# Igloo made from frozen milk cartoons in Canada **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 7, 2013, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/igloo-made-from-frozen-milk-cartoons-in-canada/646330 "2013-01-07T08:04:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/igloo-made-from-frozen-milk-cartoons-in-canada/646330/1 "2013-01-07T08:04:21Z")
So pretty. Such a great idea to fill the milk cartoons with colored water. > **[That's one cool hobby! Man spends five days building an igloo from hundreds...](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2258242/Igloo-hundreds-frozen-milk-cartons-couple-Edmonton-Canada.html)** > > The shelter was built by Daniel Gray, who is from New Zealand, while he visited his girlfriend Kathleen Starrie in Edmonton, Canada. I wonder how warm it gets in an igloo? I know Eskimos lived in them comfortably for thousands of years. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/igloo-made-from-frozen-milk-cartoons-in-canada/646330/2 "2013-01-07T08:33:17Z")
Well, that one has its problems. Igloos are made of snow, not ice; the insulating power of the air trapped in snow is what’s supposed to make an igloo livable, though I can’t say for sure that this will be a problem. More seriously, the thing appears to have the entrance and the floor all at ground level, while a proper igloo is excavated, with an elevated sleeping area and a sunken entrance, which prevents cold air from coming in. Also, the entrance should have a flap of leather as a door, and there should be a ventilation hole. Also, no one would live in an igloo that small; it would have been a hunting shelter, at best. ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/igloo-made-from-frozen-milk-cartoons-in-canada/646330/3 "2013-01-07T08:57:30Z")
I didn’t know **cartoons** have these properties. I learnt something new today.😉 ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/igloo-made-from-frozen-milk-cartoons-in-canada/646330/4 "2013-01-07T14:34:26Z")
😛 That’s one of the hazards of starting a thread at 2AM. I had briefly woken up and posted. Thankfully I was back asleep 30 mins later. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/igloo-made-from-frozen-milk-cartoons-in-canada/646330/5 "2013-01-07T14:55:18Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I wonder how warm it gets in an igloo? I know Eskimos lived in them comfortably for thousands of years. And here I’ve just been using diet and exercise for longevity, like a sucker. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/igloo-made-from-frozen-milk-cartoons-in-canada/646330/6 "2013-01-07T15:08:27Z")
> [@Nametag](#): > > Well, that one has its problems. Igloos are made of snow, not ice; the insulating power of the air trapped in snow is what’s supposed to make an igloo livable, though I can’t say for sure that this will be a problem. More seriously, the thing appears to have the entrance and the floor all at ground level, while a proper igloo is excavated, with an elevated sleeping area and a sunken entrance, which prevents cold air from coming in. Also, the entrance should have a flap of leather as a door, and there should be a ventilation hole. > > Also, no one would live in an igloo that small; it would have been a hunting shelter, at best. Hey, I know you. You’re the guy on the beach last summer pointing out to the kids how their sand castles weren’t built to hurricane specs. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/igloo-made-from-frozen-milk-cartoons-in-canada/646330/7 "2013-01-07T15:15:57Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > Hey, I know you. You’re the guy on the beach last summer pointing out to the kids how their sand castles weren’t built to hurricane specs. **Nametag** can do much better, as he’s about to prove to us. Right? ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/igloo-made-from-frozen-milk-cartoons-in-canada/646330/8 "2013-01-07T15:21:08Z")
When I lived in Saskatoon, there was a house in the neighbourhood that would build some kind of bad-ass ice fort on their front yard out of ice bricks. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/igloo-made-from-frozen-milk-cartoons-in-canada/646330/9 "2013-01-07T15:28:49Z")
> [@Nametag](#): > > Well, that one has its problems. Igloos are made of snow, not ice; the insulating power of the air trapped in snow is what’s supposed to make an igloo livable, though I can’t say for sure that this will be a problem. More seriously, the thing appears to have the entrance and the floor all at ground level, while a proper igloo is excavated, with an elevated sleeping area and a sunken entrance, which prevents cold air from coming in. Also, the entrance should have a flap of leather as a door, and there should be a ventilation hole. > > Also, no one would live in an igloo that small; it would have been a hunting shelter, at best. You’re kidding, right? Because I almost took this seriously. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/igloo-made-from-frozen-milk-cartoons-in-canada/646330/10 "2013-01-07T15:39:18Z")
