BBC Focus Magazine

[Shadowwolf]

Apparently the day is slightly shorter because of the quake, imperceptibly shorter though.

The March 11, magnitude 9.0 earthquake in Japan may have shortened the length of each Earth day and shifted its axis. But don't worry—you won't notice the difference.

Using a United States Geological Survey estimate for how the fault responsible for the earthquake slipped, research scientist Richard Gross of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., applied a complex model to perform a preliminary theoretical calculation of how the Japan earthquake—the fifth largest since 1900—affected Earth's rotation. His calculations indicate that by changing the distribution of Earth's mass, the Japanese earthquake should have caused Earth to rotate a bit faster, shortening the length of the day by about 1.8 microseconds (a microsecond is one millionth of a second).

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/japanquake/earth20110314.html

[M Paul Lloyd]

All the satellites will need recalibrating though!

[Jamie]

Ah, that explains it. I thought the sunrise seemed a few microseconds off this morning.

[Healerman]

I'll still be expected to turn in the same hours at work. That means my personal time has been cut!

Anyone know a good union?