[ExI] a couple uses for kudzu

[spike]

> bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Mike Dougherty
...
> Like the guys "combing the desert" in SpaceBalls, I picture a crew
> with shovels attempting to dig a "vertical shaft ... a kilometer deep
> and ten meters in diameter..." - of course the sand keeps filling in
> when the holes are no more than 2 meters deep and only a meter wide.
> 
> Thanks for the image.


The desert I had in mind is the San Joachin valley in southern Taxifornia.
There is very little sand there, a layer perhaps a few centimeters on the
top surface.  Shovels are useless tools.  The soil there is very hard,
almost rocklike, which is why you hear of old abandoned vertical mine shafts
several hundred feet deep, into which card cheaters from Las Vegas
mysteriously fall on a regular basis.  If one has ever dug a hole there, one
knows that such an artifact will remain unchanged for decades if not
centuries.  The soil there must be ground up and hauled away.

spike