Way across the maps and seas

August 8, 2011 8:12 AM

Have you ever wondered which part of the other side of the earth is directly beneath you?
posted by cashman (116 comments total)

If the Earth were a sandwich, we would all be one...

...sandwich...
posted by curious nu at 8:16 AM on August 8, 2011 [7 favorites]

So, basically, unless you live in the subcontinent or freakin Tierra del Fuego, the answer is: ocean!
posted by phunniemee at 8:16 AM on August 8, 2011 [18 favorites]

The ocean! Somewhere off the SW coast of Australia, about a third of the way to Antarctica.
posted by jeather at 8:16 AM on August 8, 2011 [3 favorites]

For many places, the antipode is just ocean. But its interesting to see that Portugal and New Zealand actually overlap.
posted by vacapinta at 8:17 AM on August 8, 2011 [2 favorites]

*sigh* There goes tunneling to China... I'd have to swim. I'm gonna go fill a hole now.
posted by _paegan_ at 8:17 AM on August 8, 2011 [6 favorites]

So much for this weekend's DIY project.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:17 AM on August 8, 2011 [6 favorites]

So it turns out the China Syndrome (for those of us in the US), should be called the Indian Ocean Syndrome.
posted by beagle at 8:18 AM on August 8, 2011 [7 favorites]

I can dig a hole all the way down to Rand McNally, where they walk on their hands and hamburgers eat people.

(Actually, I'll just drown off the western coast of Australia.)
posted by griphus at 8:18 AM on August 8, 2011 [7 favorites]

Anyways, I prefer this map which saves you all that clicking around.
posted by vacapinta at 8:18 AM on August 8, 2011 [10 favorites]

Who needs a map? I discovered this when I dug my tunnel back when I was 8. It takes a long time, it gets very hot, and there is a lot of water at the far end. Not really worth the effort. My friends build a fort, and that was a much better idea.
posted by GenjiandProust at 8:19 AM on August 8, 2011 [13 favorites]

Fukushima ends up right off the coast of Uruguay
posted by any major dude at 8:22 AM on August 8, 2011 [2 favorites]

My apartment looks upside down from there. Water spirals the wrong way out the sink.
posted by Metroid Baby at 8:23 AM on August 8, 2011 [12 favorites]

This reminds me of an old math puzzle:

Prove that at any time, there are at least one pair of antipodal points with the exact same temperature AND elevation.
posted by vacapinta at 8:23 AM on August 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

If I drive half an hour south before I start to tunnel I'll get lynched by English immigrants in Rockingham to Bermuda!
posted by Ahab at 8:23 AM on August 8, 2011 [2 favorites]

you could drop something in one end and the recipient can just grab it at the other end when it pops up

it'd be all covered with magma and stuff, though, right? better wear some protective gloves.
posted by elizardbits at 8:25 AM on August 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

This is stupid anyway, 'cause the Mole Men would never let you pass.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:26 AM on August 8, 2011 [9 favorites]

vacapinta: " Prove that at any time, there are at least one pair of antipodal points with the exact same temperature AND elevation."

That was on the West Wing.
posted by zarq at 8:26 AM on August 8, 2011

This is stupid anyway, 'cause the Mole Men would never let you pass.

The Mole People I can handle; it's the Morlocks I'm worried about.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 8:28 AM on August 8, 2011 [4 favorites]

Auckland-Malaga! Pode-antipode buddies! Aw!
posted by the quidnunc kid at 8:29 AM on August 8, 2011

the mole men can be bribed with a handful of earthworms.
posted by elizardbits at 8:30 AM on August 8, 2011

i got ocean :P
posted by mlo at 8:31 AM on August 8, 2011

I thought I made an amazing discovery whilst messing with this tool when to my delight I noticed the antipode of Formosa Province in Argentina is Taiwan which historically was also called Formosa. Alas, a quick Wikipedia lookup shows in my case there is indeed nothing new under the sun. :-(
posted by wannalol at 8:31 AM on August 8, 2011 [2 favorites]

Previously.
posted by BeerFilter at 8:31 AM on August 8, 2011

Oddly, the largest cities to the north of me are Albany, NY and on the other side, Albany, Western Australia.
posted by swift at 8:32 AM on August 8, 2011 [2 favorites]

Cincinnati's antipodal to the ocean? But Ana Ng and I are getting old, and we still haven't walked in the glow of each other's majestic presence...
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:32 AM on August 8, 2011 [4 favorites]

Now I can find out what happens if I make a hole with a gun perpendicular to the name of this town on a desktop globe.
posted by foldedfish at 8:32 AM on August 8, 2011 [13 favorites]

*blub*
posted by ZenMasterThis at 8:33 AM on August 8, 2011

And Previouslier.

