As another blizzard smacks the freezing Northeast today after dumping up to a foot of snow in the Midwest, Grumpy Editor reminds that while the focus of many --- from Al Gore to the White House --- continues to be on global warming (climate change), overlooked by most media is last week’s mountainous asteroid that made what was considered a close pass to Earth.
Asteroid BL86 (so labeled by sky watchers), about five football fields wide, zoomed within 745,000 miles of Earth at 35,000 m.p.h. last Monday.
What most folks forget is that a key theory holds that an asteroid killed the dinosaurs.
“The dinosaurs probably broiled to death” following impact of an asteroid --- probably seven or eight miles wide --- that ejected a dust plume that spread around Earth and ignited forests, says Jay Melosh, a planetary physicist at Purdue University, in a story on meteorites in the February issue of Popular Science magazine.
(A meteorite is a solid piece of space rock or iron that originally was an asteroid or a comet.)
Popular Science points out if a collision (a meteorite impact on Earth) exceeds 100,000 million tons, it means “a catastrophe larger than any in human history,” adding, “a meteorite a mile in diameter might send enough pulverized rock into the stratosphere to block out sunlight and cause global cooling.”
Meanwhile, among global warming alarms over the past few days:
Less ice triggers volcanoes. Melting of Icelandic ice caps causes decreased pressure on underlying rocks, thus increasing the chance of volcanic activity, finds a new study.
Aspen’s climate could be a lot like that of Amarillo by 2100. So warns Gina McCarthy, Environmental Protection Agency administrator who was in the Colorado city last month.
Noting this, The Weekly Standard calculates: “For the climate of Aspen to resemble that of Amarillo, a temperature swing of 15 degrees and a 13-foot drop in annual snowfall would need to take place over the next 85 years. Even the most catastrophic models of global temperature change in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change do not predict a temperature increase of 15 degrees.”
FYI, IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE EDITORS MISSED THESE…
Editorial-advertising partition drops. Condé Nast, which publishes Vogue, Vanity Fair, Golf and Wired, among others, says its editors would be available through 23 Stories, its new advertising arm, to consult with advertisers and help them create articles and images…Marking India’s Republic Day in New Delhi last week, President Barack Obama refers to himself 118 times in a 33-minute speech, tallies Paula Bolyard at PJ Media…California’s new regulation calling for larger room for egg-laying chickens results in average price for a dozen jumbo eggs jumping to $3.16 from $1.18 a year ago…Among pitching tactics at the Feb. 10 PRNews Writing Workshop: When writing news releases, “think like the journalist and bloggers you are pitching”--- which may be difficult for some who do not have newsroom experience…Breaking news: CBS News anchor Scott Pelley, in interviewing House Speaker John Boehner, asks: “Do you practice that scowl?”…With an eye on cutting costs, Sears Holdings lays off 115 corporate workers, including 100 at its headquarters in Hoffman Estates, Ill…The Washington Times reports 1,000 of the 36,000 illegal immigrant criminals the government released in 2013 have gone on to commit other crimes.
Good idea. The Wausau (Wis.) Daily Herald, a Gannett publication, through public meetings is seeking area residents’ input for “something that needs investigation, a story worth telling” or sharing insight on the state of the community. Nora Hertel, watchdog reporter, is searching for problems and solutions.
Comments