Interdisciplinary Endeavor
We represent this treatise as an "Interdisciplinary" scientific endeavor. The reader is implored to consider the hypothetical solutions presented here within the context of the specific scientific field that relate to the evidence. We are aware that the hypothesis demands new considerations related to cosmic impacts. Carl Sagan noted “The truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It may be counterintuitive. It may contradict deeply held prejudices. It may not be consonant with what we desperately want to be true. But our preferences do not determine what's true.... Cleverly designed experiments are the key” (Sagan, 1995). We present our Bearing Calculator as a very cleverly designed experiment.
An obvious question is "Why has no one noticed all this overlain ejecta, and the 'power washed' landscape across the Saginaw area?" In the August 2003 issue of Physics Today, Spencer Weart discussed the topic of The Discovery of Rapid Climate Change. He makes a case for why the sudden shifts in climate - now documented - were overlooked for so long. Researchers had no expectation, so they did not look at the data in a granularity that would show the behavior. Instead, a gradual evolution is seen, where researchers expected significant change required eons but found millennia change, and when they looked for the millennia details they found changes within centuries. Only after looking for century-resolution data did they note the near-instantaneous changes.
"This is the great vice of academicism, that it is concerned with ideas rather than with thinking."
- Lionel Trilling
Or goal is to spark interest in this theory among members of various professions. We presented a poster at the 2010 GSA Meeting in Denver. The poster content, seen below, is also available in a more readable booklet PDF file.
We also had the opportunity to give an oral presentation on our use of LiDAR in this research. A PDF of the presentation is available for download from HERE, or can be viewed as web pages HERE.
A high resolution image of Carolina bays was awarded first place in the GSA Annual Meeting 2010 Photo Contest & Exhibition. The entry is in the Abstract Images category (Depict patterns or form by way of photo-micrographs, satellite images, maps, or landscapes that capture a dynamic process or simply show the aesthetic patterns of geology at any scale.) See Associated PAGE.
We presented a poster, below, at the 2006 AGU meeting in Baltimore. A PDF of the poster is linked to the Image, below.
In recent years, two groups of scientists have attempted to resolve some aspects of the historical and geological record by leveraging cometary impacts.
The Holocene Impact Working Group has been researching on-shore geological structures which may have been created by large cometary impact-driven tsunamis. An interesting article describing their work is available at the New York Times.
We presented a poster (PP31D-1387 Geomorphology Of Possible Younger Dryas Boundary Impact Structure) at the December 2009 AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco which detailed some of our concepts as they pertain to the Carolina bays and their role in identifying a possible ice shield impact crater. A PDF file of the submission in slide presentation form is available for download HERE. Links are available to two videos on You Tube (Part 1& Part 2) in which we discuss the poster at the AGU meeting. Please note that since the meeting, we have refined the impact location to the Saginaw Bay area of Michigan. The small version below is linked to a higher resolution pdf.
Two videos filmed by George Howard are available on YouTube. In these videos, our AGU poster is referenced to discuss the distal ejecta conjecture and the Carolina bay inferred alignments. Click on the images below to watch the video. Note that since the AGU Fall Meeting we are now proposing an impact in the Saginaw area vs the Lake Michigan basin, as discussed in the 2nd video.
YouTube videos by George Howard
There are two additional groups of individuals who are attempting to understand the foggy relationship between our cultural heritage and the physical manifestations of the earth's evolution using Science rather than Mythology. A primary goals of this treatise is to introduce the hypothesis to these groups, as they have demonstrated a tolerance for radical and unusually bizarre theories.
The Society of Interdisciplinary Studies
The Cambridge Conference newsletter, hosted by Dr. Benny Peiser.