Sunday, September 27, 2009

Lake Titicaca and the City of Tihuanacu: Mystery wrapped in an Enigma

Mysterious Tihuanaco may be the world’s oldest city. "The City of Tiahuanaco is also full of mystery. Lying at a height of some 13,000 feet, it lies on a plateau that looks like the surface of a foreign planet.

The atmospheric pressure is nearly half as low as at sea level and the oxygen content of the air is similarly small. This isolation and altitude makes the very construction of the city all the more remarkable..

“There is evidence that the city was once a port, having extensive docks positioned right on the earlier shoreline of the now inland waterbed. One of these wharves is big enough to accommodate hundreds of ships."

“According to Incan legends, Tihuanaco was built by a race of giants whose fatherland had been destroyed in a great deluge that had lasted for two months.”.

Click and drag photo to resize. Script from The Java Script Source

Many of Tihuanaco’s buildings were constructed of massive finished stones, many tons in weight, that were placed in such a manner that only a people with advanced engineering methods could have designed and transported them. … “The particular andesite used in much of the Tihuanacos construction can only be found in a quarry 50 miles away in the mountains.”

The closest body of water to this seaport City is Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world. “The mystery starts with an ancient waterbed that covers an area of 3200 square miles, being 70 miles wide and 138 miles long.

The inland waterway is ..littered with millions of fossilised seashells. The lake also features a range of oceanic types, as opposed to freshwater marine life. Creatures brought to the surface in fishermen’s nets have included examples of seahorses. During the 19th Century Professor P. M. Duncan, studying the lake, noted the existence of siluroid, cyprinoid and other marine fishes in the lake.”

“Legends have persisted over the centuries that there are stone structures beneath the waters of Lake Titicaca, much the same kind as can be found on the lake's shore. The Indians of that legion have frequently recounted this tradition, but until recently there has been no proof of such structures.

In 1968 Jacques Cousteau, the French underwater explorer, took his crew and equipment there to explore the lake and search for evidence of underwater construction. Although severely hampered in their activities by the extreme altitude, the divers spent many days searching the lake bottom, in the vicinity of the islands of the Sun and Moon, but found nothing man-made.

Cousteau concluded the legends were a myth.”

Sources: Violations, Atlantis Rising, by Brad Steiger ,Thule.org

Ancient Temple Ruins Found Under Lake Titicaca

LA PAZ, Bolivia (Reuters) - The remains of what is thought to be a 1,000- to 1,500-year-old temple have been found below the waters of South America's lake Titicaca, a scientific expedition said Tuesday.

``We've found what appears to have been a 200-meter (660 feet) long, 50-meter (160 feet) wide holy temple, a terrace for crops, a pre-Incan road and an 800-meter (2,600 feet) long containing wall,'' said Lorenzo Apis, the Italian scientist leading the expedition in a region of the lake around 90 miles northeast of the Bolivian capital La Paz.

Lake Titicaca. Click and drag photo to resize.

The expedition ``Atahuallpa 2000,'' backed by the international scientific group Akakor Geographical Exploring, made over 200 dives into water 65 to 100 feet deep to record the remains on film and with photographs. The expedition will publish complete findings of its 18-day study in November and plans to eventually raise archeological remains to the surface.

The ruins were found in an area of the lake between the town of Copacabana and the popular tourist destinations of the Island of the Sun and Island of the Moon.

The research involved 10 scientists from Italy, 10 from Brazil, five Bolivians, two Germans and a Romanian. Lake Titicaca, some 12,464 feet above sea level, lies on the border between Bolivia and Peru, and is the highest navigable lake in the world.

The Tihuanacu culture lived on its shores before they became part of the Incan empire with its base in Cusco, Peru. ``All this means our civilizations have left more footprints than we had thought,'' said Antonio Eguino, Bolivia's vice minister of culture, whose government pledged financial and technical support to preserve and protect the ruins.

