Free data broadcaster & gauge kit.

After much procrastination, I am getting around to publicising my latest development, a data broadcaster and receiving device, to be used for whatever projects it may benefit.

I am making these implements free -- both free-of-charge, and freely-modifiable -- in the hopes that they may further the progress of science and industry in Caledon and like-minded communities.

A link to the kit is found at the end of this posting.

INTRODUCTION.

This kit contains two items: a prim scripted to transmit an integer (in degrees, 0-360) on a certain channel, and a receiver contained in a circular gauge. The gauge prim has its texture offset changed such that it indicates the value received (normalised to percentage, in this case).

The scripts and texture are released free of charge, and as open-source. Please improve and extend upon it.

Figure 1. Data transmitter in the path of a mushroom-eating juvenile plesiosaur (Cryptoclidus sp.).

APPLICATION.

Users will wish to replace the data transmitter script with something appropriate to their own work. Out of the box, the transmitter when touched generates a random number representing degrees, converts the floating point result into a string, and broadcasts that string (via llSay) on a channel defined in the script. The script in the receiver (the dial itself, actually) listens on the defined channel for a string. The string is then converted to a floating point value, and the texture offset is changed by value/360 (again, representing degrees).

Must one use degrees? Of course not. The texture offset parameter is a 0.0 to 1.0 range, so a decimal approach is actually simpler than the degree business. (Actually, the texture offset is -1.0 to +1.0; that is, 0 to 1 in both 'forward' and 'backward' directions.)

Why, then, degrees? A reasonable question. The project included the notion of not just changing the texture offset, but actually rotating the dial prim around its Z axis, as an actual dial would do in Real Life. In that case, the state of the dial in degrees (think compass on a ship's binnacle) would be the ideal currency for transmitting. Unfortunately, as your writer did not read maths or physics at university, all that work involving rotations and Euler representations of quaternions had to give way to the more expedient -- and graceful -- method of simply shifting the texture around.

Figure 2. Scientist at leisure outside a public house, viewing transmitted data on the receiving device.

POSSIBLE USES.

The list here is fairly large, limited only by imagination (and the whims of LSL). In short, any programmed system involving multiple objects can use this system to transmit and display numeric data in an analogue fashion. The initially-intended audience consists of steampunk builders, mad scientists, tinkerers, and anyone wishing to dabble in an old-fashioned method of data display.

The current broadcasting method, llSay, has its own caveats. The LSL wiki page on the function is recommended reading. (http://www.lslwiki.net/lslwiki/wakka.php?wakka=llSay)


IMPROVEMENTS.

The author will be happy to hear any suggestions, critiques, and constructive criticism related to this system. Users are asked not to keep their derivative creations hidden under their hats, but rather, to share them with the community. These scripts were not created by an expert, so any formative feedback will be taken in the manner in which it was given.

Figure 3. The location of the items in the offices of the Royal Society.

SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Caledon%20Tamrannoch/133/23/23

Movement of objects between virtual worlds.

In another forum I recently commented upon my success in moving objects from SecondLife into an OpenSim environment, namely, the one on a second machine in my home. For those readers who wish to experience some of this excitement themselves, I offer this recipe.

1. Build something in SL. Go in to 'edit mode', select all the prims in the object, right-click 'take'. Give the resulting inventory item a name.

2. Log out of SL.

3. Download an alternate viewer which allows for object import and export. I used the Meerkat Viewer. Install the new viewer.

4. Log back in to SL. Go to 'edit mode' again, and then rez the object from step no.1 above. Right-click, 'more', 'more', and then select 'export'. Save to your desktop or whereever; an .XML file will be created.

5. Be patient; the viewer will now download the object's description, and each of the textures associated with the object. A progress message will appear; "23 textures remaining..." or somesuch.

6. Once completed, log out of SL.

7. Now, restart the Meerkat viewer, and log in to the alternate grid of your choice. Or, as I did, log in to your very own OpenSim enviroment at home. N.b.: the installation and configuration of one's own OpenSim system is well-beyond the scope of this writing. I encourage interested parties to read the OpenSim documentation at least twice, possibly with a cuppa to aid in concentration.

8. Now that you are logged in to the alternative grid, simply choose 'import' from the 'file' menu, et voilà! You have imported the build from SL to OpenSim.

