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Comment by lolinder | Hacker News Reader

> The largest beaver dam on record is in Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada, stretching the length of seven football fields. The dam is so big, it can be seen from space.

And from the linked article:

> The world’s largest beaver dam is visible from space in satellite images.

I would have thought that by now "visible from space" would have lost its charm as a point of comparison. My mailbox is visible from space in satellite images. I have no doubt this dam is too, but that doesn't really mean much at this point.

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I've always taken it to mean "visible to the naked eye from space", not through a satellite telescope.

How far from the earth is "space"?

62 miles, or 100km

Its known as the Kármán line: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%A1rm%C3%A1n_line

This is simply a thing "in my minds eye" but roughly what you'd see in a picture from something like the ISS I suppose.

Yeah, I've always wished for it to be used that way only, but most often when I see it now it's like in TFA: visible in a satellite image.

The point is, big.

I've seen a "small" dam in person, which was about 2m high and 10m wide. Such remarkable animals. They need to have a long term plan involving the topography and where the water will be when they're finished and where the lodge will be at that water level. Site selection is critical. Then they have to implement it one limb at a time, by felling whole trees and limbing and transporting them. And the stamina to do this day after day, year after year. Solid engineering and PM work.

And to think that they do it because the sound of running water seems to irritate them. Maybe it's time we start hiring for irritability instead of passion. XD

The origin of TeX!

This is an underrated statement. It is in jest, but in specific interpretations is the best way to hire people.

My favourite "visible from space" object (more a manmade geographical feature) is the Hambach surface mine in Germany, home of the Bagger 288.

If you zoom out and look at all of Europe in Google Earth with labels disabled, it's clearly visible as a large bright spot in the Rhineland.

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