Center for Short-Lived Phenomena
The Center for Short-Lived Phenomena (CSLP) was an office at the
CSLP published a series of scientific reports on unusual phenomena, as well as a 1972 paperback collection of unusual phenomena entitled Strange, Sudden, and Unexpected: True stories from the files of the Smithsonian Institution's Center for Short-lived Phenomena (
- The 1970 Ancash earthquake and mudslide on Huascarán that consumed the town of Yungay, Peru.
- Floating islands
- A short-lived volcanic island in Tonga[3]
- A report on the extinction of the Kouprey, later found to be incorrect.
- The 1970 flood of Bangladesh.
CSLP restructured in 1975, with some activities moved to other portions of the Smithsonian to become the Scientific Event Alert Network, and eventually the Global Volcanism Program.[4] Some of its activities and data were subsequently maintained and operated as an independent non-profit entity under the Center for Short-Lived Phenomena name. CSLP was hired by Cahners Publishing Co. (since acquired by Reed-Elsevier) in 1977 to provide the pilot editorial content for the Oil Spill Intelligence Report newsletter. That publication was the first for Cahners' Newsletter Center business unit, later spun off as Cutter Information Corp (now Cutter Consortium). CSLP continued under contract to Cahners and then Cutter for such content for several years.
The CSLP features as a plot point in Renata Adler's influential novel Speedboat.
References
- ^ Small, Lawrence M. (February 2002). "Keepers of the Flames". Smithsonian.
- ^ "Record Unit 607: Center for Short-lived Phenomena (Cambridge, Massachusetts), Records, 1968-1974". Finding Aids to Official Records of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution Archives.
- ^ "Metis Shoal". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution.
- ^ "About Volcanic Activity Reports". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution.
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