Comments on: XKCD's "Lakes and Oceans" chart of the other 70% of the planet

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 19:57:00 +0000

Unfortunately, her heart will probably go on. And on. And on.

By: CLamb

CLamb — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:18:00 +0000

The Edmund Fitzgerald sank was because it was in shallow water in a storm. The water became so rough that when the ship went into a trough it slammed the entire bottom of the ship against the lake floor. If it had been in deeper water it likely would’ve survived.

By: Ladyfingers

Ladyfingers — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:45:00 +0000

I wish they’d put Celine back down there.

By: AlexG55

AlexG55 — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:37:00 +0000

Champagne corks are asymmetric and sort of mushroom-shaped with the “cap” of the mushroom on the outside, so the cork wouldn’t actually go in. I think that the pressure down there may be equal to that in a (shaken?) champagne bottle, though.

By: hapa

hapa — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:43:00 +0000

at some point i figured that if you drew the pacific ocean from edge to edge on a regular sheet of paper then cut along your outline, the thickness of the paper was approximately to scale with the average depth.

By: eerd

eerd — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:24:00 +0000

Oops. That was meant to be a reply to dnebdal.

By: eerd

eerd — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:23:00 +0000

And with growing importance. The share of deepwater oil as part of the world’s total is set to increase, basically as we run out of easier onshore oil and much of the Middle East is offlimits to exploration.

By: schrutzki

schrutzki — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:09:00 +0000

Hmm,

I’m missing the French research Sub “Nautile” and the Japanese “Shinkai 6500″ which
routinely go (manned) down to 6000 and 6500 meters respectively. Which makes over 90% of the ocean floor accessible. Personally, I find that more awesome than the 400 additional Bar that Mr. Cameron endured once. No doors down there at 650Bar, though …

By: Sebastian Spinczyk

Sebastian Spinczyk — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 11:46:00 +0000

Also, at least one of them might have got down and made love.

By: dnebdal

dnebdal — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 11:13:00 +0000

Also, this underlines just how technologically impressive platform-based oil drilling really is, even if it sometimes goes horribly wrong. The north sea condeep platforms around here are up to 300m tall structures standing on the ocean floor, drilling down another 2.5 km or so. Impressive enough, but the sheer well depth is dwarfed by the really deep ones (like the deeper end of the Gulf of Mexico projects).

By: David Walker

David Walker — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 11:10:00 +0000

Um bum ba de

By: niktemadur

niktemadur — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 10:27:00 +0000

Frustrating? More like heart-shattering.

By: Brian McCooley

Brian McCooley — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 10:16:00 +0000

I remember that realization with the Kursk. It must have been frustrating knowing that if they could only stand the sub up, they could get out.

By: pKp

pKp — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 08:44:00 +0000

An easter egg.

I’ll give you a clue: what interesting, geek-related number is located between 1250 and 1500 ?

By: legotech

legotech — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 07:59:00 +0000

HOLY COW, no doubt! Now we totally have to train Emperor Penguins to swim INTO nuke sub torpedo tubes and sabotage the subs!!!

By: legotech

legotech — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 07:58:00 +0000

Wonder if they mean that the wire cage and wax seal were intact? Like making a paper mache wrap around a balloon and then popping the balloon leaving the ‘cast’ still shaped like the balloon? Maybe the wire wrap is still in the shape of the cork? I dunno, I’m over thinking this I’m sure….

By: legotech

legotech — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 07:52:00 +0000

When we lived in Boston, we tried a few different “great” restaurants in the North End (Italian part of town) and decided that the entire neighborhood was on top of the Marinara Trench and all the restaurants just pumped their sauce from there. We couldn’t figure out how else every single place would have the same “homemade” sauce :)

By: TooGoodToCheck

TooGoodToCheck — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 07:25:00 +0000

I’m kind of blown away by the knowledge that the Edmund Fitzgerald sank in water that was shallower than it was long.

By: niktemadur

niktemadur — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 05:00:00 +0000

Obligatory xkcd reference: First the “Gravity Wells” strip ( http://xkcd.com/681/ ), now this.
Gotta love Randall, one of the good guys.

By: Ted Bautista

Ted Bautista — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 04:49:00 +0000

re. “The Abyss” — is this a reference to the James Cameron movie or is there such an underwater geological feature called “The Abyss”?

also, yes, it’s rude to stare. which explains why it stares back.

By: Guido Schlabitz

Guido Schlabitz — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 02:22:00 +0000

Yes, it must be an empty champagne bottle, because liquids are virtually impossible to compress.

By: Jason Baker

Jason Baker — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 02:13:00 +0000

That would make a lot more sense, given the other things occurring relative to the depth. Thanks!

By: breadteam

breadteam — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 01:55:00 +0000

Question: what’s the little horizontal line at ~1500m, between the aircraft carrier and the Titanic?

By: breadteam

breadteam — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 01:54:00 +0000

I wonder if it means a champagne bottle full of air, not champagne.

By: grimatongueworm

grimatongueworm — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 01:42:00 +0000

Note to self – Do not f#ck with the Emperor Penguins.

By: ocker3

ocker3 — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 01:32:00 +0000

I’m thinking about those whales that fight with the squid, perhaps we could send down teams of some kinda of cameras and have it be like boxing matches (but lethal)?

By: Jason Baker

Jason Baker — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 00:38:00 +0000

Question that’s been bugging me today… Randall lists “Pressure at this depth would pop the cork into a champagne bottle” well above the Titanic. Yet, the article on the Titanic in this month’s National Geographic listed a champagne bottle “with the cork still in it” as one of the artifacts recovered from the wreck. Did they mean “the cork was completely inside the bottle” or did they mean that it was still intact? Brief interneting seems to indicate the bottle was intact. So was this a goof, or is there more at work here than meets the eye? (I imagine that it could have been more-carbonated-than-usual, but not THAT MUCH more-carbonated-than-usual).

By: Donald Petersen

Donald Petersen — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 23:57:00 +0000

Naw, it’s his stash of VHS copies of Piranha 2: The Spawning. Guess his last one must have worn out.

By: oldtaku

oldtaku — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 23:47:00 +0000

It’s as good an explanation for My Heart Will Go On as anything else I’ve heard.

By: jimh

jimh — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 23:28:00 +0000

Yeah I second that, it would have been nice to have Tahoe on there. 501 meters isn’t too shabby!