Yahoo World News - August 23 2000

Relics Of Lake Titicaca Pre-Dates Incas

By Alex Bellos - September 13 2000

Lake Titicaca is 3,800m above sea level, and is the world's highest navigable lake. The ruins of what is thought to be a huge ancient temple have been discovered by archaeologists diving beneath Lake Titicaca in the Andes between Bolivia and Peru.

One international team of scientists announced the recent finding after making more than 200 dives in Titicaca.

"What appears to have been a 200-metre-long 50-metre-wide holy temple, a terrace for crops, a pre-Incan road and a 700-metre-long containing wall," said Lorenzo Epis, the Italian leading the Atahuallpa 2000 expedition. Ceramic artifacts were also found on the lake’s floor.

Titicaca has long been the subject of legends about a lost underwater city, but there has been little research because of the technical difficulties of diving at altitude. While a submerged city has not been found, Mr. Epis said the ruins appeared to be 1,000 to 1,500 years old.

It thus pre-dates the Incas and could point to the Tihuanaco people, who lived on Titicaca’s before becoming part of the Incan empire.

"This means our civilizations have left more footprints than we had thought," said Antonio Eguino, Bolivia’s vice-minister of culture. However Mr. Eguino denied that the structure was a temple.

"The information we have indicates they found a wall that we believe was part of a terraced agricultural field," he said. "There is no evidence indicating the wall was part of a temple."

"It is difficult to say at this stage exactly what the wall is, but it is obviously an enormous construction," Dr. Eduardo Vinhaes, 38, a doctor and diver in the team, said. The group found what they believe to be a temple a short boat ride away from the site of the wall.

"We set out to look for signs of ancient civilizations but we found something completely different and much bigger than we expected," Dr Vinhaes said. In addition to the practical difficulties, the research project had to contend with a worried public, who had not been informed of the project. Diving was delayed for four days because of the district of the local population on the Island of the Sun, for whom the lake is sacred.

Mr. Eguino criticized the way the group treated the Bolivian archaeologist who guided them to the site, noting that he was not even mentioned at their news conference.

Source; The Independent Bangladesh

Ancient Atomic Knowledge?

"The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth--men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air--for I am grieved that I have made them." Genesis 6......

Gurkha,
flying a swift and powerful vimana
hurled a single projectile
Charged with all the power of the Universe.
An incandescent column of smoke and flame
As bright as the thousand suns
Rose in all its splendour...
a perpendicular explosion
with its billowing smoke clouds...
...the cloud of smoke
rising after its first explosion
formed into expanding round circles
like the opening of giant parasols...
..it was an unknown weapon,
An iron thunderbolt,
A gigantic messenger of death,
Which reduced to ashes
The entire race of the Vrishnis and the Andhakas.
...The corpses were so burned
As to be unrecognizable.
The hair and nails fell out;
Pottery broke without apparent cause,
And the birds turned white.
After a few hours
All foodstuffs were infected...
...to escape from this fire
The soldiers threw themselves in streams
To wash themselves and their equipment.

Ancient verses from the Mahabharata: (6500 B.C.?)

INTRO

"Thirteen nuclear reactors existed in "prehistoric" periods along the 200-metre mine bed at Oklo --it was discovered in 1972, and they were comparable to the modern nuclear reactor in power and heat combustion.

This mine had the capability of enabling self-sustained nuclear chain reactions". This discovery shocked the entire scientific community back in 1972---but hold on,-- we'll get back to this later.

As we look at a bit of what is being called evidence of ancient atomic warfare (or simply atomic explosions),and possible ancient atomic knowledge I think its important to make a distinction. (Here I'm speaking to Believers).

It is important that we can establish through available evidence some seen on other pages here-- that: the Bible does in fact mention dinosaurs, that man and dinosaurs co-existed as the Bible would indicate; that DNA is proof of a creator, that the worldwide flood of Noah did happen, and that the world was created in one week as the Word says.

It's not that every believer needs to have these things proven, but it is at least interesting to know that there is scientific evidence that supports the Bible.

