Non-motoring > Richard Hammonds Journey to the Centre of Earth Miscellaneous
Thread Author: BobbyG Replies: 15
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New Thu 21 Jul 11 22:20 
 Richard Hammonds Journey to the Centre of Earth - BobbyG
Anyone else watch this program? Just catching up with it and finding it fascinating.

Think its really well put together, lots of special effects but explained at a level that mere thickos like me can understand.

All the money in the world would not be enough to tempt me to go underwater scuba diving through the rocks that those guys did in Florida! And the stadium that is built on a fault line and they are now dismantling it and rebuilding it on concrete slabs, one on each plate so as to make it earthquake proof!
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New Thu 21 Jul 11 23:14 
 Richard Hammonds Journey to the Centre of Earth - Mr. Ecs
Great programme. I was fascinated by the way in Iceland they use volcanic activity and water to create steam for generating their electricity and keep their roads ice free as well.
Maybe a bright spark here could find a way of sinking holes towards the mantle and pump water into them and create a form of steam generation to replace fossil fuels and nuclear.
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New Thu 21 Jul 11 23:23 
 Richard Hammonds Journey to the Centre of Earth - rtj70
Aren't they doing some drilling near/in Newcastle to tap into thermal springs. Looks like they recently found some:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13927586

Not drilling into the mantle I grant you.
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New Fri 22 Jul 11 13:16 
 Richard Hammonds Journey to the Centre of Earth - Redviper
Absolutely fascinating programme

I know CGI is used a lot these days, but this was a programme that was brought together very well, it was very interesting and made for a good hours worth of watching.

Well Done BBC!
Last edited by: Redviper on Fri 22 Jul 11 at 13:17
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New Fri 22 Jul 11 18:01 
 Richard Hammonds Journey to the Centre of Earth - corax
Did you see that guy in the heat proof suit taking a sample from the lava lake in the African volcano? Absolute nutter. He wouldn't leave. I reckon he was mesmerised by the moving lava, a bit like Frodo with the ring in Lord of the Rings. I can imagine a lava lake could do that to someone. But if you know that the stuff from that particular area flows at over 60 mph, I don't think I would want to hang around.


Those Florida caverns were fascinating.
Last edited by: corax on Fri 22 Jul 11 at 18:02
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New Fri 22 Jul 11 18:34 
 Richard Hammonds Journey to the Centre of Earth - rtj70
He certainly was a nutter! Good programme.

Talking of Lord of the Rings... the much 'improved' extended edition is available on Blu-ray. Films extended and lots of extras! I've got the extended DVD version but they've extended them even more! Like adding 40-50 minutes a film.

Amazing those caverns were so big.

The programme got me thinking what will happen to my brother's two houses in California if the big one hits. You're constantly reminded of the risk in San Francisco because there's no petrol stations in the centre of town - remember my brother panicking one time when his V8 was on fumes.

Then again I remember walking in the hills near one of his houses.... the San Andreas hills I think they were :-)
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New Fri 22 Jul 11 21:34 
 Richard Hammonds Journey to the Centre of Earth - zippy
The Hamster makes a good TV program!


Looking forward to next weeks and have the recorder set.
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New Fri 22 Jul 11 21:37 
 Richard Hammonds Journey to the Centre of Earth - RattleandSmoke
I really enjoyed it very, it was very easy to follow for a thick manc like myself. Some of May's recent stuff has reminded me of being sat in lecture theatres learning about how something pointless works like analogue tv.
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New Fri 22 Jul 11 21:40 
 Richard Hammonds Journey to the Centre of Earth - rtj70
Don't forget Hammond also does children's TV programmes. So he's used to pitching it at this level. And there's top gear too... same level.
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New Fri 22 Jul 11 21:52 
 Richard Hammonds Journey to the Centre of Earth - RattleandSmoke
I am slightly offended by that :p.

E.g I can only follow it because its aimed at kids.

To be fair on May's stuff I do understand it until it gets to about 20 minutes in and I find it gets a bit heavy although I always watch that stuff at like 1:00am at night, so I am tired anyway.
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New Fri 22 Jul 11 21:51 
 Richard Hammonds Journey to the Centre of Earth - corax
>> The programme got me thinking what will happen to my brother's two houses in California
>> if the big one hits. You're constantly reminded of the risk in San Francisco because
>> there's no petrol stations in the centre of town

That has surely got to happen sometime soon. The problem is that it happens on such a long timescale that people just forget about the effects of the last one. It's a bit like boom and bust :) But if you live on a fault zone you can't spend every waking hour worrying about it.


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New Fri 22 Jul 11 21:54 
 Richard Hammonds Journey to the Centre of Earth - RattleandSmoke
The one thing I should add is that I studied GCSE geography 12/14 years ago and I learnt about tectonic plates for that, but this programme made it seem a lot more real, rather than something you just study
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Fri 22 Jul 11 at 21:54
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New Fri 22 Jul 11 21:57 
 Richard Hammonds Journey to the Centre of Earth - Zero
I have seen a part of the San Andreas fault, driven along the side of it. Everyone knows it going to fracture big time, and as time goes by, that moment becomes closer and bigger.

I know its silly, but to see it - it feels scary.
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New Fri 22 Jul 11 22:00 
 Richard Hammonds Journey to the Centre of Earth - RattleandSmoke
Grant Theft Auto doesn't count Zero.
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New Fri 22 Jul 11 22:05 
 Richard Hammonds Journey to the Centre of Earth - Zero
Done that too ratts.
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New Fri 22 Jul 11 22:30 
 Richard Hammonds Journey to the Centre of Earth - rtj70
Yes it will happen sooner rather than later I guess. And mount Etna will erupt again too and it's crazy how close people live to it still!

I wonder what clauses are in insurance policies if/when there's a major earthquake in the bay area? There was a fairly big one that brought down one of the bay crossings with the upper section collapsing on the lower section.
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