The Clockwork Mansion

The Grand Hallway => The Outer Fortress => Topic started by: Alondro on September 18, 2007, 07:30:39 AM

Title: The Andromeda Strain! Oh Noes! D:
Post by: Alondro on September 18, 2007, 07:30:39 AM
Ack!  Diseases from space have come!  We're all doomed! D:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070918/sc_afp/peruhealthoffbeat

I wonder.
Title: Re: The Andromeda Strain! Oh Noes! D:
Post by: llearch n'n'daCorna on September 18, 2007, 07:40:20 AM
heh. I doubt it, somehow.

Possibly something like a noxious gas given off by the boiling crater. That certainly seems more likely to me.
Title: Re: The Andromeda Strain! Oh Noes! D:
Post by: Jim Halisstrad on September 18, 2007, 07:46:10 AM
Between this and the radiation leak in Japan there better be some giant monsters soon or I'ma going to be very disappointed.
Title: Re: The Andromeda Strain! Oh Noes! D:
Post by: Alondro on September 18, 2007, 08:07:06 AM
Yeah, I think the reports of boiling water coming out of the crater are a clue.  It might have hit a toxic waste dump or something.   :P

But no!  I DEMAND space diseases!  Must have chaos and doom for humanity!  >:O
Title: Re: The Andromeda Strain! Oh Noes! D:
Post by: Turnsky on September 18, 2007, 08:21:39 AM
"and slowly, but surely, they drew their plans against us"  >:3
Title: Re: The Andromeda Strain! Oh Noes! D:
Post by: Alondro on September 18, 2007, 08:26:03 AM
Nice "War of the Worlds" quote there.

I have the book!   :razz
Title: Re: The Andromeda Strain! Oh Noes! D:
Post by: Turnsky on September 18, 2007, 08:31:07 AM
Quote from: Alondro on September 18, 2007, 08:26:03 AM
Nice "War of the Worlds" quote there.

I have the book!   :razz

i have the Jeff Wayne musical version on CD.
Title: Re: The Andromeda Strain! Oh Noes! D:
Post by: llearch n'n'daCorna on September 18, 2007, 08:58:12 AM
I have neither, have never heard the version they played on the radio, haven't read the book in probably 17 years, and still managed to recognise the quote.

I must be a geek. ;-]
Title: Re: The Andromeda Strain! Oh Noes! D:
Post by: Alondro on September 18, 2007, 09:50:07 AM
*nods*  Yes, you are.  But then, I still recognize it after a decade, so I'm not far behind!

Anyway, another possibility is that this meteorite punched into an underground lake filled with high concentrations of sulfuric acid and hydrogen sulfide.  That would explain an odd smell that made people ill, not to mention whatever other compounds could be formed from that mix from the heat of the impact.
Title: Re: The Andromeda Strain! Oh Noes! D:
Post by: Fuyudenki on September 18, 2007, 11:36:38 AM
Quote from: Alondro on September 18, 2007, 08:07:06 AM
Yeah, I think the reports of boiling water coming out of the crater are a clue.  It might have hit a toxic waste dump or something.   :P

But no!  I DEMAND space diseases!  Must have chaos and doom for humanity!  >:O

You work in a biology lab.  Of COURSE you'd want that, they'll be running to you to fix the problem!

hey, look, free funding.
Title: Re: The Andromeda Strain! Oh Noes! D:
Post by: TheGreyRonin on September 18, 2007, 01:42:20 PM
Quote from: Jim Halisstrad on September 18, 2007, 07:46:10 AM
Between this and the radiation leak in Japan there better be some giant monsters soon or I'ma going to be very disappointed.

Once again, ladies and gentlemen, Jim Halisstrad FTW.

(Gamera! Yay!)
Title: Re: The Andromeda Strain! Oh Noes! D:
Post by: xHaZxMaTx on September 18, 2007, 05:51:24 PM
I was going to say this reminded me of that one book by Michael Crichton, but I couldn't remember the name of it, so I looked it up on Wikipedia - The Andromeda Strain. :B
Title: Re: The Andromeda Strain! Oh Noes! D:
Post by: Zedd on September 18, 2007, 06:34:24 PM
I wonder if we would horidly mutate
Title: Re: The Andromeda Strain! Oh Noes! D:
Post by: Alondro on September 20, 2007, 09:01:13 AM
Some people think now that the crater was geological in origin, a guyser.  However, while there is certainly a big puddle in the crater, it is not boiling now, and that hypothesis doesn't take into account numerous eyewitnesses who saw meteor fall.  The odds of a bollide (exploding meteor) coinciding with a totally random geothermal explosion is almost impossibly small.

Not to mention, the crater picture that I've seen doesn't look at all like a water/mud eruption from below.  No, I stick my hypothesis that the meteor punched into water underground that's either contaminated with pollutants that were vaporized into noxious gasses or the water itself had high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide and sulfuric acid, both of which can cause serious illness if inhaled.  A hot metal meteor under the water would naturally cause the boiling that was seen, and also explain why it is no longer boiling, as it has cooled.

If that is the case, it will be known once the crater is excavated, because the meteor will still be there.

UPDATE:  Seems to be a meteor, but there's still debate as evidence points to a stony type, which shouldn't have made it down intact. http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/070919_ap_meteorite_peru.html