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San Francisco, 7:27 PM
Sat Nov 21
18 posts in the last 24 hours

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  • posts about #megageophysics more →

    Rapidly-Forming Rift in African Desert Could Become an Ocean

    Where Tectonic Plates Meet in a Volcanic Pool

    Yellowstone Due for Eruption that Could Obliterate North America

    The Sound of Greenland's Glaciers Shattering

    How Volcanoes can Stop Global Warming

    Journey to the REAL Center of the Earth

    New Satellites Will Predict Earthquakes

    Is Earth's Magnetic Field Failing Us?

    View the Seeds of our Destruction in a Google Earth Mashup

    Kilauea Volcano Restarts Its Fires, Spews Strange New Ash
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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of Roklimber Roklimber
    11/05/09

    In reply to Rapidly-Forming Rift in African Desert Could Become an Ocean

    Proof that this rift was created by aliens. First there was the Face On Mars. Now, it's the Face On Earth.

    I did not do anything to the original image, other than rotate it. If I had even one artistic cell in my brain, I'd have outlined the two possible faces you can see on the picture.

    One is where the rift makes out the mouth and lips, the other is where the rift looks like eyes.

    Click on the picture for a full and better view.
     Reply
    Edited by Roklimber at 11/05/09 11:26 PM Roklimber was starred Roklimber was unstarred
    Image of Post-Nuked Post-Nuked
    11/05/09

    In reply to Rapidly-Forming Rift in African Desert Could Become an Ocean
    Quick! Dispatch the Spice harvesters there before the worms come! #science
     Reply
    Post-Nuked was starred Post-Nuked was unstarred
    Image of Cal Hawks Cal Hawks
    11/05/09

    @Post-Nuked: You win, my friend.

    Also, am I the only one disappointed that it'll take 4 million years? I want a new ocean in my lifetime... I guess we need to get out shovels. #science
     Reply
    Post-Nuked promoted this comment Cal Hawks was starred Cal Hawks was unstarred
    Image of Post-Nuked Post-Nuked
    11/06/09

    @Cal Hawks:
    Dude, I need a new ocean yesterday. I'll meet you there with a backhoe. #science
     Reply
    Post-Nuked was starred Post-Nuked was unstarred
    Image of Anekanta - former space marine Anekanta - former space marine
    11/05/09

    In reply to Rapidly-Forming Rift in African Desert Could Become an Ocean
    Awwww! 4 million years? But I want it now! #science
     Reply
    Anekanta - former space marine was starred Anekanta - former space marine was unstarred
    Image of capnrob capnrob
    11/05/09

    In reply to Rapidly-Forming Rift in African Desert Could Become an Ocean
    To clarify things; this happened in an area known (or was formerly known, I haven't kept up) as the Great Rift Valley, which goes smack through Ethiopia, and has been known to be the boundary between two incipient plates for donkey's years... it's where, if memory serves, the Arabian plate is breaking into two and spreading apart. The cool thing here isn't that we never knew there could be a new ocean there; that's been known for a while. The cool thing is that something happened there in *four bloody days*, which is, and I quote a geologist friend, "goddamn fast."

    And, as long as I'm posting, if you want to read up on something ELSE that's amazing in geologic terms in Africa (albeit pretty much on the other side of the continent):

    [en.wikipedia.org] #science
     Reply
    capnrob was starred capnrob was unstarred
    Image of leeflower leeflower
    11/05/09

    In reply to Rapidly-Forming Rift in African Desert Could Become an Ocean
    that's no rift.... it's a sarlaac pit! #science
     Reply
    Anekanta - Go Play! promoted this comment leeflower was starred leeflower was unstarred
    Image of Blue_Thark Blue_Thark
    11/05/09

    In reply to Rapidly-Forming Rift in African Desert Could Become an Ocean
    And they scoffed at me when I said dropping the Ring in there was a bad idea. #science
     Reply
    Anekanta - Go Play! promoted this comment Blue_Thark was starred Blue_Thark was unstarred
    Image of OW-Holmes:Bringer of Fear OW-Holmes:Bringer of Fear
    11/05/09

