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Mayan Pyramid In Belize Leveled By Construction Crew

An anonymous reader writes "If an imposing 2300-year old Mayan temple situated at the Nohmul complex in northern Belize was on your list of things to see before you die, you're too late. The monument was essentially destroyed by a construction crew in order to provide gravel for road construction. Archaeologists expressed shock, as Nohmul (the "great mound") was a major Mayan religious center in its day. While the pyramid was situated on private property, such historical sites are supposedly protected by ordinance, and officials may file criminal charges."

276 comments

  1. callous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    while a callous disregard for history at least it was not an intentional attempt to erase other religions

  2. Out with the old by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    In with the new.

    Humanity needs to stop hording and learn to let things go.

    1. Re:Out with the old by gmuslera · · Score: 1

      That deserved to be the 1st paragraph of "Farenheit 451". Where you draw the line? Should we rewrite history to justify what is "popular" with our current culture/government/corporations/religions?

    2. Re:Out with the old by davester666 · · Score: 1

      Um, yes!

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    3. Re:Out with the old by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because rewriting history is the same as reusing material from an old non-functional building.

    4. Re:Out with the old by gmuslera · · Score: 1

      I'm glad you got it.

    5. Re:Out with the old by PeeAitchPee · · Score: 1

      Fuck you. This has nothing to do with "hording" or "letting go" and everything to do with irrevocable loss of cultural heritage and the knowledge of a society from 2,300 years ago. The world would be a better place if we rid ourselves of the stupidity and arrogance of people like you.

    6. Re:Out with the old by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

      This particular cultural heritage is pretty nasty and best disposed of. However, the loss of historical evidence and the knowledge that might be gained therefrom is bad. It's also shortsighted to destroy a potential tourist attraction.

      --
      Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
    7. Re:Out with the old by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That deserved to be the 1st paragraph of "Farenheit 451". Where you draw the line? Should we rewrite history to justify what is "popular" with our current culture/government/corporations/religions?

      No, but we should definitely rewrite Fahrenheit 451 to use more popular opening paragraphs!

  3. 300BC called... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...they want their pyramid back.

  4. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by h4rr4r · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Your comment would likely get more credibility without the ethnic slur. Also that is a BS article as it was one nutcase that suggested it, not their government or anyone in power.

    If we judged folks that way all slashdotters would be considered ill informed racists based on your comment alone.

  5. I've been to Belize by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    Its a GOP mecca of international commercial interests first, to hell with anything that benefits the local people. The article doesn't say who owns the private land but probably foreign. Palms got greased and goodbye pyramid. Don't cry Yankees, you did the same to your own native peoples, and worse.

    1. Re:I've been to Belize by moeinvt · · Score: 1

      How is a political party in the USA responsible for the actions of construction crews in Belize?

    2. Re:I've been to Belize by Anne_Nonymous · · Score: 2

      Let me bring you up to speed; whatever the problem, it's the fault of the USA.

    3. Re:I've been to Belize by gsgriffin · · Score: 1

      and the people in the USA and the most dogmatic assertions will include GOP as the root of evil

      --
      jsut athnoer menagiensls ltitle psrhae for you to dcoede. Why do we wtsae our tmie dnoig tihs?
    4. Re:I've been to Belize by wagnerrp · · Score: 1

      That's alright. Our own native peoples (or at least those who walked here first), never really built anything of permanence. You've got some pueblos in the south west, and that's about it.

    5. Re:I've been to Belize by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      He didn't claim they were responsible. The words "GOP mecca" means something like "GOP dream world". As in what the GOP would like to turn the USA into (even more than the US already is) - a place where the people with money can buy their way into getting anything they want.

    6. Re:I've been to Belize by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How is a political party in the USA responsible for the actions of construction crews in Belize?

      I was going to post something about Reagan and iran contra but that would be too easy.

    7. Re:I've been to Belize by jon3k · · Score: 0

      Don't cry Yankees, you did the same to your own native peoples, and worse.

      ...and paid for it ever since. But I guess anyone who's ever done anything wrong can never criticize anyone else. It's the ironic and hilarious pervasive "wisdom" of the Internet. Never ceases to give me a chuckle.

      Personally I'm tired of feeling guilty - I don't give a shit.

    8. Re:I've been to Belize by CanHasDIY · · Score: 3, Insightful

      He didn't claim they were responsible. The words "GOP mecca" means something like "GOP dream world". As in what the GOP would like to turn the USA into (even more than the US already is) - a place where the people with money can buy their way into getting anything they want.

      Yea, OK, so why single out the GOP?

      If you stop paying attention to the lip-service and instead note only their actions, there is very, very little difference between Democrats and Republicans.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    9. Re:I've been to Belize by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      GOP is a branch of Evil

      Freemasons - Jacobites - Federalists
      Freemasons - Whigs
      Libertines - Illuminati - Anarchists
      Freemasons - Libertarians
      Illuminati - Freemasons - Democats - Anti-Masons - Democrats - Skull and Bones - GOP - MAFIA - American Communist Party - American Nazi Party - Greens
      Freemasons - Democrats - KKK - Dixiecrats - 2nd KKK - GOP

    10. Re:I've been to Belize by amicusNYCL · · Score: 1, Insightful

      and the people in the USA and the most dogmatic assertions will include GOP as the root of evil

      I don't think anyone argues that the GOP is the root of all evil so much as they are a successful implementation of the evil specification.

      --
      "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
    11. Re:I've been to Belize by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    12. Re:I've been to Belize by dl_sledding · · Score: 1

      Hear, hear. Agree with this completely. We (the non-American Indian population) are still paying reparations for the "theft" of American Indian lands and the genocide that was practiced, and there is no end in sight. Too bad the Europeans who took this land over didn't follow in human historical precedence: conquer and assimilate. The American Indian population would be better off today. Instead, they (the European conquerers) decided to allow the American Indian population to continue their culture and their ways on land that was given to them by the conquerers. Since that time, however, that idea has been bastardized, and treaties have been broken and changed without consent, which has led to the current situation of an extreme welfare state-based country-within-a-country, to the detriment of those citizens and the continuation of the racism and division that should never have existed.

      Oh, and BTW: I was born in the US. Therefore, I am, by definition, a native American: I am not an immigrant to the existing geopolitical country. Call the descendants of the inhabitants of pre-Columbian America something other than "native Americans" please, if not just for clarity. American Indian works, as does Aboriginal or First People.

    13. Re:I've been to Belize by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      The main difference is in the industries they support. Democrats love the media industries, Republicans support most industries, but energy especially.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
    14. Re:I've been to Belize by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1

      Openly, perhaps. But less overtly, each "representative" supports whichever industry slushes their campaign funds. That's why banks have fared so well when every other industry has suffered: they learned long ago to play both sides of the field.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
  6. The mayan date was right but the work crew by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 5, Funny

    The mayan date was right but the work crew fell behind

  7. Re:Fat, squat, and stupid by cusco · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You stupid fuck, when the British wanted to build a railroad in Bolivia and there weren't any handy gravel deposits nearby they smashed up big chunks of Tiahuanacu. You can still see pieces of statues in the foundations for the railroad bridges in the area. Greed and laziness will win out over respect for the past pretty much every time that money is involved.

    --
    "Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
  8. What's the big deal? by 0xdeadbeef · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's not like they planned on using it after 2012.

    1. Re:What's the big deal? by Macgrrl · · Score: 1

      You are a bad, bad man.

      --
      Sara
      Designer, Gamer, Macgrrl in an XP World
  9. Re:Fat, squat, and stupid by Chrisq · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Those mestizo half-breeds really weren't born with a full box of marbles--destroying a temple for road gravel. And Obama wants to flood our country with these tawny height challenged brainiacs.

    So since these half-breeds are inferiour to their ancestors who built the great temple in the first place, presumably it was the influx of Western European genes that lead to this inferiority?

  10. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ethnic slurs are not capitalized.

  11. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    On the upside if it does happen, we might unearthed undiscovered chambers beneath them. Theres a theory that there are secret chambers beneath the Sphinx, yet to be proven.

  12. Sad by Andrio · · Score: 0

    'Adagio For Strings' came up on my Pandora as I read the summary. Seems oddly appropriate.

