[time-nuts] Japan Quake May Have Shortened Earth Days, Moved Axis

[Jim Lux]

On 7/14/11 6:40 AM, J. Forster wrote:
> So?
>
> That statement clearly imlies the Earth's period was shortened aganst some
> standard.
>
> If the Earth was the standard, how could it be shortened with respect to
> itself?
>
> It can't be. Time standards are atomic now.
>
> -John
>

You've raised an interesting philosophical issue.  And worthy of 
time-nuts, striking at the core of "what is time"..

And, as it happens, Richard's office is next to a friend of mine at 
work, so I will bring it up.  Perhaps we can strive for more precision 
(or is it accuracy?) in the press release. (rigor of terminology, anyway)

I like this comment:
"may actually be large enough to observe if scientists can adequately 
remove the larger effects of the atmosphere and ocean from the Earth 
rotation measurements."

 From what I've heard.. the difficulty of "adequately remove" is pretty 
large.  Basically, they assume the earth is stable and whatever happens 
is the result of those effects.. that is, they use it to measure the 
effects.

Measuring day length or axis direction is more of a "average over many 
many years" kind of proposition.