NOW THAT’S DEEP

We had an interesting movie at Avenidas the other day -- the original 1916 version of Jules Vernes’ 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.  (Good Heavens, that’s nearly a hundred years ago!)  As you might expect, the technology was not quite up to what we have today -- a silent movie with titles, a Captain Nemo who looked like a slender, discouraged Santa Claus, and some rather fascinating costuming, for example.

But what got me wondering was this:  how long is a League?  So of course I googled it.  The answer is 3.45 miles.  Now multiply that by 20,000 and one gets 69,000 miles.  The earth is about 7,000 miles in diameter. Now come with me in my fancy submarine and we will dive down and see where it takes us.


Okay, we are now down about 2000 leagues, and we keep going, and oops, we  emerge out the other side of the world, and still have about 18,000 leagues to go.  Well, we're not deep space, but somewhere between the International Space Station (about 250 miles out) and the moon (about 239,000 miles out).  Certainly not under water!  Ah, well, as long as we're out here, let's do some exploring.
You still with me?


Oh My Heavens, look what we found!That doesn't look like the planet Earth.
Is that the Red planet?
Let's get a closer look.

Is that the sun in the distance?

 

So we land (surface?) and look what happens!

 Now in the interests of clarity, you should know that three of the four above photos 

of Mars are real.  You may decide for yourselves which ones they are.

Just a bit more fun --

A father was looking at his son's report card. "One thing is definitely in your favor," he remarked. "With these grades you certainly weren't cheating!"

***
"Blessed are the cracked, for they are the ones who let in the light."