Blogs / Bad Astronomy

I don’t know if I should file this under "Politics" or "Death from the Skies!" Maybe both.

Or maybe just "Humor". Yeah.

PostScript: Republicans? Are you listening here? You may want to throw Governor Palin into a sack and lock her in a cellar somewhere far, far away, to prevent her from ever doing media interviews again. I’m just trying to throw you a bone here.

I was recently at the James Randi Educational Foundation for a meeting, and while I was there I was presented with a large box. Inside said box, and in fact stacked up next to it, were over 50 copies of my book, Death from the Skies! So, pen in hand, I signed each and every one of them.

This is a photo from an older batch; the ones I just signed don’t have the sticker, just my name. Those are Randi’s hands, if you’re wondering.

If you’re looking for an autographed copy of the book — because the holidays are right around the corner, and nothing says "Merry Christmas!" like reading about a giant asteroid impact — then head on over to the JREF store and grab yourself one (they’re $6 off cover price). Copies are limited! And so’s your time: in 10³⁷ years, all the protons in the book will have decayed. So hurry!

UPDATE: CTV news has some pretty spectacular footage on their website.

News flashes are coming in (like from the Calgary Herald and The Edmonton Sun) that a very bright fireball lit up the skies in Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada around 5:30 p.m. local time on Thursday. There are reports of a loud boom as well, meaning whatever it was got low enough to where air was thick enough to transport sound. There are several reports that it hit, but I always remain skeptical of those: when a meteor drops to the horizon it looks like it hits, but meteors very rarely do. But given how bright this one was (judging from the reports) it’s possible a piece or several pieces made it down. However, it also sounds like this was pretty remote territory, so we may not know for a while.

If you hear anything new, leave a comment here. If you saw it, then report it to the Meteorite and Impacts Advisory Committee to the Canadian Space Agency.

Tip o’ the Whipple Shield to Dan Abal and Tom Cochrane.

If anyone out there is curious on how to review a book online, then you should read this totally random review of a totally random book I happened to stumble on totally randomly.

In fact, it’s such an icon, such a template of reviews that I urge everyone to cut and paste it everywhere they go.

Tip o’ the non-poisoned pen to Arachne Jericho.

A little while back I did an interview with Stephen Goss at WABE in Atlanta about my book, Death from the Skies!, and they have posted a podcast of it. We talk about why people are fascinated by scary disaster scenarios, how this all started, alien bugs and asteroids.

Just a quick reminder: I’ll be doing an interview in Second Life tonight at 7:00 Mountain time (02:00 GMT) with Michael Stackpole. We’ll be talking astronomy and Death from the Skies! I’ll be easy to spot; I’m the one who keeps standing up, bumping into walls aimlessly and spinning around.

Obviously, I know there will be no disaster, astronomical or otherwise, in the year 2012. The conspiracy theorists are full of it, there is no Nibiru, it’ll be years after 2012 that solar activity (flares and such) will peak, and there is no alignment between the Earth and the Galactic core.

It’s all baloney.

But that doesn’t stop Hollywood! They are making a movie called, simply, 2012, and I’m sure it’ll be filled to the brim with garbage. But… a trailer just came out, and it’s cool. I can’t resist a good disaster, especially a tsunami:

I disagree with the basic plot element of the movie, too: a worldwide disaster this large would never be able to be kept secret. Something big enough to wipe out all life would be something too big to cover up, especially just four years away. An asteroid impact, global warming, some wandering planet: we’d know about anything like that years in advance (and no melting ice cap is going to cause a flood four miles high as depicted in that trailer).

So: feh.

Amanda Peet is supposed to be in this movie, which is too bad. I love her stance against antivaxxers. But I guess she has to eat too.

Tip o’ the tin foil beanie to I Watch Stuff.