Sadly, jessamyn's version is broken.
posted by zamboni at 8:34 AM on August 8, 2011

Not too far from Australia, but further than I'd want to swim.
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 8:35 AM on August 8, 2011

What I love about the hole-through-earth scenario is that you could drop something in one end and the recipient can just grab it at the other end when it pops up.

Or maybe there's something with coriolois forces that would fuck this part up. I prefer not to imagine that.

Unfortunately, it'd just be boring, old air resistance that fucks this up. :(
posted by BenS at 8:36 AM on August 8, 2011

Unfortunately, it'd just be boring, old air resistance that fucks this up. :(

Is there such a thing as new air resistance? ;)
posted by LoudMusic at 8:37 AM on August 8, 2011

The Fénix wasn't a rescue capsule for Chilean miners... it was on a direct mission to reach Huaihua, China!
posted by rh at 8:40 AM on August 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

You can't have Ana Ng. She's mine, as well as your half of the world.
posted by DU at 8:40 AM on August 8, 2011 [3 favorites]

Well, currently there's a lot of water. But in a couple of hours I could drive to the antipode of The Kerguelen Islands. That's where I'll wait out the end of the world.
posted by blue_beetle at 8:43 AM on August 8, 2011

So it turns out the China Syndrome (for those of us in the US), should be called the Indian Ocean Syndrome.

Unless you live in Hawaii, in which case it's the Botswana/Namibia Syndrome.

Or wayyyy north Alaska... The Antarctica Syndrome.
posted by hanoixan at 8:46 AM on August 8, 2011

I find the "How Far Can I Travel" tool to be far more useful. Let's say I'm in an awful place, like Oklahoma, and want to know how far I can get in a single day's drive (at legal speeds, sure). It can provide that answer and all the destinations I could achieve in the given parameters.

Awesome!
posted by LoudMusic at 8:47 AM on August 8, 2011

Looks like, roughly, equidistant from absolutely nowhere and godforsaken.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:47 AM on August 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

So it appears the only kids who have been accurately playing the "Dig a hole to China" game are the children of Argentina and Chile. I want my childhood back!
posted by dogbusonline at 8:49 AM on August 8, 2011

I got Oprah's house. SWEET.
posted by stormpooper at 8:50 AM on August 8, 2011 [2 favorites]

Off the coast of Australia
posted by jonmc at 8:51 AM on August 8, 2011

How dare they try to ruin Buster Keaton's greatest gag. Shame on them.
posted by Capt. Renault at 8:51 AM on August 8, 2011

So it appears the only kids who have been accurately playing the "Dig a hole to China" game are the children of Argentina and Chile. I want my childhood back!

Whoever said the hole you dig has to be perfectly straight? Certainly if you dug correctly from the U.S., you could, in fact, reach China.
posted by kingbenny at 8:51 AM on August 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

DUDES! - just realised that if you start at Juneau, Alaska and DRILL all the way through the Earth, you ACTUALLY END UP IN THE WHITE HOUSE!!!!1! HOLY SHIT FUCK THAT TEA PARTY CHICK WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG!1!!1111111111
posted by the quidnunc kid at 8:52 AM on August 8, 2011 [2 favorites]

No one ever said digging a hole to China had to be perpendicular to the surface of the Earth. Dig away, young China tunnelers! Just dig somewhat diagonally or curvatiously.
posted by LoudMusic at 8:52 AM on August 8, 2011

This is good planning material, but I'm thinking the center of the earth will need some sort of train station so all the people travelling in the various tunnels don't collide with one another. Also what are the air conditioning requirements going to be like in that station? The Earth's core is pretty hot.
posted by crapmatic at 8:52 AM on August 8, 2011

Ocean, unsurprisingly.
posted by tommasz at 8:55 AM on August 8, 2011

you could drop something in one end and the recipient can just grab it at the other end when it pops up

