Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Greetings Infomaniacs,

Tomorrow, June 30th, 1908, is the 108th anniversary of the Tunguska Event. In a desolate area of Siberia, Russia near the Tunguska River, a massive explosion leveled hundreds of square miles of forest.

To this day, no one knows what caused it.

Enjoy!

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WHO SAID IT?
QUOTE: "There are mysteries which men can only guess at, which age by age they may solve only in part."

HINT: An Irish author, best known today for one of the defining Gothic novels of the late Victorian era.

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RANDOM TIDBITS
A huge mysterious blast rocked eastern Siberia on June 30th, 1908, leaving millions of trees lying on the ground, mostly pointing in the same direction, over an area of many kilometres.

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It was a difficult area to reach at the time and it was not until 1927, nearly 20 years later, that the first Soviet research expedition arrived at the scene.

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It is estimated that the Tunguska explosion knocked down some 80 million trees over an area of 2,150 square kilometres (830 sq mi), and that the shock wave from the blast would have measured 5.0 on the Richter magnitude scale. An explosion of this magnitude would be capable of destroying a large metropolitan area, but due to the remoteness of the location, no fatalities were documented.

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Witnesses from hundreds of miles away reported fire in the sky like 'a second sun', sounds like artillery fire or thunder, a hot wind, the earth shaking, and windows broken and buildings damaged.

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The first conclusion was that a meteor had struck, though scientists were baffled by the absence of a crater. Over the years, a number of theories were put forward to explain what became known as the Tunguska Event. They included claims of an alien spacecraft colliding with Earth, and the sudden appearance of a mini black hole.

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Today, scientists believe they know the answer. It is thought that an incoming meteor or comet exploded on contact with our atmosphere, causing what is known as an air burst five to ten kilometers above the Earth's surface.

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That's the theory, but nobody knows for sure.




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*** Weekly Mind-Scrambler ***
In a pond there are some flowers with some bees hovering over the flowers. How many flowers and bees are there if both the following statements are true: 1. If each bee lands on a flower, one bee doesn't get a flower. 2. If two bees share each flower there is one flower left out.

Submit your answer by clicking: TheDailyTease

Answer will be posted in Friday's Trivia Today. Good Luck! If your name appears in Friday's newsletter, EMAIL MICHELE your complete name and address to be shipped your prize.

Be sure to put "Winner" in the subject line.

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WHO SAID IT?
QUOTE: "There are mysteries which men can only guess at, which age by age they may solve only in part."

ANSWER: Bram Stoker