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...what? Clearly also included on that map are China, Russia, Canada, and Greenland, at a minimum - I'm sure there are more.
So if you pick a random point in China, Russia, or Canada and start digging, you can say with reasonable certainty that you would hit land? Or would you more likely hit ocean?
Greenland one is true, I just don't find it that interesting since it's essentially part of the arctic circle
So if you pick a random point in China, Russia, or Canada and start digging,
You keep adding more trivial criteria!
I guess I'm a little surprised by people's inability to extrapolate the overall intent of the post. I suppose it really was not clear...
I’m not sure you know what learned means. You’ve missed literally dozens of other countries.
Empty criticism isn't that welcome, but feedback with helpful corrections always is
I recommend you look more closely at the map and try again.
I'm sure you already know this, but just in case: if you want someone to learn something, it helps to actually point out their mistakes, rather than berating them with blank statements
They weren't berating you, they asked you to take another look at the map, for example canada, and russia, France etc should be on that list, amongst others
Canada and russia
More than 80% of which would lead you right to water
France
I'm a bit floored by this one.
You just start tunneling at the right spot then.
Most people in China would only need to start in their back yard.
Most people in China would only need to start in their back yard
I mean, I hear you in terms of the major cities being mostly on the west-coast of China. I'd still argue that the vast majority of the rest of China would just hit water
More than 80% of which would lead you right to water
And? As per your title it can still be done.
And, I meant Spain, not France, thank you
Yes, bad title as others have kindly and politely pointed out
What about New Zealand, Palau, Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Tuvalu, and Brunei?
That is an incredibly arbitrary definition, but still would seem to only rule out New Zealand. As far as I can tell 100% of the landmasses of Palau, Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Tuvalu, and Brunei are opposite another landmass.
Very true, though I went with the larger countries since I thought they'd be more recognizable and didn't want to fit every single island into the title
And here I thought you'd get lava instead
gotta dig harder to get past the lava
Only reason someone would realistically dig that deep is to restart the core.
Masterful troll
That was definitely my intent apparently, I thank you
I also love how Japan, barely just barely scratches the coast of Brazil.
In the anime Darker Than Black, one of the plot points is a Heaven and Hell Gate centered around Tokyo and Brazil, with the implication that one is the antipode of the other. But they're not!
The only place where Japan overlaps Brazil is the tiny Kagoshima prefecture
Other countries like China and Colombia have partial coverage in some regions.
The Greenland and Antartica antipodes don't really count imo
Why not though? I could tunnel to antarctica throigh greenland.
Definitely, but it's near the poles, so I find it more obvious than eye-opening. It'd be like saying you could tunnel through the north pole to get to the south pole. It's true, but it's not interesting.
"It's true, but too obvious so it doesn't count."
Yep, well quoted. To learn something, it has to be something you didn't already know.
Then you said it wrong.
What you said was 'only countries' not 'only countries that weren't obvious to me'.
"Today I, the author of this post, Learned" seems implicit to me, but I suppose we all make our own definitions of the acronym
That is a separate thing from what you literally wrote:
TIL that Chile, Argentina, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Taiwan, and the Phillipines *are the only countries that you can tunnel through to hit another land mass. All others lead to water.
No, some of the ones you weren't surprised by also lead to water. That isn't conditional based on you learning something today.
Fair enough, I'll add it to the title -- thanks for the correction
Ironic how US kids cartoons commonly portray "digging to China" as something americans can hypothetically do, to the point where a good portion of American adults just assume it to be true. Yet the only place where that's possible is South America.
Usually the people debunking the notion focus on the fact that the Earth is molten in the center so you can't dig all the way through it in the same way you can't dig to the ocean floor from the surface (which is reasonable don't get me wrong), but they rarely mention the fact that China is not actually on the opposite side of the Earth to the US.
This isn't a political comment. I just find it interesting that this is something literally anyone can disprove with a dollar store globe but no one bothers to do it and instead just assume the cartoons for children are factual.
this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2025
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Today I learned
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