Stonehenge Revealed!
July 22, 2005 5:21 AM Subscribe
A former carpenter/construction worker has figured out the secret to Stonehenge and The Pyramids. Discovery Channel Canada has more (WMV, sorry). [via MoFi]
One year ago today MeFi discussed a retired construction worker's plan to build a stonehenge replica.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 5:32 AM on July 22, 2005
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 5:32 AM on July 22, 2005
Slack-
Now that is freaky. The stonehenge thing, meh; the recurrence as an FPP after exactly a year, very wierd.
posted by OmieWise at 5:46 AM on July 22, 2005
Now that is freaky. The stonehenge thing, meh; the recurrence as an FPP after exactly a year, very wierd.
posted by OmieWise at 5:46 AM on July 22, 2005
Dang! I did a search, but didn't find.
I throw myself on the mercy of mathowie. Feel free to remove this FPP, and place me in the penalty box for as long as you see fit.
*slinks away under rock*
posted by ObscureReferenceMan at 5:50 AM on July 22, 2005
I throw myself on the mercy of mathowie. Feel free to remove this FPP, and place me in the penalty box for as long as you see fit.
*slinks away under rock*
posted by ObscureReferenceMan at 5:50 AM on July 22, 2005
I don't think the Old Gods would be pleased by the removal of this FPP. The year gap is a message and mathowie would do well to heed it.
Also, it's pretty damn cool. Good post, ORM!
posted by nixerman at 5:54 AM on July 22, 2005
Also, it's pretty damn cool. Good post, ORM!
posted by nixerman at 5:54 AM on July 22, 2005
orm, I was just joking around. I think it's a cool post, and I missed it when I was lurking a year ago.
posted by OmieWise at 6:01 AM on July 22, 2005
posted by OmieWise at 6:01 AM on July 22, 2005
I remember this from a year ago. There is new material on the website and I'm glad to see it.
posted by Enron Hubbard at 6:06 AM on July 22, 2005
posted by Enron Hubbard at 6:06 AM on July 22, 2005
Seems interesting, pity I can't read a damn thing on that site because of the crappy lay out. Anyone care to explain it to me in layman's terms? It's something with a heavy weight, two things underneath it and a thing on top of it, judging from the drawings.
posted by NekulturnY at 6:08 AM on July 22, 2005
posted by NekulturnY at 6:08 AM on July 22, 2005
Some forgotten technology, like the marquee tag and the animated GIF, is better left that way.
posted by sriracha at 6:12 AM on July 22, 2005
posted by sriracha at 6:12 AM on July 22, 2005
I'm not sure what it had to do with brewing
Moving barrels around, maybe?
posted by beagle at 6:29 AM on July 22, 2005
Moving barrels around, maybe?
posted by beagle at 6:29 AM on July 22, 2005
I think maybe he's moving a heavy thing by digging a hole under the heavy thing and then tilting the heavy thing into the hole. No?
posted by bingo at 6:29 AM on July 22, 2005
posted by bingo at 6:29 AM on July 22, 2005
I lived with my octogenarian, retired engineer grandfather the summer after I finished college. One evening after I returned from a long day at work, he told me that he needed my help with a project.
Years before, he had removed an entire patio in one slab to build a septic tank underneath. The large concrete slab he had removed (I assumed with heavy equipment) and moved to another remote place on his farm where it sat until he was ready for it. Now that he had another set of hands, he wanted to move it back. I was thinking the last thing I wanted to do after working hard all day was manhandle a several ton slab of concrete the mile or so back to the house.
My grandfather grabbed a small pvc pipe leaned against the door and said, "come on." Out back the slab was already nearly in place, all he needed me for was for me to tilt the slab up so that he could get some ropes out from under it. I asked him how he'd done it all by himself. Not being a man of many words his one word reply was, "leverage."
I still have no idea how he did it, though I do know it involved a small pvc pipe, some ropes and his riding mower.
posted by Pollomacho at 6:30 AM on July 22, 2005
Years before, he had removed an entire patio in one slab to build a septic tank underneath. The large concrete slab he had removed (I assumed with heavy equipment) and moved to another remote place on his farm where it sat until he was ready for it. Now that he had another set of hands, he wanted to move it back. I was thinking the last thing I wanted to do after working hard all day was manhandle a several ton slab of concrete the mile or so back to the house.
