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Enormous Tunneling Machine 'Bertha' Blocked By 'The Object'
An anonymous reader sends word that 'Bertha,' the world's largest tunneling machine, which is currently boring a passage beneath Seattle's waterfront, has been forced stop. The 57.5ft diameter machine has encountered an unknown obstruction known as "the object."
"The object’s composition and provenance remain unknown almost two weeks after first contact because in a state-of-the-art tunneling machine, as it turns out, you can’t exactly poke your head out the window and look. 'What we’re focusing on now is creating conditions that will allow us to enter the chamber behind the cutter head and see what the situation is,' [said project manager Chris Dixon]. Mr. Dixon said he felt pretty confident that the blockage will turn out to be nothing more or less romantic than a giant boulder, perhaps left over from the Ice Age glaciers that scoured and crushed this corner of the continent 17,000 years ago. But the unknown is a tantalizing subject. Some residents said they believe, or want to believe, that a piece of old Seattle, buried in the pell-mell rush of city-building in the 1800s, when a mucky waterfront wetland was filled in to make room for commerce, could be Bertha’s big trouble. That theory is bolstered by the fact that the blocked tunnel section is also in the shallowest portion of the route, with the top of the machine only around 45 feet below street grade."
...The SCP Foundation.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
I'm betting on a lost anchor or random pieces of cast iron from an old ship.
Dr. Who's phone booth.
I bet it's a rectangular solids whose dimensions are in the precise ratio of 1 : 4 : 9....
Zoid.com
... a create of unsold Windows phones?
I'm sure I saw an old documentary about this kind of thing happening in the London Underground. Watch out for giant ants...
Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it.
Lets make a new movie. Call it.... The Object.
Duh duh duuuuhhhh.
I'd go see it.
Obviously this must be an alien pod buried millions of years ago and patiently waiting for its pilot to arrive riding the lightning. We were bound to stumble across them some day!
Someone is telling porkties, the machine just just needs to be put in reverse like when the teeth need changing.
Clearly The Object is an interstellar vehicle with a structure of super-dense composite materials built to withstand the vagaries of near-light-speed travel for thousands of years. It crashed here long before human tribes crossed the land bridge from siberia and has remained undiscovered until now. They are best off leaving it undisturbed, if they enter it, they risk releasing biomechanoid killing machines that will destroy all of humanity.
...and eight tanker trucks of coffee. That ought to do it.
Maybe this is where they ACTUALLY buried all those cartridges of the Atari ET game.
That is not dead which can eternal lie.
And with strange aeons even death may die.
Jimmy Hoffa, encased in concrete? ;-)
Oh, and my car keys, hundreds of missing socks and the TV remote control. That's my theory.
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
This tunnel was locally controversial, with opponents arguing that
- it was expensive
- it wouldn't help with Seattle's traffic problems, AND
- these monster boring machines have a track record of getting stuck underground, and then what are you going to do? Call Roto-Rooter?
Sounds like it's starting to come true...
Civil Engineers, geologists, and mining specialists encounter the BFR phenomenon on a regular basis.
It's a Big Fucking Rock.
Scruting the inscrutable for over 50 years.
So it started. We are doomed. We will all die.
Wait, I thought the AllSpark was buried under the Hoover Dam.
It's hard to imagine a "piece of old Seattle" that would interfere with a tunneling machine. I'm guessing they're right, and it's an erratic from the ice age. I'd love to get to go in the tunnel and look, though - the tunneling equipment Seattle's been using both for this one and for the light rail extension fascinates me.
I'm a bit surprised Ivar's hasn't taken advantage of this though.
#DeleteChrome
Tis' a great blow for object oriented programming.
Upon further investigation they've determined the object has a hatch. The plan to spend the next couple of seasons trying top open it. They're not not the only ones in the tunnel...and they all know it!
... having a 57.5ft tunnel with only 45ft of material above it. Aren't they worried about a cave-in? Unless they're plowing through heavily clay-laden (damned near bunker-buster-proof) soil like we have around where I live, surely the vibrations will have an effect on that 45ft of soil overhead if they decide to proceed and Bertha begins grinding its way through The Object.
CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
"'Bertha,' the world's largest tunneling machine, which is currently boring..."
It's not THAT boring.
In C++, your friends can see your privates.
Listing possible things blocking a uber big drill from drilling:
1) The TARDIS
2) An "ancient" alien ship.
3) Those ET 2600 cartridges from the '80s.
4) Microsoft Surfaces that were wrote off.
5) A big rock that nobody had the foresight to see.
The object is The Ballmer's ego. It has grown even larger since he joined up with Hansen and Nordstrom to force taxpayers to fund his billionaire boys club basketball arena in Seattle.
The ego is impenetrable.
Clearly it is the Arkenstone. They digged too greedily and too deep.
