What would happen if I drilled a tunnel through the center of th" Want to really get away from it all? The farthest you can travel from home (and still remain on Earth) is about 7,900 miles (12,700 kilometers) straight down, but you'll have to journey the long way round to get there: 12,450 miles (20,036 kilometers) over land and sea. Why not take a shortcut, straight down? You can get there in about 42 minutes -- that's short enough for a long lunch, assuming you can avoid Mole Men, prehistoric reptiles and underworld denizens en route.
Granted, most Americans would end up in the Indian Ocean, but Chileans could dine out on authentic Chinese, and Kiwis could tuck into Spanish tapas for tea [sources: NOVA; Shegelski]. Of course, you'd be in for a rough ride. First, you'd have to pass through 22-44 miles (35-70 kilometers) of continental crust (3-6 miles/5-10 kilometers on the ocean floor) followed by 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) of mantle.
For sake of argument (and survival) let's pretend the Earth is a cold, uniform, inert ball of rock. List of common misconceptions. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Each entry on this list of common misconceptions is worded as a correction; the misconceptions themselves are implied rather than stated. These entries are concise summaries; the main subject articles can be consulted for more detail. A common misconception is a viewpoint or factoid that is often accepted as true but which is actually false.
They generally arise from conventional wisdom (such as old wives' tales), stereotypes, superstitions, fallacies, a misunderstanding of science, or the popularization of pseudoscience. Some common misconceptions are also considered to be urban legends, and they are sometimes involved in moral panics. Arts and culture[edit] Business[edit] Federal legal tender laws in the United States do not require that private businesses, persons, or organizations accept cash for payment, though it must be treated as valid payment for debts when tendered to a creditor.[1] Food and cooking[edit] Food and drink history[edit] Music[edit]
The real-life Harry Potter reveals why sharing the wizard's name has made his life a misery. By Beth Hale Updated: 02:12 GMT, 22 October 2009 The similarities are there - right down to a scar on the forehead. But the biggest thing they share are eleven letters spelling out two short names. Harry Potter. And as the dark-haired young man (the one without the glasses) pictured here can testify: being a real-life Harry Potter is not quite as magical as it might seem. Any other name? Mr Potter has endured taunts from the public, police, phone companies and even a football referee - all because he shares a name with arguably the world's best known wizard.
Mr Potter, who was born in 1989, had eight peaceful years of being a schoolboy with a fairly ordinary name before JK Rowling released a book entitled Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, and everything changed. Then Daniel Radcliffe, who at 20 is the same age as Mr Potter, brought the boy wizard to life and suddenly introducing himself as 'Harry Potter' became something of a minefield. Enlarge. Damn Interesting.
Incoming! The World’s 10 Worst Invasive Species. The introduction of non-native species of plants and animals to a new ecosystem almost always results in environmental stress, degradation and sometimes even disaster. These 10 invasive species are infamous for the destruction they have caused, even when introduced with the best of intentions. Kudzu (images via: Free Republic, JJ Anthony and Cynical-C) Kudzu… its name may sound like that of a Japanese movie monster and this pretty ornamental vine does indeed originate in Japan (and southeast China) – and has caused extensive destruction to boot.
The only plant on this list, kudzu earns a place in the annals of misguided attempts to introduce foreign species because it was one of the first such invaders to be noted, publicized and controlled. Well, attempted to be controlled at least… tell that to the owner of the house above. (image via: NYU) Rabbits (images via: Othmar Vohringer and Colin Ewington) (image via: National Archives of Australia) Starlings (image via: He and Fi) Burmese Pythons 
Paraprosdokians. Clairvius Narcisse. Clairvius Narcisse (born c. 1922) is a Haitian man said to have been turned into a living zombie by a combination of drugs. After investigating reports of "zombies" (including Narcisse and a handful of others), researchers believed that Narcisse received a dose of chemical mixture containing tetrodotoxin (pufferfish venom) and bufotoxin (toad venom) to induce a coma which mimicked the appearance of death. He was then allowed to return to his home where he collapsed, "died", and was buried. The Canadian ethnobotanist Wade Davis, who did the research on tetrodotoxin [1] explains how this would have been done. The bokor (sorcerer) would have given Narcisse a powder containing the tetrodotoxin through abraded skin. Narcisse fell into a comatose state, closely resembling death, which resulted in his live burial.[2] His body was then recovered and he was given doses of Datura stramonium to create a compliant zombie-like state and set to work on a plantation.
Jump up ^ Davis, Wade.