> Nadeau: 03.11

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Japan earthquake speeds earth spin, shortens day

The massive earthquake that struck northeast Japan Friday (March 11) has shortened the length Earth's day by a fraction and shifted how the planet's mass is distributed.

A new analysis of the 8.9-magnitude earthquake in Japan has found that the intense temblor has accelerated Earth's spin, shortening the length of the 24-hour day by 1.8 microseconds, according to geophysicist Richard Gross at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
And those 1.8 microseconds better come off the 8 to 5 work day and not off the free time part of the day. We have barely have enough time to get the grocery shopping and other errands done as it is.

posted by Tom Nadeau at 2:51 AM 0 comments

Thursday, March 10, 2011

True crime Down Under: It doesn’t get any better

On the surface the most civilised of cities, with a thriving arts and cultural scene, Melbourne has become notorious over the past 15 years as Australia's gangland capital. A long-running turf war between rival crime clans left nearly 30 people dead between 1998 and 2006. The main protagonists are now dead or in jail, but the violence continues" a fortnight ago, a racehorse trainer, Les Samba, was shot dead in a contract-style hit, and this week an infamous underworld matriarch, Judy Moran, was convicted of murdering her brother-in-law.

Judy – wailing "Dessie, Dessie" – was one of the first people on the scene when Desmond "Tuppence" Moran was shot dead in his favourite café in suburban Melbourne in 2009 in front of horrified passers-by. Some witnesses said she should have been jailed there and then for bad acting.

On Wednesday, the hollowness of Moran's show of grief was laid bare, when she was found guilty of orchestrating Des's murder by a gunman whom she patted on the back afterwards, telling him, "Well done". -- More...

posted by Tom Nadeau at 10:56 PM 0 comments