JANGLES' JUNKYARD
Recycled News and Information

JANGLES' JUNKYARD Recycled News and Information Almanac: July 1 <> 15, 2006 First Quarter: 3rd at 09:37 PDT Full Buck Moon: 10th at 20:02 PDT Jupiter becomes the only bright planet while the Moon follows a lower than normal path. “Irrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors.” – Thomas Henry Huxley HOW AUSTRALIA WAS BORN Scientists believe they have finally solved one of Earth's greatest mysteries: what caused the great extinction of life hundreds of millions of years ago . The answer was revealed when an American team announced it had discovered the world's biggest meteor crater almost two kilometres under the ice in Antarctica. They say a meteor almost 50 kilometres wide caused a 500-kilometre-wide crater deep under the Wilkes Land region of Antarctica, directly south of Australia. The massive explosion from the impact probably created the continent of Australia, forcing it to break away from the existing land mass. The incredible discovery caused huge excitement among Australian scientists. It could be the missing link in the geological formation of the continents. It would also answer why life on Earth was almost completely wiped out hundreds of millions of years ago. The meteor the size of Sydney struck 250 million years ago and must have been the biggest explosion ever seen on the planet, far bigger than the 10-kilometre-wide meteor which hit east of Mexico 65 million years ago, wiping out the dinosaurs. Ohio State University scientists who found the crater said the massive Antarctic crater could explain the global extinction in the Permian-Triassic period when all animal life on Earth died out, clearing the way for the dinosaurs. The massive impact probably broke up the ancient continent of Gondwanaland, pushing Australia out on its long drift north to its current position. The landmass that became India shot off first, while Africa and South America broke off later. “This Wilkes Land impact is much bigger than the impact that killed the dinosaurs, and probably would have caused catastrophic damage at the time,” said Ralph von Frese, professor of geological sciences at Ohio State University. (The Sydney Morning Herald) “Sir, I would rather be right than be President.” – Henry Clay

$92 MILLION MORE IS SOUGHT FOR EXXON VALDEZ CLEANUP When the Justice Department and the State of Alaska reached their $900 million court settlement with the Exxon Corporation over the environmental damages caused by the Exxon Valdez oil spill, they agreed that, if unforeseeable damages occurred later, the two governments had 15 years to ask for $100 million more. The Exxon Valdez, right, spilling oil off Alaska in March 1989. With the deadline approaching, the governments exercised this clause. They announced in a statement that they would seek $92 million from Exxon Mobil to clean up stubborn patches of oil, whose most toxic components, they say, have not dissipated since the spill in 1989. Federal and state lawyers said in statements that they believed the lingering oil was still interfering with the recovery of animals in the area. The worries, environmentalists say, are focused on species that frequent the intertidal areas of Prince William Sound, like clams, mussels and harlequin ducks. With this action, “we are aggressively seeking to restore natural resource damages unforeseen at the time of the 1991 settlement,” said Sue Ellen Wooldridge, assistant attorney general for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Justice Department, in a statement. “Our goal throughout this process has been to pursue all scientifically and legally appropriate means of restoration.” “We saw the lightning and that was the guns; and then we heard the thunder and that was the big guns; and then we heard the rain falling and that was the blood falling; and when we came to get in the crops, it was dead men that we reaped.” – Harriet Tubman

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