We’re an overconfident species. Ninety-four percent of college professors believe they have above-average teaching skills. A survey of high school students found that 70 percent of them have above-average leadership skills and only 2 percent are below average.

via NYTimes.com.

A new analysis of the 8.9-9.0 magnitude earthquake in Japan has found that the intense temblor has accelerated Earths spin, shortening the length of the 24-hour day by 1.8 microseconds, according to geophysicist Richard Gross at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Gross refined his estimates of the Japan quakes impact – which previously suggested a 1.6-microsecond shortening of the day – based on new data on how much the fault that triggered the earthquake slipped to redistribute the planets mass. A microsecond is a millionth of a second."

By changing the distribution of the Earths mass, the Japanese earthquake should have caused the Earth to rotate a bit faster, shortening the length of the day by about 1.8 microseconds," Gross told SPACE.com in an e-mail. More refinements are possible as new information on the earthquake comes to light, he added.

The scenario is similar to that of a figure skater drawing her arms inward during a spin to turn faster on the ice. The closer the mass shift during an earthquake is to the equator, the more it will speed up the spinning Earth.

One Earth day is about 24 hours, or 86,400 seconds, long. Over the course of a year, its length varies by about one millisecond, or 1,000 microseconds, due to seasonal variations in the planets mass distribution such as the seasonal shift of the jet stream.

The initial data suggests Fridays earthquake moved Japans main island about 8 feet, according to Kenneth Hudnut of the U.S. Geological Survey. The earthquake also shifted Earths figure axis by about 6 1/2 inches 17 centimeters, Gross added.

via The Manila Bulletin Newspaper Online.

Philosophy is among the fastest-growing A-level subjects in Britain. This suggests that despite the pressure from governments to increase the teaching of technical, career-oriented subjects, a lot of sixth-formers have a stubborn interest in more traditional enquiries about the meaning of life. Also near the top of the list of fast-growing subjects is Religious Studies; and this again seems to confound the experts. Notwithstanding constant announcements that religion in educated Western Europe is "on the way out", many intelligent young people seem to have a keen desire to learn about traditional spiritual frameworks of human understanding.

via Standpoint.

He was supposed to have been indicted in June. His father had been hacked to death in his own bed with an ax the previous November. His mother was similarly brutalized and left for dead with her husband but survived. On the last Monday of that August, after several months and many investigative twists, turns, and fumbles, there sat the son—the prime suspect—in my literature class, the first class I would teach for the semester. Not only was the young man under suspicion for the murder and attempted murder of his parents, but his parents were acquaintances of mine. My husband and I exchanged news with them at school concerts and waited behind them in checkout lines. Their son sat near ours in band practice, and their house was on our running route.

His mom, an employee of a local school system, is the kind of woman who would agree to model clothing at the church fashion show; his dad was a guy who, when his boys were preschoolers, exchanged a private law practice for a public-sector job, a swap that must have meant less money but more time with his two sons. The couple mowed their lawn, arranged play dates for their kids, and carpooled to sports and lessons, just like the rest of us.

The killing and assault created a fault line for a while in our subdued suburb, with its fine schools and well-behaved citizenry. There were those in our town who "knew" the son did it and those who "knew" he didn't. The college kids' grapevine was ripe with stories, which, even if only half were true, revealed in the son a dangerous charisma and an Olympic-size ability to lie. His guilt was less frequently debated as family e-mails were reprinted in the news papers, as cameras and computers he allegedly stole and sold on eBay were located, and as security-camera videos of his familiar yellow Jeep came to light.

via The Chronicle of Higher Education.

It's about 60 degrees in Tampa, Florida right now and there are about 500 people lined up outside of an Apple store. The majority of them are complaining about the chilly weather while barely batting an eyelash at the length of the line.

via Technolog - Life in an iPad 2 line.

An 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit off the east coast of Japan early today. The quake -- one of the largest in recorded history -- triggered a 23-foot tsunami that battered Japan's coast, killing hundreds and sweeping away cars, homes, buildings, and boats.

via Boston.com.

Incredible photographs, as always, from Boston.com

In northern California near the Oregon border, a man who went to the coast to photograph the incoming wave was swept out to sea by the powerful surge, officials said. Coast Guard helicopters are searching for him near the mouth of the Klamath River, according to the Coast Guard. Four other men in Oregon were swept off a beach in Brookings, Ore. Two made it back to shore on their own and two others were rescued by emergency crews, the Coast Guard said.

The surge smashed boats and wreck docks in the California cities of Santa Cruza and Crescent City. The tsunami was strongest in Crescent City which was smacked with an 8-foot tall wave that destroyed the city's piers and sank boats.

via ABC News.