Posted on Facebook by Bill Halstead today:
Come on, supervolcano! Giant Asteroids keep failing us…
about this American Geographical Society posting on 3/31:
(#1) USGS mapThe new steam vent is part of a rhyolite lava flow, a type of thick, chunky slow-moving lava. Yellowstone National Park sits atop a supervolcano that provides the heat energy for its numerous geothermal attractions. The supervolcano is believed to be due for another major eruption in around 100,000 years, with the potential to produce devastating impacts across North America.
To understand Bill’s comment, you need to know about the news in this headline from The Guardian on 2/24/25:
Chance of giant asteroid hitting Earth in 2032 falls to 0.0017%
Which is to say that the chance of this particular disaster is now negligible. But wait! The Yellowstone supervolcano might erupt. Cataclysmic disaster might yet be on the way.
All very well. But I read failing as falling, and instantly had my mind taken over by the song “Asteroids keep falling on my head”. With visions of space bicycles dancing in my head. Shades of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
April 3, 2025 at 6:30 am |
I had a moment of deep concern when I saw the subject of this post (Oh, no! Did Arnold fall and hit his head?), before I made the Burch Cassidy connection.
April 3, 2025 at 6:50 am |
I will admit to a certain amount of playful misdirection in my title; “Keep falling on my head” would have been considerably less misleading.