Monday Links Lacking a Seating-Related Metaphor Vol. XXXI

[doodab]

I skimmed that "Day the Earth Stood Still" article fairly quickly, so may have missed him mention the atmosphere. But gravity affects (not effects ) everything equally, slight height differences aside. So it wouldn't just be the oceans that swilled to the poles leaving an equatorial band - The air would tend to collect round the poles too. So, although the air would be a bit more diffuse and spread out than water, that means most equatorial land would be inhabitable on account of a lack of air (as well as obviously monstrous temperature extremes over the course of a year - probably at least -60 to 130F).

The reason for the oceans migrating to the poles isn't due to gravity being stronger there, it's because the water is currently collected around the equator due to the spinning of the earth. Without the spinning the water be free to "run back downhill" to the poles, which are lower due to the earth having a slightly flattened shape.

The new distribution of surface water would be affected by differences in gravitaitonal potential of course, but it isn't actually the case that it's stronger at the poles, as can be seen here: EGM96 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

What is interesting is that the article seems to assume the earth would retain it's current slightly flattened shape, although this itself is due to the rotation.

So that would mean that the atmosphere would be slightly thicker at the poles than now, and slightly thinner at the equator than now, because at the moment the spinning means it's slightly thicker that it ought to be at the equator. But it isn't going to disappear and leave the equator uninhabitable.

[NickFitz]

(I hesitate to ask, but do you subscribe to some "email me a random link a day" service? How the heck do you identify such an eclectic bunch of interesting sites otherwise?)

I find them in a variety of ways; it's almost always stuff I've just found as I waste time at the weekend. I subscribe to loads of RSS feeds of individual bloggers, and many of them often publish interesting links. Sometimes I find something I bookmarked several years ago and forgot about (the "How to Perform Strongman Stunts" book was one of those). Now and then I'll pick a random tag on delicious and browse through a few pages looking for interesting stuff to while away a Sunday afternoon. And, of course, if you follow a chain of three or four links you can easily end up somewhere much stranger than where you started

Occasionally, if I don't have a varied enough selection for the week, I'll start hunting through delicious looking for a couple of extra things to add to the mix, but most weeks I have enough to choose from. There's some bookmarks from about six months ago that still haven't made it because I haven't been in the right mood to appreciate them at the time I'm making the list

[OwlHoot]

[*]If the Earth Stood Still: Modeling the absence of centrifugal force - "What would happen if the earth's rotation slowed down and finally stopped spinning over a period of a few decades? ArcGIS lets us model the effects of this scenario, performing calculations and estimations and creating a series of maps showing the effects the absence of centrifugal force would have on sea level." Cool analysis by Witold Fraczek. ...

Fascinating collection - Keep them coming Nick.

(I hesitate to ask, but do you subscribe to some "email me a random link a day" service? How the heck do you identify such an eclectic bunch of interesting sites otherwise?)

I skimmed that "Day the Earth Stood Still" article fairly quickly, so may have missed him mention the atmosphere. But gravity affects (not effects ) everything equally, slight height differences aside. So it wouldn't just be the oceans that swilled to the poles leaving an equatorial band - The air would tend to collect round the poles too. So, although the air would be a bit more diffuse and spread out than water, that means most equatorial land would be inhabitable on account of a lack of air (as well as obviously monstrous temperature extremes over the course of a year - probably at least -60 to 130F).

That's one reason why Larry Niven's Ringworld always seemed a bit implausible - Given it's vast size, an inhabitant straying more than a few tens of thousand miles from the midline would start to feel they were climbing up a slight but ever increasing slope, and of course the air and water would feel the same effect (not affect ) So the outer rims would be pretty much in space. To avoid this, its axial cross section would have to be round like a bicycle wheel rim : ) ( instead of cylindrical: | |

[NickFitz]

Good start when a scientific article mentions a force that doesn't actually exist in the title.

"A laughable claim Mr Bond, perpetuated by overzealous teachers of science. Simply construct Newton's laws in a rotating system and you will see a centrifugal force term appear as plain as day." - XKCD

[d000hg]

[*]If the Earth Stood Still: Modeling the absence of centrifugal force - "What would happen if the earth's rotation slowed down and finally stopped spinning over a period of a few decades? ArcGIS lets us model the effects of this scenario, performing calculations and estimations and creating a series of maps showing the effects the absence of centrifugal force would have on sea level." Cool analysis by Witold Fraczek.

Good start when a scientific article mentions a force that doesn't actually exist in the title.

[NickFitz]

Because sometimes, work just isn't enough:

• Learn Your Damn Homophones - "It’s about time that everyone learned their damn homophones. If you slept your way through the fourth grade or just skipped all of the grammar lectures because you were too busy sucking off that dude in the locker room, then maybe this table will help clear up some of the ******* confusion." A blunt lesson in basic English from Logan Leger and Brandy Ryan.
  
  
• If the Earth Stood Still: Modeling the absence of centrifugal force - "What would happen if the earth's rotation slowed down and finally stopped spinning over a period of a few decades? ArcGIS lets us model the effects of this scenario, performing calculations and estimations and creating a series of maps showing the effects the absence of centrifugal force would have on sea level." Cool analysis by Witold Fraczek.
  
  
• Reviving Caslon Part 1: the snare of authenticity - William Berkson discusses the process he used in creating a new version of William Caslon's classic serif roman face. "In the process of working on my own revival of Caslon I came to two conclusions about revivals generally. First, the pursuit of authenticity is a snare and a trap. Don’t go there. Second, particularly if it’s an old typeface, it’s going to be harder than you imagined, and you can lose your way in the process. So you’d better start with a very clear goal for your revival, and stick to it."
  
  
• My Morning: A Play in One Uncomfortable Act - Following on from last week's tale of identity theft and sex by screenwriter Josh, here's academic Scott Eric Kaufman recounting how he found a couple having sex in his university office, who then claimed that his interruption of them constituted sexual harassment. Be sure to carry on to the conclusion of the saga.
  
  
• What Not To Write On Your Security Clearance Form - "Reading a book got me into early trouble--I had an FBI record by age twelve. This bizarre incident caused a problem much later when I needed a security clearance. I learned that I could obtain one only by concealing my sordid past." Les Earnest explains how he came to be investigated when a schoolboy on suspicion of spying for the Japanese, and the effect on his later career.
  
  
• TV's Crowning Moment of Awesome - "In thirty-eight years, The Price is Right never had a contestant guess the exact value of prizes in the Showcase showdown. Until Terry Kniess outsmarted everyone — and changed everything."
  
  
• UX Myths - "UX Myths collects the most frequent user experience misconceptions and explains why they don't hold true. And you don't have to take our word for it, we'll show you a lot of research findings and articles by design and usability gurus." Excellent resource compiled by Zoltán Gócza and Zoltán Kollin.
  
  
• How To Rip and Clean Your Analog Audio Collection - "...not everything is available digitally these days; sometimes, the only way to hear that vinyl-only Oasis tune is to rip it yourself. With the help of Audacity, and a couple of filters, that's exactly what we're going to do. The powerful, open-source editor is going to help us take those old recordings, clean them up, and make them fit for digital consumption. " Time to dig out your LPs and get cracking.
  
  
• Slow Motion Video of a Multiple Tower Upward Lightning Flash on 6/16/10 - "Multiple tower upward lightning flash captured at 9,000 images per second in Rapid City, SD on 6/16/10. A preceding downward positive ground flash triggers upward leaders from seven towers, three of which are visible in the video." Brilliant video
  
  
• Take A Weird Break - Extensive collection of the more bizarre stories that appear in magazines like Take a Break.

Happy invoicing!