Caveats:
1. Meerkat only transfers prims and their textures. No scripts are copied over! Those must be copied-and-pasted by hand.
2. The viewer respects permissions, and will only allow the export of items for which you have 'transfer' permission. This is not copybot!
3. Be patient with the import speed. Despite the horrid performance of the LL servers of late, OpenSim does not yet boast any speed records for asset server function, even on a dedicated single machine.




Here is the result, seen in a snapshot from my local OpenSim recreation of Winterfell Eventide, before I had to give it up in the Great Void Sim Debacle of 2008. The entire structure was imported in a single maneuvre. Still in edit mode, I moved the collection of objects to the appropriate coordinates, then left edit mode. I will need to find trees to replace the wonderful Heart Garden Centre birch trees in SL, and bring over my Tunguska stumps &c. to finish the look. But the proof of concept is sound.

Here are some views of Eventide before my exile:









Anyone wishing additional details may contact me at their convenience.

Regards,

Katya.

From the *real* Proceedings: Dangers of Being a Female Spider.

Occasionally, one finds an article outside of one's field of interest, yet requiring attention. This is one of those articles:

Řezáč M. The spider Harpactea sadistica: co-evolution of traumatic insemination and complex female genital morphology in spiders. Proc. R. Soc. B. Published online before print. April 29, 2009, doi:10.1098/rspb.2009.0104

Abstract available here.

This comes via Proceedings "B", the biological sciences journal of the Royal Society in London. (Not to be confused with the Caledonian institution of a similar name.)

Readers with reasonable short-term memory may recall a similar story regarding the mating practices of giant squids, referred to in a prior posting ("Rough sex at 40,000 leagues under the sea.")

Once again, allow me to state my great joy in being a mammal.

--

More available from the BBC: "Spider sex violent but effective."

Good news for catgirls and evil tiny kitties alike.

In a recently-published article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison show that cats' central nervous system can repair itself, restoring function lost to neurological disease.

Duncan ID, Brower A, Kondo Y, Curlee JF Jr, Schultz RD.
Extensive remyelination of the CNS leads to functional recovery.
Proc Nat Acad Sci 2009; published online before print April 2, 2009.
doi:10.1073/pnas.0812500106. (link goes to the abstract; full text available to subscribers)

A less-weighty discussion of the paper is found at Science Daily: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090330200722.htm

This, to me, is brilliant news, especially for the felines among us.

Catgirls: have you noted a decrease in your mental faculties after long sessions of dancing and catnip exposure?

Evil Tiny Kitties: have you longed for a way to reverse the effects of all those neurotoxin experiments gone terribly wrong?

I'm happy to post any anecdotal results to add to the literature.

The Hapmouche Event: Unexplained phenomena in Caledon-on-Sea.

 
(Editor's note: a particular confluence of second- and first-life projects and deadlines have left me a bit behind on keeping up with scientific goings-on. My apologies to readers who have been left adrift without new reading material from the Proceedings. Fortunately, the event described below forced me to again pay proper attention to current happenings.)



Mr Ray Hapmouche forwarded me a curious note earlier this week:

Dear Dr. Nicholas,

I am writing you on the advice of Sir Edward Pearce. It was his opinion the the Royal Society would be best suited to investigate what has occured at my home in Caledon on Sea. Sometime on the 21st of March a flying vehicle of some sort crashed into my beloved home "Portobello". There is very little left of my home or belongings, but there is quite a lot left of the mysterious craft.
Sir Edward, Christine McAllister, and myself were unable to identify the origins of the craft. I am asking the Society to investigate in the name of science and also to ascertain if this vehicle is a threat to Caledon's security.
My home is located in Caledon-on-Sea, 216, 73, 23.

Thank You for Your Time,

MrRay Hapmouche

A most disturbing event, to be sure. No time to waste, then, in investigating the scene of destruction. Unfortunately, Lady Eva seems to be preternaturally preoccupied with decorating her new castle, and Prof. Krogstad obliquely mentioned being deep in preparation for the World Beard and Moustache Championships.

Therefore, I can only present some initial findings; a fuller investigation will have to wait for the return of my sous-scientists.

1 Synoptic view of the destruction.


Clearly a goodly amount of energy expended in the craft's crash - enough to destroy most of Mr Hapmouche's beloved home.


2 The bisected craft. Note lack of charring around crater site.


An interesting find, this: no evidence of thermal (or similar) destruction around the crater. Definite displacement of the soil from the impact, though. Odd red glow from inside the craft.


