danconnolly.co.uk

I’ve Been Changed:

When I grow up I would like to have the speaking voice of Alec Baldwin and the singing voice of Tom Waits.

Today’s xkcd:

Anyone fancy doing one for Union websites…?

The story behind it.

As the articles states at the outset, this is about modelling capabilities rather than likely doom: If the Earth stopped spinning.

If the earth’s gravity alone was responsible for creating a new geography, the huge bulge of oceanic water—which is now about 8 km high at the equator—would migrate to where a stationary earth’s gravity would be the strongest.

Interesting point from towards the end:

Most scientists agree that the solar day (related to the speed of rotation) is continuously getting longer. This minimal increase of the day length is due mainly to the oceanic tidal friction. When the estimated rate of the slowdown was projected back to past geologic eons, it showed that the length of a day was several hours shorter than today.

(via Kottke)