I went to college with her (well, I was undergrad and she was a grad student, but we were in an honor society together). It's always a bit odd to see an old friend's name in the subject line on Slashdot.

Your objection to the North Pole possibility relies on equivocation. You interpret "Surface of the Earth" to mean soil, but it could easily mean the surface of the planet known as Earth. If you can establish that Musk intends the interpretation you mean, then I'll throw out the North Pole, but I have no reason to assume that. Your objection to the South Pole-related answers shows that you didn't read what I wrote. I'm not saying start 1 mile from the South Pole. I said find the circle with a 1-mile circumference centered at the South Pole and start any point 1 mile North of that circle.

The obvious answer is the North Pole, but there are others. First, find the circle around the South Pole with a circumference of one mile, and then select all the points on the circle with a radius one mile larger around the South Pole. Then, find the circle around the South Pole with a circumference of one half mile, and then select all the points on the circle with a radius one mile larger around the South Pole. Then, find the circle around the South Pole with a circumference of one third mile, and then select all the points on the circle with a radius one mile larger around the South Pole. Then, find the circle around the South Pole with a circumference of one quarter mile, and then select all the points on the circle with a radius one mile larger around the South Pole. Continue ad nauseum.

http://www.charliesplayhouse.com/

In 2001, I was on a trip with a friend to Finland, Estonia, and Latvia. We needed to buy a bus ticket to get from Tallinn to Riga, and we needed some of the local currency (the bus company wouldn't take a credit card - another WTF).

So, I tried to take money out of the ATM in the office to buy my ticket. In the middle of my transaction, the application crashed, taking the OS with it (or vice versa). After a couple minutes watching the Windows automated boot process, the machine came back up to the "enter your card" prompt.

But it still had my card!

Fortunately, I didn't need my bank card for the rest of my trip, and my friend was able to get out enough cash separately. However, if I had been traveling alone, I wouldn't have been able to take the bus trip.

And I had to call my bank back home to cancel the card and request a replacement.

Never got that card back. Fortunately, no one ever used it to take my money, either.