3 Aft view of the craft. Derby in foreground for scale.


The craft split amidships; unclear if this was the intended opening method (if the craft should open at all), or the result of the excess structural loading at impact.


4 Closest photo attempted. Unusual plaque on hull.


And here is the most interesting bit: an engraved plaque on the hull. Clearly sturdy enough to survive what appears to be an impromptu landing. Symbol-based message; heiroglyphs, or an attempt at meta-language communication?


5 Obvious combustion now visible from Mt Caledon vantage.


Another interesting development. My initial approach to the site was tentative, as there was nothing aflame... yet. Perhaps a non-combustion propulsion system (and with what side-effects to the human body?). But upon my heading back towards Tamrannoch, a wash of heat behind me, and the craft was on fire. This view was from Mt Caledon, with a large safety margin between myself and the conflagration.

Once my wayward comrades return from their own pass-times, we shall be able to put in honest efforts with what I have labeled as the Hapmouche Event.

200+ years ago in the real Proceedings

 
The Royal Society (the scientific academy of the UK, not the Second Life organisation of a similar name) have been publishing scientific findings since 1665. That its journals have hosted an astounding array of seminal discoveries is praise enough, but there is new reason to laud on the Society.

The publishing section (curiously named "Royal Society Publishing") announced that until the end of March 2009, all content (even back to 1665) is open to the public, to celebrate their move to a new content-delivery system.

All content free for another month: I shall pause for a moment to allow my readership to catch its collective breath.

Their understated list "Featured Articles" has a few entries from Isaac Newton, Edmund Halley, Alexander Volta, Edward Jenner, and J. Clerk Maxwell.

Naturally, I dove in to catch up on some back-reading.

In doing so, I came across several entries that seemed apropos given the recent increase in interest in minerals and metallurgy across the Commonwealth associated with the East Avaria Company goings-on.

John Hawkins
Account of the Discovery of Silver in Herland Copper Mine.
Proc. R. Soc. Lond. January 1, 1800 1:42-43.

Of a Peculiar Lead-Ore of Germany, and the Use Thereof.
Phil. Trans. January 1, 1665 1:10-11.

Charles Hatchett
An Analysis of a Mineral Substance from North America,
Containing a Metal Hitherto Unknown.
Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. January 1, 1802 92:49-66.
(open the image for a better view, or follow this link to the full-text PDF)

I suspect now I must comb all the back issues for information on what one can do with mushrooms, as well.

Neanderthal music, heard 30,000 years too late.

As part of the exhibition 'Origins of Early Wales', the National Museum Wales (Amgueddfa Cymru) commissioned an extraordinary composition: music of the Neanderthals. Musician Simon Thorne produced a 75-minute work of what he reckoned Neanderthal vocal and instrumental music sounded like.

Granted, we shall never truly know exactly what the Neanderthals sounded like*, but Mr Thorne has given us an intriguing reconstruction. His work is bolstered by findings in a couple of recent books concerning the topic (admittedly, a niche topic).

The Singing Neanderthals
The Origins of Music, Language, Mind, and Body
Steven Mithen, Harvard University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-674-02192-1

The Mind in The Cave
Consciousness and the Origins of Art
David Lewis-Williams, Thames & Hudson, 2004. ISBN 0-500-28465-2

Results from the ongoing sequencing of the Neanderthal genome suggest that they share a conserved version of the FOXP2 gene, first speculated to spread through the Homo genus before the divergence of the species. The FOXP2 gene is thought to be closely associated with speech, and interested readers should read the linked references for further information. In short, FOXP2 confers some part of the vocal phenotype we humans enjoy.

As an amateur linguist, I found it thrilling to imagine the story of Beowulf being told around Anglo-Saxon hearths circa 500 A.D., and am even further intrigued by the concept of reconstructions of a Proto-Indo-European language, the language spoken 5 to 10 thousand years ago which gave birth to a majority of extant world languages today.

Imagine, then, my excitement at the possibility of hearing -- even just for 'show' -- singing from 30,000 years ago. The mind boggles, and I shall require a moment to recuperate afterwards.

--
* I have often accused my dear sister Sophie of sounding like a cavewoman when she would sing in the shower, but I suspect that's just a bit of sibling rivalry at work.
--
Neanderthal picture attribution is here.

The Avarian Expedition: initial notes

I have received this via notecard from Prof Krogstad, who has travelled to Avaria and begun to examine the flora and fauna, looking for connexions to emerging Caledonian specimens.

This is all I have so far: the notecard, and a photograph. When pressed for more information, he cited some important sporting event as the reason he was out-of-world, and could not be bothered for additional discussion.

Avaria Sav
local night; 1445 - 1515 SLT
occasional rain showers
sickle tool

130, 122
large branch, branch, dandelion

151, 51
wild onion

167, 178
garlic, large branch

154, 190
grass sheaf, chevril

112, 190
basil, wild beet

101, 152
sorrel

121, 150
bark chunk, sorrel, wild turnip

204, 154
branch, grass sheaf, large branch

225, 142
wild carrots, branch

228, 142
large branch, wild turnip

235, 168
bark chunk, garlic

241, 223
branch, bark chunk, grass sheaf

notes:
(1) HUD "locator" button turns from green to "?" when each harvest site empty
(2) all of these are labelled as one use only
(3) need to check sites out during local daylight

By my reckoning, Prof Krogstad found the basis for an interesting rustic stew, or the ex-Deutsche Demokratische Republik flag with the sickle and wheat sheath.

Ms Tanarian Davies has taken the lead in organising information on the Avarian discoveries, and I recommend her journal to you for additional reading.

By the look of things, a wealth of discoveries are poised for the, well, discovery. Knowledge of the Avarian biome will advance our understanding of the natural resources of Our Fair Caledon.

Advertisement: New Snow-Making Equipment

If you are one of the many (dozens?) of persons who love the beauty of snow -- and who doesn't down deep inside, really? -- the Royal Society for the Advancement of Knowledge in the Natural Sciences is proud to offer you new SNOW-MAKING EQUIPMENT.

Derived from the still-secret technology behind the Loch Avie Cryogenic Seasonal Support System, this personal-sized snow-making device is IDEAL for use around your home, office, or lair.
This kit offers one water pump, copyable copper piping, and as many copies of the REVOLUTIONARY small-sized snow blower as you care to have.

To complete the effect, which numerous persons have called EXTRAORDINARY, your are provided, gratis, with a pile of manufactured snow, with full mod- and copy- permissions.
In no time at all, the discerning snow enthusiast can push back the forces of nature, and re-claim the charm of winter the whole year 'round!

A demonstration model has been set up in Caledon Tamrannoch where one can MARVEL at this new technological wonder.
This apparatus is offered for the reasonable price of L$ 100, which is roughly $US 0.41, or € 0,31, or £ 0.26.

Why not make this small investment in your PEACE OF MIND, knowing that winter (or some semblance of it) will always be at your fingertips?

Regards,

Kate Nicholas, FRS

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Caledon%20Tamrannoch/121/16/22

Have Gunbunnies Met Their Match? Zoology Update.

The BBC are reporting today on a particularly rare creature, the Hispaniolan solenodon, which has as its main distinguishing characteristic that it is a venomous mammal.

The astute readership of this journal has likely already noted the lack of solenodon Tiny or Anthropomorphic avatars available. Most likely this is due to the obscurity of these animals, and not their unique rat-vs-shrew looks, or certainly, their ability (rare in Mammalia) to inject venom during a biting attack.
Another peculiar (and one might rightly say, disturbing) feature of the solenodon is that the young stay close to their mother by "hanging on to her elongated teats", as one article states. Of note, these teats are located near the buttocks of the creature, an arrangement that may make one glad not to be a juvenile solenodon.

They also have odoriferous glands in the groin and armpits which are reported to give off a goat-like smell. These particular traits may explain the lack of widespread interest in solenodon anthropomorphic roleplay, at least in most social circles.

Normally solitary, solenodons only seek out their own for mating, after which they retreat from one another.

They are said to be easily-provoked, biting and squealing upon the slightest stimulus. However, when they sense they are being pursued as prey, their behaviour tends towards remaining motionless, and hiding the head -- not a particularly advantageous adaptation, which perhaps explains their endangered status.


So, perhaps, the initial thought that this venomous mammal would be a reasonable match against the Caledonian gunbunny was off-base. Granted, the solenodons have the advantage in the venom category, and they are ferocious in their own right. However, L. caledoniensis takes the lead in indefatigability, panache, derring-do, and loyalty.

Salinity Data for Caledonian Waterways.