There was a sci-fi story, which for the life of me I can't recall who wrote or the name of, which kinda had this as it's premise. A man and his AI companion happen upon some aliens that mine a planet by coring it in a relatively short time. The man ended up getting caught and tossed through the center of the planet, in which he quickly figured out that he was doomed to continuously float from one side to the other. Does anybody know that one?
posted by P.o.B. at 8:58 AM on August 8, 2011

Nearest land mass -- "French Southern and Antarctic Lands." That's not even a real place. Might as well be Narnia.
posted by rtimmel at 9:01 AM on August 8, 2011

There's a wonderful article by Lisa Moore from Walrus magazine that explores the literary connections of (almost) antipodean islands Newfoundland and Tasmania.
posted by oulipian at 9:06 AM on August 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

You can't have Ana Ng. She's mine, as well as your half of the world.

There was an interview with They Might Be Giants in which they noted that their initial presumption--that Vietnam was on the exact opposite side of the world from them--was incorrect and that, yeah, it was really the middle of the ocean. Still my favorite TMBG song.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:10 AM on August 8, 2011

Ocean. :(

This would explain why, every time I try to tunnel through the earth, the hole just fills up with water, right?
posted by darkstar at 9:12 AM on August 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

So, which direction do I face if I'm opposite Mecca?
posted by Confess, Fletch at 9:13 AM on August 8, 2011

So, which direction do I face if I'm opposite Mecca?

By the look of that map: you swim south-west. And hurry.
posted by the quidnunc kid at 9:16 AM on August 8, 2011

So, which direction do I face if I'm opposite Mecca?

Any of them, I reckon.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 9:16 AM on August 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

Yes, I have wondered, and now I know. thank you.
posted by theora55 at 9:24 AM on August 8, 2011

On the bright side, all of the fish that live off the coast of Australia have an invitation to come for dinner, anytime.... preferably the good tasting ones. Start digging!
posted by crunchland at 9:24 AM on August 8, 2011

Previously
posted by CaseyB at 9:27 AM on August 8, 2011

*sigh* There goes tunneling to China... I'd have to swim. I'm gonna go fill a hole now.

Nobody said you had to tunnel right through the middle.
posted by alby at 9:27 AM on August 8, 2011

So, which direction do I face if I'm opposite Mecca?

You live in the middle of the South Pacific?
posted by P.o.B. at 9:29 AM on August 8, 2011

Splash!
posted by rahnefan at 9:29 AM on August 8, 2011

Dang, I always wondered this, only to find out that it's more ocean, south of Madagascar!
posted by Lynsey at 9:37 AM on August 8, 2011

So, pretty much all of mainland Canada is opposite the southern Indian Ocean. That's a lot of ocean.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 9:39 AM on August 8, 2011

A poem I wrote years ago seems appropriate here:

There is a cave in China
Where bats sleep upright
Perched on stalagmites
And spelunkers walk on the ceiling.
posted by etc. at 9:40 AM on August 8, 2011

For much of the Eastern U.S. it's a very long swim to the southwestern tip of Australia, probably Augusta in West Australia.

For anyone thinking about actually trying it keep in mind that, even if you make it to shore, Augusta is not a very safe place.
posted by Naberius at 9:45 AM on August 8, 2011

"There was a sci-fi story, which for the life of me I can't recall who wrote or the name of, which kinda had this as it's premise. A man and his AI companion happen upon some aliens that mine a planet by coring it in a relatively short time. The man ended up getting caught and tossed through the center of the planet, in which he quickly figured out that he was doomed to continuously float from one side to the other. Does anybody know that one?"

Not 100% sure, but that sounds a bit like a novel by Gregory Benford.

Oh, and my antipode is cold sea, darnit. Probably nice for whales and fish, but no good for tunneling.
posted by Kevin Street at 9:49 AM on August 8, 2011

I'm somewhere off the coast of Madagascar, which sounds somewhat romantic, but probably isn't in real life.
posted by Sophie1 at 9:50 AM on August 8, 2011

vacapinta: " Prove that at any time, there are at least one pair of antipodal points with the exact same temperature AND elevation."

That was on the West Wing.
posted by zarq at

They just said temperature, I said temperature AND elevation. That is, the same antipodal points have both the same temperature and the same elevation.

Also, you don't have to have studied math to figure it out. You just have to be clever.
posted by vacapinta at 9:50 AM on August 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

This tool goes off track if you zoom in and out in both windows during the same session.
posted by yellowcandy at 9:57 AM on August 8, 2011

Also, you don't have to have studied math to figure it out. You just have to be clever.

