What’s up? The Friday links (21)

The Geological Survey of India released a report on earthquake-triggered landslides following the M6.9 Sikkim Earthquake, 18 September 2011. A total of 210 landslides has been reported. That’s earthquake environmental effects!

A special issue on the Christchurch Earthquake has been published in Seismological Research Letters. That’s maybe something I should blog about in greater detail later, so here’s the news and the link only.

Four out of seven SI units are going to be re-defined: kilogramm, ampere, kelvin and mole. Good news? Good news! The standard kilogramm, stored in a wooden box and hidden behind an old cupboard in the house of Newton, lost some mass over the years. That meant, even if you managed to keep your weight, the number of kilogramms you have to move from the couch to the fridge was increasing! No way to live with that unsatisfying reality. Read here what the new definitions will be.

The Chikyu is going to drill one of the major EQ zones off Japan. This will be so interesting, I am really jealous I can not be onboard of this cruise. However, if you are interested in taking part in this research party, have a look here: THE CALL IS STILL OPEN!

Have you ever seen racing dunes? What do you think will happen if dunes collide? Will the behave like water waves or rather like two cars? Find out here.

If you are following the geoblogosphere, you will have noticed the Scientific Writing Challenge initiated by Anne Jefferson at Highly Allochthonous. It’s amazing how many people decided to participate. Obviously, there is a need for some external pressure for finishing a paper/thesis/proposal, even though it’s self-made. It could be a good way to fight procrastination: public awareness. Of course I joined. My aim was to finish one paper and to write at least the basics for proposal until 4 December. Well, part one is done, I submitted the paper yesterday night. Three days before the date I expected. Thanks, Anne, for that. And there is even one figure left which I didn’t need. Or didn’t like. Now I need to create a structure for the proposal. This will be even harder, I fear…

Follow the progress of the challenge at Twitter: #sciwrite.

 

Have a nice weekend!