A conversation on Caledon state chat yesterday raised the question of whether a certain body of water in Caledon was fresh, brackish, or seawater.

Fortunately, a prior field expedition which surveyed waterways around the Independent State had also collected surface salinity data. These results had been unpublished (and not updated after recent cataclysmic tectonic activity), but seeing as how at least one of our citizens would find the information useful, I exercised my editorial powers to publish the data without their as-yet-unfinished analysis.

This illustration shows the surface salinity in parts-per-thousand, mapped on a spectrum from green (fresh water) to blue (sea water). Brackish water is defined as having a salt concentration of 0.5 to 30 parts per thousand.*

A cursory view shows that the Independent State is fresh-water replete in areas with higher elevation. The Firth tends toward mild brackishness towards the east, and more pronounced to the west and the open sea. Lower-lying areas show a more-rapid increase in salinity as a function of distance from shore.

Limitations of these results include a lack of sampling at depth, no correction for water temperature, and a lack of readings across time (meaning that any diurnal or seasonal variations are unknown. The Winterfallen waters north of Caledon remain unstudied.

Readers wishing some advice on which fish ought to be introduced to a nearby stream, which plants may flourish at a given location, or simply where to refill one's canteen may find this map useful.

Regrettably, a lack of grant funding current prevents further data collection or analysis, at least at present.

* The actual phenomenon being measured is not salinity but rather halinity, a measure of the halide content of water. This should not be confused with conductivity (measuring the ionic content of water), or turbidity (measuring the particulate matter content), though each of these measurements overlap to some degree.

Oceanography update: Rough Sex at 40k Leagues Under the Sea

From Scientific American, an article regarding the mating habits of squid that makes one glad to be a mammal:

http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=rough-sex-at-40000-leagues-under-th-2008-12-24

"What do you do to pass on your genes to the next generation if you are really hard up, it’s too dark to see clearly and you are literally under enormous pressure? The short answer: play rough and weird."

To cross over into anthropology for a moment, I would venture to say that "rough and wierd" may describe a fair amount of activity in SL. Just an educated guess, that is.

Public Health update: Papal mortality and Welsh rugby

The most recent issue of the British Medical Journal, the Christmas edition, continues the tradition of prior years in reporting on the truth (or lack thereof) in popular medical knowledge.

Here is a sample of one of the medical myths put to the test:

Payne GC, Payne RE, Farewell DM. Rugby (the religion of Wales) and its influence on the Catholic church: should Pope Benedict XVI be worried? BMJ 2008;337:a2768. doi:10.1136/bmj.a2768

Objective: To explore the perceived wisdom that papal mortality is related to the success of the Welsh rugby union team.

Design: Retrospective observational study of historical Vatican and sporting data.

Main outcome measure: Papal deaths between 1883 and the present day.

Results: There is no evidence of a link between papal deaths and any home nation grand slams (when one nation succeeds in beating all other competing teams in every match). There was, however, weak statistical evidence to support an association between Welsh performance and the number of papal deaths.

Conclusion: Given the dominant Welsh performances of 2008, the Vatican medical team should take special care of the pontiff this Christmas.

A link to the editorial covering all the myth-busting articles can be found here:

Delamothe T. Editor's Choice: Everything you know is wrong. BMJ 2008;337:a3027. doi:10.1136/bmj.a3027

Archæology: top ten discoveries of 2008.

Archaeology Magazine has again given us their list of the top ten archaeologic discoveries of the year.

The year is not quite exhausted, however, leaving enough hope that one may still yet unearth something truly wonderful in the waning days of December.

However, I am certain that this one find (mentioned tangentially in the above top 10 list), will be hard to top:

Gilbert TP et al. DNA from Pre-Clovis Human Coprolites in Oregon, North America. Science 2008; 320 (5877): 786-789. DOI: 10.1126/science.1154116
http://www.scienceonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/320/5877/786

The interested reader may search for the images of the artefacts via the usual routes; I have a strict no-fæces-images rule for this site.

And if one of my readers does come upon something to challenge the abovementioned top ten discoveries, or even the coprolites, please forward the details straightaway. You may use your judgement in forwarding actual samples.

A great day, comrades: we sim into history.

As I was subject to a fair amount of unclaimed time this weekend, I took on a new project: running an OpenSimulator environment at home.

Using a somewhat-recent personal computer running Windows (a choice of necessity, not preference, I assure you), I successfully installed and configured diverse and arcane files.

