Comments on: The Door to Hell

The Door to Hell

homunculus — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:00:12 -0800

Burning Crater of Darvaza. [Via.]

By: Faux Real

Faux Real — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:04:42 -0800

Why do man made disasters have to be so cool?

By: ORthey

ORthey — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:07:23 -0800

There's nothing I can say that hasn't already been said by this youtuber: "Looks like inside of my ex's underwear XD"

By: nax

nax — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:07:42 -0800

Holy shit.

By: Joakim Ziegler

Joakim Ziegler — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:09:17 -0800

Is this really a "disaster", though? I mean, yeah, it's burning a bit of natural gas, but it looks cool, and doesn't harm anyone, really. Well, possibly the environment, a bit.

By: papercake

papercake — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:14:15 -0800

Holy hell. That's amazing.

By: dgaicun

dgaicun — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:24:05 -0800

Seems like an ongoing waste of useful natural resources, but I guess Turkmenistan needs the tourists.

By: BobFrapples

BobFrapples — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:28:46 -0800

The Gates of Hell, dude.

By: mullingitover

mullingitover — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:31:59 -0800

dgaicun writes "Seems like an ongoing waste of useful natural resources, but I guess Turkmenistan needs the tourists." Ever think about how many gallons of gasoline are wasted each day by automobiles idling at stop lights? This is a drop in the bucket.

By: JPD

JPD — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:32:32 -0800

Heh - I've been. Its really one of weirdest things ever. I'm pretty sure the Turkmen aren't letting it burn for the tourists given they get about 1500 tourists a year in the entire country. The Crater is about a day's drive from Ashgabat, and is a long walk off the road towards Kanye-Urgench. I remember lots of spiders

By: quin

quin — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:35:06 -0800

That's pretty bad ass. It reminded me vaguely of Centralia, Pennsylvania which is the place that has had an underground coal fire for almost 50 years. There is something truly infernal about the idea of a perpetual fire burning right beneath your feet.

By: George_Spiggott

George_Spiggott — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:37:28 -0800

I have an idea. First, we build the world's biggest Jiffy-Pop...

By: maxwelton

maxwelton — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:54:39 -0800

I remember lots of spiders Anyone else bothered by both this sentence and the way it abruptly ends?

By: WCityMike

WCityMike — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:04:53 -0800

> There is something truly infernal about the idea of a perpetual fire burning right beneath your feet. Jack Chick would agree.

By: Pastabagel

Pastabagel — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:05:24 -0800

The Crater is about a day's drive from Ashgabat, and is a long walk off the road towards Kanye-Urgench. I remember lots of spiders posted by JPD at 4:32 PM on March 26 Please elaborate on "lots of spiders". Are they attracted to the hole? This scares me. You know all those species of crab that live near hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor? I wonder if there's some latent evolutionary pull in arachnids to go near hellaciously hot and toxic things like this. I wonder if over time a species of spider will evolve near this crater, just like those crabs.

By: aramaic

aramaic — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:25:42 -0800

I wonder if over time a species of spider will evolve near this crater, just like those crabs. You bastard! Now I have a new thing to worry about! Gaaaahhhhh......

By: JPD

JPD — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:32:25 -0800

I really think they are just attracted to the light.

By: ignignokt

ignignokt — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:55:11 -0800

That's been burning since 1986? Holy shit. Still, that is goddamned cool-looking.

By: mr_book

mr_book — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:57:22 -0800

A Silk Road Tag? Really? Fire.

By: Artw

Artw — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:23:09 -0800

Wow.

By: tkchrist

tkchrist — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:33:24 -0800

I wonder if over time a species of spider will evolve near this crater, just like those crabs. That's all it takes to convince me. So, let's stop the time wasting jibber jabber and BEGIN NUKING THE AREA IMMEDIATELY.

By: rokusan

rokusan — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:08:13 -0800

BEGIN NUKING THE AREA IMMEDIATELY. And then, over time, a species of spider will evolve near the fallout, and this species will be much, much scarier. You really can't win. It's like antibiotics.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:14:17 -0800

Nuking them would just make them stronger, like Godzilla.

By: Brian B.

Brian B. — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:16:29 -0800

Seems like an ongoing waste of useful natural resources, It's small compared to actual waste. The World Bank estimates that over 100 billion cubic metres of natural gas are flared or vented annually, an amount worth approximately 30.6 billion dollars, equivalent to the combined annual gas consumption of Germany and France, twice the annual gas consumption of Africa, three quarters of Russian gas exports, or enough to supply the entire world with gas for 20 days. This flaring is highly concentrated: 10 countries account for 75% of emissions, and twenty for 90%.[5] The largest flaring operations occur in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The leading contributors to gas flaring are (in declining order): Nigeria, Russia, Iran, Algeria, Mexico, Venezuela, Indonesia, and the United States.[6] In spite of a ruling by the Federal High Court of Nigeria (that forbade flaring) in 2005, 43% of the of the gas retrieval was still being flared in 2006. It will be prohibited by law as of 2008.

By: owhydididoit

owhydididoit — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:46:44 -0800

First, we build the world's biggest Jiffy-Pop... Oh the pancakes you could cook over that sucker! Seriously though, what's up with flaring? Does it make oil cheaper or easier to extract? I'm confused why, given our impending hydrocarbon crunch, natural gas isn't worth too much to flare.

By: owhydididoit

owhydididoit — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:48:53 -0800

Oh.

By: Free word order!

Free word order! — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:50:28 -0800

Haven't you notice how even campfires attract spiders? For hundred meter radius, all spiders gather round and watch silently, planning spidery plans, creeping closer. When the fire goes out, they tend to get confused and aggressive and seek the next warm body. Don't let the fire go out.

By: Brian B.

Brian B. — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:00:17 -0800

I'm confused why, given our impending hydrocarbon crunch, natural gas isn't worth too much to flare. One reason they burn it off is because it helps keep the prices up by reducing the supply on hand.

By: alicesshoe

alicesshoe — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:22:19 -0800

WICKED stills. Damn./// Whatasight. She is like an eye-blue swimming pool ...[Gun Club She's Like Heroin to Me — lyrics. Music] I'd be tempted [Lordy.//] to jump into that pool of water – get a rope to haul me out though. WCityMike, stroke of genius inserting that. Someone tell Chick that jezus said everyone goes to heaven, no one is spared from it... if they REPENT./// A Virtual Tour of Hell, Dante's Inferno tour...

By: bottlebrushtree

bottlebrushtree — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:36:09 -0800

There is place like this (but on a much smaller scale) in Turkey called the Chimera. Gas leaks out of a hillside and supposedly self ignites. I'm not sure if I buy that part, but it was pretty interesting in person. The flames used to be much larger in the past, and I'm sure must have been a mid blower thousands of years ago.

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 23:06:53 -0800

By: homunculus

homunculus — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 09:19:05 -0800

Afghanisu-tan (And Friends) Turkmenis-tan