The Cosmic Tusk

February 16, 2013

Napier on the Recent Russian Blast, Phil Plait, the Harvard Discovery of Platinum in The Younger Dryas -- and Intellectual Integrity

“I’m trying to piece together what happened from the videos. First of all, I do not think this is related in any way to the asteroid 2102 DA14! For one thing, this occurred about 16 hours before DA14 passes. At 8 kilometers per second that’s nearly half a million kilometers away from DA14. That puts it on a totally different orbit.” — Phil Plait, Bad Astronomy, February 15…

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Random Tusks

February 15, 2013

Bolide Shockwave Injures 1000+ in Russia: Black Swan -- or I Told You So?

The Bos! Slow feed but great vids Plugged!: Younger Dryas Impact Event Feb Fireball Season San Fran Cuba and video Japan Miami Brazil 2012 Iowa 1875 and here 1913 Fireball Hush-Up? NASA Urges Vigilance for Weird Fireballs NASA 2012 Press Release “The Fireballs of February” Year of the Snake? Black Swan As readers know, the Tusk is generally uninterested in current events…

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Random Tusks

February 14, 2013

Rise of the Zombie: Harvard Discovers Evidence for Major Earth Impact at Younger Dryas Initiation (~12,875 BP)

Update: As published in PNAS in July, 2013 “The [Younger Dryas Boundary] theory has reached zombie status,” said Professor Andrew Scott from the Department of Earth Sciences at Royal Holloway. “Whenever we are able to show flaws and think it is dead [!], it reappears with new, equally unsatisfactory, arguments. [Sniff!] – “January 30, 2013, Royal Holloway Press…

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The Bos & Co

February 14, 2013

Napier: Not So Fast Bos....

The banner image above is Comet 73/P Schwassman-Wachmann fragmenting in orbit ABSTRACT Intersection with the debris of a large (50-100 km) short-period comet during the Upper Palaeolithic provides a satisfactory explanation for the catastrophe of celestial origin which has been postulated to have occurred around 12900 BP, and which pre-saged a return to ice age conditions of duration 1300 years.

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Random Tusks

February 9, 2013

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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Random Tusks

February 5, 2013

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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Random Tusks

January 26, 2013

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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Random Tusks

January 22, 2013

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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Random Tusks

December 27, 2012

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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Random Tusks

December 3, 2012

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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Latest Posts

The archives

Napier on the Recent Russian Blast, Phil Plait, the Harvard Discovery of Platinum in The Younger Dryas -- and Intellectual Integrity

Bolide Shockwave Injures 1000+ in Russia: Black Swan -- or I Told You So?

Rise of the Zombie: Harvard Discovers Evidence for Major Earth Impact at Younger Dryas Initiation (~12,875 BP)

Napier: Not So Fast Bos....

Typical: Boslough ignores LeCompte

Holy Hagiography!: Boslough "Jonesed" By Sandia Labs

Roger That: Ancient Chronicles Inform Modern Science

The Tusk: Comments Better than Blog

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

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

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