Then, using the better parts of my talents (the creative ones, as opposed to technical), I designed and placed 4 sims on my grid.

Photographic proof is as follows:

Fig. 1: in which I tolerate the Windows interface.

Fig. 2: in which I claim these sims in the name of Caledon, ex patria.

The fact that I can log in to my grid from my laptop and play with 4 sims, each with 45000 available prims, is awesome, as in full-of-awe. (Compare the Russian word грозныи, grozny.)

The area is desolate, though, and bereft of state channel chatter, or any friends visiting -- a definite shortcoming.

A full discussion of materials and methods for this experiment will be available upon request.

A Summary of Effects of Recent Changes by Linden Lab.

Linden Lab, unaware that they are actually an entertainment provider, successfully decreased the entertainment value of their product, simultaneously increasing customer ill-will towards them.

To prove this, I have the statistics and p-values and references &c. laying around here somewhere ... but suddenly, I just don't feel like writing.

Editorial: Instability of Saint Kitt Islands.

Recently, I began a review of the Tunguska Event, a cataclysmic explosion which leveled thousands of square kilometres of Siberian forest. The initial lack of attention paid by the scientific community, due to the remoteness of the disaster and relatively low loss of life, belied the severity of the event.

More recently, I have been informed that certain parties have deemed Saint Kitt Islands to be safe for general public activity. I am afraid that the available data do not support such a conclusion, and that over-confident reliance on such advice may result in terrible loss.

I would refer the reader to another August, just a few years back, in 1883, when the island of Krakatoa between Sumatra and Java detonated with world-wide effects. Tsunamis were observed throughout the neighbouring coasts, as far away as South Africa. Wave height monitors recorded fluctuations from the event in the Thames. Noctilucent clouds were observed from the ejecta, as with Tunguska.

The data that Professor Krogstad and I gathered predict that significant seismic activity is not only possible, but is imminent.

Saint Kitt Islands were formed from volcanic activity resulting in an island and atoll. The weathering patterns on the volcano itself suggest a young age, perhaps under 50 years. Seismic activity predicts potential surrounding activity, consistent with known patterns of island-building volcanic activity. Seawater temperatures surrounding the island (unpublished data) point towards other submarine volcanic activity in the area. Further geophysical studies will be required to determine the amount and extent of landmass building that has occurred in the region.

Krogstad A, Nicholas K. A biologic and geologic survey of Saint Kitt Islands. Proc Royal Soc 1898 ; 5.

At the time of the initial survey, the cauldron was quiet, and no evidence of volcanic activity was apparent. Even the casual lay-observer on St Kitt now can see the evidence of accelerated instability from the volcano and surrounding sea bed.

Based on the available evidence, allow me to illustrate my prediction for the very near future of our beloved crown colony:






I shall be in contact with the Guvnah straightaway, and I will urge the public not to congregate on or near Saint Kitt Islands, for fear of a disaster of eschatologic proportions.

If any reader wishes to see the raw data upon which these recommendations are based, please contact me at your leisure.

In assistance to Caledon, I remain,
your humble servant,

Kate Nicholas, FRS

Tunguska, part 2.

The Tunguska event occurred at a remote time in a remote place. This fact has served both to add mystery to the story, and to frustrate those interested in knowing what happened.


The explosion was centered in the middle of Siberia, some 1000 km northwest of Lake Baikal (the largest freshwater lake in the world).

To reach the site, one could start from the Imperial capital of St Petersburg, taking the overnight train to Moscow.

From Moscow, one would board the still-new Trans-Siberian Railroad, leaving again in the evening, heading east towards the Urals, through Ekaterinaburg (where the Tsar and his family would be killed by the Bolsheviks), then skirting the edge of Kazakhstan, through Novosibirsk, then Krasnoyarsk, then to the town of Tayshet.

This town is at the 'shoulder' of the curve where the railroad turns to the southeast, to Irkustk and Lake Baikal.

From Tayshet, then, one must hire teamsters: horse-drawn sledges would provide the best transport over still-primitive roads.

Head north-east, passing well-west of Bratsk, and after 500 km or so, one would reach the town (although that would be a generous description) of Vanavara.

Vanavara lies about 70 km to the southeast of the Tunguska site. This is a small settlement with a trading post, and really the closest developed area to the site.

