The World's Greatest Bores

Posted by Joel Johnson, October 1, 2008 12:22 PM | permalink

The latest Oobject list is a winner: a collection of the world's largest tunnel boring machines, each one a lamprey-faced monstrosity straight from the bedside table of Brownleean fantasy.

20 interesting boring machines [Oobject]

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Discussion

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#1 posted by pork musket , October 1, 2008 12:25 PM

Russian oligarch, Roman Abramovich donated money for a giant tunneling machine to build a tunnel between Russia and Sarah Palin’s house, when he was governor of the adjacent region to Alaska.

That cracked me up, comma abuse aside.

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#2 posted by TJ S , October 1, 2008 12:40 PM

When I saw the title, I immediately though Al Gore.

*ducks*

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#3 posted by bardfinn , October 1, 2008 12:54 PM

How is it that I was never nominated to this list?

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#4 posted by Marley9 , October 1, 2008 1:08 PM

I have always been fascinated by TBM's. My brother in law works for a company that does this, but is being sent all around the country to work. The only time when he was working near me, I had a chance to visit, but was unable to. I will never forgive myself for missing this opportunity.

When it knocks, you bore. Life lesson #2349.

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#5 posted by meerkat

, October 1, 2008 1:49 PM

Anyone fascinated by these monsters should read this recent New Yorker article about Germany's Herrenknecht AG - they probably are responsible for 90% of those puppies, like #1 and the company's founder is a real interesting fellow:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/09/15/080915fa_fact_bilger

They talk a bit about #16 in the article, it's nice to see a real photo of that bad boy!

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#6 posted by meerkat

, October 1, 2008 1:51 PM

Oops, the link I gave above was to the article summary, I dunno why they only post the full versions of select articles - bummer, it is a great piece

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#7 posted by nehpetsE , October 1, 2008 4:11 PM

Gazing at the end of the machine on card #3 gives me trypophobia.
(first)

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#8 posted by noetma , October 1, 2008 5:22 PM

Boring just got more interesting. (ba dum psh)

Seriously, I'd love to stand in front of one of these for the sheer scale.

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#9 posted by jjasper , October 1, 2008 6:23 PM

Ming: Klytus, I'm bored. What plaything do you have to offer me today

Klytus: An obscure body in the S-K System, your majesty. The inhabitants refer to it as the planet Earth.

---

Klytus: Bring me... the bore worms!

Princess Aura: No! Not the bore worms!

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#10 posted by pauldrye , October 1, 2008 8:02 PM

Every now and then I drive past a truck that has the delightful name "HORIZONTAL BORING" painted on the side.

After which I always think "Maybe you should see a marriage counsellor about that". And then I snicker to myself for a while.

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#11 posted by MrfixitRick , October 2, 2008 1:30 AM

Man, with 1000 of these suckers burrowing under the planets skin, at 7 miles a day each...makes me itchy thinking about it...there's probably one under me now...ahhhhh!

Is there a Goggle Middle Earth?

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#12 posted by dainel , October 2, 2008 10:31 PM

What we need is miniature versions of this, maybe about 15cm or so. We use them to dig millions of tunnels everywhere. It'll give new life to snail mail ... http://www.networkworld.com/news/2004/0524widernettubes.html

If we make it bigger, maybe about 60cm, we could put people in there.