MetaChat - Random unsubstantiated but fantastic "fact"

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04 June 2006

Random unsubstantiated but fantastic "fact" I read on the internet today: True fact: There is a circular current in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and square miles upon miles of plastic and tennis shoe soles are slowly revolving, year after year. And it is getting bigger. USNews and World Report, The Atlantic Monthly.→[More:]

I know this should make me sad, if true, and it does, but what it really makes me wanna do is hire a chopper and get a good view of that thing.

post by: LeeJay at: 01:15 | 14 comments

This is assuming there is a helicopter that could make it to the middle of the Pacific Ocean, which there probably isn't, but I'm completely deficient when it comes to aeroplane and helicopter geekery so I'm going to pretend that there is. Also, it's the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I mean, there could be anything out there. Whirlpools of tennis shoe soles, magical submerged cities, dragons.

posted by LeeJay 04 June | 01:17

I've heard about this. There's some guy who's figured out a way to predict where the contents of spilled cargo containers (which, apparently, is quite common) will wash up on shore. Heard it on NPR a year or so ago, and it was fascinating.

posted by mudpuppie 04 June | 01:26

I need to listen to more NPR. We really are just trashing this planet, aren't we?

posted by LeeJay 04 June | 01:28

Yes. Yes we are. We suck.

(LeeJay, if you're up, IRC!)

posted by mudpuppie 04 June | 01:32

Ah, yes, the heady days of 2003.

mudpuppie: probably this guy.

posted by stilicho 04 June | 02:43

I'm friends with this guy, who has long reported about dead seagulls and other sea birds with stomachs full of colorful plastic... I've seen a few cut open with all those lighters spilling out. Apparently they see the colorful bits of plastic floating in the water and gobble it up, thinking it's food; then they starve while their belly feels full, packed with lighters and so on.

Gary has found dead birds all the way out on Midway Island, in the middle of the Pacific, so yes... we are trashing this planet.

posted by BoringPostcards 04 June | 03:13

The gyre is scandalous.

It hasn't really gotten much bigger in the last few years, though. I'm told that the shoes that are washing up on the west side of Vancouver Island these days are all out of style.

Seriously.

posted by reflecked 04 June | 07:32

This made me think of this from Snopes about a floating reef made of condoms. The ick factor is pretty large but its not real.

posted by fenriq 04 June | 11:23

and didn't someone purposely release a ton of plastic balls once?

posted by amberglow 04 June | 11:30

I'm told that the shoes that are washing up on the west side of Vancouver Island these days are all out of style.

Seriously.

Like, saddleshoes and wingtips out of style? Or Converse All Stars out of style?

posted by LeeJay 04 June | 11:45

Well, here's the Wiki page, and it looks like these folks continue to do a lot of research on it. Having watched this preview (direct link) of one of their videos, I'm going to change my plans for the day from reading & drinking tea to going to bed and crying. Or, more productively, tilling the soil of my organic garding for soul-soothing purposes.

posted by elizard 04 June | 12:38

Like, saddleshoes and wingtips out of style? Or Converse All Stars out of style?

Converse All Stars are never out of style.

fyi.

posted by dersins 04 June | 12:45

My buddy Ian produced a documentary about this very phenomenon for The Discovery Channel.

He's currently on a round-the-world trip researching plastic and plastic alternatives, which you can read about here.

posted by Fuzzy Monster 04 June | 16:15

Thanks for the link to Ian's blog, Fuzzy Monster. It's really interesting. One more for my HUMONGOGINORMOUS RSS feed. It's really getting out of control with the RSS.

posted by LeeJay 06 June | 12:39

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