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!
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.
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.
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.
If you went to BadAstronomy.com and found yourself here, never fear: the BA Blog has moved to its new home at Discover Blogs. The original BA site (with the Moon Hoax debunking and all that) is still online, too.
Phil Plait, the creator of Bad Astronomy, is an astronomer, lecturer, and author. After ten years working on Hubble Space Telescope and six more working on astronomy education, he struck out on his own as a writer. He has written two books, dozens of magazine articles, and 12 bazillion blog articles. He is a skeptic, and fights misuses of science as well as praising the wonder of real science.
"If things worked the way I wanted them to, any reporter about to do another 'sensational' story on deadly meteors would consult this volume, and bang! common sense would find its way into the news. How strange would that world be?" -- Adam Savage, Mythbusters
"Reading this book is like getting punched in the face by Carl Sagan. Frightening, but oddly exhilarating." -- Daniel H. Wilson, author of How to Survive a Robot Uprising
Disclaimer
The opinions and ideas expressed in this blog are solely those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of Discover Magazine and/or the James Randi Educational Foundation, of which Dr. Plait serves as President.