Re: xkcd: Anchor Bolts

On Sat, 19 Apr 2025 15:22:08 -0500, Lynn McGuire
<lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:

xkcd: Anchor Bolts
   https://xkcd.com/3078/
>
I want to see the drill.  The largest earthen drill in the world to date
is less than a couple of hundred feet in diameter.
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertha_(tunnel_boring_machine)

Let's see if a link that works can be provided:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertha_(tunnel_boring_machine)>
well, that was easy.

This was quite a saga, starting with the efforts of WDOT (the
State-level DOT, as Aurora/Hwy 99 is a State Highway) to convince
voters to replace the viaduct with a tunnel. This enhanced the view,
and so the value, of a group of people living downtown at the expense
of a beloved landmark. Notable was the "coincidental" release of an
animation showing what would happen to the viaduct in a major
earthquake. What would happen to the tunnel, underground and next to
Elliot Bay (and so a whole lot of water) was somehow not explored.

That bolt shaft has got to be at least a mile in diameter.  Maybe a
hundred miles in diameter, the scale is difficult to ascertain.
>
Explained at:
   https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3078:_Anchor_Bolts

Really big lasers?
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"