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It's amazing how much trouble the tiniest infraction of the laws of nature can get you into!

MB

 

Since I live in Michigan and like the water, I'll toss out some related facts:

Michigan encompasses 58,110 square miles (150,504 km²) of land, 38,575 square miles (99,909 km²) of Great Lakes waters and 1,305 square miles (3,380 km²) of inland waters. Only the state of Alaska has more territorial water.

The geographic orientation of Michigan's peninsulas make for a long distance between the ends of the state. Ironwood, in the far western Upper Peninsula, lies 630 highway miles (1,015 km) from the Toledo, Ohio suburb of Lambertville in the Lower Peninsula's southeastern corner.

After Alaska, Michigan has the longest shoreline of any state—3,288 miles (5,326 km). An additional 1,056 miles (1,699 km) can be added if islands are included. This roughly equals the length of the Atlantic Coast from Maine to Florida.

Michigan is bounded by four of the five Great Lakes, plus Lake Saint Clair.

Tom

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Wildkow @ Jun 5 2007, 06:00 PM) [snapback]456021[/snapback]</div>

Just a guess, but I think that might be because of the limitations placed on the engineers by the planners who came up with the design. I guess they felt that having a hair over an inch thick worth of steel would be enough to protect the ship in most cases. It boggles the mind sometimes to see just how they try to get away with as little as possible.

BTW, that's a ENORMOUS amount of oil! I would love to have a supply of oil like that; it would mean that I'd never have to worry about filling up my tank. EVER.

So....who wants to rally together and buy an oil tanker? I'm sure we could get one cheap on ebaY!

 

Most of the things I know that made me go hmmmm I learned in college zoology.

Such as, the male anaconda has a two-pronged, ahem, reproductive organ.

There is some kind of parasitic worm you can pick up in by wading in African? South American? (sorry -- zoology was a long time ago....) waters. If you have a small cut, this parasite plants itself under your skin. There this worm can grow to several feet long. The natives remove it by wrapping a small portion around a stick and giving the stick a small turn every day. Turn too much and the worm will break, which could lead to infection and death of the person. Eventually the worm is removed that way.

There is more, but at this point I stuck my fingers in my ears and closed my eyes.... And changed majors.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Wildkow @ Jun 5 2007, 06:00 PM) [snapback]456021[/snapback]</div>

Wow. My uncle was a chief engineer in big oil tankers for about 40 years and he tells me that these ships are undestructible. However, there is always a fraction of a percentage where it could happen, and when it happens...

 

Minnesota, the "land of 10,000 lakes" actually has over 15,000 lakes 10 acres or larger. While i've never been able to find official numbers for the total water area, it's estimated that there is one square mile of lake for every 15 square miles of land in Minnesota, putting the inland waters area at over 5,000 square miles.

 

That corn starch video was pretty cool!
Here's mine from my days of studying behavioral neuroscience:

Patients with severe epilepsy are sometimes given a surgery to sever the corpus collosum (the neural bridge between the two sides of the brain). This controls seizures from spreading to the entire brain, effectively cutting the severity in half. In these patients, as well as others whose corpus collosum is cut due to other reasons or accident, both sides of the brain will then compete with each other for control of the person's decision and movements.

IE: Patient goes to the closet to pick out a shirt. One hand (side of the brain) grabs one shirt. The other hand (controlled by the other half) gets visable upset and will grab the other hand and physically fight over which shirt to wear. It is literally like the 2 headed purple monster on sesame street, when they both try to go different directions.

 

David Rice Atchison was President of the United States for one day.

He served as a US senator from 1843 to 1855. As president pro tem of the Senate in 1849, Atchison was shoved into the highest office in the land in a constitutional cusp between James K. Polk and Zachary Taylor, because Polk's term ended on a Sunday at noon, and Taylor's inauguration wasn't until the next day. Atchison got drunk that Saturday night and woke up the following Monday. He slept through his day as President of the United States.

 

Your eyes are as big as they ever will be when you are born.


Your nose and ears never stop growing.


It's true.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(formerVWdriver @ Jun 6 2007, 09:15 AM) [snapback]456460[/snapback]</div>

Adding to your post, the worm is called a guinea worm. It is quickly disappearing due to efforts of the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation and others. I read several years back that (I think it was 3M) developed a hat with a strainer in the cap that natives would use it to filter their drinking water. The number of cases dropped by something like 90% in a couple of years.

It's amazing how something as simple as a gimme cap could so greatly change the lives of so many people.

 

Polar bears are black. That is, if you were to shave them. Their skin is black.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(formerVWdriver @ Jun 6 2007, 03:15 AM) [snapback]456460[/snapback]</div>

There's a fish that can get under your "skin" too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candir%C3%BA

Another interesting fish is the Angler Fish which is a fish that fishes for fish. It's an extremely slow swimmer, uses camouflage to avoid predators, but is one of the fastest moving creatures known when feeding.

http://www.amonline.net.au/fishes/students/focus/anten.htm

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(lowlander @ Jun 9 2007, 05:53 AM) [snapback]458581[/snapback]</div>

Sounds like you might want to be drunk before trying that.