It's simple: Gravity, rope, wood, water, stone and ingenuity Oct 16
10 comments Latest by Pid
This is a fascinating look at how one man has demonstrated that he can lift a 22,000 lbs concrete pillar upright and move a barn over 300 ft on his own just using a few basic elements (and no modern technology at all). [via jk]
Stuff like this is so inspirational. It encourages you to look at what you’ve got, where you want to go, and give it a try. Chances are you can do it if you embrace the constraints and force yourself into a creative solution. It reminds me of Theodore Roosevelt’s famous quote: “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
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10 comments so far
Joe Ruby 16 Oct 06
He must be a government/union worker. And/or get paid by the hour. :P
Brad M. 17 Oct 06
That was amazing. Thanks for the link Jason. I haven’t watched EXN in years. Did you see the comments posted within the hour on Youtube? Just like this site, people are not impressed and always seem to look at the negative side of things. I hope he reads them and it inspires him to move further.
indi 17 Oct 06
Thanks, that was interesting and inspiring. It would be ironic if it turns out only one guy with a lot of time on his hands build the original Stonehenge. Merlin perhaps?
Kyle 17 Oct 06
Very impressive. Is there another video showing how he got the top blocks on? The ones that would be 11ft off the ground?
Ben Darlow 17 Oct 06
For some reason, I imagine Also Sprach Zarathustra playing when that pillar stands upright…
Lorenzo 17 Oct 06
On this italian site, there are some articles, pictures and movies about a similar experiment:
Osvaldo Falesiedi – Un’ipotesi di utilizzo delle “culle oscillanti” Sperimentazione relativa alla movimentazione di masse nell’Antico Egitto a cura di Osvaldo Falesiedi Movies of experiments of movement of heavy stones in ancient Egypt Photogallery of the conference and the demonstration
Bryan C 17 Oct 06
Thanks, that is an impressive video. For the upper horizontal blocks, I imagine he could build up a wooden scaffold a few inches at a time, and then pivot the block from the scaffold on to each vertical pillar in the same way he demonstrated. It’s amazing what you can accomplish if you aren’t in a hurry.
Scott 17 Oct 06
Did you see the comments posted within the hour on Youtube?
Youtube comments are the lowest form of Internet.
Nigel T 17 Oct 06
In ancient times, hundreds of years before the dawn of history. There lived a strange race of people…the Druids. No one knows who they were, or what they were doing…
Pid 17 Oct 06
People are mystified, mostly, it seems because they assume that ancient man wasn’t quite as smart as we think we are.
StoneHenge was probably built by a geek, (if Druids were the programming nerds of the period), for a laugh, a bet, beers or because it was a good fit with his existing range of CampFire, StandingStone, and HillFort.
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