See... just the tip never works.

The unspeakable horror from times immemorial isn't going to like this.

without reading the article, I'm guessing their plan down in Antarctica didn't work out well...amirite?

Sure. Wake the dread beast from his millenia long slumber. That's just great

Since when are NY Times articles still OK to submit? Am I supposed to have a subscription or something?

Subby fails. That is NOT what the article says. The drilling went exactly as planned, as did the penetration, which is more than I can say for my own drilling plans...

I'm not going to say I told you so.
But I TOTALLY called it.

Subby only read to potato.

Walker: Lake thread.

Lake Liluk in Canada.
[i.dailymail.co.uk image 640x385]

Why did that remind me of THIS:

Need Help Soonish: Walker: Lake thread.

Lake Liluk in Canada.
[i.dailymail.co.uk image 640x385]

Why did that remind me of THIS:

0_o. Bad dates?

Pocket Ninja: Reading is hard.

So is cutting and pasting, insofar as the quoted text in the headline appears nowhere in the article.

"minus 128.6 degrees Fahrenheit"

That's -89.2 degrees Celsius for people who don't use a terrible system of temperature measurement.

/why would freezing point be anything other than 0?

Nobody reads anymore. In case anyone is wondering, nowhere in the article does it say anything like what subby put as the headline, and everything actually went as planned.

/who the hell greenlights this crap?

What's the point in drilling in this lake? Anything we find alive down there was already on board the ark with noah.

Something, something, subby's mom has a waterbed?

Is the headline a quote? 'Cause where I'm from, quotes have to, you know, use the exact same words used in the original. I can't find the line "...as the initial water released from the lake was contaminated by drilling fluid" anywhere in the article. In fact, the word "contaminated" doesn't even appear in the article (using the find tool on firefox).

Somewhere, someone's middle-school English teacher is crying. Or perhaps spinning in his/her grave.

vudukungfu: I'm not going to say I told you so.
But I TOTALLY called it.

You probably shouldn't say it, since you were wrong.

It is a pretty interesting situation, and does seem to require some caution. Basically you have possible bacteria that have evolved for 20 million years under harsh conditions. I'm not sure our immune systems would still do well with 20-million-year-old bacteria, let alone ones that have evolved separately in the time since they were isolated.

But, since no matter what this stuff is it is already on the planet, I guess it is better that we go looking for it and study it while prepared, rather than waiting someday for it to be released unexpectedly.

// classic scientific ethical issue -- is it worth creating a potential problem in order to gain understanding of said potential problem?

Russians are the hillbilly morons of the world.

How that country produced Tolstoy and Tchaikovsky I'll never know.

I_C_Weener: ihatedumbpeople: without reading the article, I'm guessing their plan down in Antarctica didn't work out well...amirite?

Did you hear about the Nazi connection?

Nazi water zombies?




\not obscure

Ostman: "minus 128.6 degrees Fahrenheit"

That's -89.2 degrees Celsius for people who don't use a terrible system of temperature measurement.

/why would freezing point be anything other than 0?

That's 183.9 K for people who don't use a terrible system of temperature measurement.

/why would 0 be anything other than absolute?

Keigh: Where's the quote from the headline found? Cuz the one I just read said the drilling fluid was shot out with the water "forming a plug".

to which i ask, doesn't that defeat the purpose of drilling all that way to start with?

Nah, it's the idea. The frozen "plug" is now lake-water. They can pull 90% of the plug and use it to examine the lake-water without actively exposing the lake itself. It's pretty ingenious.

QuinnTheFetus: Need Help Soonish: Walker: Lake thread.

Lake Liluk in Canada.
[i.dailymail.co.uk image 640x385]

Why did that remind me of THIS:

0_o. Bad dates?

Pain Meds maybe?

Anyways, everyone came here for horrors, and surinam toads do fit the bill :P

///just... don't GIS them if you have breakfast already.... yeck!

jabelar: It is a pretty interesting situation, and does seem to require some caution. Basically you have possible bacteria that have evolved for 20 million years under harsh conditions. I'm not sure our immune systems would still do well with 20-million-year-old bacteria, let alone ones that have evolved separately in the time since they were isolated.

But, since no matter what this stuff is it is already on the planet, I guess it is better that we go looking for it and study it while prepared, rather than waiting someday for it to be released unexpectedly.

// classic scientific ethical issue -- is it worth creating a potential problem in order to gain understanding of said potential problem?

Bacteria that has evolved without the need to protect itself against sunlight. I wouldn't overly concern myself.

Keigh: Where's the quote from the headline found? Cuz the one I just read said the drilling fluid was shot out with the water "forming a plug".

to which i ask, doesn't that defeat the purpose of drilling all that way to start with?

Looks like the article was updated, the google search of that line does show it in the article.