Of course, if you have studied enough math to make you forget about common sense, you'll dismiss that answer as way too trivial.
posted by daniel_charms at 10:04 AM on August 8, 2011

There must be assumptions about variation in temperature built into the question, because otherwise every point on Earth could be assigned a temperature distinct from its antipode (argument by construction: assign the temperatures of the Northern hemisphere arbitrarily. Find the maximum and minimum temperatures of the Northern hemisphere. Then the temperature of any point on the southern hemisphere is abs(max) + abs(min) + the temperature of its Northern antipode + 1).
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 10:10 AM on August 8, 2011

(which is strictly greater than any temperature in the northern hemisphere)
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 10:11 AM on August 8, 2011

Just say someone on the northern hemisphere is way cool. Then someone in the southern hemisphere - some kind of wannabe hipster asshole, probably - will be as cool, or will be cool about it, or will be cool on the whole idea. But if someone in the northern hemisphere is waaay hot, then someone from the southern hemisphere will be hot for that person. The important thing is that they are both gettin' high, cause hipsters love that shit. So they will also be at the same elevation as well. Q that shit up your ED.
posted by the quidnunc kid at 10:18 AM on August 8, 2011 [3 favorites]

They just said temperature, I said temperature AND elevation. That is, the same antipodal points have both the same temperature and the same elevation.

Also, you don't have to have studied math to figure it out. You just have to be clever.
posted by vacapinta at 9:50 AM on August 8 [1 favorite +] [!]

My vote goes with "There's tons of them, about 100 miles straight up from the earth's surface on either side of the planet."
posted by FatherDagon at 10:44 AM on August 8, 2011

The Indian Ocean. Fabulous. And I was so excited when I clicked that link...
posted by mitzyjalapeno at 10:45 AM on August 8, 2011

That is, the same antipodal points have both the same temperature and the same elevation.

I'm guessing these points are on the equator, at sea level? Somewhere?
posted by Mister Moofoo at 10:56 AM on August 8, 2011

Oh derp, antipodal is specific to the surface and not just equidistant from the center. I'm a dumb.. err I mean I just assumed you were using non-eucildean geometry. Yeahhh.
posted by FatherDagon at 11:00 AM on August 8, 2011

I can never think of holes through the earth - or China Syndrome or even just digging a hole in the back yard - without remembering an article in Cricket magazine when I was a kid - maybe 7 or 8 - that explained everything you'd need to dig through the earth and what you'd find on the trip. They assume you've got easy access to a self-powered, well-insulated, drill-tipped tunnel boring vehicle, but other than that it seemed pretty reasonable when I read it. Other notes I remember were that you need to bring lots of cold lemonade for refreshment close to the center of the earth, and that there's a really neat period when you'll be weightless.

Sadly, there doesn't seem to be a copy of the article archived online anywhere.
posted by nickmark at 11:07 AM on August 8, 2011

You don't fool me. Turtles! All the damn way down.
posted by Splunge at 11:09 AM on August 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

hmmm, it seems that nobody has read Cresent in the Sky by Donald Moffitt

In it the Sultan of Alpha Centauri has a device that shows the direction Mecca in three dimensions.

At Mecca's antipode you should stand on your head.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 11:11 AM on August 8, 2011

you could drop something in one end and the recipient can just grab it at the other end when it pops up

Wouldn't it just stop at the core? That's the Earth's center of gravity . . .
posted by waitingtoderail at 11:24 AM on August 8, 2011

Wouldn't it just stop at the core? That's the Earth's center of gravity . . .

Inertia
posted by Confess, Fletch at 11:25 AM on August 8, 2011

Comments indicate that most Mefites are based in the U S of A.
posted by rageagainsttherobots at 11:25 AM on August 8, 2011

At Mecca's antipode you should stand on your head.

Or do the dead man's float, anyhow.
posted by waitingtoderail at 11:25 AM on August 8, 2011

@_paegan_: I feel the same way--Now I wonder what else my mother lied about--I sincerely hope she did not lie about Republicans--She told me to never trust them. Which I found interesting when I later learned my father was a Republican.
posted by rmhsinc at 11:27 AM on August 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

Neat! A lot of nearby anti-users: Indian Ocean, too.
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 11:41 AM on August 8, 2011

At Mecca's antipode you should stand on your head.

