Quake Changes Earth's Rotation, Moves Islands

kernel panic attack writes "This week's deadly Asian Quake and Tsunami may have been so powerful, that it changed the rate of Earth's rotation. In a Reuters article, a NASA geophysicist theorizes that the quake compacted the Earth enough to speed up the planet's rotation by 3 microseconds. A second article says the quake moved undersea tectonic plates by up to 98 feet, shifting islands near Sumatra out to sea an unknown distance. Also, a USGS team wants images from commercial satellite operators to help pinpoint coastline damage. Lastly, an interesting article from the Australian Spaceguard Survey about the need for a Tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean. The author comments that tsunami warnings may not help much, as people often flock to the coastline to see the giant waves." The current estimated death toll is now nearly 70,000; Amazon and Google, among others, have added front-page links to simplify donating to the disaster relief effort.

Comments

Donate This...

[http101]

(100) Boxes of dinosaur sponges, (500) mops, (300) buckets, (1) roll of Brawny - The thicker, quicker, picker-upper, (1) Martha Stewart, (1) six-pack of Budweiser, (300,000) turkey franks, (320,000) hot-dog buns since 8 are in a bag for every 1 pack of 10 franks, (20,000) bottles of French's Mustard - an AMERICAN classic, and a healthy dose of ketchup.

Re:Donations

[XMyth]

It's not our fault those Iraqis were on our land before we got there.

Re:Let's not make fun..

[nathanh]

Then why don't you tell that asshat at the UN to quit bitching at the "Western", aka the US, nations for not donating money.

Awww, poor little persecuted American. We're all crying rivers of tears over here.

Like hell! USA contributes 0.1% of income to foreign aid. That's one quarter of what France donates! How does it feel to be stingier than France.

Let's look at the figures. With 300 million people you donated ODA $6.9 billion in foreign aid in 1997. That's a mere $23 per person. You stingy fuckers. Even Australia came in at twice that. And we're all bastards compared to the Norway who contributed a whopping $311 per person in foreign aid in 1998.

Bunch of selfish whiney "me me me" Americans with their non-stop martyr complex. Give me a break.

Re:Let's not make fun..

[pipingguy]

We're moving a f'en carrier group into the region for support and search and rescue, you think that's cheap?

Does that *really* cost anything extra?

Here's a relevant link.

Re:Stingy Americans? Here's One...

[nathanh]

As for this disaster, yes, I sent more than the average person will contribute, but once again, the U.S. will give far more total aid in public and private assistance than any other country, including yours.

Yeah no shit, because you've got 15x as many people in your country. But my country still donates twice as much per person as yours.

My guess; you didn't contribute anything for this disaster, give little or nothing the rest of the year, and hang out on /. just to fractionally raise the misery index of other people.

My guess is you're in your mother's basement, you have pimples, and you've never donated a dime in your life.

As I said earlier, my donations are private. I refuse to discuss which charities I donate to or how much I donate. Not even with my closest friends or relatives. I consider it more private than who I vote for.

But you got that bit right about hanging out on /. to raise the misery index of other people.

Re:Let's not make fun..

[pipingguy]

Not sure how to translate GPF into nuke useage and I'll bet that the guys aboard are all hooo-hah! about helping people that are in distress. They get paid anyway and if the carrier fleet's budget gets cut next year I'll understand.

Nice try.