Missouri Cheese Cave

Cheese stored underground in a former limestone mine, Missouri

Rumor has it that the government has 1.4 billion pounds of cheese stored in these caves under Springfield, Missouri. The Farm link Project has a page about this as does Wikipedia.

One pound of cheese can provide enough calories to sustain one person for one day, so 1.4 billion pounds is enough to sustain the entire country for like four days.

The natural temperature of the cave is 60 degrees Fahrenheit, but refrigeration brings the temperature down to 36 degrees. I wonder what the electric bill is.

It would be a good thing to have all that cheese in case of famine, but 70% of the world's population is lactose intolerant. 

It sounds like a government project run amuck, but this is small potatoes compared to some.

Via a meme on Bustednuckles

Caveland

Caveland in Winter

A couple of crazy kids in Festus, Missouri, have built themselves a home in a cave dug into a cliff. The place got its start as a limestone quarry. It later became a mushroom farm and then a roller rink. It's quite a story. Via younger son.

Sanctum

Sanctum seems to polarize viewers. I really liked it, even though everything the critics say is true. It's kind of like a stupid horror flick because you're always yelling "don't" at the screen! I can't stand horror movies. This is different than a horror movie because there is no malevolent brain directing the mayhem, it's just mother nature. It's more like one of those automobile accident movies they used to show in high school: here are all the horrible ways you can die in a cave full of water.

The prejudice against this film shows up in the pictures returned by Google. This was the best one I could find that showed something of the cave, and it's not very good. The vast majority of the pictures are of the actors in the movie. I mean, who cares? You can see a zillion people every day, but seeing the inside of an underwater cave, now that's something special, and all the promoters completely ignore it.

Maybe the majority of folks don't care, maybe that's why stupid social media like Facebook is so popular.

Update June 2016 replaced missing picture.

Big New Cave

Hang Son Doong cave in Vietnam

After years of hearing about the "biggest cave in the world", I was surprised to hear that the last record holder has been upstaged by the Hang Son Doong cave in Vietnam. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. There aren't too many people who go in for caving. I for one have a bit of an aversion into going into dark places where I could easily become trapped and end up wasting away like the woman in the cave in "The English Patient". There is still a great deal of wilderness on our planet, and many caves are virtually undetectable from a casual inspection of the surface.

Via Mark.