Tea at Trianon: Changing Name for Earth’s Changing Poles

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Changing Name for Earth’s Changing Poles

From Eos:

Every now and then (on a scale of hundreds of thousands of years), Earth’s magnetic field does a flip-flop: Magnetic north becomes magnetic south and vice versa. In between these major realignments, the magnetic poles wander over shorter distances, throwing models of Earth’s magnetic field off kilter. A record of these polar wanderings, the paleomagnetic timescale, is preserved in successive layers of volcanic and sedimentary rocks. Scientists take great pains to ensure that they interpret this record accurately. Unfortunately, they have not been as careful with their spelling.
Occasional shorter polarity reversals or large perturbations of the magnetic field are called excursions, events, or microchrons [Laj and Channell, 2007; Roberts, 2008]. The first evidence of such a geomagnetic excursion was identified by Bonhommet and Babkine [1967] in lava and volcanic features from the Chaîne des Puys, a volcanic chain near the village of Laschamps in the Auvergne region of central France.

Signs of this reversal have since been observed in volcanic and sedimentary rocks in many places around the world, and the event has, logically, been incorporated into paleomagnetic timescales as the Laschamp excursion. The most recent—and we hope the most accurate—dating by Guillou et al. [2004] indicated that the excursion occurred about 40,000 years ago; its duration was probably less than 2,000 years [Laj and Channell, 2007; Roberts, 2008]. (Read more.)

From The Weather Channel:

Before us—the modern human beings or Homo sapiens—tens of thousands of years ago, the planet was dominated by an ancient sibling of ours called Neanderthals or Homo neanderthalensis. While their existence dates back to at least 200,000 years ago, Neanderthals went extinct roughly 40,000 years ago. Several theories have emerged in recent years explaining the cause of their extinction—from climate change to a deadly disease.
Now, the latest study has offered a completely different explanation for the demise of Neanderthals. Roughly 42,000 years ago, Earth’s magnetic poles reversed, leading to dramatic changes in the Earth’s life history. This period is dubbed the Laschamp Excursion. Coincidentally, the extinction of Neanderthals coincides with this period and hence the new research indicated a possible link. (Read more.)

From SciTechDaily:

The temporary breakdown of Earth’s magnetic field 42,000 years ago sparked major climate shifts that led to global environmental change and mass extinctions, a new international study co-led by UNSW Sydney and the South Australian Museum shows. This dramatic turning point in Earth’s history – laced with electrical storms, widespread auroras, and cosmic radiation – was triggered by the reversal of Earth’s magnetic poles and changing solar winds.

The researchers dubbed this danger period the ‘Adams Transitional Geomagnetic Event’, or ‘Adams Event’ for short – a tribute to science fiction writer Douglas Adams, who wrote in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy that ‘42’ was the answer to life, the universe, and everything. The findings were published on February 19, 2021, in the journal Science. (Read more.)