In the case of this examination of ancient atomic capability, there is no Biblical principle, doctrine or account that we need to support. Christians, as far as I can see have no stake in this one way or the other. We believe we have established on other pages here that there were pre-flood civilizations unaccounted for in traditional science.

We have pondered the question of the technological sophistication of these pre-flood civilizations. Atomic warefare or atomic capability would be another indication of this sophistication and little else. It may be that if it existed it was part of the wickedness that God saw, as referenced by the quote from Genesis 6 at the top of this page. The most interesting story on these pages is the absolutely true story of the Oklo mines on Page 2 of this section. To be fair, I'd have to label some of the other stories about nuclear craters and irradiated cities as speculative.

On the other hand, I personally would enjoy the consternation that would result among materialists/evolutionists, if it could be proven that this technology did in fact previously exist. It would be very difficult to fit that knowledge into the current paradigm, wouldn't it?

As for believer's such a confirmation could only bolster our confidence that when we say to materialists that "there are things in Heaven and earth that are not dreamed of in your philosophy", that that is proving truer every day.(Perhaps ancient weapons capability was why some were living in caves in the first place--with mobile art on the walls as technically proficient as the best art of the Renaissance).

My take is then is that there are some interesting things to consider, and that we should just take a look at it and form a conclusion. It may well be that we will reject all of the "evidence" or merely some of it. It's certainly worth a couple of minutes of our no doubt valuable time to give a look.

The "evidence" will largely fit in four categories. 1)Descriptions in what are thought to be the oldest written texts by man still in existence. 2)Discovery of archeological sites which demonstrate characteristics, including high levels of radiation, consistent with an atomic explosion and)3)physical evidence (changes in the sand) similar to those found at the site of current day atomic explosions.4)Bingo! Evidence of depleted uranium with plutonium products!

Atomic Explosions Produce Glass

The following item appeared in the New York Herald Tribune on February 16, 1947 (and was repeated by Ivan T. Sanderson in the January 1970 issue of his magazine, Pursuit):

Click and drag photo to resize.

(Photo:Olive green Trinitite formed in New Mexico as a result of atomic testing in 1945)

When the first atomic bomb exploded in New Mexico, the desert sand turned to fused green glass. This fact, according to the magazine Free World, has given certain archaeologists a turn. They have been digging in the ancient Euphrates Valley and have uncovered a layer of agrarian culture 8,000 years old, and a layer of herdsman culture much older, and a still older caveman culture. Recently, they reached another layer of fused green glass. It is well known that atomic detonations on or above a sandy desert will melt the silicon in the sand and turn the surface of the Earth into a sheet of glass. But if sheets of ancient desert glass can be found in various parts of the world, does it mean that atomic wars were fought in the ancient past or, at the very least, that atomic testing occurred in the dim ages of history?

This is a startling theory, but one that is not lacking in evidence, as such ancient sheets of desert glass are a geological fact. Lightning strikes can sometimes fuse sand, meteorologists contend, but this is always in a distinctive root-like pattern.

These strange geological oddities are called fulgurites and manifest as branched tubular forms rather than as flat sheets of fused sand.

Therefore, lightning is largely ruled out as the cause of such finds by geologists, who prefer to hold onto the theory of a meteor or comet strike as the cause. The problem with this theory is that there is usually no crater associated with these anomalous sheets of glass.

Brad Steiger and Ron Calais report in their book, Mysteries of Time and Space, that Albion W. Hart, one of the first engineers to graduate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was assigned an engineering project in the interior of Africa. While he and his men were travelling to an almost inaccessible region, they first had to cross a great expanse of desert.

"At the time he was puzzled and quite unable to explain a large expanse of greenish glass which covered the sands as far as he could see," writes Margarethe Casson in an article on Hart's life in the magazine Rocks and Minerals (no. 396, 1972).

She then goes on to mention: "Later on, during his life he passed by the White Sands area after the first atomic explosion there, and he recognized the same type of silica fusion which he had seen fifty years earlier in the African desert."

