Bear River Casino 090208

today

8:30 a.m. Audubon Society Field Trip See Event Description

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9 a.m. Arcata Farmers' Market Arcata Plaza

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9:30 a.m. Discovery Walk: Unknown Waterfront See Event Description

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9:30 a.m. Manila Dunes Restoration Manila Community Center

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10 a.m. Manila Dunes Guided Walk Manila Community Center

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10 a.m. Library Book Sale Humboldt County Library

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10 a.m. Dia de los Muertos and Mexican Folk Art Sale Private Eureka home

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10 a.m. Final Arcata Farmer's Market Arcata Farmers' Market (off the plaza)

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11 a.m. Donlin Foreman Dance Workshop Dell'Arte

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2 p.m. Humboldt Coastal Nature Center Draft Trails Plan Walk Stamps House

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5 p.m. Bati Zado and Show Redwood Raks World Dance Studio

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6 p.m. The Tumbleweeds Chapala Cafe

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6 p.m. Ali Chaudhary (jazz duo) Libation

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6:30 p.m. Not Evil, Just Wrong Humboldt Area Foundation

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7 p.m. Guitar Stan (country) Old Town Coffee & Chocolates

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8 p.m. Guitar Orchestra of Barcelona Arkley Center for the Performing Arts

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8 p.m. Stones in His Pockets Arcata Playhouse

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8 p.m. A Christmas Carol North Coast Repertory Theater

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8 p.m. Donna Landry Swing Dance Moose Lodge

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8 p.m. North Coast Wind Ensemble Fulkerson Recital Hall at HSU

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8:30 p.m. The Last Minute Men (international) Cafe Mokka

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9 p.m. Ian McFeron Band (folk rock) Six Rivers Brewery

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9 p.m. The Michael Paul Band WAVE @ blue lake casino

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9 p.m. The Generatorz (classic rock) Central Station Cocktail Lounge

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9 p.m. Taxi Bear River Casino

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9 p.m. VJ Itchie Fingaz Pearl Lounge

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9 p.m. Jack Ruby Presents + Blue Street + Acufunkture (DIY rock) Jambalaya

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9 p.m. 2nd Annual Scorpio Bash The Red Fox Tavern

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10 p.m. Music by DJ Sidelines

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10 p.m. DJ Icy Hot Aunty Mo's Lounge

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10 p.m. Jemimah Puddleduck (rock) Humboldt Brews

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10 p.m. White Manna + Midday Veil + The King Salmon Duo (rock) Jambalaya

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11 p.m. Radio Moscow (psychadelic blues) + Mosquito Bandito (one-man surf/garage) The Alibi Lounge and Restaurant

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previous columns

May 14, 2009

Numbers: Roman, East Arabic and Arabic

As for mankind, numbered are their days/Whatever they achieve is ...

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May 7, 2009

As the Earth Turns

There's stargazing and stargazing. One way is with telescopes and ...

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  • The Barringer Meteor Crater, nearly a mile across and a quarter mile deep, 40 miles east of Flagstaff, Arizona. Phot panorama by Barry Evans. The Barringer Meteor Crater, nearly a mile across and a quarter mile deep, 40 miles east of Flagstaff, Arizona. Phot panorama by Barry Evans.
Impact! 50,000 years B.C.

Impact! 50,000 years B.C.

By Barry Evans

"Whatever created this hole was one scary mother," I thought, two weeks ago, standing on the rim of what's billed as "the first proven, best-preserved, meteor crater on earth." It's so obviously formed by a meteorite (a meteorite is a meteor that makes it to earth before being vaporized) -- perfectly round, steep sided -- that it might have been imported directly from the moon. Yet until 50 years ago, most scientists thought it was probably the caldera of an ancient volcano.

We now know that some 50,000 years ago, a third-of-a-million ton lump of nickel-iron slammed into what was then a grassy plain 40 miles east of present-day Flagstaff, Ariz. The explosion would have dazzled -- right before obliterating -- any wooly mammoths or North American camels in the area. Equivalent to some 150 Hiroshima-size atomic bombs, the impact scattered hundreds of millions of tons of rock onto the surrounding countryside. About half the bulk of the meteorite was vaporized, leaving -- in theory -- a rich lode of metal waiting to be discovered and mined.

That was what mining engineer Daniel Barringer believed, anyway, when President Theodore Roosevelt signed a patent granting him the rights to a square mile of land around the center of the crater in 1903. For the next 25 years, Barringer's Standard Iron Company searched fruitlessly for the remaining metal, hoping to extract it and make huge profits for the shareholders. Years after those efforts were abandoned, the Barringer family made the best of it by turning the huge crater into a tourist attraction, and today you can tour the excellent visitor center and take a guided walk along part of the north rim.

Very little of the actual meteorite has ever been found, which is why the volcanic origin was once favored. Not until 1960, when planetary scientist Eugene Shoemaker identified rare forms of dense silica (created only by nuclear explosions or impacts) at the bottom of the crater, was the meteorite origin completely accepted.

Louisa and I spent a fine couple of hours in the museum and along the crater rim, trying (not very successfully) to imagine the force of the explosion that rent such a vast crater in our planet's crust not so long ago. It's well worth a visit -- we give it four-and-a-half stars.

Barry Evans' preferred means of demise is to be hit by a meteorite, especially in Old Town Eureka, where he lives.

CAPTIONS

The Barringer meteor crater, nearly a mile across and a quarter mile deep, 40 miles east of Flagstaff, Arizona. (Author photo panorama)

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