    --
    The Internet King? I wonder if he could provide faster nudity.
  13. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by KiloByte · · Score: 2

    Just "one nutcase"? Somehow that "one nutcase" has quite some clout in Timbuktu and Bamiyan.

    --
    The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
  14. Right out of a song by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is indeed a tragedy, I do hope the construction company gets at least SOME punishment. This kind of mindless destruction reminds me of the song "Ancient World" by Abney Park

    The ancient world is crumbling
    Replaced with synthetic blend
    If we don't do something soon
    Mankind's last beauty will end

    This palace withstood the test of time
    This mosque endures all days
    Now stand by for the dynamite
    For the shopping malls we make way

    We run to the end and the future follows
    We run to the end from bleak tomorrows
    We run to the end and the future follows
    We run to the end from bleak tomorrows ...

    1. Re:Right out of a song by cgimusic · · Score: 1

      If they own the property I think it is well within their moral (though maybe not legal) rights. If a structure is worth saving then someone will buy it.

  15. It's "progress" !!! by snemiro · · Score: 2

    Just make it cheaper, no matter how.... if somebody find a way to make good business nuking the moon, they will go ahead....romantic people can still watch Breakfast at Tiffany's... Tides? Who needs tides? Fishes? who cares? I will have my new Ferrari to drive, a longer yatch and a luxurious flat in Aspen....

    1. Re:It's "progress" !!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry, we bulldozed Aspen to make room for progress. Your Ferrari was turned into scrap material and your longer yacht was converted into an oil driller for those 'hard-to-reach' places.

      Thank you for playing "Progress"

  16. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Chrisq · · Score: 5, Funny

    Too late, I have pictures of the Sphinx being destroyed ...

    visit www.goatse.cx to see

    I think you are mixing up sphinx and sphincter.

  17. Temple in the picture is not Noh mul, it's Laminai by unimacs · · Score: 4, Informative

    I was just in Belize a few weeks ago and while the destruction of any Mayan ruins is tragic, I don't think Nohmul was quite what it's being made out to be. The few pictures I could find of the actual Nohmul temple are much different than the picture in the linked article. I remember no mention of it when trying to select ruins to go see. It doesn't seem like it was a big tourist draw.

    I was at Laminai and that is a truly impressive set of structures. There are lots of unexcavated buildings still there and the remarkable thing is that the look just like hills. Though it's a stretch, it's not outside the realm of possibility that workers at Noh mul were unaware of the significance of what looked like a pile of rocks until they started working. The landowner surely would have known.

  18. Re:Fat, squat, and stupid by HaZardman27 · · Score: 0

    I wish I had mod points; that was the perfect response.

    --
    Apparently wizard is not a legitimate career path, so I chose programmer instead.
  19. Sath balts by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

    > in Belize

    Belize, is that, wait! HAS ANYONE SEEN MCAFFEE LATELY?

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
  20. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So I am ... I always get those two muddled up!

  21. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by JeanInMontana · · Score: 1

    And that would be a benefit how?  SMH

    --
    *Think globally~Dream universally*
  22. wha? by MickyTheIdiot · · Score: 0

    No one here screaming about private property??

    1. Re:wha? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      PRIVATE PROPERTY?!?!?!

  23. Re:Fat, squat, and stupid by JeanInMontana · · Score: 1

    You are above and beyond ignorant.

    --
    *Think globally~Dream universally*
  24. In other news... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Funny

    Officials are calling for calm amid reports that feathered serpent attacks are up 39% from historical baselines...

    1. Re:In other news... by T.E.D. · · Score: 1

      Actually, the feathered serpent is generally the good guy. Smoking Mirror (a jaguar) is the one to watch out for.

      But don't worry; its not the end of the worl...um...well..actually...

    2. Re:In other news... by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      Actually, the feathered serpent is generally the good guy.

      Right, and the good guy would be the one attacking the shortsighted, uncultured heathens who desecrated the pyramid. It makes sense to me...

      If we were to ask the person responsible, maybe he'd say "Smoking Mirror made me do it!"

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    3. Re:In other news... by T.E.D. · · Score: 1

      The point goes to you.

  25. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by h4rr4r · · Score: 2

    In the article he listed. In those cases many folks had to be nutcases and some of them in power.