Interestingly, Manhattan Project chief scientist Dr J. Robert Oppenheimer was known to be familiar with ancient Sanskrit literature. In an interview conducted after he watched the first atomic test, he quoted from the Bhagavad Gita: "'Now I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds.' I suppose we all felt that way."

When asked in an interview at Rochester University seven years after the Alamogordo nuclear test whether that was the first atomic bomb ever to be detonated, his reply was, "Well, yes, in modern history." David Hatcher Childress in Nexus magazine

LIBYAN DESERT GLASS

Click and drag photo to resize. Script from The Java Script Source

Pieces of Libyan Desert Glass weighing as much as 16 pounds are found in an oval area measuring approximately 130 by 53 kilometers. The clear-to-yellowish-green pieces are concentrated in sand-free corridors between north-south dune ridges.

The origin of this immense deposit of glass has been attributed by some to ancient nuclear explosions and alien activities, but investigating scientists have always been satisfied with a meteor-impact hypothesis.

A recent study (abstract below) also opts for this explanation, although no one has found a crater of suitable size or other supporting evidence.

Science Frontiers On Line

Re: More on Libyan Desert Glass
by Gerhard Mehle
February 1998

Libyan Desert Glass is found widely scattered over an area 130 km north to south by 53 km east to west.

The Libyan Desert of Egypt is one of Earth's most remote and inhospitable regions. Uninhabited, windblown and foreboding, the Sand Sea, near the Gilf Kebir Plateau, was nonetheless the site of a remarkable discovery in 1932.

The Egyptian Desert Surveys under the able direction of Englishman Patrick A. Clayton (1896-1962) recovered specimens (about 50 kg) of an unusual, often beautiful, translucent to transparent, yellowish-green gem-like, high silica natural glass.

The Area Where The Glass Is Found

Click and drag photo to resize. Script from The Java Script Source

(Photo: from Libyan Desert Glass expedition)

After the 1932 discovery of Libyan Desert Glass, only two other expeditions (both of the 1930's) were undertaken to the location until 1971.

This latter exploration involved three scientists stopping over for only two hours and collecting some 24 samples of the glass. During this brief visit, the expedition accidentally found the site of a forced landing of an Egyptian aircraft with the remains of nine men.

The failure of Egyptian authorities to find the downed airplane for over three years is solemn validation of the remoteness of this arid region. In light of the foregoing, it is perhaps remarkable that a greater abundance of Libyan Desert Glass has been made available recently for collections and study than at any time since its discovery 65 years ago.

Libyan Desert Glass is classified by most meteoriticists with the group of curious natural glasses known as tektites. In 1900, Professor Franz E. Suess of Vienna coined the term tektite from the Greek tektos meaning "melted or molten."

Tektites are compositionally restricted, high silica, natural glasses distinguishably different from other, volcanically derived, natural glasses. Tektites range in size from microscopic (less than 1mm) to macroscopic weighing many kilograms.

Click and drag photo to resize. Script from The Java Script Source

They exhibit a marvelous range of colors from water clear, gem quality, deep forest greens of moldavites to the soothing pale to dark yellow and yellow-greens of Libyan Desert Glass as well as the stygian, impenetrable black of Australites.

Mankind has wondered about, and cherished, these enigmatic, exotic objects for hundreds of years, perhaps much longer. In the Cro-Magnon Venus of Willendorf site (Austria), dated at 29,000 BC, small moldavite flake blades were found (now lost!).

The earliest written records come from mid-10th century China referring to the black, shiny objects found after rainstorms as lei-gong-mo, "inkstones of the thunder-god". Australian Aborigines called Australites ooga, "staring eyes". The origin and source of tektites remains a mystery.

This Libyan Glass Object was Found in King Tut's Tomb

... in relation to all other tektite groups, Libyan Desert Glass exhibits a noteworthy number of unique attributes.

