Grumpy Editor

EARTH IS SPINNING FASTER, SAY SCIENTISTS

Hang on.  Scientists say Earth is spinning faster and recently recorded its shortest day, notes Grumpy Editor.

June 29 was 1.59 millisecond less than the average day, they note.

Normal length of a day is 24 hours, or 86,400 seconds. But in recent years, the Earth's rotation has accelerated, shortening some days by milliseconds.

"Since 2016 the Earth started to accelerate," says Leonid Zotov with Lomonosov Moscow State University. “This year it rotates quicker than in 2021 and 2020.”

Zotov and his colleagues believe the fluctuation could be caused by the Earth's tides, adding not every day is shorter, but if the trend continues, atomic time --- the universal way time is measured on Earth --- may have to change.

Some scientists propose introducing a negative leap second. "Since we cannot change the clock arrows attached to the Earth rotation, we adjust the atomic clock scale," relates Zotov. 

As opposed to leap years, which have an extra day added, a negative leap second would mean clocks skip one second.

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

AIR FORCE GROUNDS AIRCRAFT.  The Air Force grounds almost 300 training aircraft as potentially defective ejection seat part safety concerns spread.  That’s nearly half the combat training aircraft and a smaller portion of primary training aircraft.

GOP SELECTS MILWAUKEE.  Republicans select Milwaukee for its 2024 national convention.  Nashville took itself out of the running when the city council rejected a draft agreement for hosting the event.

UPPER THAMES RIVER DRIES UP.  Following weeks of little rainfall and a July heat wave in Britain, the starting point of England's famous River Thames has dried up and moved downstream.  Last month’s heat smashed the UK’s all-time temperature record.

“GUARD CAT” PREVENTS ROBBERY.  A pet cat in Belden, Miss. helped prevent an early morning robbery at the home of Fred Everitt.  Bandit, a 20-pound cat, alerted his owner with loud meows when two people tried to break into a home.

CHEETAH GOES FOR SPEED.  Fastest running animal?  It’s a cheetah, capable of running as fast as 70 miles an hour.  Yes, exceeding the speed limit in many cities.  The big cat’s body is quite literally built for speed, with long legs, long neck and small head.

 

FLORIDA LEADS IN APPEAL.  Florida leads the list of states where people say they’d move if they had the chance, according to a Rasmussen Reports survey.  It finds 18 percent of adults would rather live in Florida while 11 percent prefer California and 10 percent would choose New York.

HITLER'S WRISTWATCH SOLD.   A Maryland auction house sells a wristwatch that once belonged to Adolf Hitler for $1.1 million.  Alexander Historical Auctions in Chesapeake City had estimated the value between $2 and $4 million, describing the watch as a World War relic of historic proportions.

SEN. RUBIO PUSHES FOR PERMANENT DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME

 

A movement in Washington aims to keep daylight saving time permanent, notes Grumpy Editor.

 

Behind the push that would end the yearly tradition since World War I of setting clocks ahead an hour in the spring and setting them back in the fall is Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla).

 

On the Senate floor, Rubio argues, "We went through the biannual ritual of changing the cl;ock, and one has to ask themselves, why are we doing this?"  Ending the clock time change, he points out, could send more children outside to play instead of forcing them to play videogames indoors.

 

Under the Senate proposal, that would take effect in fall next year, states would have to select remaining with standard time or daylight saving time year round.

 

The idea of aligning waking hours to daylight hours to conserve candles was first proposed in 1784 by Benjamin Franklin.

 

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE...

 

MORE COSTLY OIL MEANS HIGHER AIR FARES.  Higher oil prices will lead to a 10 percent hike in air fares, Ed Bastian, head of Delta Air Lines, tells British Broadcasting Corp.  The final impact, he adds, "really depends where fuel prices settle.”  Oil prices reached 14-year highs after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

IS RUSSIA TARGETING JOURNALISTS?  U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the U.S. is “looking very hard” at whether Russia is intentionally targeting journalists in Ukraine.

AIRCRAFT CARRIER SELLS FOR $1.  The U.S. Kitty Hawk, the last oil-powered aircraft carrier, once the biggest symbol of American military power in the Indo-Pacific, battle tested from Vietnam to the Persian Gulf and a survivor of a collision with a Soviet submarine, is sold for less than $1.

LABRADOR RETRIEVER TOP DOG. Labrador retrievers remain the American Kennel Club’s most popular dog out of 197 recognized breeds.  Coming up fast in popularity among the top five breeds:  poodles.

NEWSNATION ADDING HOURS.  NewsNation, Nexstar Media Inc.’s wholly-owned news and entertainment cable network reaching 75 million U.S. television households, will be adding 12 hours of live news programming weekly by early June.

EUROPEAN NATIONS SEEK U.S. ARMS.  In boosting defense budgets, European countries approach the U.S. government and defense contractors with a shopping list of arms including drones, missiles and missile defenses, reports Reuters.

FIRST MARVEL COMIC BOOK CARRIES BIG PRICE TAG.  The first Marvel comic book, published in 1939, sells for more than $2.4 million in an online auction.  The book launched what became the Marvel universe of comics, movies, TFV shows and video games.

EIFFEL TOWER GETS TALLER.  The Eiffel Tower in Paris adds nearly 20 feet after engineers hoist a communications antenna at the top of France’s most iconic landmark.  It’s now 1,083 feet high.