    In reply to Rapidly-Forming Rift in African Desert Could Become an Ocean
    Shai hulud is going to be really upset with that new ocean. #science
     Reply
    OW-Holmes:Bringer of Fear was starred OW-Holmes:Bringer of Fear was unstarred
    Image of bishop1j bishop1j
    11/05/09

    In reply to Rapidly-Forming Rift in African Desert Could Become an Ocean
    And here I thought the Rift was in Cardiff #science
     Reply
    Annalee Newitz promoted this comment bishop1j was starred bishop1j was unstarred
    Image of Jrsy Devil's Advocate® Jrsy Devil's Advocate®
    11/05/09

    In reply to Rapidly-Forming Rift in African Desert Could Become an Ocean
    So that's where the Great Pit of Carkoon is... #science
     Reply
    Jrsy Devil's Advocate® was starred Jrsy Devil's Advocate® was unstarred
    Image of cadrina cadrina
    11/05/09

    In reply to Rapidly-Forming Rift in African Desert Could Become an Ocean
    4 millions? I prefer to buy land now and then trow a megabomb on the hole and have land by sea easy like that. I just need some kryptonite to keep Superman to going back in time to stop the big boom. #science
     Reply
    Annalee Newitz promoted this comment cadrina was starred cadrina was unstarred
    Image of strideo strideo
    11/05/09

    In reply to Rapidly-Forming Rift in African Desert Could Become an Ocean
    Aww! I don't wanna wait 4 million years for a new sea in Africa. #science
     Reply
    strideo was starred strideo was unstarred
    Image of SuperTuna SuperTuna
    11/05/09

    In reply to Rapidly-Forming Rift in African Desert Could Become an Ocean
    Look - the only "rifts" that count are...

    [en.wikipedia.org]

    "Thus, an average player character in Rifts Earth with standard-issue armor and weapons has the effective durability and firepower of a modern tank. Even minimal skirmishes may leave deep craters, level towns, and kill many bystanders."

    and rifts in time :D #science
     Reply
    Anekanta - Go Play! promoted this comment SuperTuna was starred SuperTuna was unstarred
    Image of Anekanta - former space marine Anekanta - former space marine
    11/05/09

    @SuperTuna: The Fantasy Roleplayer's Bible said something to the effect of Rifts being a game in which the average player character carries enough firepower to level downtown Atlanta.

    Yeah, that game is too over the top for me. It's the first game I played, and where I picked up too many bad gaming habits. #science
     Reply
    Anekanta - former space marine was starred Anekanta - former space marine was unstarred
    Image of SuperTuna SuperTuna
    11/05/09

    @Anekanta - Go Play!: Apparently one of my old co-workers would get his DM friend angry because of the craziness that he pulled in RIFTS. He would always try to gimp his character but his insane luck and imagination broke almost ever game I'm told. :D #science
     Reply
    SuperTuna was starred SuperTuna was unstarred
    Image of Anekanta - former space marine Anekanta - former space marine
    11/05/09

    @SuperTuna: I'm not surprised--Rifts is a remarkably easy game to break, and fairly problematic to GM. Crazy bonuses are arbitrarily assigned to different character types, the combat rules are bizarre, mega-damage is just silly...

    It's more a patchwork of improvised house rules than a coherent game. #science
     Reply
    Anekanta - former space marine was starred Anekanta - former space marine was unstarred
    Image of SuperTuna SuperTuna
    11/05/09

    @Anekanta - Go Play!: It's like Crank the movie for pen and paper then? :) #science
     Reply
    SuperTuna was starred SuperTuna was unstarred
    Image of Anekanta - former space marine Anekanta - former space marine
    11/05/09

    @SuperTuna: Yeah, but with more lasers, demons, and giant robots :) #science
     Reply
    Anekanta - former space marine was starred Anekanta - former space marine was unstarred
    Image of SuperTuna SuperTuna
    11/05/09

