In case you’re not familiar with the Turnip, it’s a whimsical Google search, wherein I type a random phrase and we see what kind of interesting pages “turn-up.” As always with this feature, the _floss is not responsible for accuracy. If you know one of the below statements/links to be untrue, by all means, let the world know in the comments below.
Today I typed “the widest” into Google, unearthing the following:
Turnip #1
With an internal diameter of 13.7 m the tunnel under the river Yangzi in Shanghai is the widest in the world. Connecting Shanghai to the Changxing island, the tunnel is 16.63 km long.
Turnip #2
The widest tornado (defined as damage path, not condensation/debris cloud or radar measurements) on record is the Wilber – Hallam, Nebraska tornado during the outbreak of May 22, 2004, with a width of 2.5 miles (4 km) at its peak.
Turnip #3
Nine lanes wide, with gardened medians between the opposing flow of traffic, [in downtown Buenos Aires 9 de Julio] is the widest street in the world.
Turnip #4
The Amazon is the widest river in the world. Many kilometers from its mouth it can be as wide as 11 kilometers, and 40 kilometers in the wet season.
Turnip #5
Where is the widest part of the Blue Ridge? Beginning with a narrow ridge in the north, c.10 mi (16 km) wide, the range broadens toward the south, reaching a maximum width of 70 mi (113 km) in North Carolina.
MONSTERS VS. ALIENS is the widest non-summer release ever with over 7,000 screens.
Turnip #7
Phapheng falls, is said to be the widest waterfall in Asia.
Turnip #8
Neptune is the widest planet in the solar system.
Neptune is not the “widest” planet in our solar system unless they are using some height to width ratio to make that statement. Are the forgetting to count Saturn and Jupiter?
posted by Peter on 10-20-2009 at 8:13 am
I’m pretty sure a statement like the one in the article would be insinuation height to width ratio.
posted by Carlie on 10-20-2009 at 9:50 am
Have I ever stopped to say how much I like these turnips?
I do, I really do!
posted by ann on 10-20-2009 at 12:27 pm
Neptune is definitely not the widest planet in our solar system. Planets are measured by their diameter. Here is a site that shows you the size differences between the planets. http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/interactives/messenger/psc/PlanetSize.html
Maybe this turnip means to say Neptune has the widest orbit in the solar system?
posted by Paula on 10-20-2009 at 2:04 pm
Neptune is most definitely NOT the widest planet. Width-to-height, the hands-down winner is Saturn. By sheer diameter, it’s Jupiter. The only way Neptune and “wide” possible go together, as Paula said, would be by orbit. But then again, no one uses the word “wide” to describe an orbit.
And come on, are the results of a simple Google search really worth writing an article about? Especially when you get the information wrong?
posted by Ryan on 10-20-2009 at 11:21 pm
This is my favorite “turn-up” on Goog search: http://www.businessinsider.com/2009/2/google-suggest-thinks-the-internet-is-terrified-of-chinese-people-goog
posted by Chellis on 10-21-2009 at 2:20 am