The purpose of this email is to spin some conversation at the Shabbat table. Please print and share...
Happy 1st Anniversary to Goldy and Moshe Yitzchok in Jerusalem and happy birthday shoutout to Marc in HI!
In memory of (and our deepest condolences to the family of) Pinchas (Sidney) Fenyes, who passed away last Shabbat.
Ever feel like your head is spinning?
You may think that it's a reaction to current events, but that spinning-out-of-control feeling may be due to the following item that you probably missed:
Our Planet Earth is speeding up.
That's right, the Earth is spinning (AKA rotating) faster and faster.
As we speak (so to speak).
Before anyone panics, let's clarify - the amount of increase is pretty small: a day is now 1.8 milliseconds shorter than it's supposed to be
That's not enough to send anyone airborne just yet.
In other words, the number of seconds in a day is supposed to be 24 hours x 60 minutes x 60 seconds = 86,400. But on July 19, 2020, the Earth completed its rotation in 86,399.0000014602 seconds.
In other words, we were robbed of 1.4602 milliseconds.
But it is a surprise, because until now the drag of the moon and tides seemed to be slowing us down bit by bit.
The reason we know all this — the reason we need to know this — is because our communications and navigation satellites all depend on such precision to keep them in their proper orbits.
And as any high school Physics student can tell you, for a spinning object to increase in speed without an external force and without an increase in mass, something must be causing its mass to shift toward the center.
That something could be geological (i.e., earthquakes) or possibly the massive arctic ice melt.
But here's where it gets truly fascinating.
Earth hitting the gas may actually cause a decrease in catastrophic earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. It's actually all extremely complex but it's uplifting to know that this tiny average acceleration may in fact be good for us.
Or at least anyone near a fault line or downwind from a volcano.
(And it's also comforting to know that we've been here before.)
(And please note that I said "average" acceleration because the precise speed changes literally every day.)
So now you're ready for this week's questions for your table:
1. If it takes melting a few glaciers to reduce earthquakes, is it worth it?
2. More broadly: in the long run, when all is said and done, what matters more: the ends or the means?
3. If you answer the means - do the ends ever justify the means?
4. If you answer the ends - do the ends ever not justify the means?
5. When a person feels like life's spinning out of control, what should they do?
You may think that it's a reaction to current events, but that spinning-out-of-control feeling may be due to the following item that you probably missed:
Our Planet Earth is speeding up.
That's right, the Earth is spinning (AKA rotating) faster and faster.
As we speak (so to speak).
Before anyone panics, let's clarify - the amount of increase is pretty small: a day is now 1.8 milliseconds shorter than it's supposed to be
That's not enough to send anyone airborne just yet.
In other words, the number of seconds in a day is supposed to be 24 hours x 60 minutes x 60 seconds = 86,400. But on July 19, 2020, the Earth completed its rotation in 86,399.0000014602 seconds.
In other words, we were robbed of 1.4602 milliseconds.
But it is a surprise, because until now the drag of the moon and tides seemed to be slowing us down bit by bit.
The reason we know all this — the reason we need to know this — is because our communications and navigation satellites all depend on such precision to keep them in their proper orbits.
And as any high school Physics student can tell you, for a spinning object to increase in speed without an external force and without an increase in mass, something must be causing its mass to shift toward the center.
That something could be geological (i.e., earthquakes) or possibly the massive arctic ice melt.
But here's where it gets truly fascinating.
Earth hitting the gas may actually cause a decrease in catastrophic earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. It's actually all extremely complex but it's uplifting to know that this tiny average acceleration may in fact be good for us.
Or at least anyone near a fault line or downwind from a volcano.
(And it's also comforting to know that we've been here before.)
(And please note that I said "average" acceleration because the precise speed changes literally every day.)
So now you're ready for this week's questions for your table:
1. If it takes melting a few glaciers to reduce earthquakes, is it worth it?
2. More broadly: in the long run, when all is said and done, what matters more: the ends or the means?
3. If you answer the means - do the ends ever justify the means?
4. If you answer the ends - do the ends ever not justify the means?
5. When a person feels like life's spinning out of control, what should they do?
Shabbat Shalom
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