    @Anekanta - Go Play!: I dunno - have you seen the Crank movies recently? I could have sworn there was at least 2 out of the 3 things you added lol I <3 Crank (not the drug XD) #science
     Reply
    SuperTuna was starred SuperTuna was unstarred
    Image of Anekanta - former space marine Anekanta - former space marine
    11/05/09

    @SuperTuna: I didn't notice any robots, but there may have been lasers and demons... or demons carrying lasers... or demons with fricken' lazurs on their heads... #science
     Reply
    Anekanta - former space marine was starred Anekanta - former space marine was unstarred
    Image of SuperTuna SuperTuna
    11/06/09

    @Anekanta - Go Play!: Maybe I was having a dream...that the only way you could stop Statham was a giant demon robot with laser eyes. :D #science
     Reply
    SuperTuna was starred SuperTuna was unstarred
    Image of Anekanta - former space marine Anekanta - former space marine
    11/06/09

    @SuperTuna: That's possible. In my travels today I came across this--How to turn Rifts into a story game (i.e. a more modern indie game):

    [www.story-games.com]
     Reply
    Edited by Anekanta - former space marine at 11/06/09 2:30 PM Anekanta - former space marine was starred Anekanta - former space marine was unstarred
    Image of SuperTuna SuperTuna
    11/09/09

    @Anekanta - Go Play!: Heh, that's a pretty awesome read and now it makes me want to look up how to play a rogue scholar XD #science
     Reply
    SuperTuna was starred SuperTuna was unstarred
    Image of Anekanta - former space marine Anekanta - former space marine
    11/09/09

    @SuperTuna: Best of luck! As the people on that thread noted, Rifts does have some good ideas in terms of setting, character types, etc., it's just buried behind strange mechanics. #science
     Reply
    Anekanta - former space marine was starred Anekanta - former space marine was unstarred
    Image of Pope John Peeps II Pope John Peeps II
    11/05/09

    In reply to Rapidly-Forming Rift in African Desert Could Become an Ocean
    Eight years ago an evil genius bought up all that land and started building his machine..... #science
     Reply
    Pope John Peeps II was starred Pope John Peeps II was unstarred
    Image of ManchuCandidate ManchuCandidate
    11/05/09

    @Pope John Peeps II:
    Where's Otisburgh located? #science
     Reply
    ManchuCandidate was starred ManchuCandidate was unstarred
    Image of ilves ilves
    11/05/09

    In reply to Rapidly-Forming Rift in African Desert Could Become an Ocean
    Hey... new solution to global warming/rising sea levels. Make new oceans! #science
     Reply
    Pope John Peeps II promoted this comment ilves was starred ilves was unstarred
    Image of Pope John Peeps II Pope John Peeps II
    11/05/09

    @ilves: I'm not a scientist, but if you think about it, I don't think that would actually work. #science
     Reply
    Pope John Peeps II was starred Pope John Peeps II was unstarred
    Image of ilves ilves
    11/05/09

    @Pope John Peeps II: What would you know? Peeps aren't exactly know for their hard-cutting science... more for their mushy goodness. #science
     Reply
    ilves was starred ilves was unstarred
    Image of Pope John Peeps II Pope John Peeps II
    11/05/09

    @ilves: I think you'd actually have to take earth and stack it on top of other earth to create more space for water. If you just broke apart a continent, the effective displacement would be the same as before. #science
     Reply
    Pope John Peeps II was starred Pope John Peeps II was unstarred
    Image of Gann Gann
    11/05/09

    @Pope John Peeps II: There would be large amounts of erosion if this did happen, actually displacing water upwards, if only a negligible amount. #science
     Reply
    Gann was starred Gann was unstarred
    Image of ManchuCandidate ManchuCandidate
    11/05/09

    In reply to Rapidly-Forming Rift in African Desert Could Become an Ocean
    Maybe I'm still groggy, but it looks bit like a vagina to me. #science
     Reply
    ManchuCandidate was starred ManchuCandidate was unstarred
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