(Transcribed from notes made while reading the latest Scientific American and S.1765 by generator-powered lamp.)
Damn... the Japanese, the U.S., and the European Union are trying to dig a hole to China. That had to be as irresistable to write as all the pithy observations about the spiciness of Louisiana politics.
What the ship Chikyu is designed for is drilling through the earth's crust to the mantle and extracting samples.
This amazing ship carries a drill pipe that is 9.5 kilometers long -- 22 times the height of the Empire State Building and it cost only $540 million to build. For perspective, that's just a little over 2% of what Louisiana's Congressmen and Senators want to rebuild after Katrina, none of which could possibly be called pork, right?