When we cant explain or know something, we like to make up unreal theories about what it could be. Part of human nature....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boneshaker_%28novel%29
and sized 50"x50"x99" at least on the outside..
Where did I put that key????
Jimmy Hoffa
Something's gotta give...
So a boring machine hits an object and isn't boring anymore. Isn't that a good thing? If it gets even less boring, stories about it might even be interesting (or at least less boring).
Not sure where I saw it, but the funniest explanation I've seen is this:
Zunes
David or Diane ?
They botht make great music
Fossilized grounds from Starbuck's secret dumpsite.
That is all.
No can do. As the machine moves forward the tunnel walls are built behind it. TBM's have no reverse.
Actually the machine isn't stuck, yet. They stopped the machine because it encountered resistance. If it actually does get stuck the machine can't be dismantled underground and removed. They would have to dig it out from above, remove the TBM and install a new one. If it does get stuck let's just hope it's not under a skyscraper.
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/News/2013/12/10_SR99tunnelingstatement.htm
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/what-could-possibly-go-wrong/Content?oid=4399657
I do not block ads. I do block third party scripts.
If it is Adamantium, they should try to mine it all out.
Unfortunately, they are going to find where we hide all of our dead Californians.
Obviously, we have finally found one of the leftover Raptors that Adama and company neglected to throw into the Sun.
If they check history carefully, they will find that in prehistoric times the people living there wanted a tunnel and began to bore it from the other end before money ran out. Bertha is just running into the front end of Big Bertha and they are butting (spinning) heads.
The good news is that the tunnel will now be completed ahead of schedule and we will also learn more about the irresistible force paradox.
Why is there an "insightful" mod and why isn't it "-1"? If I wanted insight, I wouldn't be reading
Giving it a vague title like "the object" implicitly connotes a sense of mystery and potential for some sort of unforeseen discovery.
It's an unknown obstruction... if they are going to call it anything, they should have just called it that.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Here is a different link with a nice picture of concrete panels, scroll down.
http://www.gizmag.com/worlds-largest-drilling-machine-bertha/28311/
It seems pretty strange that there's no provision for looking in front of the machine. You'd almost expect that there would be some kind of camera or way to poke a camera out an opening to see what's in front of them.
I would assume than running into weird shit digging a tunnel would be typical, although maybe it's designed with so much boring power that they only really expect to look at the overburden on the conveyor behind the boring machine.
I guess the machine isn't boring after all.
Quite the PR firm that can take a situation like this, and put a story out like this.
Almost makes you feel bad for that massive, publicly funded work, that has stalled inexplicably. Like it was an act of an unknowable, omnipotent, Object.
Why waste front page content on some boring machine.
also contains Bill Gate's Microsoft stock
...it's just my pee pee.
That's no 'Object', it's the Horta.
Isn't it the obvious beginning of a Sci-Fi "thirller" the "object" is clearly an ancient UFO. they will dig it up, and it will power up , then all hell breaks loose.
Amazing how effective PR can be.
A: 'Tunneling machine blocked by a boulder, probably'
B: 'Tunneling machine B.E.R.T.H.A. blocked by THE OBJECT deep underground - scientists stumped!'
Same story, one is 'news'
Quatermass and the Pit - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quatermass_and_the_Pit_%28film%29
You can hear an old man smirk and say out loud "I gotta give myself a 10 for that one".
Will it blend?
Ok, Speilberg, stop the viral movie stuff!
This reads almost like an Americanized remake of "Five Million Years to Earth"
They've released a balrog.
....which was in the vicinity of Seattle's Great Fire, and they built overtop the burned out structures, so the greatest likelihood is that the structure is part of whole of an old building.
Switch to creative mode temporarily to remove it.
It's the remains of another tunnel boring machine, heading in the opposite direction.
all the boring stories lately?
The object turns out to be a giant rune covered object that defies study, and oozes malignancy.
Soon all the engineers will start going crazy and killing each other, then a secret military organization will covertly retrieve "The Object", and a sole surviving member of the Engineering staff, thinking they can control and use it for military purposes.
Then in the sequel, "The Object 2: Revenge of The Object" the military lose control of The Object, and the sole survivor of the initial engineering staff has to come and save the Earth from destruction.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
And Bertha just started to boogie.
encountered an unknown obstruction known as "the object."
Their framework can't handle a public static object?
the 49ers Defense.
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
It may be the fossilized remains of Ivar's prized proto-clam: http://www.komonews.com/news/offbeat/Ivars-Mystery-object-in-tunnel-may-be-giant-fossil-clam-236438221.html
Is it weird in here, or is it just me?
This is an earth-pressure-balance type TBM built for soft sand and dirt, below water level. Compressed air is used to keep water out at the working face. That's what's needed for a tunnel under the Seattle waterfront. It can cope with rocks and boulders, but not a solid rock face. It's not a hard-rock TBM. Those have very different cutters, but can't handle waterlogged soil.
