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...hours or so to complete a single rotation around Earth's north-south axis, but some points have to move faster than others to spin the full 360° by the one-day deadline. That's because some parts of the planet are much bigger than others, at least in circumference. The Earth's equator is 24,901 miles around. The perimeter of the Arctic Circle, by contrast, is just 9,945 miles, and if you stand five feet from the North Pole, the circumference you inscribe as the Earth rotates is a scant 31.4 feet...
...physics seems a bit arcane, consider that you probably spent much of the past two weeks seeing the angular-momentum principle in action - at least if you watched the Olympics. Earthquakes change the Earth's rotation the same way a twirling figure skater changes hers - by extending or tucking her arms in, for instance, to slow down or speed up accordingly. The only difference is that the skater does so decidedly more elegantly...
...archetypes: the underdog, the obvious filler, the perhaps-not-particularly-deserving-this-year-but-boy-is-it-about-time-she-won-already. The winner selection process, intrinsically tainted by Academy politics, is anything but quantitative—statistically, even the most impulsive civilian guesser is likely to make at least one correct prediction. This lends a satisfying, authoritative feel to one’s preferences regarding, for instance, Meryl Streep—who should be given an Oscar every year, by default, just to thank her for being Meryl Streep—versus Sandra Bullock—who, incredibly...
...heated offerings, breakfasters would consolidate, avoiding the surplus food and service that characterized the previous system. Furthermore, given the propensity for Quad residents to eat lunch on the river, this solution would reduce lunchtime waste in the Quad. Finally, the proposal is—at least conceptually—cost-neutral. Assuming costs of providing food and services for both meals are similar, replacing two lunches with two dinners should theoretically have little impact on the HUDS budget...
...midway between the capital, Santiago, and Concepción, is thought to have involved significant vertical motion as well. Fortunately, no other countries in the Pacific Basin were affected by the Chile tsunami. "But it's hard to understand how the Chileans didn't foresee a major tsunami, at least for its own coast so close to the epicenter," says a U.S. geologist who asked not to be identified because he is still studying the Chile data. "Not only was this one of the most powerful earthquakes we've seen in years, its movement was mostly vertical, which produces...