    It does not change the fact that the Egyptian government is not going to destroy their largest tourist draw, which gets them income they badly need.

  26. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by sudden.zero · · Score: 1

    Let's not forget it was one nutcase that decided that he wanted to take down the twin towers, and look what happened there. One nutcase ended up becoming an entire network of nutcases that eventually got the job done over a period of a decade or so!

  27. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    How credible is that you don't know what the fuck you are talking about since "Muzzies" refers to "Muslims", and last time ANYONE checked, that was a religion and NOT a fucking race.

    So now you are outed as an oversensitive 'PC' slinging DIPSHIT...your comment can be summarily ignored.

  28. Re:Temple in the picture is not Noh mul, it's Lami by T.E.D. · · Score: 5, Funny

    Here, I found of recent picture of Nohmul for you.

  29. Private land owner wanted to clear his land by kpoole55 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Okay, the pyramid was on privately owned land. Time to check and see what the land owner wanted to do with the land that the pyramid was getting in the way of. Or, perhaps he was just concerned that all these tourists were coming to this pyramid and he wasn't getting anything out of it. And the insurance liability, Suppose someone were climbing around on this thing and fell, even if they were illegal trespassers would he be responsible? There are a number of very good legal reasons why he's want to have this hazard removed. On top of that, I understand the price of gravel is very high these days.

    As much as I hate the idea of expropriating land from private owners, if you want to really preserve these sorts of things you've got to remove them from private ownership and recompense the land owner either with money or a swap of some new land of equal value. As long as these sorts of things are in private ownership, this will continue.

    1. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by gsgriffin · · Score: 1

      My bet is that the government purchased the rock for their road projects. Look to India, you will find vast numbers of people that are enslaved by the government to crush rock for their roads (paid about $25/month for a family to fill a truck with sand/gravel). There won't be charges, because it will lead back to themselves.

      --
      jsut athnoer menagiensls ltitle psrhae for you to dcoede. Why do we wtsae our tmie dnoig tihs?
    2. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by Daniel+Dvorkin · · Score: 4, Insightful

      As much as I hate the idea of expropriating land from private owners, if you want to really preserve these sorts of things you've got to remove them from private ownership and recompense the land owner either with money or a swap of some new land of equal value.

      Or just accept that land ownership comes with certain restrictions. For example, if I want an addition to my house, I can't just build whatever I want; I need to get permits and ensure that the construction complies with building codes. Saying "no, you cannot knock down this ancient structure which was built millennia ago on what now happens to be your land" strikes me as a reasonable counterpart to that.

      --
      The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
    3. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And the insurance liability, Suppose someone were climbing around on this thing and fell, even if they were illegal trespassers would he be responsible?

      Have you ever visited another country? Most places are not like America. If you injure yourself nobody will give a shit.

    4. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No need to expropriate land. Just because someone owns "the land", they may not own every building upon it. Governments frequently reserve ownership of anything older than a few hundred years.

    5. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by unimacs · · Score: 1

      The problem with that solution is that Belize is not a wealthy country and the government is not in a position to buy up all the land that contains Mayan ruins. There are thousands of un-excavated buildings located all over the country.

    6. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      As much as I hate the idea of expropriating land from private owners, if you want to really preserve these sorts of things you've got to remove them from private ownership and recompense the land owner either with money or a swap of some new land of equal value. As long as these sorts of things are in private ownership, this will continue.

      You mean, as long as we embrace the notion of private property so that we may enable rent-seeking, this will continue. No one should have the right to simply bulldoze the past.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    7. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by ArsonSmith · · Score: 1

      except that falls flat when people have homes that have been regulated to this status where they can't modernize them. Often times they'll be rotting out from under them but due to ordnance they can't fix it.

      --
      Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
    8. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by lytlebill · · Score: 1

      Sounds like the land owner didn't really have any say in it. Of course, I've no idea what the state of law enforcement is like in Belize, entirely possible that a big enough bribe would do the trick. From TFA: "The Noh Mul complex sits on private land, but Belizean law states any pre-Hispanic ruins are under government protection."

