"f the earth was moved just a fraction of an inch closer to the sun, we'd burn up in under a minute. If we moved a fraction of an inch further way we'd freeze to death in a matter of moments."
heh. Sorry, but this is wrong. Because if this was true we'd all be dead, the Earth's orbit isn't perfectly cirular. It's about 1.7% off.
"In January when we're closest to the Sun (perihelion), the distance is 147.5 million km. This weekend we will be 152.6 million km away--a five million kilometer difference."
from second article.
http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF8/825.html
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2...l_aphelion.htm
Phoenix-D