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Question: Explain to me again how sheep's bladders may be employed to prevent earthquakes.

Answer: The ancient Greeks were the first to use the bladder of the sheep to prevent earthquakes. They used the idea of water pressure to make the bladder exert a large force on the ground. The idea was that if they were able to increase the force of the water pressure, they could increase the force that the bladder would exert on the ground, and thus prevent earthquakes.

The idea was that the sheep would be sacrificed and the bladder would be filled with water. The filled bladder would then be placed over the fault line. When the bladder was filled with water, it would exert a large force on the ground, and the fault line would be prevented from slipping.




Okay, clearly nonsense, but I'd love to see a Randall Monroe "what if" on water-filled bladders for earth quake prevention at scale.


That’s not actionable but holy cow that is a winding, possible yarn. 10/10




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