And maybe the answer to the riddle of the pyramids.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/10/super-concrete-in-the-us-military-iran-and-the-pyramids/
And maybe the answer to the riddle of the pyramids.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/10/super-concrete-in-the-us-military-iran-and-the-pyramids/
Learn about balloon-framing construction techniques, including stud patterns and efficient assembly methods with minimal manpower and scaffolding.
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Replies
Very interesting, thanks.
it's amazing, the recipe for concrete has been lost and found a few time through history. thanks for the link.
Fascinating about the pyramids. This concept answers all the questions I've had about how they were built, and with such precision
A recent archaeological dig outside of Cairo turned up a Schwing S61 boom pump buried under 12 meters of sand. The operator was found in a tomb nearby with the remote still around his neck. These guys believed in reincarnation, maybe one of them is brownbagg.
That would explain the "native language" issue wouldn't it.
Life is Good
That would explain the "native language" issue wouldn't it
LOL & COS-------------(Coffee on Screen) No one should regard themselve as "God's gift to man." But rather a mere man whos gifts are from God.
These guys believed in reincarnation, maybe one of them is brownbagg.
I once visited a "psychic fair" where I received a past life reading...for a small fee. The psychic told me that I'd been an engineer, working on the pyramids. I asked him how much it would cost for me to have been a pharaoh.
... or maybe he was one of these guys:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYg-cHe79hI
Pretty creative system, if the labor is cheap enough. With all the shoveling I've done in this lifetime, installing inground swimming pools, I would fit right in there...if I were young enough.
I've lived in Mexico and India where I've watched laborers mix concrete for pours on multi-story buildings. A rope and a pulley and some five gallon pails can get a lot of freshly mixed concrete into the form fast.
The small, skinny but muscular young guys worked at a steady fast pace, keeping a nice rythym going, like the guys in that video. They seemed to be enjoying the continuous exertion, working as a team. I was very impressed by their efforts and the results. I've never seen anyone in the US work like that.
One of the assumptions we make, living with our advanced technology, is that we're more evolved than the people who preceeded us. While our technology is definitely more advanced, our native intelligence has fallen on hard times due to disuse.
The evidence of superior understanding in the construction of very large structures, without machines, is constantly being discovered during renovations of historically important buildings, like the Parthenon. There was a PBS special about that job which revealed how intricately that building had been engineered and constructed, over one thousand years ago. The geometry and mathematics are very impressive, by any standard.
Edited 10/26/2009 2:31 pm by Hudson Valley Carpenter
I agree. We have been steadily de-volving. Common sense is no longer common."There are three kinds of men: The one that learns by reading, the few who learn by observation and the rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves."Will Rogers
Remember the W-II flick "The Great Escape"? I used that method of moving earth out of a low crawl space when my son had to do some water removal work. My grandsons were fascinated by the small trolley we rigged up. Removed nearly a pick up load of lovely Illinois muck from a former soybean field. One shovelful & bucket load at a time!DonDon Reinhard
The Glass Masterworks
"If it scratches, I etch it!"
Don,
I've always been fascinated by ingenious, creative solutions, particularly in construction where it's easy to see and relate to. Whether it's an old ingenious method that I'm just witnessing for the first time or the ingenuity of someone's mind in the present, those are coping skills that require sustained creative thought to produce.
We've had some threads about old tools which show some of that ability.
The kind of thing that I get a big kick out of is when someone makes something out of almost nothing. Like, how in the world did those WWII prisoners you mentioned come up with so many ways to out smart their captors, using bed slats and blankets.
Coping is an ability which defines intelligence for me, many others too. Reality TV shows make that point, although without as much creative play as I'd like to see.
I know a man who spent over 6 yrs as a POW in Viet Nam. He escaped either two or three times; got captured every time. We were talking about that very subject one day. He commented that he had 24/7 to do nothing but think of ways to escape. Now, that being said, can you imagine drilling holes through solid teak over one inch thick with a rusty nail? He did it. Took literally days to bore one hole! Name is Ben Purcell, lives somewhere in the hills of North Georgia. Wrote a book about his experiences as a POW. One tough hombre - but if you met him on the street, you'd think his name was Casper Milquetoast.DonDon Reinhard
The Glass Masterworks
"If it scratches, I etch it!"
As an interesting sidelight - My wife & I built a 35 X 90 prefab steel shop bldg. My daughter & husband came to help us erect the steel frame - all by hand except for the two main rafters. We had a farmer neighbor w/ a tractor lift them into place. They weighed over 500 lbs apiece.My grandfather was a rigger in NJ back when rigging was done w/ big timbers, ropes, winches, capstans, gin poles and a lot of brute force human backs. His last job was in 1954, lowering a rather large safe out of a third or fourth floor office. I have a photo of him riding down on top of it at age about 80. Just by being there, I learned a lot of what are old fashioned approaches to moving heavy stuff.Well, Son-in-Law is a civil engineer. When I told him we were going to move the 500 lb rafters, he thought I was nuts. "Where's the forklift?" he asked me. We used long levers, fulcrums and a couple round cedar fence posts from the Home of the Pot as rollers. Piece of cake. Moved them about 200 yds in no time.Amazing what you can do w/ a few of the simplest tools known to mankind and some patience.DonDon Reinhard
The Glass Masterworks
"If it scratches, I etch it!"
Nice to have that background. Your story about moving the rafters eminds me of a visit I made to Chaco Canyon some years ago. There were a lot of full sized pine logs used to support the roofs of those ancient American Indian pueblo structures.
The evidence show that no such species grew in that area, however there is evidence of numerous straight paths or roads. The closest place where trees grew was over one hundred miles away. Lots of speculation about how those pueblo people moved the logs.
More speculation about their use of astronomy to align their pueblos.
I'm with you, moving heavy objects with leverage and rollers.
I believe it was Archimedes who said: "Give me a lever and a place to stand, and I'll move the world", or words to that effect.
I love Chaco, right down to the washboard you have to drive on to get there. It was and is amazing to me that they had roads that were perfectly straight for hundreds of miles radiating out of that site. And, if I recall correctly, were one of the few groups of ancient astronomers who accurately mapped out the cycles of the moon.
I even have a sculpture I picked up in Taos titled "Sunrise at Chaco". It is a place I'd like to go back to.
It is a place I'd like to go back to.
My visit was on a winter day when the roads were very muddy. Other than the rangers who lived there, I was the only person who'd driven in that day so I had the entire canyon to myself.
Being there in silence was a fine way to study the construction and get a feel for the time when people lived there. And it left me with the desire to return when I would have more time, and camp in the canyon so that I could get deeper into what I felt there.
Edit: There are other ancient sites in the South West where I've felt something of a higher spiritual quality. Second Mesa on the Hopi reservation is one that comes to mind, also Palo Duro Canyon, outside of Amarillo.
Edited 10/26/2009 6:47 pm by Hudson Valley Carpenter