Happy Anniversary

It was exactly 100 years ago this very minute that a mysterious, massive explosion occurred over the skies of Siberia, flattening 800 square miles of trees and knocking people hundreds of miles away off their feet.

The exact cause of the Tunguska Event (named for a river in the area) remains unknown, but most scientists think it was either an asteroid or comet. One of the difficulties in pinning down the exact nature of what happened is that there is no actual crater. The reason, say some experts, is that the object either exploded or vaporized in the atmosphere before actually reaching the ground. More recently, other scientists have discovered that remains of whatever did hit the Earth may be buried in a nearby lake.

There are, of course, plenty of other theories. Most are dismissed as downright ridiculous by the established scientific community. One holds that the nuclear power plant of an alien spaceship malfunctioned and blew up. Another theory is that the Earth encountered a small chunk of antimatter. And a more recent idea is that there was a huge release of methane from underground that somehow ignited.

Then there's my own personal theory, completely unfounded in rational thought and without a modicum of evidence to back it up, except for my personal interpretation of the Bible: A herd of caribou in the Tunguska region had recently legalized same sex marriage, and God was smiting them.