Saturday, June 5, 2010

Drilling Into Atlantis



"For these histories tell of a mighty power which unprovoked made an expedition against the whole of Europe and Asia, and to which your city put an end. This power came forth out of the Atlantic Ocean, for in those days the Atlantic was navigable; and there was an island situated in front of the straits which are by you called the Pillars of Heracles; the island was larger than Libya and Asia put together, and was the way to other islands, and from these you might pass to the whole of the opposite continent which surrounded the true ocean; for this sea which is within the Straits of Heracles is only a harbour, having a narrow entrance, but that other is a real sea, and the surrounding land may be most truly called a boundless continent. Now in this island of Atlantis there was a great and wonderful empire which had rule over the whole island and several others, and over parts of the continent, and, furthermore, the men of Atlantis had subjected the parts of Libya within the columns of Heracles as far as Egypt, and of Europe as far as Tyrrhenia." -- Plato, philosopher, Timaeus, 360 B.C.

Science Daily: Drilling Into the Unknown: First Exploration of a Sub-Glacial Antarctic Lake Is a Major Step Closer.

In a paper published in Geophysical Research Letters this week, scientists from Northumbria University, the University of Edinburgh and the British Antarctic Survey have revealed the optimal drill site for exploring Lake Ellsworth -- a sub-glacial lake, comparable in size to England's Lake Windermere, that is covered by three kilometers of ice.

No one has yet drilled into an Antarctic sub-glacial lake.

6 comments:

amphicoelias said...

Do you think the word "Atlantis" (and "Atlantic," "Atlas" etc.) is derived from the Nahuatl language (or a predecessor)?

Jeffery Keown said...

Nahuatl and related languages do not pronounce the /atl/ the way we would. It's practically just pronouced "now-oo-at" as opposed to "now what el"

That of course assumes that I know what you mean by the connection between the -atl in many Mesoamerican languages and the Atl- in words like Atlantis and Atlas.

Even Oils has to contend with the physical size of his mythic island.

The Egyptians, Plato asserted, described Atlantis as an island comprising mostly mountains in the northern portions and along the shore, and encompassing a great plain of an oblong shape in the south "extending in one direction three thousand stadia [about 555 km; 345 mi], but across the center inland it was two thousand stadia [about 370 km; 230 mi]." Fifty stadia [9 km; 6 mi] from the coast was a mountain that was low on all sides...broke it off all round about[6]... the central island itself was five stades in diameter [about 0.92 km; 0.57 mi]. -Plato

The real Antarctica is bigger than Europe. Oils is just pulling everybody's chain. I call him on it all the time, and he never replies with proof... just more quotes.

It's the same with Evolution. He posts how whales haven't evolved in 35 million years, and then posts about how nothing has evolved in 200 million.

He's a lair and a troll.

OilIsMastery said...

The Nahuatl word for Atlantis/Antarctica is Aztlan.

OilIsMastery said...

Jeffery,

"The real Antarctica is bigger than Europe."

This is only relevant to a Eurocentrist.

Jeffery Keown said...

This is only relevant to a Eurocentrist.

No. I meant that literally, the real Antarctic is bigger than Europe. I could compare it to something else if you like, but the fact remains that the historical size of Atlantis is off by several million square miles if you're trying to make one into the other. Which you do.

Nice attempt at distraction, if a little sloppy. You didn't address the actual issue. Not unusual.

Jeffery Keown said...

How's this? Here, I compare the size of Antarctica (Atlantis to the reality-impaired crowd) to all other continents, making me impiously Earth-centric.

Continent Area
Asia: 43,820,000
Africa: 30,370,000
America: 42,330,000
North America: 24,490,000
South America: 17,840,000
Antarctica: 13,720,000
Europe: 10,180,000
Australia: 9,008,500

Let's play Oil's game, shall we?
So, "...the island was larger than [Africa] and Asia put together..." makes "Atlantis" 74,190,000 sq km in area.

And, I hasten to add, it's not in front of the Pillars of Hercules. It's out into the ocean and then you hang a left.

Antarctica =/= Atlantis

Atlantis never existed.