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Peter Hakel commented on a news item-
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35662192/ns/technology_and_science-space/?GT1=43001

This gave rise to an old-fashioned rant from Frank, which is copied below.

I know nothing about the outfit that produced that report, but I can see
nothing seriously wrong with the resulting article, which has appeared in
similar form in various news outlets around the World including my
"Guardian" this morning.. The only serious error was Peter's, in confusing
the predicted change in day-length, correctly stated in microseconds, to
refer to milliseconds.

Indeed, the piece brought to my attention a fact that I was previously
unaware of, the seasonal change in Earth spin-rate, over the year. The fit
to the observations, provided by Seidelmann in the "explanatory supplement",
which correspond to the plots provided by Richard Langley in 2004 that Frank
has reminded us about, account for  nearly a millisecond difference between
the longest and shortest day. Exactly as the article stated. Indeed, the
source, Richard Gross, pointed to cause as the momentum changes in
atmospheric jet-stream, and ocean currents, just as I had hypothesised;
though I seem to have seriously underestimated the magnitude of such
effects.

An example of Frank Reed denigration was his phrase about Gross; "supposedly
of NASA JPL", who should for some reason be ashamed of himself. What was the
"supposedly" intended to imply? Does he have any grounds for questioning
that affiliation?

But strangest of all was this criticism-
"They're still pulling victims from the rubble in Chile, and people are
profiting from death and destruction. They are profiting either directly in
terms of the cash that the stories generate or indirectly by putting the
media spotlight on some trivial research and the researchers who produce
it."

What, on Earth, has consideration of the geophysics involved, to do with
whether or not they are still pulling victims from the rubble?

George.

contact George Huxtable, at  george@hux.me.uk
or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222)
or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Frank Reed" 
To: 
Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2010 5:36 AM
Subject: [NavList] Re: Chile and deltaT


For your future reference, the folks who wrote that article work for
space.com. This is a "barely there" news organization staffed by mediocre
journalists who have a bad habit of getting the details wrong. They also
excel at taking press releases literally.

These supposed changes in the Earth's axis of rotation due to earthquakes
are miniscule, well below the normal variations. Nearly the same crap was
published by various media outlets a few days after the big Sumatra
earthquake. I would contend that these stories and the press releases that
generated them are in the same category as "ambulance chasing". They're
still pulling victims from the rubble in Chile, and people are profiting
from death and destruction. They are profiting either directly in terms of
the cash that the stories generate or indirectly by putting the media
spotlight on some trivial research and the researchers who produce it. Even
if they had waited a year or so for the immediate tragedy to be well behind
us, this is still little more than a "golly gee whiz" story. They didn't
measure anything. It's not an observation of the Earth's rotation. It is
merely output from a computer program. It does nothing to enlighten any
reader's understanding of geophysics or the natural world generally. Richard
Gross, supposedly of NASA JPL, and also the media who fed off this, should
be ashamed of themselves. And I can guarantee you this: if this devastating
earthquake had happened in Califonia, there would be no gee-whiz stories
about such silly trivia.

Please, Peter, do not think that any of the above applies to you. It applies
to the people who produced the article, not those who read it.

-FER

   

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