Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Vertically stacked fake continents.

You know it makes sense.
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Construct artificial continents and islands on top of the natural ones, with shock absorbing roller bearings in between (leaving a gap of 500 - 1000m), then scrape off all the landscape from the natural surface (leaving it smooth and flat) and put it on the top of the fake one, leaving the lower surface exposed and handy for industrial plant, transportation and power distribution systems, and mineral extraction, like a sort of large scale roof garden built over an underground car park

There would be steps or ladders at the edges, of course, and lifts and other accessways in the centre.

The edges would be open to allow ventilation.

8th of 7, Oct 29 2009

large scale perforation lines large_20scale_20perforation_20lines
The inspiration for this idea [8th of 7, Oct 29 2009]

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       Why stop there? Process magma into successive layers of industrial systems, until all that is left is a vast cuboid structure. [] requires magic robots.
sninctown, Oct 29 2009
  

       [marklar-for-deletion] to(o?) expensive.
zeno, Oct 29 2009
  

       Since when has expense been an issue?
kaz, Oct 30 2009
  

       "The edges would be open to allow ventilation."
For what?
  

       Would't it be easier just to start tunneling from the west coast, leaving a trail of ball bearings in your wake? Saves you a lot of dirt moving.
phoenix, Oct 30 2009
  

       We could call them incontinents.
RayfordSteele, Oct 30 2009
  

       // dislike the idea of scraping the landscape off //   

       The landscape wouldn't be damaged. If you don't like the scraping idea, then it might be possible to undercut the landscape in sections, and then just lift it up in chunks, completely undamaged - a bit like lifting the icing off a cake, but with a much bigger knife.
8th of 7, Oct 30 2009
  

       This is kind of baked in Venice, but lifting sounds like a much better idea. I think you could start with Holland and then do some of those Malaysian islands that are going under. As an added bonus this would probably be great Tsunami protection. (+)
MisterQED, Oct 30 2009
  

       You would need to go mine asteroids for enough material to make your new continents out of. And the weight increase on each continent would likely have some interesting effects on vulcanism and plate tectonics...
prufrax, Oct 30 2009
  

       //a bit like lifting the icing off a cake// Hmm... I suppose it works for turf. You'd just need to scale it up for deeper root systems. I wonder whether you could store and transport it in rolls, like turf.
pertinax, Nov 01 2009
  

       What are the rollers for?
ldischler, Nov 01 2009
  

       Moving the continents around, of course
pocmloc, Nov 01 2009
  

       //incontinents//
<snigger>
  

       That's true, if you lifted all the land masses, with enough soil to support trees, how much would that increase the inertial moment and slow its rotation?
MisterQED, Nov 01 2009
  

       Are not cities doing this but in a more stylised and unconnected way?
wjt, Nov 01 2009
  

       Somebody would set up winches in Dover & Calais, and have a tugging contest. Pretty soon, [8th] could sleepwalk to the vinyards of Bordeaux... if it weren't for the razor wire and guards around his "flat".
lurch, Nov 05 2009
  

       Since the french couldn't pull the skin of a rice pudding, that contest is likely to be a bit one-sided. Nothing wrong with that, of course.   

       Besides, Calais is a pest-hole. Rouen might be a better destination.   

       // until all that is left is a vast cuboid structure //   

       Bugger, we've been sussed. We would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for that pesky [sninctown] .....
8th of 7, Nov 05 2009
  
      
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