Lowest refractive index: 1.4616
Lowest specific gravity: 2.21
Highest silica content: 98%
Highest lechatelierite particles: fused quartz
Highest water content: 0.064%
Highest viscosity: almost 6X greater than Australites at the same temperature Other unique attributes: Color, Bubble types: 100% of included bubbles are lenticular or irregular.

..There is no evidence whatsoever, of atmospheric aerodynamic shaping and it is therefore presumed that Libyan Desert Glass formed as a melt sheet of some sort, possibly by meteoritic impact some 28.5 millions years ago. Recent French studies concluded that meteoric elements in the glass, of almost chondritic proportions, "points to an impact origin".

Interestingly, the inclusion of the high number of lechatelierite (fused quartz) particles in Libyan Desert Glass also points to an extremely high, up to 1700 C, formation temperature. Impacts of large bodies at high velocity are certainly capable of creating such high temperatures.

But, the central issue in determining the impact origin of tektites remains, that is, how to transform a mass of crushed rock into a homogeneous and relatively bubble free liquid which rapidly cools to a glass.

Even the commercial production of glass takes many hours to relieve the melt of its volatile components. No partially melted material, or target rock inclusions, have ever been found in Libyan Desert Glass.

Furthermore, other known impact glasses (impactites) such as Darwin Glass are bubbly, frothy, scoriaceous and contain partially melted materials. So the controversy continues.

This file shared with KeelyNet courtesy of Bryant Stavely. Excerpt from the World Island Review, January 1992.

PowerBuilder 11.2 Released: Sybase's Flagship IDE

PowerBuilder 11.2 Released: Sybase's Flagship IDE

Sybase has released the production version of its flagship .NET development tool - PowerBuilder version 11.2. This latest release of its premier IDE for RAD includes not only standard fixes but also a good list of new features. Here is the "Coles Notes" version of these new features

  • AJAX functionality for Web Forms applications
    • introduces AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) update functionality for Web Forms applications. With ASP.NET AJAX, the page is updated by refreshing individual regions of the page asynchronously.
  • Telerik RadControls supported
    • PowerBuilder 11.2 uses Telerik RadControls for menus, toolbars, and other controls in Web Forms applications by default. Telerik RadControls provide enhanced functionality for Web Forms toolbars and menus, DatePicker and MonthCalendar controls, and TreeView controls.
  • Build .NET clients for EAServer
    • You can build a .NET client application that invokes methods of Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) components or PowerBuilder EAServer components running in EAServer 6.1 or later. This capability is based on the .NET client ORB library introduced in EAServer 6.1.
  • Application pools for Web Forms in IIS 7
    • Virtual directories in IIS 7 are hosted in an application pool. When you deploy a PowerBuilder Web Forms application to IIS 7 in PowerBuilder 11.2, the application is deployed to a PowerBuilder-specific application pool named PBAppPool.
  • Certificate store for smart client applications
    • You can now select a digital certificate from a certificate store to sign your smart client application manifests. Previously you could only select a certificate from a file browser. You make the selection on the Publish page in the Project painter for a .NET Windows Forms target when Publish as a smart client application is selected on the General page. You can also select a password protected certificate.
  • IDE user interface enhancements
    • Target-relative paths and shared projects
      Library tab and wizard in the New dialog box
      Library list and .NET Assemblies context menu items on targets in the System Tree
      Publish context menu item on smart client projects in the System Tree
      Files opened in File editor added to most recently used objects list
      File editor Open dialog box lists additional file types
      Current database connection displays in the PowerBuilder title bar
      UseEllipsis property available in edit styles in the Database painter
  • Database connectivity enhancements
    • DisableBind DBParm supported by ASE and SYC database interfaces
    • Support for Oracle 10.2 NCHAR literal replacement.
  • DEBUG condition in ORCA and OrcaScript.
    • PowerBuilder 11.2 includes a new property and method that allow you to programmatically compile standard PowerBuilder applications using or excluding script contained in conditional compilation blocks set with the DEBUG preprocessor symbol.

