Links for 2010-01-06

  • “Does planet Earth turns slowly? It depends on how you look at it. At the equator it’s roaring along at more than 1000 miles per hour. This is pretty fast by terrestrial standards, and perhaps what Owl City had in mind. But on the other hand its angular velocity is just one rotation per day, or a very sedate 0.000694 RPM. Kids sometime imagine the earth as a spinning basketball and wonder why we don’t fly off, and that’s pretty much why: spin a basketball at 0.000694 RPM and I bet any ants on its surface will keep their grip just fine.”