Horrendous Quake and Tsunami in Japan!

A magnitude 8.9 earthquake slammed Japan’s northeastern coast Friday, unleashing a tsunami that swept boats, cars, buildings and tons of debris miles inland. Death toll estimates have been as high as 10,000, and there were reports of several injuries in Tokyo, hundreds of miles away, where buildings shook violently through the main quake and the wave of massive aftershocks that followed.



You won't notice it, but the day just got a tiny bit shorter because of Friday's giant earthquake off the coast of Japan.

NASA geophysicist Richard Gross calculated that Earth's rotation sped up by 1.6 microseconds. That's because of the shift in Earth's mass caused by the 8.9-magnitude earthquake. A microsecond is one-millionth of a second.

That change in rotation speed is slightly more than the one caused by last year's larger Chile earthquake. But 2004's bigger Sumatra earthquake caused a 6.8-microsecond shortening of the day.


Jessie came over to spend the weekend with us. Her family brought her over and we took them out to eat while they were here. Jessie and John had fun flying this evening.