Sunday, December 04, 2011

Hell's Door vs. the Incandescent Light Bulb

In the middle of the Karakoum (Turkmenistan) desert, close to the tiny nomadic village of Darvaza, there is a crater about 100 meters in diameter and more than 25 meters deep. It is called "Hell's Door". Inside this well, a fire has been burning for more than 40 years.

A Soviet prospecting mission began here in the fifties. In 1971, a drilling operation exposed an underground cavity that discharged enormous quantities of gas. Thinking the supply of gas would last but a few weeks, Soviet engineers decided to torch the hole. And it's been burning ever since. The intense heat coming from the crater allows visitors to approach Hell's Door only for a few minutes at a time because of the unbearable temperature.

At night, the hole looks like Dante's Inferno: the fire burns in all its magnificence, giving the well the look of a volcanic burning crater.

* * * * * * * * *

40 years of intense, volcanic heat emitted by a massive, burning hellhole.

But you and I have to give up our incandescent light-bulbs.

For the children. Oh, and the global warming scam, too. But mostly the children. And Ewoks.


3 comments:

Shayne said...

I'm simply stunned congress hasn't recinded this law. And they wonder why their approval rating is below Hugo Chavez.

sTevo said...

But mostly the children. And Ewoks.

Nice

Anonymous said...

Couldn't somebody harness this energy? They could move some Siberian prisons closer to this, and heat some water for steam heating a village. Mother Nature gives until it hurts.