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The underground world of hobby tunneling

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Re: The underground world of hobby tunneling

#71

Post by eru »

ctrw wrote: post #64
mmh0000 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re joking, but there is concern about the environmental damage beavers cause. https://courses.hamilton.edu/beavers/conservation-and-destru...

Ok I'll bite. How did the world survive for millions of years with bevers around before we killed most of them on every continent?

Just to play devil's advocate: the first algae were extremely damaging to the environment by releasing toxic oxygen. Of course, that took millions of years to take effect.

So beavers could in principle also be damaging, but taking a long time to kill. (And, of course, nowadays a lot of organisms have come to depend on the once-toxic emissions of algae. Beavers might have a similar effect on the ecosystem.)

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Oxidation_Event

Re: The underground world of hobby tunneling

#73

Post by TylerE »

huytersd wrote: post #57
thelastparadise wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DO NOT try this lol you will drown

Like you’re from N.C. and know it will fill up with water or just a general warning?

Everything floods here. I’m, depending on exactly what direction draw the line in, about 25-100miles inland, and my whole town is only about 10ft above sea level. If I travel farther inland it’ll rise a bit, but not that much, and the soil is full of clay and doesn’t drain well.

It’s a wet and muddy state.

Re: The underground world of hobby tunneling

#74

Post by Loughla »

ethbr1 wrote: post #58
rpmisms wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

John Dunsworth was such a gem. Arguably the best portrayal of alcoholism on-screen ever. One of the kindest people ever, according to absolutely everyone. Brilliant actor, and an excellent stonemason privately. He explicitly wanted his hobbies to outlive him. For those who don't know, John played Jim Lahey in the surprisingly excellent series "Trailer Park Boys". Give it a watch, you may be surprised.

Trailer Park Boys kind of needs to be watched after midnight.

No, just get high.

Honestly, the episode where bubbles gets a mountain lion is to my favorite episode of any television show. High or not.

Re: The underground world of hobby tunneling

#75

Post by hackstack »

sharkweek wrote: post #36
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #14

> Ritchie isn’t digging with any destination in mind; he digs for the pure joy and meditation that comes with it. > “I just feel like a kid again,” Ritchie said. “It really puts me in the moment and relieves stress.” In a world saturated with "productivity porn" and side hustles, I just absolutely love that.

I’m nearing 40 and when I’m at any beach with sand you better believe I’m gonna see how deep I can dig a hole. Brings back a lot of that childhood joy of being absolutely certain I was almost about to dig through the earth’s crust once it started to get hard. Only about 19.999 miles short if we’re talking about averages.

I’m in the same age bracket and hole-digging enthusiasm bracket as you but recently became aware of the dangers of this whimsical pastime! [1]

That’s not to dissuade you or anyone else from doing it (I have continued!), but I think everyone should be aware of the very real danger. As they say, knowing is half the battle!

1 - https://www.npr.org/2022/05/19/1100068725/beach-holes-sand-c...

Re: The underground world of hobby tunneling

#76

Post by pests »

ethbr1 wrote: post #48

If you all enjoy digging hobby tunnels, then can I interest you in someone excavating their basement using only miniature remote control construction vehicles ? Digging & hauling: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=He00d6Gpxs8 More recent rock crusher: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TSaqSzziaE8&t=3m31s (There's 16 years / 379 videos so far, if you are into RC earthmoving ASMR)

How interesting.

Re: The underground world of hobby tunneling

#77

Post by CamperBob2 »

Famous tunneler: Seymour Cray ( https://shop.minimuseum.com/blogs/specimens/cray-supercomput... )

In his spare time, Cray dug a massive tunnel under his house, complete with a periscope, and joked that elves in the tunnel would help him solve whatever computer problem he was faced with. As Cray himself once said: "I'm up in the Wisconsin woods, and there are elves in the woods. So when they see me leave, they come into my office and solve all the problems I'm having. Then I go back up and work some more."

Re: The underground world of hobby tunneling

#78

Post by JKCalhoun »

_dain_ wrote: post #32

this is the final frontier. we've conquered the land, the oceans, the skies. some people live in orbit, men have walked on the moon. but you can still carve out a new world for yourself. you can still go down . there's enough room down there for a whole new world, with different borders and nations. and another one below that .. layers and layers like an onion. one hundred billion mole-men, saturating the earth's cru…

I was promised an Iron Mole in "At the Earth's Core". Where is my drill tank?

Re: The underground world of hobby tunneling

#79

Post by riffraff »

sharkweek wrote: post #36
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #14

> Ritchie isn’t digging with any destination in mind; he digs for the pure joy and meditation that comes with it. > “I just feel like a kid again,” Ritchie said. “It really puts me in the moment and relieves stress.” In a world saturated with "productivity porn" and side hustles, I just absolutely love that.

I’m nearing 40 and when I’m at any beach with sand you better believe I’m gonna see how deep I can dig a hole. Brings back a lot of that childhood joy of being absolutely certain I was almost about to dig through the earth’s crust once it started to get hard. Only about 19.999 miles short if we’re talking about averages.

I'm past 40, my older child is 9.

First time I went to the beach with her, I had this sudden memory blast: we should dig a hole. It is indeed a weirdly satisfying feeling which I had forgotten.

Re: The underground world of hobby tunneling

#80

Post by Scoundreller »

paulkrush wrote: post #21

A friend of mine said in Moscow Russia people use to dig basements under precast concrete car size storage units. Every once in a while the the whole unit would fall in the hole halfway or more.

Water wells using concrete rings, same thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iuo1zsabKKI
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