On Mon, 27 Apr 1998, Rosser Jr, John Barkley wrote concerning the
demise of the dinos:
> ...the current scientific
> consensus that they got zapped by an asteroid hit is really
> coming on strong. Among other major pieces of evidence has
> been the discovery of the remnants of the hit in the
> neighborhood of the Yucatan peninsula. All the pieces seem
> to fit.
Weren't there still a few problems with this thesis, among which (1)
the Yucatan geological evidence is still very, very sketchy, and different
scientists have wildly different interpretations of the data; there are
a couple basins in the region, which may or may not correspond to the Big
Slamdunk, and (2) the fossil record shows a die-off stretching over a much
longer period than a simple one or two year span? The pieces may fit, but
they may be from different jigsaw puzzles, is the problem. Anyone up on
their, um, what's the term for the study of asteroid impacts?
Surely not meteor-ology.
Given Wall Street's late stage of bubble dementia, I'm surprised the
Magellan Fund hasn't started selling Asteroid Hedge Mutuals ("The new,
no-load MegaCrunch Fund, perfect for those inevitable bearish periods of
evolutionary history when Mother Nature is downsizing the global gene
pool with a sledgehammer! overweighted in canned goods, construction
equipment and Novartis' gene-tech division..." etc.).
-- Dennis