From here, one would need to speak with the indigenous people, the Tungus (now known as the Evenks), for guidance on reaching the blast centre.

This area of Siberia is still unpopulated and undeveloped in 1908. The Tungus people live as reindeer herders, maintaining a semi-nomadic culture in the forest. The western settlers are here as hunters and trappers and such, or here to escape the reach of the Tsar's empire.

After the "reforms" of the church in 1652 by Patriarch Nikon, the so-called Old Believers who did not support the changes were exiled to Siberia. A number of these staroobryadtsy ("old ritualists") lived in the area. (Due to a difference in how times of the day were called by the Old Believers -- compare our uses of "dinner" and "supper" in English -- their testimonies about the disaster would be called inconsistent with those of the other population.)

The wilderness around the Tunguska site is made up of taiga forest, a sub-arctic type of biome consisting of coniferous trees, and only the hardiest of deciduous trees, e.g. spruce, larch. The forest is dense, and the ground cover is moss and lichen. A forest fire, started by lightning, had destroyed a considerable area about one hundred years prior, and most of the trees that would be claimed in the blast would be only 100 years old.

The Tungus tribe gave its name to two rivers in the area, tributaries of the great Yenisei which flows north into the Arctic Ocean: the Nizhnyaya ("Lower") Tunguska and Podkamennaya ("Stony") Tunguska rivers. "Stony" is the usual English translation, but it literally means "under-stone", as the river flows under pebbles for part of its course. The Stony Tunguska is the closest to the blast site.

What would become the epicentre is a swamp; the first expedition to the site in 1927 would label them the Northern and Southern Swamps. Flies and mosquitoes form large clouds over the swamps during the short-but-hot summers. Other wildlife in the region are reindeer (a herd of 700 or so kept by the tribesmen), bears, turkeys, and smaller forest mammals.

The Tungus practice a animistic/naturalistic polytheistic religion. The loan-word "shaman" comes from their language, and coincidentally, a shaman of one of the local tribes would be blamed (or lauded, depending on which tribe was doing the talking) for the blast, having called down the wrath of Agdy, the god of thunder.

By all accounts, the morning of June 30 was clear, hot, and dry. There were no clouds in the skies over most of the region. It was a Tuesday; by the old-style Julian calendar, it was the 17th of June, one week before the feast of the nativity of St John the Forerunner for the Orthodox, and close to the summer solstice for the Tungus' native religion.

What happened next was otherworldly: at 7:14 AM local time, an explosion occurred near 60 degrees north latitude and 101 degrees east longitude, destroying some 10,000 square kilometres of forest.

The Tunguska Event at 100.

On June 30, 1908 (NS) *, at 7:14 A.M., a massive explosion occurred in the taiga forest deep in Siberia, near the Tunguksa river, leveling trees up to 30 km away from the centre of the blast, and causing global climatic and geophysical sequelae.

This event has captured the enduring interests of scientists, both professional and laymen, and has intertwined itself in popular culture, science fiction, and conspiracy theories.



The devastation, as recorded by Leonid Kulik during expeditions beginning in 1921, would remain unparalleled until the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

While the immediate effects of the explosion were confined to the swamps and forest within 40-50 km of the centre, the blast caused a number of global atmospheric phenomena, e.g., noctilucent clouds which made it possible to read the newspaper, or take photographs at night, in London. Seismometers read tremors that would register in the 5s on the modern Richter scale, and microbarometers recorded a shock wave that traveled around the globe at least twice before dissipating.

The local tribesmen thought that the wrath of the thunder god Agdy had been brought down by a neighbouring tribe's shaman. Peasant villagers sent a delegation to the local archpriest to ask how the preparations for the end of the world were coming along. Scientists in the European capitals tried to connect the phenomena of the atmospheric and geologic activities.

In this modern day of instant access to all manner of information (I am currently watching lightning-strike data superimposed on a Doppler radar loop, as storms approach from the west), it is hard to imagine that an event of the magnitude of Tunguska could occur without some knowledge of just what happened.

Over the next few days I will be presenting some further discussion regarding the event, which connects to several points of our collective Victorian/steampunk experience.

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* The local date was June 17 using the so-called "Old Style" Julian calendar. The majority of the west had already adopted the Gregorian (or "New Style") calendar, but the Russians, being, well, Russian and Orthodox, did not take well to innovation, especially innovation coming from the Bishop of Rome. But that is clearly a story for another day.