Days That End in 'Y' - editorial 'toons & memes

Saturday, January 04, 2020

Days That End in 'Y' - editorial 'toons & memes

'2020 is already da bomb' edition

Massive crowds in #Idlib northern Syria are celebrating the death of Qasem Suleimani by the American attacks last night.
They’re celebrating the end of that bad guy who caused their displacement and killed their children and the lovely ones... pic.twitter.com/Sjeb79JLFP
— Asaad Hanna (@AsaadHannaa) January 3, 2020

Relocating the Egyptian Temples of Abu Simbel, 1964-1968

"In the 1960s, the new Aswan Dam was built to control the Nile floods and generate electricity for rapidly modernizing Egypt. Nearly two dozen archaeological sites had to be moved to save them from the rising waters of the newly created Lake Nasser. The Temple of Philae, a popular attraction in Aswan was one such site, but the challenges of Abu Simbel were even more epic."

Overseen by UNESCO, the giant figures of Ramses II were carefully sliced into a series of 20-tonne blocks and slowly moved away from the lake piece by piece, before being fitted back together like a giant game of Tetris into a specially constructed artificial cliff. The whole operation took four years and cost USD$300 million in today’s money. But the relocation was so precisely measured that twice a year, in February and October, the rising sun penetrates all the way to the temple’s interior, illuminating the sun god’s inner sanctum as it did when the temple was originally constructed."

The new site was about 200 meters further inland and 65 meters higher up.

Using tools ranging from handsaws to bulldozers, the statues and the temples were carved into 20-ton blocks which were put back together on the new site.

Between 1964 and 1968, the entire site was carefully cut into large blocks (up to 30 tons, averaging 20 tons), dismantled, lifted and reassembled in a new location.

The twin temples were originally carved out of the mountainside in the 13th century BC, during the 19th dynasty reign of the Pharaoh Ramesses II.

The relocation was done under the supervision of a Polish archaeologist, Kazimierz Michalowski.

They serve as a lasting monument to the king and his queen Nefertari, and commemorate his victory at the Battle of Kadesh.

The complex is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the “Nubian Monuments”.

A total of 22 monuments and complexes were relocated by 40 technical missions from five continents.

The relocation of the temples was necessary or they would have been submerged during the creation of Lake Nasser, the massive artificial water reservoir formed after the building of the Aswan High Dam on the River Nile.

The reconstructed temple was oriented so the sun, at certain times of the year, illuminated the interior, as per the original temple.

The reassembly called for extreme precision, with a tiny tolerance of only plus or minus 5 millimeters.

This 19th century image by David Roberts shows the emerging seated statues.

A scale model showing the original and current location of the temple (with respect to the water level) at the Nubian Museum, in Aswan.

From the insatiable 'I want' brain function:

Unleash Rubbery Fury With This Badass Fully Automatic Rubber Band Minigun
"Based on the design of the Gatling Gun, this fully automatic beauty made from wood, shoots an incredible 144 shots and can be loaded in a matter of minutes.

The rubber band gun has 12 barrels, has an all wood body powered by an electric motor, and has specifically designed easy loading mechanism."

If you want to build it yourself you’re looking at roughly 1-2 hours build time. Which could be a fun little project especially if it’s for one of your kids!

More info: