Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for February 27, 2013
February 26, 2013
February 28, 2013
Transcript:
Austin: Good morning, this is myFACTS, privatizing the truth since 2003. This is Austin. How may I help you? Woman: Yes, I'm trying to teach my kids creationism, so I need some materials to disprove evolution. Can you help? Austin: Yes, ma'am. We have a complete package for debunking evolution in the home. It comes with a plastic teaching model for use in the bathtub. Woman: Bathtub? Austin: It's a fully loaded ark-- complete with drownable dinosaurs!
As with most myths, there is usually a grain of truth in the story.
About 5 millions years ago, (a bit before Noah’s or the Babylonian’s time), the Mediterranean “Sea” was a desiccated basin cut off from the Atlantic by a land bridge across the Gibraltar strait. Then the Zanclean mega flood occurred which filled the basin in a very short time: estimates run from two months to two years. It was caused by a breach in the land bridge which rapidly eroded the dam and resulted in flow rates of up to 100 million cubic meters per second and sea level rises of up to 30 meters per day. 10^8 m^3 is a mind boggling quantity. It is about one third of a cubic kilometer or a volume equal to eleven football fields on a side by one tall. Per second! IIRC, I think I calculated that the flow rates reached 150 km/hr (90 mph). That would be one hunkin’ rafting trip!Hmmm. Although this is an interesting and fun bit of info, and might seem a basis for the flood myth, there is one minor little problem: humans (or pre-humans, ~Neanderthals), didn’t exist until about 300,000 years ago. Oh well, it was a good exercise in refreshing my memory. Enjoy it anyway.Zanclean flood references: BBC Newsand Wikipedia