WEEKLY NEWSPAPERS CLOSING.  Gannett is closing at least 19 weekly newspapers that serve more than two dozen communities in Eastern Massachusetts while nine weeklies are being merged into four.

SOME PUSH FOR YEAR-ROUND DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME

 

One day into daylight saving time and there is talk about making it year-round, observes Grumpy Editor.

 

Having more light later in the day could provide benefits, say those backing the suggestion.  They cite:

 

People engage in more leisure activities after work than before, so it means more physical activity over sedentary leisure activities.

 

Studies show that children get more exercise when the sun extends into evening.

 

Law enforcement would welcome DST since there is evidence robberies and other crimes decrease when there’s more sun in evening hours.

 

Economic gains also are cited since people would be inclined to take short trips and buy things after work, rather than before.

 

So a longer DST is seen increasing sales, giving the economy a boost.

 

DST started during World War I.

 

It would take Congress to make DST year-round.

 

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

ASTEROID APPROACHES EARTH NEXT SUNDAY.  The largest asteroid to pass by Earth this year will approach within 1.25 million miles of our planet next Sunday.  NASA says it will allow astronomers to get a rare close look at an asteroid, estimated to be about 3,000 feet in diameter.

 

TRUST IN MILITARY DECLINES.  The number of Americans who have trust and confidence in the military declines 14 percent in the last three years, according to a survey by the Ronald Reagan Institute.  Yet, the armed forces still top the list of the most respected institutions in the nation, adds the survey.

 

LIGHTS DIM IN PHILADELPHIA --- FOR THE BIRDS.  In Philadelphia, many external and internal lights in buildings are being turned off or dimmed at night during spring and fall in efforts to prevent millions of migrating birds that pass through from slamming into skyscrapers and crashing to the sidewalk.

 

DICTIONARY SHOWS 450 NEW ENTRIES.  In its latest update, Dictionary.com, the online dictionary includes 450 new entries, 7,600 updated entries and 94 new definitions on existing entries -- with a focus on race, identity and Covid-19's effect on culture.

GE SELLING AIRCRAFT LEASING BUSINESS.  General Electric is selling its aircraft leasing business, closing the books on its once mighty GE Capital unit, the financial arm of the company that was once its largest business and one of the world's most dominant financial institutions.

SOLDIERS WEAR DEVICES TO MEASURE STRESS.  To better understand how sleep helps soldiers cope in the harsh conditions of Alaska, about 1,000 Army troops from the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage are issued wearable devices to measure their physiological data across sleep, strain and recovery.

 

PROS AND CONS WITH DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME

In the second day of Daylight Saving Time in 2020, there are strong pros and cons on the time change, notes Grumpy Editor.

 

Many Americans would like DST to vanish, thus ending the twice-a-year ritual of moving clocks ahead in March and back in the fall.

 

Some states would like to shelve DST.

 

Meanwhile, legislation supporting year-round DST has been introduced in Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Vermont.

 

First use of DST in the U.S. started as a temporary measure in 1918 during World War I in order to conserve coal.

 

With World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt imposed DST to conserve fuel.

 

Current time change stems from when Congress passed the Uniform Time Act in 1966.

 

Those for the time change cite a switch to DST brings more light to enjoy in the evening, the crime rate drops, energy consumption is lower and there are fewer traffic accidents.

 

However, a poll by Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds four in 10 Americans would like clocks to stay on standard time year round while about three in 10 prefer DST.  About three in 10 prefer the status quo.

 

Only Arizona and Hawaii skip the time changes.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE...

 

 

 

Various Gibson guitars

 

GIBSON TO REPLACE LOST, DAMAGED GUITARS.  Gibson, the iconic guitar manufacturer headquartered in Nashville since 1894, says it will replace guitars lost or damaged in last week’s devastating tornado.

SMITHSONIAN ADDS COMMAND MODULE.  New addition to the Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy Center is the Columbia command module in which Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins went to the moon in 1969.

WARMEST WINTER HITS MOSCOW.   Moscow, Russia, usually blanketed in snow during winter months, sees the warmest winter in the 140-year history of meteorological observations, recording a staggering 13.5 degrees Fahrenheit above average.

THIEF USES FISHING ROD.  Melbourne, Australia police are seeking a thief who used a fishing rod through a hole in a window to hook a Versace necklace from a mannequin’s neck at a high-end designer store.

U.S. ARMY OFFICER SELECTION CHANGES.  In the biggest shift since the Vietnam War era, the U.S. Army changes  how it selects a key class of officers.  Rather than relying on physical fitness scores and  recommendations of generals to promote officers to battalion commander, the new routine includes surveys by subordinates, writing tests, psychological assessments, cognitive evaluations and a series of simulated scenarios.

HOSPITAL THERAPY DOGS 'WED.'  Therapy dogs Peaches and Duke, golden retrievers, "tie the knot" at Methodist Mansfield (Texas) hospital where the facility's vice president of pastoral services performs the ceremony followed by the newlyweds enjoying a "doggy wedding cake” before returning to help physical therapy patients.

 

AUSSIE NEWS AGENCY TO SHUTTER.  Australian Associated Press (AAP), the country’s only news agency, is closing after 85 years.  CEO Bruce Davidson says the business is no longer viable in the face of increasing free online content.

 

U.S. LEADS WITH SUPER RICH.  The U.S. leads the world with the super rich with 13,443 individuals last year with fortunes of $30 million or more, according to Knight Frank’s 2020 Wealth Report. China comes in second with 7,892 people, while Japan is a distant third.