My grandfather grabbed a small pvc pipe leaned against the door and said, "come on." Out back the slab was already nearly in place, all he needed me for was for me to tilt the slab up so that he could get some ropes out from under it. I asked him how he'd done it all by himself. Not being a man of many words his one word reply was, "leverage."
I still have no idea how he did it, though I do know it involved a small pvc pipe, some ropes and his riding mower.
posted by Pollomacho at 6:30 AM on July 22, 2005
Blue-collar geniuses make my punkrock bosom swell with joy.
Glad for the repost. Obscure Reference Man, trying to live up to your name with the 1 year to the date to the hour thing?
posted by es_de_bah at 6:32 AM on July 22, 2005
Glad for the repost. Obscure Reference Man, trying to live up to your name with the 1 year to the date to the hour thing?
posted by es_de_bah at 6:32 AM on July 22, 2005
That website design needs to be taken out back and shot.
posted by signal at 6:37 AM on July 22, 2005
posted by signal at 6:37 AM on July 22, 2005
I did a search, but didn't find
For future reference, try Google "Search Site":
Result number three
posted by beagle at 6:40 AM on July 22, 2005
For future reference, try Google "Search Site":
Result number three
posted by beagle at 6:40 AM on July 22, 2005
i cant believe that guy doesnt hire some emo kid to make a site for him so you all can browse in the same sterile pastels.
posted by Satapher at 6:52 AM on July 22, 2005
posted by Satapher at 6:52 AM on July 22, 2005
i cant believe that guy doesn't hire some emo kid to make a site for him so you all can browse in the same sterile pastels.
Most construction workers I know wouldn't know what an emo kid was, much less where to hire one to do his web design. Most of the ones I know wouldn't realize that the pansy with the earring that hangs around his daughter trying to get into her pants, is really his best hope for reaching the masses in the ether-world.
posted by Pollomacho at 6:58 AM on July 22, 2005
Most construction workers I know wouldn't know what an emo kid was, much less where to hire one to do his web design. Most of the ones I know wouldn't realize that the pansy with the earring that hangs around his daughter trying to get into her pants, is really his best hope for reaching the masses in the ether-world.
posted by Pollomacho at 6:58 AM on July 22, 2005
I actually only stumbled upon the original MeFi post because I was looking for a different Stonehenge tidbit. I was wondering if anybody had posted about the recent discovery of what is believed to be the quarry that the Stonehenge stones were cut from.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 7:04 AM on July 22, 2005
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 7:04 AM on July 22, 2005
That's interesting... I had to skip ahead though as I was worried I'd go through the long-winded introduction and find his magic "Ring of Isis" is what moved the blocks.
posted by rolypolyman at 8:08 AM on July 22, 2005
posted by rolypolyman at 8:08 AM on July 22, 2005
I'm more curious how they transported the stones 240 miles from Wales.
posted by stbalbach at 8:11 AM on July 22, 2005
posted by stbalbach at 8:11 AM on July 22, 2005
240 miles? The extraterrestrials did that part.
posted by voltairemodern at 8:39 AM on July 22, 2005
posted by voltairemodern at 8:39 AM on July 22, 2005
Who was it... Tesla maybe?... who said, you can move anything, even the earth, if you use a long enough lever.
posted by banished at 8:58 AM on July 22, 2005
posted by banished at 8:58 AM on July 22, 2005
Satapher: “i cant believe that guy doesnt hire some emo kid to make a site for him so you all can browse in the same sterile pastels.”
Wow, so many stereotypes, so little time.
posted by signal at 9:36 AM on July 22, 2005
Wow, so many stereotypes, so little time.
posted by signal at 9:36 AM on July 22, 2005
*dusts off hands*
Well, that takes care of that, huh? Thank goodness such complex engineering feats can be solved by one guy. It's kinda like all those crop circles made by two old men with some rope and a wooden plank.
Gullability goes both ways.
I'm more curious how they transported the stones 240 miles from Wales.
And I'm even more curious why they transported the stones 240 miles from Wales.
posted by zardoz at 9:59 AM on July 22, 2005
Well, that takes care of that, huh? Thank goodness such complex engineering feats can be solved by one guy. It's kinda like all those crop circles made by two old men with some rope and a wooden plank.
