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Mysterious Mass Extinction Explained

Regarding "mass extinction," most people are familiar with the mystery behind the dinosaur’s disappearance. However, there are actually more mass extinctions in the Earth’s history. Scientists were stumped over evidence found in the ocean of cyclic mass extinction occurring every 62 and 140 million years. While theories abounded regarding ice age patterns, nobody could explain the repetitive nature of the 62 million year cycle until now.

Adrian Melott of the University of Kansas describes, "the movement [of the Milky Way] is not edge-on like a Frisbee" it is more "like a pie in the face." Every 62 million years the solar system cycles out from the central plane of the Milky Way and moves towards the galaxy’s forward moving face. Up front, an intense radiation shock wave is produced from the Milky Way forcing its way through gas clouds. Removed from the central plane, the Earth is not protected by the galaxy’s inner magnetic fields and is subjected to intense radiation. Melott and fellow researcher Mikhail Medvedev hypothesize this radiation is the root cause of cyclic mass extinction and a prominent driver of genetic mutation which forces species adaptation.

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Clearly … these scientists are not as "smart" as they think they are. Otherwise, they would have immediately connected the dots and realized the next mass extinction will be associated with the Great Purge.

On a more serious note, I was having a discussion with my wife the other day about global warming and ice ages. Part of the discussion was that the Earth warms and cools regardless of mankind’s presence and activities. Sure, our present activities are certainly augmenting the cycle … but that’s not to say it wouldn’t have happened anyway. And eons from now, Global Cooling will be an issue on everyone’s mind and ironically solutions will include spewing gases into the atmosphere. But I digress. We had been wondering what factors caused cyclic highs and lows in the Earth’s temperature.

After read this theory of pie-in-the-face galactic radiation, it seems obvious the whole solar system gets exposed to increased radiation. Perhaps some of that radiation comes in the form of thermal energy? Or enough to at least excite enough activity that on a global scale a thermal differential is notable? Now, short of halting the Milky Way in its tracks, there’s obviously nothing man can do about this. It would be interesting to detect, however, if overall temperatures were increasing on other celestial bodies within our solar system. Wouldn’t it be amusing if they were warmer on par with Earth’s change?

Well, Mars is currently going through it’s own Global Warming. Personally, I think it’s angry aliens.

Unfortunately, the original link in there was to premium subscription articles. So, I took the liberty of Googling some Mars geography. There are a variety of temperatures listed for Mars based on either chemistry equations or direct sampling from space vehicles. Sources are here:

I was going to approach this following a highly delicate and sensitive scientific method. However, the OmniNerd budget did not see fit to provide me with the necessary space research provisions (damn you Will) so I will resort to Plan B. I will eyeball some high temperatures, average temperatures and low temperatures from data gained in a Google search. Then I will use the Google calculator to determine the Fahrenheit differential from a rise in 0.65 degrees Celsisus. Therefore, Google will tell us whether it is global warming or sol warming which is indicative of our coming radioactive mutation and extinction.

Encyclopedia Britannica Surface Temperature

  • -23 Celsius = -9.4 Fahrenheit
  • -22.35 Celsius = -8.23 Fahrenheit

NASA Goddard Flight Center

  • 210 Kelvin = -81.67 Fahrenheit
  • 210.65 Kelvin = -80.5 Fahrenheit

Mars Rover Readings

  • -100 Celsius (Low) = -148 Fahrenheit
  • -99.35 Celsius = -146.83 Fahrenheit
  • 0 Celsius (High) = 32 Fahrenheit
  • 0.65 Celsius = 33.17 Fahrenheit

This rigorous and highly detailed study seems to indicate that temperatures on Mars are averaging 1.1 degree warmer Fahrenheit. According to Earth Policy, the NASA Goddard folks show Earth’s temperatures rose from an average of 14.01 Celsius in the 1970s to 14.60 in 2004 (this equates to 57.21 and 58.28 Fahrenheit). Since the rise in Earth’s temperature is 1.07 Fahrenheit over thirty years and Mars shows a 1.2 Fahrenheit rise in temperature, NASA and Google clearly confirm that the solar system is warming up. Mars clearly doesn’t have any greenhouse gas pollution and has a thinner atmosphere and is almost 50 million miles further away from the sun.

I suppose now that we’re all doomed galactically, this is the time to ask yourself – is Pascal’s Wager or the Atheist Wager accurate? Now that’s and inconvenient truth.

Right. All apparently sound, logically, but it just seems way too convenient for all of us. If there is nothing we can do about it, we might as well go all the way and pollute, pollute, pollute. I don’t buy the argument that our Earth will regenerate itself no matter what.

Let’s forget about Al Gore and his high publicity stunt, and take a step back. Why do people in Tokyo feel compelled to purchase oxygen? Or why do some children get cancer if they live near highways ?

Is it because of some inter-galactic force (aka radiation)? Why don’t we just forget the highly polarized political environment, accept that maybe some liberal potheads might have a point though, and stop babying the awful US car makers.

If damage to the economy is the most powerful argument one has to make when it comes to why the United States failed to lead the way in environmental policies on the global level, take a look at GM, Ford, etc. They failed big, even without the stringent, environmental friendly laws in place.

And you know what? People around the world might appreciate it when the United States forces China to do something about the pollution they create in the process of making cheap stuff the Americans used to make themselves before they started complaining that ‘dirty Mexicans’ took all their jobs. They will certainly like it more when US becomes the global environmental nazi (as opposed to the global policeman chasing quagmires around the Globe every other decade in a quest to stop the next domino effect).

There we go … a linkable article from National Geographic regarding the planet wide warming of Mars. Not surprisingly, "Abdussamatov’s work, however, has not been well received by other climate scientists." Of course not, they have no clout when the forces of nature are galactic in origin.

Has there been any concrete evidence to really determine the rate change from past to present in terms of global warming? I mean, sure, planets move resulting in periodic temperature changes. You mention "augmentation" by earthlings’ industrial waste, and I think the key is determining how much we are actually augmenting the earth warming process beyond its natural ability to compensate for our industrial crazed lifestyle. Is the climate decompensating or is it merely adapting? I know the latest and greatest hope of tree-hugging scientists ( and I am a treehugger ;)) is satellites, like Envisat, tracking sea surface temperatures, which is arguably the most reliable factor of determining the earth’s temperature change. The "rate" at which the earth is warming is still a huge grey area- and until that is determined, no one can really say global warming is myth or fact for sure. That being said, I don’t think it would hurt to start using alternative fuels and practicing energy saving techniques to be on the safe side. I mean, why not? Hell, even the fashion industry has brought back all season capris- you know, "High water" attire , just in case more floods result from global warming. ;) Plus, we still haven’t determined if there IS life on Mars-those Marsonians ( Yep, just made that up) might be the worst global warmers of all! ;)

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