Join me in a little pre-debate distraction with another grey-matter relaxant in the form of our Friday Quiz.
Local residents at one time maintained that its creation was due to a fight between the gods Llao and Skell. John Wesley Hillman, Henry Klippel and Isaac Skeeters were the first men of European descent to discover it. Thirty-three years after their arrival, Captain Clarence Dutton explored it in the Cleetwood and made record-setting findings that were confirmed by advanced technological tools more than half a century later.
What did Captain Dutton explore? For a bonus point, what record did Dutton's measurements establish?
First correct answer posted to comments wins a pair of Sigmund and the Sea Monsters commemorative salt-and-pepper shakers (in the shape of Sigmund brothers Blurp and Slurp). No Googling or making fun of Mr. Skeeters' surname. One guess per comment, please, but you may comment as frequently as your browser can load the page.
I'll guess the Mariana's Trench, and the record is deepest depth.
Posted by: Scott on October 8, 2004 11:07 AMNope.
Posted by: BT on October 8, 2004 11:18 AMThe Zygomatic Arch
Posted by: Scott on October 8, 2004 11:21 AMMariana's Trench!? That's funny, I was gonna guess Britney's skankhole, but you found the one deeper thing, Scott.
Posted by: The Lady B. Yogurt on October 8, 2004 11:34 AMAtlantis. Bonus answer: the measurements established it was way down below the ocean.
Easter Island?
Posted by: Gavin on October 8, 2004 11:39 AMMadagascar?
Posted by: Gavin on October 8, 2004 11:39 AMHackly is doubtless thinking of Capt. Dutton's colleague Capt. Donovan.
Posted by: BT on October 8, 2004 11:40 AMNothing yet.
Posted by: BT on October 8, 2004 11:41 AMThe Great Salt Lake?
Posted by: Gavin on October 8, 2004 11:53 AMThe Sargasso Sea?
Posted by: Gavin on October 8, 2004 11:55 AMHeadwaters of the Nile?
Posted by: Gavin on October 8, 2004 11:56 AMAngel Falls?
Posted by: Gavin on October 8, 2004 11:57 AMArea 51?
Posted by: Gavin on October 8, 2004 11:57 AMMt. St. Helena---forgive me, Helens?
Posted by: The Lady B. Yogurt on October 8, 2004 12:00 PMNo right answer so far, though some have been on the right track.
Posted by: BT on October 8, 2004 12:08 PMThe Hawaiian Islands
Posted by: Scott on October 8, 2004 12:09 PMAnd, barring that, the Aleutian Islands, the longest chain of islands anywhere.
Posted by: Scott on October 8, 2004 12:10 PMThe Mystery Spot
Posted by: Scott on October 8, 2004 12:18 PMThe G Spot.
(You sillies thought that "The Cleetwood" was what he called his _ship_, didn't you?)
Posted by: Scott on October 8, 2004 12:19 PM(After the change of life, it turns into the G-Snot.)
Posted by: The Lady B. Yogurt on October 8, 2004 12:27 PMMauna Kea, the tallest mountain in the world from base to tip.
Posted by: Scraps on October 8, 2004 12:34 PMMicronesia, the most difficult place on earth to find a soy latte.
Posted by: Scott on October 8, 2004 12:41 PMThe "Lady" in Lady B. Yogurt is ironic, isn't it?
Posted by: Scott on October 8, 2004 12:41 PMNothing yet.
Of it, William Gladstone Steel wrote:
"All ingenuity of nature seems to have been exerted to the fullest capacity to build a grand awe-inspiring temple the likes of which the world has never seen before."
Posted by: BT on October 8, 2004 12:53 PMCrater Lake
Posted by: Scott on October 8, 2004 12:57 PMThe Grand Canyon
Posted by: Scott on October 8, 2004 12:57 PMScott's got it: Crater Lake, long known to the Klamath Indians, was discovered by three gold-rush prospectors in the 1850's, and had its depth surveyed with piano wire unspooled from a pipe by the aforementioned Dutton, who came within a few percent of its depth as established by sonar in the 1950's. Dutton's crew had to haul his boat up the side of the mountain to launch his survey.
It's the second-deepest lake in the Western Hemisphere. Anybody know which is No. 1? And/or which is No. 1 in the world?
Posted by: BT on October 8, 2004 01:08 PMI think the deepest lake in the world is Lake Baykal.
For western hemisphere, I'll guess the Great Slave Lake. Free the Great Slave Lake! I just wanted an excuse to say that.
Posted by: Scraps on October 8, 2004 01:14 PMCrater Lake is sublimely beautiful.
Posted by: Scraps on October 8, 2004 01:15 PMOr maybe Lake Titicaca for western hemisphere.
Posted by: Scraps on October 8, 2004 02:00 PMTrust the perverse Canadians to wish to enslave the deepest lake in the Americas. When this country finally takes over our Northern "neighbor" the first thing we'll do is rename it The Great Freedom Lake.
And yup, Baikal in Siberia is the world's deepest, more than a mile deep, nearly three times as deep as Crater Lake, and holding, if you can believe it, about a fifth of the world's fresh water.
Posted by: BT on October 8, 2004 02:52 PMAll of which is to say that Scraps does an impressive job of sweeping today's bonus round. "Well done, Comrade!" as they say in The People's Republic of Canada.
Posted by: BT on October 8, 2004 02:53 PMlake Atitlan
Posted by: motormouth on December 9, 2004 10:59 PM