When the Russians drilled 12 kilometres into the ground, they didn’t reach China

Beginning in 1962, the drilling effort was led by the USSR’s Interdepartmental Scientific Council for the Study of the Earth’s Interior and Superdeep Drilling, which spent years preparing for the historic project. It was started in parallel to the Space Race, a period of intense competition between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. The survey to find a suitable drill site was completed in 1965 when project leaders decided to drill on the Kola Peninsula in the north-west portion of the Soviet Union. After five more years of construction and preparations, the drill began to nudge its way into the ground in 1970.

Damn Interesting Wikipedia.

It seems to me that most people don’t save enough for retirement

This article seems to confirm that my parents generation isn’t saving enough for retirement, and I think that’s true of my generation as well. The problem is that it simply isn’t sexy to save money in a super fund, or a 401k as they’re called in the US. I think it’s even worse for the average American though, because the cost of living in the places with the jobs is a lot higher, 401k saving is optional (so people don’t do it as much), and you get direct control over your investments (which means people make poor choices like putting all their money in Enron or Vonage).

Oh, and don’t start me on the complications of earning retirement income in US dollars when I retire. I don’t even want to think about that at the moment.