Thu 9 Sep 2010
In The News
Welcome to our "In the News" page, featuring summaries of Internet news, relevant to Catastrophism and Ancient History.
Show Titles only | Show summaries
Date |
|---|
|
8 Dec 2009 On the Perils and Pleasures of Confronting Pseudohistory In the journal Historically Speaking, Ronald H. Fritze writes: "The controversy surrounding the ideas of Immanuel Velikovsky is a case study of how not to debunk incorrect and fantastical theories. [..]" "Worlds in Collision was Velikovsky’s first book to present these planetary and cosmographic hypotheses while rejecting the orthodox concept of gravity. Astronomers and physicists responded with outrage. Professors threatened to boycott the textbooks of Velikovsky’s publisher Macmillan. That resulted in Macmillan moving the book over to Doubleday, a publisher not in the textbook business, where it continued to experience brisk sales. Article after article appeared in newspapers and magazines stridently attacking Velikovsky, but the effect was counterproductive. To the uncommitted, it appeared that the experts were simply asserting their superior knowledge to the public without bothering to prove Velikovsky wrong. The attacks on Velikovsky came across as arrogant and bullying. As a result, they aroused sympathy for the author, making him something of a martyr." Source: |
|
8 Dec 2009 Charge Separation in Space In his blog, astronomer W.T."Tom" Bridgman takes the Electric Universe (EU) to task over their understanding of "Charge Separation in Space". Bridgman clarifies that: |
|
8 Dec 2009 Has the tilt of Uranus been solved? Astrophysicist Ian O'Neill writes for Discovery News: "Uranus is tilted 97 degrees to the vertical .. but how did Uranus come to be this way? "Generally it is assumed that another planet must have collided with Uranus, pushing it off-kilter, but new computer models suggest a scenario that is far more elegant." :"Gwenaël Boué and Jacques Laskar from the Paris Observatory in France started out with the idea that Uranus may have once had a very large moon .. Through the gravitational "tugging" by the large moon's mass, over the course of 2 million years Uranus may have wobbled to such an extent that it was pulled onto its side."
Source: "Has the Mystery of Uranus' Tilt Been Solved?" |
|
9 Dec 2009 Flood mystery solved Researchers believe they have found evidence of the formation of the Mediterranean Sea, five million years ago. Their findings suggest a 200km channel from the Atlantic Ocean, and carved out through the Gibraltar Stait, could have filled the low-lying land in just two years, raising the water level by 10 metres per day. Source: "Ancient Mediterranean flood mystery solved", BBC News, 9 December 2009 |
|
22 Jan 2010 ClimateGate Evidence has emerged that there were three specific warm periods in Finland in the 20th century - in 1934-9, in 1988-92, and in 1999-2005, where mean temperatures were 6.4, 6.5 and 6.3 degrees respectively. This is above the average temperature between 1940 and 1987 which was only 5.1 degrees. A very cold period began in the early 1940s - which ultimately led to the defeat of the German army in Russia. This information was collated in Helsinki by Timo Niroma (a former members of the SIS with an interesting web site). |
|
22 Jan 2010 The Tree that Refuses to Die Discovery News, 23rd December 2009 ... a tree in southern California, stranded in a suburban environment, has the appearance of a gnarled thicket of stunted oak trees wedged between a heap of stones and boulders - but it is a biological wonder. The centre grove of trees is actually a single plant that is estimated to be 13,000 years old. Genetic analysis has revealed each of its 70 stems, or truncated branches, a few feet tall, are genetically identical - they are one and the same plant. |
|
22 Jan 2010 The Sun and the Planets http://tallbloke.wordpress.com ... tall bloke's web blog is all about a thesis that the solar system is an integrated system in that as well as the sun influencing the planets the planets themselves also effect each other. In fact, he suggests their effect on the sun causes its complicated motion around the centre of mass in the solar system - which modulates solar magnetic activity and the production of sun spots. |
|
22 Jan 2010 Post YD History Associated Press 29th November 2009 ... the geography department of Northern Michigan University has spent three years on the shoreline of Lake Superior and have been able to define the boundaries as they existed around 2500BC. They found the water at that time was 30 to 40 feet higher than it is today and had features such as shallow water lagoons and enbayments rich in fish and plants. ...................................................................... |
|
22 Jan 2010 Vikings The BBC History magazine volume 10:12 December 2009 ... has an article on the Vikings and what may have drove them to attack the monasteries of Britain, Ireland, and NW Europe. Robert Ferryman suggests one motivation might have been a desire to defend their own culture which was under threat from Christian missionary activity in which Britain, Ireland and the Frankish Kingdom played a prominent role. In 782AD Charlemagne's army forcibly baptised and then executed four and a half thousand German Saxons. |
|
22 Jan 2010 Homo Erectus Science News January 8th 2009 ... Homo Erectus, it is claimed, used rafts or other sea going vessels to cross the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa to Crete. Several hundred double edged cutting implements discovered at nine different sites on Crete, dating back some 130,000 years ago, and possibly even earlier, are said to closely resemble hand axes fashioned in Africa as long as 800,000 years ago. Until now human remains on Crete are only known from 9000 years ago - well within the Holocene. |