Someone please tell me to get my ass off the internets so I can get some work done.

I'm logging off the Internets to get some beer and Mexican food.

I'm not helping, am I?

You so totally are not.

my living room, bedroom and bathroom do not.

Sophia, I had something similar happen to me that drove me crazy until I tracked it down. Check in the bathroom to see if there's a GFI breaker built into one of the outlets. It's an additional safety measure in the circuit besides the normal breaker, and it may have tripped. (They're required by code in any circuit that can be exposed to water, i.e., bathroom, kitchen, or outdoor circuits.) The outlet would have it's own buttons marked something like "test" and "reset." Worth a shot.

Now since the kitchen and computer room are the only rooms with electricity, I am having a very ice dinner... Tilapia filets with garlic and oregano, spinach with garlic, balsamic vinegar and olive oil, a baked potato beets marinated in olive oil and basil AND box o wine. Much better than the normal cream cheese on crackers dinner!

and when I got home, I discoverd that landlord has brought me extension cords, so I can put a lamp in the bathroom and have tv!

Anything is better than ;ast night, when in an effort to fill my TV addiction, I dragged a papasan chair into my hallway and watched Firefly on my computer. I fell asleep in the papasan chair with my feet on my desk chair, in the hallway. I think I am a little too interdependant on the TV for sleep.

Also,, thank you DX. I am more than willing to track down the problem myself. I really am a good tenant in the "not calling the landlords alot" way, which is sort of why I would like them to run around like maniacs when I do have a problem!

Aftermath of the earthquake: Shorter days

Incredibly, the magnitude 9.0 earthquake that struck off Sumatra on Sunday morning caused a vertical displacement of so much material that the rotation period of the Earth has been permanently altered. By a tiny but measurable amount, the Earth is now rotating more quickly on its axis, and the 24-hour day is now one ten-thousandth second shorter.

Huh. OTOH, the earth's rotation continues to slow due to lunar tide effects. And even human action (construction of dams) has resulted in a measurable slowing of the earth's rotation.

That's not a lot of time, but I hate to think of the day being shorter. And it's sooper creepy that an earthquake could have cosmic effects (even if they are microscopic).

That is incredibly creepy. I feel like I'm on a Twilight Zone episode now.

And why shorter? Couldn't they make it a little longer instead?

Well, over time the lunar tidal effects will cancel out the increase in the earth's rotational speed, and in the long run, days will continue to get longer.

Billions of years ago, a day was about eight hours.

How could you get any work done???!?