199 lines
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199 lines
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Plaintext
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(word processor parameters LM=8, RM=75, TM=2, BM=2)
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Taken from KeelyNet BBS (214) 324-3501
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Sponsored by Vangard Sciences
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PO BOX 1031
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There are ABSOLUTELY NO RESTRICTIONS
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on duplicating, publishing or distributing the
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April 2, 1994
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ASTEROID.ASC
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This file shared with KeelyNet courtesy of Robert Bonner.
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ASTEROID.TXT - "The End Of A Chapter?" FSR
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(Vol.34, No.3, Sept., 1989)
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- by FSR Editor Gordon Creighton
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- To Subscribe: Annual Subscription, 4 Issues.
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United Kingdom: 12 Pounds Sterling
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United States: US $30 (Money Order)
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Other Countries: 15 Pounds Sterling
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AIRMAIL: USA add $10, Others 6 Pounds
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- Address: The Editor,
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FSR Publications Ltd,
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P.O. Box 12,
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Snodland, Kent
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ME6 5JZ, ENGLAND
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====================================================================
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NOTE: Use of "_underlining_" marks such as these are meant to
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indicate italicized words within the article.
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====================================================================
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THE END OF A CHAPTER?
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---------------------
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As all our information media continue to bombard us with depressing
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reports about the Ozone Layer; the "Greenhouse Effect"; the melting
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Ice-Caps and the rising seas; the rapid loss of the Earth's great
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tropical rain-forests; the massive pollution of land and sea and
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atmosphere; the terrifying overpopulation of the Earth by Man, the
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Great Predator; and the accelerating destruction of numerous other
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species of life, it is evident that many - even among the great
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unthinking masses of humanity - are beginning to preceive that
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"SOMETHING IS HAPPENING".
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And, here and there among them, the more perceptive ones are even
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starting to see that the close of one of the "Great Chapters in the
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Book of Life on Earth" may be at hand. Should this indeed be so,
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then it is nothing new! For these things have occurred repeatedly
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before.
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For what we are discussing is "Catastrophism", and we know that the
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old-fashioned Victorian idea of "Gradualism", once so dear to the
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Page 1
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hearts of such folk as the geologist Lyall, has now been totally
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discarded. Today we already know from the scientific evidence, of
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at least 77 reversals of the Earth's Poles.
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Firstly, there is the problem of the actual wandering of the
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physical Poles, and this is no doubt connected with the slow
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processes of Continental Drift and the movements of the Plates.
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Secondly, as stated already, there is the question of the magnetic
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reversals. It seems that there have been twenty of these in the
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last 4,500,000 years, which gives us a rate of about one reversal
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every 200,000 years, on an average.
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There have been found to be several sorts of time-interval between
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them. One of the intervals is of about 700,000 years, while another
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is of about only 10,000 years. The longest interval yet discovered
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by our scientists happens to be in fact OUR CURRENT interval, as it
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seems that the last big reversal was about 690,000 years ago, though
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the scientists Folgheraiter and Mercanton have also found a brief
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period of reversal about 3,000 years ago.
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Findings of scientists in the Geological Department of the
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University of Minnesota (published in the London Sunday Times of
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July 15, 1984) indicate that a new "flip" is indeed pending. They
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found that the Earth's magnetic field has halved in strength over
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the past 4,000 years. The actual reversal may, the scientists say,
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"take a few years, or a couple of thousand if History is any guide".
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Clearly, when it does happen, magnetic compasses will be useless for
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navigation during the change, and the protection which the Earth's
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magnetic field at present gives us against solar radiation could be
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altered, no doubt bringing major changes in climate (such as we are
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already experiencing).
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Clearly, also, all creatures that utilize the Earth's magnetism for
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their navigation - birds, fish, and honey bees for example - will be
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thrown into utter confusion and their survival will be in doubt.
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And what about ours? (Incidentally, we have heard of all sorts of
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theories about the cause of extinction of the dinosaurs - such as
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the explosion of a Supernova. But this magnetic field reversal
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might also have been the cause.)
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All Life Is Lived On A Razor's Edge
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All life is miraculous and perilous, anyway, and we live on the
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razor's edge. In an earlier article, "Will The Earth Be Struck
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Again Soon?" (in FSR 30/5, 1985), I gave an outline of the view of
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Dr. Allen Hynek and fellow astro-physicists regarding a further
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danger with which our planet is faced - and has always been faced -
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namely the possibility of another major strike soon by an asteroid
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or a comet, from which it seemed pretty evident that a good many
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astronomers think we might 'cop' something quite nasty again before
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very long.
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Such a view has recently received much confirmation. In his
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article, The Dynamics of Armageddon, published in the journal
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ASTRONOMY NOW, the Oxford University astrophysicist Dr. Victor Clube
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has pointed out that, since about 1970, the previous scientific
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Page 2
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thinking about the likelihood of great geophysical disasters on our
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planet have been revised most drastically. He says that it is now
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perceived that, even within the tiny span of recorded history, the
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impact or near passage of comets have had quite startling effects
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upon the Earth.
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Comet Encke, And Another Near-Miss By An Asteroid
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Subsequently, on October 24, 1988, in an article in the London
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Daily Telegraph, Dr. Clube showed that, in particular, COMET ENCKE,
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which, with its million-mile swathe of debris intercepts Earth's
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orbit once every 3.3 years (!), represents a terrible danger to this
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planet, and he adduces cogent evidence to show that in both the 5th
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century A.D., there were what he calls veritable "waves of attack"
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against the Earth by Encke. He also thinks, incidentally, that the
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famous "Tunguska Phenomenon" of 1908 was almost certainly a large
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chunk of ice about 40 yards wide and weighing some 30,000 tons,
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which had got detached from Encke's Comet.
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But now (Daily Telegraph, April 21, 1989) we learn that our Earth
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has just narrowly escaped being struck by a fresh, totally unknown,
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asteroid weighing some 400,000,000 tons, which passed within half-a-
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million miles of us in March of this year!
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Dr. Henry Holt, the Northern Arizona University astronomer who
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discovered this "beastie", using the Mount Palomar Optical
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Telescope, says that the thing had come in from the direction of the
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Sun, so that the Sun's glare had prevented anyone from detecting its
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approach sooner, and that, "If it had appeared only a few hours
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earlier, it would have nailed us".
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"Half-a-million miles from Earth" mean that, as it passed us, the
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size of the gap separating the asteroid from us was only twice the
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distance from the Earth to the Moon.
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In 1937 the asteroid HERMES (400 million tons) also came within half
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a million miles of us. If we are to go on having many such "close
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shaves", then assuredly it can only due to some Very High Guidance -
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in other words DIVINE PROVIDENCE. But - can we always count on it?
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IF WE ARE WORTH PRESERVING, MAYBE SOMEBODY WILL CONTINUE TO SEE TO
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IT THAT WE ARE PRESERVED.
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As we contemplate these Immensities, we realize more acutely than
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ever that ALL OF LIFE IS LIVED UPON A RAZOR'S EDGE. What the
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purpose of our existence here is, not one of us knows, but we can be
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certain that we are here because we are useful to Somebody or to
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Something. Let us ever be thoughtful and mindful, then, for should
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we cease to be useful, might not our time be running out?
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What do all the signs indicate? Are we not all living on borrowed
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time now?
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Jerry W. Decker.........Ron Barker...........Chuck Henderson
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Vangard Sciences/KeelyNet
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If we can be of service, you may contact
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Jerry at (214) 324-8741 or Ron at (214) 242-9346
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