But it's not a problem. When the hole reached the lake, which was pressurized, a geiser of water and drilling fluid shot back up, then froze forming an ice plug. That is the contaminated part. The lake itself is still uncontaminated (as far as we know). The article info on this:

The Russian plan to prevent the drilling fluid from reaching the pristine lake water was to plug the bottom of the bore hole with an inert fluid, Freon, and to drill the final distance with a heated drill tip instead of a motorized drill. Enough kerosene would be removed to lessen the pressure in the bore hole so that when the lake was reached, lake water would flow up the bore hole, then freezing and forming an icy plug. That is exactly what happened, Russian scientists confirmed.

Ostman: "minus 128.6 degrees Fahrenheit"

That's -89.2 degrees Celsius for people who don't use a terrible system of temperature measurement.

/why would freezing point be anything other than 0?

That's 273.15 K for people who don't use a terrible system of temperature measurement.

/Why would the temperature at which all thermal motion ceases be anything other than zero?

jabelar: I'm not sure our immune systems would still do well with 20-million-year-old bacteria, let alone ones that have evolved separately in the time since they were isolated.

I'm not sure they would do any better outside of their current lightless, pressurized environment.

Ostman: "minus 128.6 degrees Fahrenheit"

That's -89.2 degrees Celsius for people who don't use a terrible system of temperature measurement.

/why would freezing point be anything other than 0?

Fahrenheit scale used salt water - 0F for freezing.

Mr. Yelagin said, and forming a frozen plug that will prevent contamination. Next Antarctic season the scientists will return to take samples of the water.

By then it will be too late. The Cloverfield monster will have eaten several cities by then.

LULZ SUBBY DUN GUD TROLLIN ROFFLCOPTA

jabelar: It is a pretty interesting situation, and does seem to require some caution. Basically you have possible bacteria that have evolved for 20 million years under harsh conditions. I'm not sure our immune systems would still do well with 20-million-year-old bacteria, let alone ones that have evolved separately in the time since they were isolated.

But, since no matter what this stuff is it is already on the planet, I guess it is better that we go looking for it and study it while prepared, rather than waiting someday for it to be released unexpectedly.

// classic scientific ethical issue -- is it worth creating a potential problem in order to gain understanding of said potential problem?

Luckily the environment any life there evolved to deal with is completely different from that on most of the earth's surface, or inside our bodies.

/Except your mom's. She's a cold, pressurized biatch, who is potentially contaminated with kerosene and freon.
//I keed.

Of course, subby won't read past the first word.

Farkers are all about this lake. Seems like a dozen greenlights on this already.

Ostman: "minus 128.6 degrees Fahrenheit"

That's -89.2 degrees Celsius for people who don't use a terrible system of temperature measurement.

/why would freezing point be anything other than 0?

0k would be correct -273.15c would be wrong.

Erix: Ostman: "minus 128.6 degrees Fahrenheit"

That's -89.2 degrees Celsius for people who don't use a terrible system of temperature measurement.

/why would freezing point be anything other than 0?

That's 183.9 K for people who don't use a terrible system of temperature measurement.

/why would 0 be anything other than absolute?

+1

Ostman: "minus 128.6 degrees Fahrenheit"

That's -89.2 degrees Celsius for people who don't use a terrible system of temperature measurement.

/why would freezing point be anything other than 0?

There's always Kelvins for you Celsius snobs....

Approves


Also approves

Ostman: "minus 128.6 degrees Fahrenheit"

That's -89.2 degrees Celsius for people who don't use a terrible system of temperature measurement.

/why would freezing point be anything other than 0?

You've insulted a lord.



Why rely on Earth's atmosphere? Why choose a scale that bottoms out at precisely −273.15?

Kelvinists Unite!

Erix: Ostman: "minus 128.6 degrees Fahrenheit"

That's -89.2 degrees Celsius for people who don't use a terrible system of temperature measurement.

/why would freezing point be anything other than 0?

That's 183.9 K for people who don't use a terrible system of temperature measurement.

/why would 0 be anything other than absolute?

Faster and without the math error. My hat to you sir.

Larraque: What's the point in drilling in this lake? Anything we find alive down there was already on board the ark with noah.

Yeah, there're some comments on the article claiming that this sort of thing is an Atheist plot to debunk the Bible ...

You know sometimes I think we should send the literalist Bible types to actually go dig up fossils. I would hope that at least some of them might wonder after seeing all the weird animal skeletons buried under friggin' mountains that it would be pretty hard to hoax. I realize that some would then just say the floods created the mountains, but again I hope that at least a few would wake up based on some critical thought.

I guess the main problem though with breaking through to these people is that if you believe in a God that can literally create the Earth in day then I suppose everything else seems possible (floods that move continents, changing the rate of radioactive decay, eroding the mountains in only a couple hundred years, etc.)

Pocket Ninja: Reading is hard.

initial reading released from drilling contaminated facepalm, water as tears