<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">En als ik toch xkcd aan het citeren ben, @ Mark: <div><br></div><div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">The Earth’s spin is slowing down. This is annoying.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">One reason that it’s annoying is that it makes time standards more difficult. We already have <a href="http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/systime.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: underline; font-weight: 700; ">way too many time standards</a>, including:</div><ul class="bulleted" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: disc; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 3em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.3; "><strong>TAI</strong>, time based on an atomic clock, which ignores all motion of the Earth</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 3em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.3; "><strong>UT0</strong> and <strong>UT1</strong>, time based on precise measurement of the Earth’s rotation</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 3em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.3; "><strong>GPS</strong>, the time standard used by GPS satellites</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 3em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.3; "><strong>UTC</strong>, the standard used in computing, which is like <strong>TAI</strong> but with leap seconds to keep it in sync with Earth</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 3em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.3; "><strong>TDT</strong>, <strong>TBT</strong>, <strong>TCB</strong>, and<strong> TCG</strong>,<strong> </strong>which are all even worse</li></ul><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">This leads to all kinds of little headaches, particularly for programmers. For example, the clock in your smartphone’s GPS is 16 seconds out of sync with the phone’s system clock. This is because the system clock uses Coordinated Universal Time (which has leap seconds), but GPS time doesn’t. They were in sync in January of 1980 and probably never will be again.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Half a billion years ago (when the Earth was 4 billion years old, instead of 4.5), each day was 22 hours long instead of 24. The day has gotten longer because of tidal forces from the Moon.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Loosely speaking, here’s how tidal drag works: The Moon’s tides raise bulges in the Earth, but the Earth’s rotation moves those bulges out of line with the Moon. The Moon’s gravity tries to tug the bulges back into line, which exerts a twisting force on the Earth, slowing it down:</div><img class="illustration" alt="a picture explaining tidal drag that is wrong in almost every specific way but right in general" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0.7em 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: block; max-width: 100%; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); " id="1a5219f5-69d8-4c3a-84f3-fdc946e2b2a0" height="239" width="376" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:B46A6F17-A26A-4561-8FB1-FC86B90C68C0"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Strangely, the Earth is actually not slowing down as much as you’d expect from tidal drag. The biggest reason for the discrepancy is that during the last ice age, the continents were pushed down by the weight of the glaciers, and they’re still springing back into place. This has the effect of shifting mass toward the poles, closer to the axis of rotation:</div><img class="illustration" alt="the earth springs back into shape" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0.7em 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: block; max-width: 100%; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); " id="11b40a20-3866-42dd-941d-b1c05e926ea3" height="281" width="581" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:6128A7C0-4745-456B-BD27-E3F88225ABAD"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">This makes us spin faster—or, at least, keeps us from slowing down as quickly.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">At the moment, each day is about 0.8 milliseconds longer than the 86,400 seconds it needs to be to avoid adding leap seconds.</div><img class="illustration" alt="a graph documenting the war between timekeepers and time" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0.7em 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: block; max-width: 100%; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); " id="9c89b6ea-03c4-4373-940a-d7a9969201ef" height="271" width="538" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:504FAA27-F9E4-4C74-8BE9-14AE3DF7D1C3"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">This difference fluctuates over time based on weather and other effects (it’s actually shortened a bit since the early 1990s), although in the long run, it will definitely get larger as the Earth slows.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">If we wanted to get rid of leap seconds, we’d need to keep the Earth spinning at a more constant rate. This means speeding up the Earth and shortening each day by about 0.8 milliseconds.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">This is a tough problem. Here are a few things that won’t work:</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><strong><a href="http://xkcd.com/162/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: underline; font-weight: 700; ">Spinning counterclockwise</a></strong><strong> in a chair</strong>. It temporarily alters the Earth’s rate of rotation, but not enough to matter.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><strong>Putting rocket engines on the Equator.</strong> This won’t work because the exhaust would go into the atmosphere, which transmits the force back to the ground as wind drag—it’d be like making a bike go forward by pushing on the handlebars. If the engines were somehow mounted above the atmosphere, they’d be able to slow the Earth, but not by enough to accomplish our goal.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><strong>Triggering big earthquakes.</strong> This can <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/japanquake/earth20110314.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: underline; font-weight: 700; ">alter the length of the day</a>, but even those aren’t big enough to make a difference.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">In the end, there’s only one solution: Hitting the Earth with asteroids.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Given enough time, we could send a spaceship (captained by an anti-Bruce Willis) to perform repeated flybys of a comet. Over time, the gravitational perturbation could steer the comet into a collision course with Earth. By hitting the Earth at the right angle, we would give it a push:</div><img class="illustration" alt="a meteor hits the earth to fix the problems" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0.7em 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: block; max-width: 100%; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); " id="9ed40d98-98f6-488d-92db-27a38e9356b4" height="253" width="204" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:70335603-232B-47FD-891E-754039F7E67D"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Even if the comet burns up in the atmosphere, its momentum is transmitted to the surface by wind drag (taking a matter of days). It takes <a href="http://www.researchgate.net/publication/227650235_Topographic_CoreMantle_Coupling_and_Polar_Motion_On_Decadal_TimeScales" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: underline; font-weight: 700; ">about a decade</a> for the core to sync up with the crust, so we’d have to plan the impact schedule carefully to avoid overshooting.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Here’s the bad news: To get enough spin, we have to hit the Earth with on the order of a billion liters of rock per second (several times the volumetric discharge rate of the Amazon). This adds up to about one six-mile dinosaur-killing asteroid every couple days. Humanity—and life—wouldn’t survive the bombardment long.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">What about a steady stream of smaller asteroids?</div><img class="illustration" alt="the bullet" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0.7em 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: block; max-width: 100%; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); " id="2081276a-f772-44d1-bb0a-653807df4dee" height="246" width="213" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:875CCB7B-8CFB-46B2-B4B1-36761895480F"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">If asteroid B-612 in The Little Prince is four meters across and made of rock, we’d need an average of around fifty thousand of them to enter the atmosphere each second to keep up the pressure.</div><img class="illustration" alt="is programming convenience worth *this*? is it, anton?" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0.7em 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: block; max-width: 100%; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); " id="76c08e00-8889-4a85-ad6c-b6ef5b3b5771" height="301" width="468" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:31C07B3C-7EB3-41E2-9A03-B114E1D3C1DE"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Unfortunately, the steady high-altitude meteor shower would deliver just as much energy to the atmosphere that daily giant impacts would, and the eventual death toll would be the same: Seven billion humans, plus four billion Little Princes per day.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-size: 16px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; ">But at least we could stop worrying about leap seconds.</div></div><div><br><div>~ argure</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>On Jan 25, 2013, at 10:20 PM, Mark Teisman wrote:<br><br><blockquote type="cite">i<br></blockquote><br></div></body></html>