Ask A Genius 1415: Molotov Attack in Boulder and the Volcanic Echoes of Krakatoa
Author(s): Rick Rosner and Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2025/06/06
Rick Rosner is an accomplished television writer with credits on shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Crank Yankers, and The Man Show. Over his career, he has earned multiple Writers Guild Award nominations—winning one—and an Emmy nomination. Rosner holds a broad academic background, graduating with the equivalent of eight majors. Based in Los Angeles, he continues to write and develop ideas while spending time with his wife, daughter, and two dogs.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen is the publisher of In-Sight Publishing (ISBN: 978-1-0692343) and Editor-in-Chief of In-Sight: Interviews (ISSN: 2369-6885). He writes for The Good Men Project, International Policy Digest (ISSN: 2332–9416), The Humanist (Print: ISSN 0018-7399; Online: ISSN 2163-3576), Basic Income Earth Network (UK Registered Charity 1177066), A Further Inquiry, and other media. He is a member in good standing of numerous media organizations.
Rick Rosner recounts a Molotov attack during a pro-hostage rally in Boulder, Colorado, where eight were burned. He and Scott Douglas Jacobsen reflect on the senselessness of civilian-targeted violence and shift to a discussion on Mount Etna and the historical Krakatoa eruption, exploring climate effects and air pollution from volcanic events.
Rick Rosner: Someone set a bunch of people on fire just a hundred feet from where my dad’s store used to be.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Wait, what?
Rosner: Yeah. It happened in Boulder, Colorado, on Pearl Street, between 13th and 14th, near the courthouse. There is a weekly rally to support the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas. Some guy—Egyptian—attacked the demonstrators with homemade Molotov cocktails or a flamethrower device. He set eight people on fire. There are no deaths yet, but one person is in critical condition.
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Jacobsen: Jesus.
Rosner: It happened about 100 feet from my dad’s old store. Boulder is not a vast place—around 100,000 people. It is quiet, mostly. However, stuff like this still happens. A few years ago, a shooter killed ten people at the King Soopers grocery store—just a mile from where my mom lives. So yeah, it is jarring.
That kind of attack accomplishes absolutely nothing. Targeting American Jews in response to what is happening in Israel is just disgusting. It is terrorism. Full stop.
Wanting the hostages released does not justify a violent act against peaceful protesters. Moreover, on the other side, Netanyahu is waging a brutal war—possibly to save himself from prison. He is killing far more innocent Palestinians than necessary. You can be against both. However, attacking civilians accomplishes nothing but harm.
Jacobsen: Speaking of disasters—Mount Etna erupted again.
Rosner: It does that every few decades, right?
Jacobsen: I think so—maybe every thirty to fifty years. I do not know a ton about volcanoes.
Rosner: If a big one went off—like Krakatoa in 1883—it could impact global climate. That eruption led to a “volcanic winter” for about a year. Crops failed. Temperatures dropped. The sunsets were amazing, however.
It spewed so much material into the atmosphere that the entire planet cooled for about a year. We could almost use something like that now—it would buy us a little time, a few years of respite from climate change.
Jacobsen: Did it cause any respiratory issues, however?
Rosner: That is a good question. Volcanic eruptions, such as Krakatoa (1883), did eject particles high into the stratosphere, which blocked sunlight and cooled the Earth. However, did they also push soot and sulphur into the troposphere—where people breathe? Maybe some of it. However, the worst air pollution issues at the time likely stemmed from the Industrial Revolution.
London was notorious for that. They had these deadly fogs—clouds of sulphur dioxide and soot—mixing with the natural fog. It turned into a toxic soup. They called it the “London Fog,” but it was industrial smog. So, any respiratory damage was probably from a combination of that and whatever else was in the air.
It messed some people up. However, the volcano itself mainly primarily affected global temperatures and weather patterns rather than day-to-day air quality in specific locations.
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