You can read the detailed release information on PB 11.2 from Sybase's web site. From there, if you want to upgrade your PB 11.0 or 11.1 release, you can download the new version 11.2. However, because PB 11.2 is also AJAX enabled, you will also have to install Microsoft's AJAX 1.0 support.

It should be noted that the features listed on the next page will no longer be supported after PB version 11.2

Deprecated feature

Description

IE Web Controls for .NET Web Forms applications

PowerBuilder installs and deploys Telerik RadControls to replace the IE Web Controls.

O84 Oracle 8i database interface

The next major release of PowerBuilder will include the ORA Oracle 11g database interface, in addition to the O90 and O10 Oracle database interfaces that you can install with PowerBuilder 11.2.

JSP targets

PowerBuilder 11.2 is the last version of PowerBuilder that includes JavaServer Pages (JSP) targets that enable you to build Web pages using JSP technology. Sybase Workspace is the recommended tool for building JavaServer Faces and HTML applications that use JSP pages.

COM, COM+ components

PowerBuilder 11.2 is the last version of PowerBuilder that includes the COM and COM+ component creation wizards.

Automation server

PowerBuilder 11.2 is the last version of PowerBuilder that includes the PowerBuilder Runtime Automation Server.

DataWindow® plug-in and PowerBuilder Window plug-in

PowerBuilder 11.2 is the last version of PowerBuilder that includes the DataWindow plug-in that allows you to display a Powersoft report (PSR) on a Web page. It is also the last version to include the PowerBuilder WIndow plug-in that allows you to display child windows on Web pages when viewed in a browser that supports Netscape plug-ins. You can use .NET Web Forms targets to display reports and child windows on Web pages.

PowerBuilder Window ActiveX

PowerBuilder 11.2 is the last version of PowerBuilder that includes the PowerBuilder Window ActiveX that allows you to display PowerBuilder child windows on Web pages when viewed in a browser that supports ActiveX.. You can use .NET Web Forms targets to display child windows on Web pages.

UDDI browser in the Web Service proxy wizard

PowerBuilder 11.2 is the last version of PowerBuilder that allows you to search for a WSDL file in a UDDI registry.

Deployment support for Windows 2000 platform with Service Pack 4

Support for the Windows 2000 platform will be discontinued in the next release of PowerBuilder.

I hope you find this information useful on PB 11.2. Say tuned in the near future for news on PB 11.5.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Tibetan Secrets of Levitation

I found this article very captivating and believe it is possible. If a opera singer can crack a glass why would that same force not move an object !!!

In his book The Bridge to Infinity, Bruce Cathie recounts an amazing story that he says originated in a German magazine. It tells the story of astonishing feats of levitation accomplished by priests in a monastery high in the Tibetan Himalayas. Here, in English translation, are excepts from that German article:

A Swedish doctor, Dr. Jarl... studied at Oxford. During those times he became friends with a young Tibetan student. A couple of years later, it was 1939, Dr. Jarl made a journey to Egypt for the English Scientific Society. There he was seen by a messenger of his Tibetan friend, and urgently requested to come to Tibet to treat a high Lama. After Dr. Jarl got the leave he followed the messenger and arrived after a long journey by plane and Yak caravans, at the monastery, where the old Lama and his friend who was now holding a high position were now living.

One day his friend took him to a place in the neighborhood of the monastery and showed him a sloping meadow which was surrounded in the north west by high cliffs. In one of the rock walls, at a height of about 250 metres was a big hole which looked like the entrance to a cave. In front of this hole there was a platform on which the monks were building a rock wall. The only access to this platform was from the top of the cliff and the monks lowered themselves down with the help of ropes.

In the middle of the meadow. about 250 metres from the cliff, was a polished slab of rock with a bowl like cavity in the center. The bowl had a diameter of one metre and a depth of 15 centimeters. A block of stone was maneuvered into this cavity by Yak oxen. The block was one metre wide and one and one-half metres long. Then 19 musical instruments were set in an arc of 90 degrees at a distance of 63 metres from the stone slab. The radius of 63 metres was measured out accurately. The musical instruments consisted of 13 drums and six trumpets. (Ragdons).

