Word: polarizing
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Since 1903, the Coney Island Polar Bear Club has staged a New Year's Day plunge into the icy waters of the Atlantic Ocean. This year, nearly 700 men, women and children are expected to enjoy a chilly dip with as many as 3,000 less courageous souls watching from the shore. (The club's more dedicated members meet each Sunday during the winter to enjoy a cold swim.) TIME spoke with the club's president, Dennis Thomas, about how the group got its start, the psychology behind cold-water swimming and why 65° weather in January sucks...
Space dust, magnetic storms, solar winds and the Earth's atmosphere all create drag, which slows down the planet. Even the amount of snow covering the polar ice caps adds to the rotational lag. But one of the main obstacles is tidal friction. Because the gravitational pull between the moon and the Earth is not uniform, the tidal force stretches the Earth - core, mantle, crust, oceans and all - producing bulges. The Earth's rotation pushes the tidal bulge slightly ahead of the Earth-moon alignment; the moon's gravity, however, yanks the bulges back to keep them in line. This...
...Polar bears make a quiet comeback from the brink of extinction by migrating south and living off the people of Wasilla...
...collision: Lasker Rink at Central Park, the Rink at Rockefeller Center, the Pond at Bryant Park and Wollman Rink at Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Plus, a couple of new entries: The American Museum of Natural History (West 79th Street and Amsterdam Avenue) has installed the 150-by-80-foot Polar Rink, filled with synthetic ice; it's harder to skate on, but offers a softer landing when you fall. Through Feb. 28, 2009, adults pay $10 and kids $8, including skate rentals. Another newcomer is the Seaport Ice rink at Pier 17 at the South Street Seaport, where on weekends...
...reason for the world's growing water woes is evident in the numbers. The planet fairly sloshes with water--326 quintillion gal. of it--but only 0.014% of that is available for human use. The rest is nonpotable ocean water or inaccessible freshwater, most of it frozen in polar caps. And the available water we do have is far from evenly distributed. About 1.1 billion people have no access to clean water, and half the planet lacks the same quality of water that the ancient Romans enjoyed. And while the amount of water on the planet remains fixed, the number...