For reasons that don’t really matter, I learned yesterday that there is a marathon in Antarctica:
On December 12th, 2009, the fifth Antarctic Ice Marathon will take place at 80 Degrees South, just a few hundred miles from the South Pole at the foot of the Ellsworth Mountains. This race presents a truly formidable and genuine Antarctic challenge with underfoot conditions comprising snow and ice throughout, an average windchill temperature of -20C, and the possibility of strong Katabatic winds to contend with. Furthermore, the event takes place at an altitude of 3,000 feet.
That’s one of the great things about the Internet. It lets you instantly find all sorts of bizarre things you never knew existed. Things you never would’ve thought to ask about.
This seems like a good open thread sort of thing, so:
Leave a comment telling me something I don’t know. It could be a statement of fact, or a link to a weird site, or a pointer to some unlikely field of scholarship. It could be about science, or art, or politics, or culture, but whatever you post should be something you’re pretty sure I don’t already know about.
I’ve been having trouble accessing Movable Type from work, so in the interests of avoiding the spam filters, please limit yourself to one link per comment. More than that may land your comment(s) in the moderation queue for however long it takes me to get in and clear it.