Earth knocked off its axis....

The Chilean Quake of 2010:

By speeding up Earth's rotation, the magnitude 8.8 earthquake—the fifth strongest ever recorded, according to the USGS—should have shortened an Earth day by 1.26 millionths of a second, according to new computer-model calculations by geophysicist Richard Gross of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.

For comparison, the same model estimated that the magnitude 9 Sumatra earthquake in December 2004 shortened the length of a day by 6.8 millionths of a second.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/03/100302-chile-earthquake-earth-axis-shortened-day/

Friday's magnitude 8.9 earthquake in Japan shifted Earth on its axis and shortened the length of a day by a hair. In the future, scientists said, it will provide an unusually precise view of how Earth is deformed during massive earthquakes at sites where one plate is sliding under another, including the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-sci-japan-quake-science-20110313,0,5782113.story?track=rss

The planet just hates us. :-(

:scared:

Japan's recent massive earthquake, one of the largest ever recorded, appears to have moved the island by about eight feet (2.4 meters), the US Geological Survey said.

"That's a reasonable number," USGS seismologist Paul Earle told AFP. "Eight feet, that's certainly going to be in the ballpark."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jD4grYzpCUcbInAhd32dFS9TcooQ?docId=CNG.bd57fdfbae452af0d2b556455b5b59ec.191

...made me :spray:

"Japan quake so powerful it shifted the earth off its axis by 4 inches, sped up the earth's rotation by 1.6 microseconds, and shifted Japan's coastline by 8 feet. So - 4 inches CAN make the earth move and time stand still"

http://www.fark.com/comments/6028528/Japan-quake-so-powerful-it-shifted-earth-off-its-axis-by-4-inches-sped-up-earths-rotation-by-16-microseconds-shifted-Japans-coastline-by-8-feet-So-4-inches-CAN-make-earth-move-time-stand-still

:D

Palm trees in Wisconsin !!!!

its bad enough without exaggeration or hyperbole