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Sheikh Carves His Name In Desert So It's Visible From Space

While it isn't as cool as carving his name on the surface of the moon with a giant heat ray, Hamad Bin Hamdan Al Ahyan's enormous signature is quite an accomplishment nonetheless. Measuring 1,000 meters high and two miles long, the sheiks name is now visible from space. From the article: "And rather than allow the writing to be washed away by the ocean, the letters actually form waterways that absorb the encroaching tide.The ruler's name is even visible on Google's map service. Hamad dreamed up the idea and had his workmen toil for weeks to craft the enormous piece of sand graffiti. It is not known how much it cost to make."

10 of 336 comments (clear)

  1. Meters and miles? by smooth+wombat · · Score: 5, Insightful

    1,000 meters high is a kilometer, yet the length is given in miles.

    Didn't NASA have a problem when they didn't convert from metric to standard?

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  2. Sounds like a Clash to me. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I heard the sharif didn't like it and is planning to rock Hamad's casbah shortly.

  3. Oh no... by jimmerz28 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I hope he didn't infringe on a copyrighted font for that project!

    1. Re:Oh no... by VolciMaster · · Score: 5, Funny

      I hope he didn't infringe on a copyrighted font for that project!

      He's using a Sands Serf font

  4. Re:First Post by ep32g79 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Fail, It's upside down

  5. Re:TFS is so PC by Altus · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's text, its size should be measured in points!

    The text is written in 2,834,645 point font.

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  6. Re:Rename Post Title by CharlyFoxtrot · · Score: 5, Informative

    Like this is the only reason. These people are slavers and it's an outrage the west supports these regimes. I mean just read this article about Dubai :

    "It is an open secret that once you hire a maid, you have absolute power over her. You take her passport – everyone does; you decide when to pay her, and when – if ever – she can take a break; and you decide who she talks to. She speaks no Arabic. She cannot escape.

    In a Burger King, a Filipino girl tells me it is "terrifying" for her to wander the malls in Dubai because Filipino maids or nannies always sneak away from the family they are with and beg her for help. "They say – 'Please, I am being held prisoner, they don't let me call home, they make me work every waking hour seven days a week.'"

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  7. Not done in weeks. (Google knows all) by Beorytis · · Score: 5, Informative

    On Google Earth, I checked image history at the area (Coordinates 2420'39.79"N, 5419'38.43"E) and found:

    Jul 13, 2004: Nothing

    Oct 7 2005: H, most of A

    Sept 12, 2007: HA, part of MAD

    Jul 13, 2009, All letters excavated, but water not in MAD yet.

  8. Re:Rename Post Title by ganhawk · · Score: 5, Insightful

    >Who are we to judge any of the areas outside EUSia?

    We are humans. Being treated as slaves is not something any human would want to happen to them.

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  9. Re:Rename Post Title by CharlyFoxtrot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That's the local culture.

    Who are we to judge any of the areas outside EUSia?

    It's called the universal declaration of human rights for a reason. Like the americans say "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights." This is actually one of the few achievements of western, and indeed human, culture worth fighting for.

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    If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.