I don't think one is required to pray in the direction that marks the shortest distance to Mecca through the planet itself, but just over the surface of the Earth. So really, if you were Muslim and lived antipodal to Mecca, you'd have it totally made - any direction is facing Mecca. But then, any direction is also away from Mecca, so there's also that.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 11:50 AM on August 8, 2011

Hawaii always gets all the good stuff.
posted by likeatoaster at 11:54 AM on August 8, 2011

even if you make it to shore, Augusta is not a very safe place.

Sounds like pretty typical Augusta to me.
posted by TedW at 12:11 PM on August 8, 2011

Hypothetically, if your floating around in a boat in the South Pacific and as long as you try to pray closest Mecca, I think God will forgive regardless. Can we move on?
posted by P.o.B. at 12:12 PM on August 8, 2011

Can we move on?

What's the problem? I think it's fun speculating about this; even the Malaysian space agency has gotten into the subject.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 12:21 PM on August 8, 2011

Ask a Muslim. Otherwise it's bordering LOLXTIAN.
posted by P.o.B. at 12:26 PM on August 8, 2011

Really? Where's the part where anyone's making fun of Islam?
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 12:28 PM on August 8, 2011

Seriously? SOUTH PACIFIC!
posted by P.o.B. at 12:29 PM on August 8, 2011

The musical? Maybe I'm missing something here.

In any event, sure, I think the directional thing's been fairly worked over. And if it's bothering you that much, then I really don't see the need for me to dig in over it. Consider it dropped.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 12:31 PM on August 8, 2011

I'll link it again. Kinda ridiculous discussion in light of that, is it?
posted by P.o.B. at 12:46 PM on August 8, 2011

you could drop something in one end and the recipient can just grab it at the other end when it pops up

Nope. And here is a cute little video (another link) from Neil deGrasse Tyson, in Nova Science Now, explaining why.
posted by nooneyouknow at 1:34 PM on August 8, 2011

Yes, I was talking about the caveats of air resistance, the heat at the core and earth's spin.
posted by nooneyouknow at 1:58 PM on August 8, 2011

I'm from Australia and a quick examination reveals that not a single part of Australia corresponds with a land mass on the opposite side of the world. We are well and truly in island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, which somehow seems quite appropriate.
posted by smithsmith at 2:15 PM on August 8, 2011

Perhaps I need to get a life but I tried a few of the world's religious cities hoping they'd correspond to an island in the South Pacific. No luck unfortunately, but I think I accidentally found Atlantis (or the google logo).
posted by smithsmith at 2:25 PM on August 8, 2011

One thing that always got me when I was tunnelling to China as a child - if you successfully dug a tunnell all the way through the earth, and built it well enough that the molten mantle and liquid outer core wouldn't fall into your tunnel, then what would happen if you jumped into it?

Me theory was that you'd fall straight down, shooting through your tunnel, until you passed the centre of the planet, at which point you'd start to slow down as gravity starts to act on you from the other direction. And since you had reached terminal velocity on your way down, you wouldn't make it more than a fraction of the way to China before you stopped at the nadir of your fall, before beginning a new fall back towards the centre. Since that point would be exactly how far away from the centre it takes to slow your body moving from terminal velocity to stillness, presumeably by the time you reached the centre again you would have just reached terminal velocity once more, thereby ensuring that your trip to China ends in a permanent oscillation back and forth in the centre of the planet.
posted by twirlypen at 2:59 PM on August 8, 2011

There must be assumptions about variation in temperature built into the question...

Yes: that temperature is a physical quantity, so it must be a continuous function. Then it's just the Mean Value Theorem.
posted by phliar at 3:40 PM on August 8, 2011

And the antipodean muslim should face in any direction, then take one step. Voila! Guaranteed shortest direction with no ambiguities!
posted by phliar at 3:43 PM on August 8, 2011 [2 favorites]

The guy in my neighborhood who tried to tunnel down to China in his backyard at the age of eight ended up getting shot to death a block from school at the age of 16. Everybody was horrified and almost nobody was surprised.
posted by bukvich at 4:03 PM on August 8, 2011

As mentioned in the article on The Alameda-Weehawken Burrito Tunnel:

Ever since Isaac Newton first described the laws of gravity in 1687, scientists have known that the quickest route between two points is along a straight line through the Earth’s interior. Through the magic of gravity, any object dropped into such a “chord tunnel” at one end will emerge exactly 42 minutes later at the other end, no matter the distance.

