Is The Earth's Rotation Changing? 372
Roland Piquepaille writes "We all know about the current controversies associated with the ozone layer or the global warming phenomenon. Now, the NASA's Earth Science Enterprise (ESE) is warning us that atmospheric changes or El Niño events can affect the Earth's rotation. During El Niño years, for example, the rotation of the Earth may slow ever so slightly because of stronger winds, increasing the length of a day by a fraction of a millisecond. David A. Salstein, an atmospheric scientist from Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc., led a recent study about this possible effect. Salstein looked at meteorological and astronomical measurements from different sources and found they were in good agreement. Check this column for a synthesis. For technical explanations, images and animations, please read this NASA paper, Changes in the Earth's rotation are in the wind."
well known (Score:5, Funny)
Days getting longer? (Score:5, Funny)
PS3 consequence? (Score:2, Funny)
Beans! (Score:2, Funny)
And I thought the day only felt longer after eating at a Mexican restaurant.
SUPERMAN! (Score:5, Funny)
Wait a second... (Score:5, Funny)
Superman? (Score:3, Funny)
Should have known... (Score:2, Funny)
Wait a minute.... (Score:3, Funny)
When did life turn into a Hilary Swank action flick? [imdb.com]
OK, there's only one way to solve this ... (Score:5, Funny)
Everybody run east as fast as you can, to speed the Earth up again!
/me waits for hundreds of pedantic comments explaining why this wouldn't work
Re:Hey, subscriptions aren't working... (Score:5, Funny)
Try moving towards the screen really fast. It should look green then. Of course, make sure you stop before you run into the screen, because a collision with a monitor at speeds close to the speed of light might hurt.
Earth rotational slashdot effect (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Oh great, (Score:5, Funny)
This is clearly a problem with SUVs. A vehicle as heavy as an SUV puts down a trememdous amount of torque when it moves, and this action, combined with the great suburban conspiracy of living to the East of their workplace (you go faster going home, so more torque to slow down the Earth), are creating this problem.
Re:Well, duh (Score:5, Funny)
http://www.poleshiftprepare.com/poleshift.htm
"I myself have outstanding personal knowledge and conviction that the cataclysms will occur in May 2003, which is why I am openly stating this on the Internet, and appealing to similar individuals who wish to take steps in preparing for it."
IT MAY SEEM FUNY NOW BUT U THANK HIM & HIS OUTSTNADING CONVICTION TO TELL US ON TEH INTRANET WHEN TEH POLE SHFITS MAY 2003!!!11 PREPAR URSELF!!!
^-- How my IQ dropped after reading his article... I guess it's the Internet we love and hate.
Related Topic? (Score:0, Funny)
Though I'm sure our *smirking chimp* hasn't considered this, or any of the other implications of this massive stupidity we are embarked on.
Re:SUPERMAN! (Score:2, Funny)
What they're saying is that now, we don't NEED a mythical being like superman to accomplish time travel. Now, we can just release some really fucked up greenhouse gasses and eventually mess with air currents enough that time travel will be easy and real.
I wouldn't buy my voodoo 3 either.
Re:OK, there's only one way to solve this ... (Score:3, Funny)
People banging on about el nino (Score:3, Funny)
Does this mean .... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Beans! (Score:2, Funny)
And I thought the day only felt longer after eating at a Mexican restaurant.
I think it's clear that the real culprit is windmills. If wind pushing on the Earth makes its rotation slow down, it logically follows that the more surface area to be pushed on, the greater the effect, whether or not you eat Mexican food. This means that those giant canvas sails on windmills aren't just grinding grain for Dutchmen in their clogs, they're lengthening the day! I've seen many other posts here lauding the extended day for a variety of reasons, but a longer day is simply no good, as Sealab 2021 is already shown on TV far too infrequently, and those fractions of a millisecond add up over the course of a week! Our only possible course of action: demolish all windmills, so we can see our delicious animation seven fractions of a millisecond sooner every week. Yup, no choice but to destroy all windmills... and that damn Sydney opera house.
YOU SHOULD ALL BE PANICKING! (Score:1, Funny)
As we can see, the Earth slowing down will actually cause the moon to gradually become closer to the earth over time, eventually leading it to knock God-fearing Conservative anti-ballilstic-missle satellites out of orbit or-- even worse-- eventually strike the earth, ending all life on earth.
It is clear that this is just what the Liberals want. How did they cause this? The answer is obvious. The "Global Warming" myth was first perpetuated in 1979 (link [vision.net.au]) by the well-known Liberal, Margaret Thatcher from socialist Britain-- 1979, the same year that the tidal effect on the Moon was first discovered. It is clear that the so-called "global warming" effect was simply a straw man created by the Liberal establishment in order to have an excuse to put into place measures that would cause the slowing-down-of-the-earth effect needed to correct the mistakes in the design of their "Moon" weather balloon and cause the destruction of God-fearing Conservative satellites, thus increasing America's moral decay. Fact: This "El Nino" phenomenon did not take place once-- ever-- before the institution of so-called "anti-global-warming" measures such as the banning of CFCs. As proof, i point you to the last 80 years of "Time" magazine, preserved in my attic, in which El Nino is never mentioned prior to the 90s, even despite the well-known Liberal influences on the magazine.
I think the course of action is clear to all of us. I encourage you all to do your duty as americans, and do what must be done, about this moral scourge on God's Earth's natural rotation.
Great (Score:2, Funny)
g
Re:Oh great, (Score:3, Funny)
I mean if 25% are going due north, 25% due south, 25% east, 25% west then the net effect would be 0.
I'm more worried that people in North America are getting fatter, making the earth lopsided. So far it's just USA and Canada putting on the weight. Luckily those earth-conscious Mexicans are starving themselves to counter the effect.
Re:Days getting longer? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:OK, there's only one way to solve this ... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:well known (Score:5, Funny)
A flat earth, it's not just a good idea; it's the truth.
All together now... (Score:5, Funny)
Face east, and...
BLOW...
now face west and...
SUCK
Re:Days getting longer? (Score:2, Funny)
Ill bet my bastard boss is gonna try and get that time outa me too!
Root Cause (Score:3, Funny)
Every week (Score:5, Funny)
Yes, and they're working on it (Score:2, Funny)
Re:SUPERMAN! (Score:3, Funny)
The answer, my friend... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Root Cause (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Earth rotation is slowing continually... (Score:2, Funny)
I doubt it is linear. The moon gets further and further from earth as it steals its rotational momentum. The further away it gets, the less the affect. BTW, the Sun is also doing the same to Earth that the Earth is doing to the moon.
The moon must have looked big and romantic back when bacteria reigned supreme. No wonder there are so many of them.
Simple (Score:3, Funny)
Re:well known (Score:3, Funny)
Obviously, you are not nearly up to the state of science in Earthism. Of course the world is both flat and round (think a round piece of cardboard). And it rotates around the earth axis, which is mouted under the temple rock in Jerusalem (you did know that the middle of the earth is in Jerusalem, right?).
Now, in El Nino years, all the scientists move to South America to study the phenomenon. South America is on the outermost fringe of the flat world (as is North America), hence they move mass from near the center (Europe) to the fringe. So to maintain angular momentum, rate of rotation has to slow down.
Now since this information is out, more scientists are going to study El Nino, of course, making the problem worth. And once the US scientists (being slightly slower and always behind) notice this and flock to Peru to, we can even expect the world topple over. If George Bush were slightly smarter, he would move troops to South Korea, to balance things. Moving them to Iraq helps with the rotation problem, but not with the toppling problem...
Bah - I change the earth's rotation regularly (Score:3, Funny)
Conservation of angular momentum.