Wow! Where Do The Hours Go?!

This was definitely news to me!

The massive 8.8 earthquake that struck Chile may have changed the entire Earth's rotation and shortened the length of days on our planet, a NASA scientist said Monday.

The quake, the seventh strongest earthquake

 in recorded history, hit Chile Saturday and should have shortened the length of an Earth day by 1.26 microseconds (millionths of a second), according to research scientist Richard Gross at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

"Perhaps more impressive is how much the quake shifted Earth's axis," NASA officials said in a Monday update.

The computer model used by Gross and his colleagues to determine the effects of the Chile earthquake

 effect also found that it should have moved Earth's figure axis by about 3 inches (8 centimeters or 2.7 milliarcseconds). Earth's figure axis is not the same as its north-south axis, which it spins around once every day at a speed of about 1,000 mph (1,604 kilometers per hour).

Image: NASA Glenn Research Center

The figure axis is the axis around which Earth's mass is balanced. It is offset from the Earth's north-south axis by about 33 feet (10 meters). Strong earthquakes have altered Earth's days and its axis in the past. The magnitude-9.1 Sumatran earthquake in 2004, which set off a deadly

tsunami, should have shortened Earth's days by 6.8 microseconds and shifted its axis by about 2.76 inches (7 centimeters, or 2.32 milliarcseconds).

It did not shift the Earth's axis as far because the earthquake was located nearer the equator.

- msnbc.com

 

 

My question is this: are these axis shifts new, or is our technology just becoming sensitive enough to measure such things...? i think i could research this a little and find out fairly easily, but it's more fun to speculate!

RANT FOR THE PLANET

Well, i haven't had a good rant for a while, here's one near and dear to my heart...

My hubby listens these days to all of those inane conservative talk shows on television (Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, etc) , filled with all those people who just like to hear themselves talk. i think it's a waste of time, but i guess i'm as bad, but in a different way - i don't have any use for anything political at all, and that isn't good,
either - BUT unfortunately, that's how i am.  i can't help but listen to them when DH and i are in the same room, though,and one thing does continually stand out to me - they go on and on about how ridiculous Al Gore is, because there really isn't any global warming, and come up with all sorts of "experts" who have all this proof to that effect.

i myself believe that global warming is an actual problem, and i seriously doubt that we can change the way things are being done in time to prevent Humankind's extermination (Like I say, it's not about "Save The Planet" - the Earth cannot be destroyed by us alone- it's "Save Our Environment" - we only have a tiny window of air and temperature extremes that we can survive in, and if we screw THAT up - well,  remember that little story about dinosaurs and how they

disappeared?...)

Anyhow, on to the point i'm making, which comes from my own simple observations, and that is IT DOESN'T MATTER! Why? OK, say there really IS global warming. Well, we have all heard what the effects could be, so i won't repeat them here. But, what if Al Gore and all those scientists ARE delusional and global warming isn't happening? Everything will be

fine, right? Uh,...no.

We are still polluting our water and air. We are still tearing down the rainforests at an incredible rate. We are still exterminating countless other life forms - Bison, Seals, Frogs, Sharks, Tigers, Whales, and hundreds or thousands of others! Does anyone NOT think that's going to impact US? We still need to change the way we do things to save our

asses, global warming or not!

( Although i do know some "religious" people who think that God put all this on Earth JUST for us to use, so we can use our resources irresponsibly forever - God will provide. How do you reason against THAT way of thinking?) I seriously am not sure why i'm worried about it - i

never had children, so once i'm gone, i really shouldn't care what happens- y'all can take care of yourselves! But still, i recycle and compost and stay away from chemicals when i can - if we do destroy our environment, at least i won't be a part of it...