[An ice fort made from pykrete](http://www.wired.com/design/2013/01/pykrete-snow-fort/). Bullet proof, indestructible. . . unless it warms up. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/igloo-made-from-frozen-milk-cartoons-in-canada/646330/11 "2013-01-07T18:18:33Z")
That’s very cool. Cold, even. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/igloo-made-from-frozen-milk-cartoons-in-canada/646330/12 "2013-01-07T18:30:00Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > You’re kidding, right? Because I almost took this seriously. Kidding or not the post was educational. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/igloo-made-from-frozen-milk-cartoons-in-canada/646330/13 "2013-01-07T18:54:25Z")
There’s a wiki on [igloos](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igloo). As you’d expect, a real igloo has some clever engineering developed over thousands of years of use. The Eskimos depended on these shelters for their survival. The Canadian family built a really nice looking igloo. But, I doubt anyone will ever sleep in it. At most, the kids will use it as an ice fort. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/igloo-made-from-frozen-milk-cartoons-in-canada/646330/14 "2013-01-07T18:59:34Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I wonder how warm it gets in an igloo? I know Eskimos lived in them comfortably for thousands of years. I’ve built one above the treeline on Colorado’s Mt. Massive on an Outward Bound trip and slept quite comfortably in it for a couple of days. With a couple of candles inside and the entrance covered I imagine it was in the 40s F. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/igloo-made-from-frozen-milk-cartoons-in-canada/646330/15 "2013-01-07T19:02:59Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > There’s a wiki on [igloos](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igloo). As you’d expect, a real igloo has some clever engineering developed over thousands of years of use. The Eskimos depended on these shelters for their survival. > > The Canadian family built a really nice looking igloo. But, I doubt anyone will ever sleep in it. At most, the kids will use it as an ice fort. Not sure I’d want my kids to play in a fort made out of ice blocks. One really could fall on your head – something real igloos (and the dome-shaped snow forts we built as kids) don’t have as a problem. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/igloo-made-from-frozen-milk-cartoons-in-canada/646330/16 "2013-01-07T19:04:52Z")
I’ve seen something that said you could get an igloo’s interior up to about 40F without serious melting if it was cold enough outside. I think if you live in the Arctic, 40F sounds pretty comfortable to you. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/igloo-made-from-frozen-milk-cartoons-in-canada/646330/17 "2013-01-07T19:08:18Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > > > You’re kidding, right? Because I almost took this seriously. > > Kidding or not the post was educational. My unspoken point was that the guy who built the igloo in the OP wasn’t going for authenticity, but instead to build the sort of igloo one has seen in cartoons. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/igloo-made-from-frozen-milk-cartoons-in-canada/646330/18 "2013-01-07T19:09:14Z")
Did you notice that the dye in the ice blocks tends to be concentrated in the middle? - this is because of [fractional crystallisation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional_crystallization_%28chemistry%29) ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/igloo-made-from-frozen-milk-cartoons-in-canada/646330/19 "2013-01-07T20:01:40Z")
OK. So my daughter’s boyfriend is coming to visit from New Zealand. He’s going to be here for five days. How to keep him . . . occupied? Yes, that’s it. Keep him really busy. . . and cold. If he’s really busy and cold and exhausted! Yeah, that’s the ticket! I know, I’ll start saving milk cartons. I’ll save five hundred milk cartons, and I’ll fill them with colored water. No, no, see, because I’ll have made such a comitment, with the five hundred and all, completely filling the back patio for weeks on end, and the whole community obviously donating the milk cartons and knowing about the project . . . that he’ll _HAVE_ to do it see. Yeah, that’s it. So he’s flying all the way from New Zealand to Canada for five days to visit my daughter, but he’ll be much too busy and exhausted and cold to. . . Yeah, that’s what I’ll do! ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/igloo-made-from-frozen-milk-cartoons-in-canada/646330/20 "2013-01-07T20:03:55Z")
Very funny. But his visit was for five weeks, while it took him five days to build it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/igloo-made-from-frozen-milk-cartoons-in-canada/646330.md?page=2)