Who is El Nino?

There are several possible correct answers.  If you are a religious person try reading the New Testament to learn more, this is a spanish reference to the Christ child.  If you are my contact with the embassy I think I was suppose to say "you seek the man with the purple hat and yellow beard."  If you are a weather man El Nino is "a warming of the ocean surface off the western coast of South America that occurs every 4 to 12 years when upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich water does not occur. It causes die-offs of plankton and fish and affects Pacific jet stream winds, altering storm tracks and creating unusual weather patterns in various parts of the world." (Dictionary.com)

So, is El Nino good or bad.  I am going with good on this one.  For example, Christ is good.  Bad weather is bad, but it can distract us from other problems.  For example, el Nino causes drought conditions in parts of the world.  This means they do not need to worry about floods, this is good.  In other parts of the world el Nino causes Floods, they do not need to worry about lack of water for their crops and live stock.  See, el Nino is good.  It is part of nature just letting us know who is boss, that regardless of how many holes we put in the ozone, or how many species we wipe out, nature still has the power to make us complain. 

I think that mother nature just gets tired of all the complaining; "its too hot," its too cold," "its too wet," "we need more rain."  Then she lays the smack down on us.  Hehe, that will teach us.  Maybe.

How do atomic clocks work?

Atoms are curious things.  For a long time they were the smallest things out there.  But like all technology, new things are smaller, new things here being subatomic particles.  This leads to the result that atoms are old.  And just like grandpa, they have the shakes.  But unlike grandpa, these shakes are predictable and don't lead to spilled coffee, or accidents while shaving with a strait razor. 

Scientists have harnessed the predictability of the atoms movement to tell time.  Most of the atomic clocks use cesium atoms which vibrate at 9,192,631,770 Hertz.  This is a big number, which clearly shows how shaken up traditional atoms have become as a result of these renegade subatomic particles.  For comparison, most people with shakes, either palsy, or withdrawal, or a sugar buzz never exceed several hundred Hertz. 

The vibration is measured using things like lasers and microwaves.  Over all, this clock is accurate to 1 second after 20 million years.  This was tested at some point I am sure, scientists don't just spit out numbers at random.  The probably used Einsteins general relativity to do this however, and all quantum mechanics know this could lead to error.  So, as for me, I don't wear a watch. You can never be too careful.