Gullability goes both ways.
I'm more curious how they transported the stones 240 miles from Wales.
And I'm even more curious why they transported the stones 240 miles from Wales.
posted by zardoz at 9:59 AM on July 22, 2005
"And I'm even more curious why they transported the stones 240 miles from Wales."
Same reason currency is fixed to something or the meter had an agreed upon length until recently, etc. You can't always just use the king's foot.
...well, you can, but it's stupid.
Probably was an agreed upon chunk of turf where you could send some guys to find out about when you need to plant or get ready for whatever change the stars said were coming up.
/star change in the astronomical not astrological sense.
posted by Smedleyman at 10:18 AM on July 22, 2005
Same reason currency is fixed to something or the meter had an agreed upon length until recently, etc. You can't always just use the king's foot.
...well, you can, but it's stupid.
Probably was an agreed upon chunk of turf where you could send some guys to find out about when you need to plant or get ready for whatever change the stars said were coming up.
/star change in the astronomical not astrological sense.
posted by Smedleyman at 10:18 AM on July 22, 2005
How could they go 240 miles? The probability of that happening is nil. This is the real engineering feat.
posted by uni verse at 10:21 AM on July 22, 2005
posted by uni verse at 10:21 AM on July 22, 2005
The probability may be nil... except that, uh, it happened?
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 10:48 AM on July 22, 2005
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 10:48 AM on July 22, 2005
Do you understand what probability actually means ?
Woah ... I was just exaggerating a bit. Anyway, I dug a bit and found most agree the bluestones were dragged and floated down the river. Whats funny is the "Millenium bluestone project" in 2001 failed to succeed in replicating their efforts, even with a 'light' stone of 3 tons. An article reads:
The bluestone was the centre of a controversial project to replicate the 4,000-year-old journey of the giant stones from the Preseli mountains in Pembrokeshire, which make up the inner circle of Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain.
But modern man was unable to achieve what his Neolithic ancestors did. Although the stone was successfully dragged 17 miles from the Preseli Hills to the Cleddau River, a series of mishaps, culmin-CERI JONES ating in a watery grave, meant that it never left Pembrokeshire.
For the past two years it has been gathering barnacles on the quayside at Milford Docks as the Heritage Lottery Fund, which bankrolled the project to the tune of £100,000 and Pembrokeshire County Council decided what to do with it.
posted by uni verse at 11:10 AM on July 22, 2005
Woah ... I was just exaggerating a bit. Anyway, I dug a bit and found most agree the bluestones were dragged and floated down the river. Whats funny is the "Millenium bluestone project" in 2001 failed to succeed in replicating their efforts, even with a 'light' stone of 3 tons. An article reads:
The bluestone was the centre of a controversial project to replicate the 4,000-year-old journey of the giant stones from the Preseli mountains in Pembrokeshire, which make up the inner circle of Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain.
But modern man was unable to achieve what his Neolithic ancestors did. Although the stone was successfully dragged 17 miles from the Preseli Hills to the Cleddau River, a series of mishaps, culmin-CERI JONES ating in a watery grave, meant that it never left Pembrokeshire.
For the past two years it has been gathering barnacles on the quayside at Milford Docks as the Heritage Lottery Fund, which bankrolled the project to the tune of £100,000 and Pembrokeshire County Council decided what to do with it.
posted by uni verse at 11:10 AM on July 22, 2005
Spinal Tap had no problem transporting their bit of Stonehenge.
posted by kurumi at 11:58 AM on July 22, 2005
posted by kurumi at 11:58 AM on July 22, 2005
How could they go 240 miles? The probability of that happening is nil. This is the real engineering feat.
"I found that I, working alone, could easily move a 2400 lb. block 300 ft. per hour with little effort, and a 10,000 lb. block at 70 ft. per hour."
posted by kirkaracha at 12:43 PM on July 22, 2005
Kirkaracha: Any links or is that some obscure reference?
posted by uni verse at 10:13 AM on July 24, 2005
posted by uni verse at 10:13 AM on July 24, 2005
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(Not sure if I'd call it THE secret to Stonehenge...)
posted by klangklangston at 5:28 AM on July 22, 2005