Tunneling is like that. Stuff like this happens. It will be handled.
...but "Unsold" in conjunction with "Bob" is redundant.
And it doesn't have a hole to stick a camera through to find out what's in front of them. Hell, the cutter head has to retract so they can replace the teeth when they need to. If they can get in front of the cutter to change the teeth, than surely they could LOOK at what is in front of them?
Ivar lost his clamosaurus in just the same area when he moved his aquarium,
http://www.komonews.com/news/offbeat/Ivars-Mystery-object-in-tunnel-may-be-giant-fossil-clam-236438221.html
-- I have a private email server in my basement.
*He probably jammed his bicycle in Bertha's gears.
Have gnu, will travel.
I was at the event where the Gotthard tunnels -north and south- actually connected. The last bit of rock was drilled through and the drill head became visible. A worker opened a door in the head an a festive drink was shared through that door. Didn't the designers of Bertha have at least a celebration in mind? Hell you could also think of doors to analyze issues like the one they deal with currently.
I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
Hi:
Look, I've seen science fiction movies. Get Dr Quatermass on the phone and for Chrissakes listen to him this time.
---- The above post was generated by the Turing Institute. Maybe.
A loadstone is an undesirable gem to have on your person. It is extremely heavy and normally generated cursed, meaning you cannot drop it or place it into a container. You can get rid of it if you lift its curse somehow, e. g. by scroll, spell, holy water, or dipping it into a fountain. Prayer can work under certain circumstances; having a cursed loadstone counts as a minor trouble. You also can have it stolen by a nymph. The spell of stone to flesh will dispose of it. You can wield a loadstone, but you cannot uncurse it with a scroll of enchant weapon.
http://nethack.wikia.com/wiki/Loadstone
As documented by Mitchell and Webb here.
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
Is it a featureless smooth black rectangular object in the proportions of 1x4x9?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monolith_(Space_Odyssey)
Cherie Priest wrote a SciFi book that sounds a lot like this: http://us.macmillan.com/boneshaker/CheriePriest
up!
It's the subterranean alien control station through which, via the extreme illuminati, the governments of the US are controlled. The tinfoil hat brigade have been warning us for years, and now we have irrefutable evidence.
John_Chalisque
1. The original Motorola cellular mobile phone.
2. Doc's time-traveling train.
3. The kraken.
4. The gold from Fort Knox.
5. Moby Dick.
Doesn't it end in zombies? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boneshaker_(novel)
Fear the penguin.
...if the Fremont Troll is still there? Maybe he decided to take this on.
"Some residents said they believe, or want to believe, that a piece of old Seattle, buried in the pell-mell rush of city-building in the 1800s, when a mucky waterfront wetland was filled in to make room for commerce, could be Berthaâ(TM)s big trouble. That theory is bolstered by the fact that the blocked tunnel section is also in the shallowest portion of the route, with the top of the machine only around 45 feet below street grade."
On the other hand, that theory is diminished (if not demolished) by the fact that The Object is twenty feet *below* the historical grade at that location.
...Dr. Bernard Quatermass phone number already?
Looking at the threads around here, it might take five million years to get a decent opinion.
I'm suprised nobody has mentioned the Zombie gas from Cherie Priest's Boneshaker: The driller will dislodge the rock, and downtown Seattle will have to be walled off due to zombie gas...
Why are they developing in one of the most geologically active zones on the globe?
Dibs on the Prisoner's Honey.
Quick, Call Quatermass! I think we found that damn Martian "devil" ship.
a UFO. We've found Area 52!
I couldn't read this: "The 57.5ft diameter machine has encountered an unknown obstruction known as "the object."" without thinking of *this*:
(Specifically, 1:00 to 1:20 of this clip, if you can resist watching the rest.)
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
Don't you mean "boring"?
It's probably a ship much older than 150 years.... I'd check for the remains of telephone sanitizers and other useless people.
Your thin skin doesn't make me a troll
Aliens 'n shit...
We engineer types call that "a failure of vision."
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
This obstruction isn't in an area historically known as "Hobb's end" is it?
Seattle is about to go nuts...
Dear Microlimp: I give you 2 valid product keys for win7 and you reject both of them. Piss off you wankers!!!
When this kind of stuff happens, just install new blades, and let the machine do its work. Using quality blades is important.
It's another one of those damn crystal pyramids.
http://beforeitsnews.com/beyond-science/2013/03/giant-crystal-pyramid-discovered-in-bermuda-triangle-2441348.html
That's where I left that thing.
Perhaps something like this...?
http://www.rochestersubway.com/topics/2013/06/100-ton-slag-at-the-port-of-rochester/
"Five Million Years to Earth" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062168/?ref_=nv_sr_1.
Circle the wagons and fire inward. Entropy increases without bounds.
Take a pencil and paper and draw it out.