discovery last week and I hoisted the paper to the Tusk immediately.  Mike is on to something mighty interesting. Nowhere has anyone noted the corellation between the two early Mayan “Baktun” transitions and spikes in ice core chemistry from Greenland. Calendrical genius that he is, Mike even reverse engineers the…
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Charles Appleton Day

2021 Tall el-Hammam study makes final Jeopardy! question

Random Tusks

Clovis Comet paper #1 read article in Geology

The wisdom of crowds is comforting. Despite the near total news blackout of the recent developments related to our subject, readers have shot Anders Carlson’s 2010 free paper, What Caused the Younger Dryas Cold Event?, to the top of the Most Read articles in the journal Geology. I am not surprised. This is an absolutely fascinating subject and normal people are roaming around reading all…
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Charles Appleton Day

2021 Tall el-Hammam study makes final Jeopardy! question

Random Tusks

Honorable Mention: Clovis Comet in Natural History

Nice blurb in Natural History Magazine this month. Still not sure if there is a longer article behind it in the print or on-line editions. Perhaps not, which would be a shame because Natural History is a fine magazine. It was one of those magazines you could buy when there were still bookstores where you browsed them. Since that is over in our neighborhood these days, with the closing of the…
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Charles Appleton Day

2021 Tall el-Hammam study makes final Jeopardy! question

Charles Appleton Day

2021 Tall el-Hammam study makes final Jeopardy! question

Random Tusks

Exaggerated Reports of My Demise

E.P. Grondine was kind to contact me this morning with a thoughtful “Is everything OK?” query.  Emphatically yes, and that is the problem.  My business and civic life, as balanced with young family, have been all consuming for me of late. Our company just signed a very, very large contract and I have recently been appointed Vice Chair of the newly formed North Carolina Mining and…
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Charles Appleton Day

2021 Tall el-Hammam study makes final Jeopardy! question