This map, or geoid, shows the contours of the earth in a more precise manner than ever before. It was constructed with measurements taken by Europe's Goce satellite.
Launched in 2009, the sleek satellite flies pole to pole at an altitude of just 254.9km - the lowest orbit of any research satellite in operation today.
The spacecraft carries three pairs of precision-built platinum blocks inside its gradiometer instrument that sense accelerations which are as small as 1 part in 10,000,000,000,000 of the gravity experienced on Earth.
This has allowed it to map the almost imperceptible differences in the pull exerted by the mass of the planet from one place to the next - from the great mountain ranges to the deepest ocean trenches.
Two months of observations have now been fashioned into what scientists call the geoid.
This technology allows mapping of places that were too inaccessible for such precision before, such as the Himalayas. The BBC has a lot more on this project. Link -via TYWKIWDBI
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Slurs against lifestyles/sexual preferences aside, 'talking like a pirate' is an invention of hollywood.
Look it up.
You might as well have talk like an Ewok day.
Yub yub!
Talk Like a Pirate Day comes from Dave Barry's book a few years back... wiki it, scallywags.
Check it out at www.teefury.com
(And for those that would dismiss it as a lame fad, I grew up in California, but this was hardly Hollywood's doing. For a long while this was an underground geek thing to do, not exactly "cool", then the Pirates of the Caribbean movies came out, and pirates were suddenly in. Go figure. Mostly though, then, as now, it's just good, somewhat crusty fun if you have some suitably goofy and creative friends. Linguistic inventiveness and a overflow of rrrrrr's is a must.)
- I am Guybrush Threepwood, mighty pirate.
- Look! A three-headed monkey!
- You fight like a dairy Neatorama author!
Stupid Darwinists. Go crawl back in your monkey cave
Instant Yarrrrr!
(And guybrush- 'I can see a diorama of of all the children in the world, all happy and living in peace. No, wait')
On that belated note, I am off to make ye a Neatorama diorama.
YAAARRRRR!
Is it stupid? Yes. But who cares? It's fun!
(says a total ninja supporter)
YE SCURVY DOGS!
(Techincally, it's no lnger TLaP Day, but I celebrate all 24 hours, and I wake up real late.)