Driving from Alaska to Siberia

Pelerin writes "The team from the Ice Challenger project are driving from Alaska to Provodanya, in Siberia; across the 56-mile field of ice floes that each winter "joins" America and Russia. At the last minute the Russian authorities have denied the entry permit but the crew says they're on track to reach the Big Diomedes islands, which lie across the date line, thereby proving it's possible to do this. This feat is not as easy as it sounds due to the harsh Artic winter conditions, and the fact that the ice floes themselves are drifting at a pretty good clip. It takes a specially built vehicle to tackle this adventure. Geek quotient: pretty high :)" If you just want to drive to Alaska, you might go with Philip Greenspun. And if these guys don't make the trip to Russia this year, they might not get a chance. Update: 04/08 12:21 GMT by T : DrShrink adds to the story: "The two made it to Siberia, however were turned back due to not gaining permission to enter Russian territory."

Ouch

[BrianGa]

I hope your car's heater is working...

International Date Line

[cscx]

...they're on track to reach the Big Diomedes islands, which lie across the date line, thereby proving it's possible to do this. This feat is not as easy as it sounds...

I think they are overanalyzing this. To cross the International Date Line regardless of weather, one would only need a time machine...

commuting

[CmdrTaco (editor)]

Who knows, this may set a new trend for rectruiting firms in Alaska. Work in Alaska by day, live in cheap Siberia by night! On paper, a 56 mile commute doesn't seem so bad... they'd only tell you that it's over a field of ice floes after you sign the deal. Of course, this section of Alaska probably has less than a burdgeoning tech industry.

Just think of the new commercials this will bring!

[webprogrammer]

Truck on snowy mountainpeak.
Truck in middle of desert on 5,000 ft verticle igneous intrusion.
Truck standing valiently atop glacial ice peak.
Truck conquering lunar crater.
...
Truck dodging Russian customs officials after traversing Bering Strait.

Access Denied

[beowulf_26]

They fail to mention the reason that the Russians denied access was because their sattelite intelligence showed that the "specially built vehicle" was going to deposit four Tanyas and an Engineer.

A crazy new invention

[Anonymous Coward]

Two brothers in North Carolina [first-to-fly.com] have apparently developed a new transportation device, which allows you to move through the air. They're calling this vehicle an aeroplane, or plane for short. Initial tests look very promising, and some of the designs [first-to-fly.com] look good.

I think something like this would be incredibly useful for getting from Alaska to Sibera both easily and quickly. Ice is very slippery! Perhaps one day you could even fly from major US cities such as New York to major Russian cities like Moscow. Give it a century, and these aeroplanes will be everywhere!

I can see it now ...

[long_john_stewart_mi]

... They're halfway across the 'bridge': Bill: "This bridge is pretty shaky, who was the engineer of this thing?" Ted (looks at travel guide): "God." Bill: "Oh, he's good. Well then it must be safe..." *Ice shifting in background* Good luck!

Oh my...

[OgdEnigmaX]

For the love of God, or Webster, or both Funk and Wagnalls, it's Arctic, not Artic.

A little review...

Artic [artic.edu]

Arctic [uconn.edu]

Artic [angelfire.com]

Arctic [noaa.gov]

Sheesh.

The Great Race

[GrouchoMarx]

Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis already did this, as I recall. Well, they floated [imdb.com] across. :-)

Re:Access Denied

[NanoGator]

"They fail to mention the reason that the Russians denied access was because their sattelite intelligence showed that the "specially built vehicle" was going to deposit four Tanyas and an Engineer. "

Well they do have a legit concern. Thanks to Edison, they could no longer legally build Tesla Coils.

Re:International Date Line

[goldspider]

International Date Line... that looks suspciciously like all those $200.00 phone calls that mysteriously find their way onto my bill every month...

I know it's offtopic, but I couldn't resist it.

Driving Mr. Greenspun

[Mike626]

You know, it might be my general mood just now, but after reading Greenspun's job offer, I am outraged.

He'll be flying around in a quarter million dollar airplane, while some schmoe schleps around driving his books, bicycles and dog bed for thousands of miles all summer long? Not only that, but when he's around, his serf will sleep in a tent outside?

Sounds like a great way to spend the summer. What a jackass.

Re:Oh my...

[istartedi]

I'm completely in favor of bringing back "thou." You may have noticed various attempts at pluralizing "you." These efforts are pointless as "you" is already plural.

That's why I'm so glad to live in Virginia, where I can use "you" (or better yet, y') for the singular and "y'all" for a group. In more formal settings, "you all" is applied to the group. If it's a crowd full of snobs, just use "you" and assume they can deduce the meaning from context. You can also use "everybody" to refer to a group of snobs. Unless they are also grammar nazis, they will assume that "everybody" is short for "everybody in the room". Of course, if you have to speak to a room full of Yankee grammar nazis, may God have mercy on your soul. Maybe some day those Yankee bumpkins will figure out how to talk. :)