Timelies all!

Yay! I have tomorrow off!

Does everyone know about the Tunguska Explosion of 1908? (The X-Files made reference to it.)

On June 30th, 1908, at 7:15am, in Tunguska (an extremely remote and almost zero-populated area of the central Siberian plateau) a hugefuckingmngously-gigantic meteorite (or perhaps comet) of some type exploded (at 40 megatons) six to eight kilometers above the earth's surface (presumably after coming in contact with the atmosphere layer) and it's subsequent impact instantly devastated 1,000 square kilometers of forest... felling trees outward in a radial pattern. The immediate fires burned for weeks ...eventually destroying a total of 2,150 square kilometers of forest, all of which remained scorched and flattened for decades (the immense damage is still easily visible today).

According to recordings at meteorological stations at the time, the seismic activity measured 5.0 on the Richter scale, and according to devices worldwide, the air compression wave went twice around the entire planet (bouncing both times). The blast itself, in whatever context it might have occurred, is estimated have been 40 megatons, which is 2,000 times the force of the atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima in 1945. Even the asteroid impact that caused the great Berringer crater in Arizona (some 50,000 years ago) is only estimated to be 3.5 megatons. The mass of the object has been guessed at about 100,000 tons (and about 60 meters in diameter), but what exactly made up this mass is unclear (most agree it was probably a loose 'glob' of rocks and ice).

[link]

Fascinating....

I first read about that in the People's Almanac when I was in 5th grade or so. The Science Channel has had some very informative documentaries on the subject, including interviews with some elderly Siberians who remember the explosion firsthand.

If it was an icy comet, that could explain why very little debris was found -- the first scientific expedition to reach the remote area was several years later, it was so remote.

tommyrot, you've never read any Charles Fort, have you?

I am sad I missed the rest of the discussion, but I had (HAD, I tell you) to go see The Prestige. Hmm. I'm startled by how little I knew of the movie going in.

Speaking of weird events, tonight I cooked at home and didn't have one of my traditional disasters! Nothing too elaborate, but I used the range top and the oven on both bake and broil settings. Broiled shrimp skewers (that the seasoning rub Maria gave me for Christmas worked great on), rice, and one of those coquille St. Jacques things.

Congratulations on cooking without a disaster. That sounds like the name of a cookbook for bachelors.

that the seasoning rub Maria gave me for Christmas worked great on

Yay! It pleases me to no end that you are actually enjoying your gift, and it's still giving almost a year later.

(Why yes, I am a giant sappy fool. Carry on.)

I may be doing Thanksgiving this year. It will be the first time I've been in charge of the feast in about 16 years. I'm skeerrd.

Suzi, it will all be fine. Look at it this way, you can make what *you* want to eat, instead of eating what someone else thinks you should eat.

Besides, I wanna kiss the cook.

tommyrot, you've never read any Charles Fort, have you?

Nope.

eta: Actually, I might have when I was in grade school, when I first became interested in the paranormal. Come to think of it, I first heard of the Tunguska explosion then....