Earth Overdue for a Mass Extinction Event

[Perd Hapley]

Sorry.  I understood the overall point, I should have just asked what you meant by high Greece. 

[Matthew Carberry]

What about the children lupinus?

Okay, not our children, but our children's, children's, children's, children's, etc. etc. ad nauseum, children?

What about them?

Why do you hate children?  

[lupinus]

Sorry.  I understood the overall point, I should have just asked what you meant by high Greece.

Ah.  Basically the time you think of when you think ancient Greece.

Why do you hate children?

Cause they are annoying little bugger pickers who make to many weird noises and even more weird smells 

[mountainclmbr]

Should I withdraw my 401k and spend it on the libations in the "favorite libations" thread and on loose women in the thread that I am sure will follow? It would be a pity to die rich!

[Telperion]

Overdue?  We're in the middle of an extinction event, and it began millennia ago and continues through the present: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_extinction_event

But the idea that an extinction event can happen over tens of thousands of years instead of being some kind of biblical calamity is just not dramatic enough for the chicken-little types...

[ilbob]

I think we should start worrying now. Don't wait another 2 million years. Maybe we need to have Al Gore solve the problem for us.

[woodcdi]

In life's quests for all things gold, don't discount the money, but take some time for fulfillment, satisfaction, and a few of the things in life that are often beyond the bounds of mere security.

As you approach the winter of your life, many will be the times you will bask in the warm glow of those memories.

The chilling lament of deeds undone, of loves passed over, of adventures put off and missed, and freedoms lost is nothing less than the cold, hard ground. That is a death before death.

Live your life, warm your heart, and you'll put the Devil's flames to shame when you warm the Earth with your bones.

Woody

[Phyphor]

. . . every object in the universe is moving apart from the other objects as the universe expands at a constantly accelerating rate. .

I'm aware that science says the universe is expanding, but I've never heard that the rate of expansion was accelerating. I'd be real interested in knowing what mechanism is responsible for acceleration.

God snorting a line of dietyCrank?

Hell, who knows.

In any case, I'm not worried, whatever happens, happens.

It's not like we could do much to stop a mass extinction due to radiation, (and I somehow doubt it'll happen.)

[Phyphor]

My view to the west is blocked by the continental divide. But, I may get some view if this thing hits Komifornistan as the concensus seems to hope for. Have to drag the beach chairs onto the back deck to be ready. Make note to pick up extra beer and chips. Find where I put those sun glasses

Gee, thanks.

Remind me to flip you off when we fall off into the ocean.   

[dwarven1]

Anyone ever heard of Comet Shoemaker-Levy?

I hate to rain on your parade, but if we did get hit by a meteor... well, hope your bugout bag is well stocked. 'Cause even if we saw it coming, thanks to NASA's neutering of the space program, there's nothing we could do to stop it (in spite of all the special effects that Hollywood can muster).

[mountainclmbr]

dwarven1, I agree. But, if we tried to do something to bump a comet or asteroid off course the left would scream about: take your pick (playing God, interfering with nature, putting another civilization on collision path, preventing our destiny,....)

[Gewehr98]

I like how it's NASA's fault.  Nothing about the administrations over the years gutting NASA's budget or anything... 

[Matthew Carberry]

If NASA really cared they'd hold a bake sale or something. 

[Ben]

But, if we tried to do something to bump a comet or asteroid off course the left would scream about:

But all that screaming would drastically increase atmospheric CO2.

[Manedwolf]

Who says the US has to do something about an asteroid? Russia is still the master of massively overbuilt heavy lift vehicles. All they need is cash. Give them buckets of cash and they'd probably send up something loaded with nukes and built like a battleship to see it off.

With eight Zenit booster rockets and an Energia-M core as the upper stage of it, the "Vulkan" (which was interestingly the same name of another Soviet heavy lift rocket that was cancelled years earlier) or "Hercules" (which is the same name designated to the N-1 rockets) configuration could have launched a stunning 175 tonnes into orbit.

[slzy]

london calling to the zombies of death,quit holding out and draw another breath.

[Tallpine]

Well, according to something I read this morning, mass extinctions serve as a "pump" for evolution - clearing out a currently dominant species (or group of species) so that other species may evolve to fill their niche. (example: dinosaurs and mammals)

It always amazes me how extinctions in the long distant past are part of the evolutionary process, but current extinctions are all the fault of mankind and are dooming the planet.

[Perd Hapley]

Well, see, now we have capitalism to blame, so...

[Mabs2]

It's pretty interesting that a mass extinction happens every 62 million years and we also pass through the dense core of the Orion arm every 62 million years...

[Sindawe]

It's pretty interesting that a mass extinction happens every 62 million years and we also pass through the dense core of the Orion arm every 62 million years...

Its all the fault of the Orion Syndicate!!

[Dixie_Amazon]

Its all the fault of the Orion Syndicate!!

Keep an eye out for this guy...