Behind each instrument was a row of monks. When the stone was in position the monk behind the small drum gave a signal to start the concert. The small drum had a very sharp sound, and could be heard even with the other instruments making a terrible din. All the monks were singing and chanting a prayer, slowly increasing the tempo of this unbelievable noise. During the first four minutes nothing happened, then as the speed of the drumming, and the noise increased, the big stone block started to rock and sway, and suddenly it took off into the air with an increasing speed in the direction of the platform in front of the cave hole 250 metres high. After three minutes of ascent it landed on the platform.

Continuously they brought new blocks to the meadow, and the monks using this method, transported 5 to 6 blocks per hour on a parabolic flight track approximately 500 metres long and 250 metres high. From time to time a stone split, and the monks moved the split stones away. Quite an unbelievable task. Dr Jarl knew about the hurling of the stones. Tibetan experts like Linaver, Spalding and Huc had spoken about it, but they had never seen it. So Dr Jarl was the first foreigner who had the opportunity to see this remarkable spectacle. Because he had the opinion in the beginning that he was the victim of mass-psychosis he made two films of the incident. The films showed exactly the same things that he had witnessed.

The English Society for which Dr Jarl was working confiscated the two films and declared them classified. They will not be released until 1990. Were the films of this fascinating feat released in 1990? Did they ever even exist? Or is this just another tall tale that lends more mystery to the land of Shangri-la?

Coral Castle

How unfortunate that these secrets of levitation - if they ever existed - are lost to antiquity or the remoteness of the Himalayas. They seem to be forever elusive to modern Western man. Or are they?

Beginning in 1920, Edward Leedskalnin, a 5-ft. tall, 100-lb. Latvian immigrant, began to build a remarkable structure in Homestead, Florida. Over a 20-year period, Leedskalnin single-handedly build a home he originally called "Rock Gate Park," but has since been named Coral Castle. Working in secret - often at night - Leedskalnin was somehow able to quarry, fashion, transport and constructed the impressive edifices and sculptures of his unique home from large blocks of heavy coral rock.

It’s estimated that 1,000 tons of coral rock were used in construction of the walls and towers, and an additional 100 tons of it were carved into furniture and art objects:

An obelisk he raised weighs 28 tons. The wall surrounding Coral Castle stands 8 ft. tall and consists of large blocks each weighing several tons. Large stone crescents are perched atop 20-ft.-high walls. A 9-ton swinging gate that moves at the touch of a finger guards the eastern wall. The largest rock on the property weighs an estimated 35 tons. Some stones are twice the weight of the largest blocks in the Great Pyramid at Giza. All this he did alone and without heavy machinery. No one was ever witness to how Leedskalnin was able to move and lift such enormous objects, although it is claimed that some spying teenagers saw him "float coral blocks through the air like hydrogen balloons."

Leedskalnin was highly secretive about his methods, saying only at one point, "I have discovered the secrets of the pyramids. I have found out how the Egyptians and the ancient builders in Peru, Yucatan and Asia, with only primitive tools, raised and set in place blocks of stone weighing many tons."

If Leedskalnin had indeed rediscovered the ancient secrets of levitation, he took them with him to his grave.

Mind blowing !! Ben

Friday, September 25, 2009

The DataWindow in PowerBuilder 11 Web Form Targets

PowerBuilder Cover Story — The DataWindow in PowerBuilder 11 Web Form Targets
— PowerBuilder 11 introduces the WebForms target, which lets you transform an existing PowerBuilder application into a Web application with relative ease. While the deployed application will be remarkably faithful to the original client/server deployment in terms of application behavior, the degree of faithfulness is limited by the fact that your application is running as a Web application. The PowerBuilder component where this poses the greatest challenge is the DataWindow.