I can't be the only one who saw this in an introductory physics class and filed it away as trivia. At one point I'm pretty sure I solved this as a homework problem. It's called a gravity train and here's a proof, not due to me. And somewhat amusingly, the time "42 minutes" depends only on the density of the Earth; if Earth were bigger but made of the same stuff the train would just go faster.

Actually you can work out that the time only depends on the gravitational constant and the density of the earth by dimensional analysis. (It's got to depend on the gravitational constant and the mass and density, and it's got to have units of time.)
posted by madcaptenor at 4:33 PM on August 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

twirlypen: you're basically correct. In a vacuum you'd just barely make it to the other side, and you oscillate forever; with dampening you don't make it quite back uphill at the other end.
posted by madcaptenor at 4:34 PM on August 8, 2011

Confess, Fletch: "So, which direction do I face if I'm opposite Mecca?"

Tematangi

P.o.B.: "Hypothetically, if your floating around in a boat in the South Pacific and as long as you try to pray closest Mecca, I think God will forgive regardless."

IIRC, Muslims in space are supposed to determine the Qibla according to their abilities. Presumably anyone actually in that position would have a reasonable grasp of 3-D navigation, so they should be able to get pretty close.
posted by Pinback at 4:41 PM on August 8, 2011

When are Muslims in space supposed to pray? If you're orbiting the earth every 90 minutes, it would seem that you'd have to pray five times every 90 minutes. But that can't be right.

This web page about a Muslim astronaut talks about how to determine the direction but not the time. My guess would be that you pray according to the time of the place you took off from, but I am hardly an expert in these things.
posted by madcaptenor at 5:04 PM on August 8, 2011

I think I've read (but I can't find a link for it) that they go by the time observed on-ship. Which, in the case of the ISS, is UTC.
posted by Pinback at 5:16 PM on August 8, 2011

I'm on the bottom of the world. On the other side is nothing but Atlantic Ocean.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 6:55 PM on August 8, 2011

Nobody said you had to tunnel right through the middle.

I should have stuck around for ideas before I got to work filling that hole.
posted by _paegan_ at 7:02 PM on August 8, 2011

I am:

A) Very pleased that I was by no means the first person to start thinking "Make a hole with a gun perpendicular..."

B) Equally pleased to learn that if the narrator of the song lived in Peru, he'd be correct. On the other hand, it might have been nice if the appropriate antipode was in the ocean, so I could imagine an eldritch tentacled beastie singing a heartfelt love song in the voice of John Linnell.

Ah, well. I suppose I can imagine that anyway, if I want.
posted by Because at 7:35 PM on August 8, 2011

From Packing for Mars, a fascinating book about astronauts which I recommend heartily (also her earlier book Stiff, about cadavers):

Zero gravity and a ninety-minute orbital day created so many questions for Muslim astronauts that a “Guideline of Performing Ibadah at the International Space Station” was drafted. Rather than require Muslim astronauts to pray five times during each ninety-minute orbit of Earth, the guidelines allowed them to go by the twenty-four-hour cycle of the launch location. Wipes (“not less than 3 pieces”) could be used for preprayer cleansing. And since the orbiting Muslim who began his prayer while facing Mecca was likely, by prayer’s end, to be mooning Mecca, provisions were made allowing him to simply face the Earth or “wherever.” Lastly, instead of lowering the face to the ground, a trying maneuver in zero gravity, prostrating oneself could be approximated by “bringing down the chin closer to the knee,” “using the eye lid as an indicator of the changing of posture” or—in the vein of “wherever”—simply “imagining” the sequence of movements.

posted by jeather at 7:59 PM on August 8, 2011

Yep just water for me. But it turns out that Perth is pretty close to being opposite Bermuda though...
posted by cirhosis at 9:26 PM on August 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey (1988 film): during the Black Death of 14th century England, people in a small village dig all the way through the earth to New Zealand to place a cross on a church steeple.
posted by neuron at 10:20 PM on August 8, 2011

Argentina, but just a few miles from Paraguay. Now I just need to pack.
posted by Poagao at 1:37 AM on August 9, 2011

nickmark: "I can never think of holes through the earth - or China Syndrome or even just digging a hole in the back yard - without remembering an article in Cricket magazine when I was a kid"

I remember that, too!
posted by Chrysostom at 12:54 PM on August 10, 2011