    9. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The reason behind building codes is to prevent unnecessary strains on public infrastructure in the form of emergency services. In the worst cases, lack of code compliance can lead to other houses burning down.

      Tearing down a stone structure far away from buildings you do not own is in full compliance with the justification of restrictions on land use.

      What you are stating would be more akin to someone saying you were not allowed to throw away, move, or abandon your useless VHS player in the basement because it has historical value. Of course you could try to sell it, but who wants it and how can you enjoy the use of your house with some tech archeologists giving tours in your basement?

    10. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by squiggleslash · · Score: 2

      Nobody's proposing that the restrictions on property ownership be stupid, just that there be some restrictions to prevent the loss of major archeological treasures.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    11. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by kpoole55 · · Score: 1

      According to the article such laws are already in place but it didn't stop this from happening. It was on private land and the landowner for want of cash sold the gravel or for want of another use of the land had it cleared.

      It's going to be very interesting to follow as everyone points to someone else and says I just did what he told me to do.

    12. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by kpoole55 · · Score: 1

      I'll admit that I live in Canada and have only visited the States. IN both of these places insurance liabiltiy plays a great role in how people make decisions.

      When I was a boy parks had the shallow pools that were filled in the summer. Barley up to your knees if you were 6 years old. Due to liability concerns these are not used any longer. They are unused except as a place for teens to sit at night, drink and break the glass bottle in.

    13. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by kpoole55 · · Score: 1

      See the article, such preservation laws already exist in Belize but since the land was still privately owned the landowner must have made a decision to dispose of the relic.

    14. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by kpoole55 · · Score: 1

      "Barley up to your knees"? gotta watch the spelling, should have been "Barely up to your knees".

    15. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by kpoole55 · · Score: 1

      The alternative to a money compensation was mentioned as a swap for land of equal value. Since someone is going to make an issue of that then swap them for some land in the city where smaller parcels are valued higher and, hopefully, all the excavation for relics has already been done.

    16. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by kpoole55 · · Score: 0

      Ah, you're from the Agenda 21 camp seeking to abolish the right to own property, or are you just a run of the mill communist that doesn't believe in private property and that the state owns it all?

      Even if the state owns all the property you're not going to be able to live anywhere you want for free. You're still going to have to pay the state in the form of money or labour in order to have access to a roof over your head.

      That other alternative is that you might be an anarchist that also doesn't believe in private property. In that case, the stronger of the individuals in a group will have their choice of the best places to live and the rest will have to fair as best they can.

    17. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by unimacs · · Score: 1

      The alternative to a money compensation was mentioned as a swap for land of equal value. Since someone is going to make an issue of that then swap them for some land in the city where smaller parcels are valued higher and, hopefully, all the excavation for relics has already been done.

      You're still assuming that the government is in possession of land both valuable enough and in sufficient quantity to swap with landowners that have ruins on their property. Belize has ruins everywhere. It's a largely rural country anyway. The largest city has less than 80,000 people and it's much bigger than any other town in the country.

    18. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You left out "unthinking moron regurgitating pap he heard at school".

    19. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Even that depends on the flavor of anarchism. In Geoanarchism for example, individuals (strong and weak) expect restitution for privatized land, which belongs to whoever can pay its rent. In other forms of anarcho-capitalism, the land belongs to whoever first built a fence regardless of how much work they put in or how strong they are. Both systems assume that with a sufficiently well-armed populace, individuals being physically stronger won't make a difference compared to more people who agree with your definition of aggression.

    20. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      While what you are saying makes a certain sense for archaeological sites in the United States, we are very much in the minority of placing private property rights above cultural heritage management interests. Most other countries have nationalized their antiquities to some degree. Unlike in the U.S., all antiquities in Belize are the property of the government regardless of whether or not those antiquities are located on privately held property. What happened was illegal under Belizean law. Not uncommon, but definitely illegal.

      No, Noh Mul was not of particular interest for tourism but is part of a well known archaeological context that is under active heritage resource management by the Belizean government.

    21. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

      You left out "unthinking moron regurgitating pap he heard at school".

      Sadly, you're dead wrong. All I ever got in school was unbridled paeans to glorious capitalism. I got plenty of anti-religious propaganda in college, but I didn't even need any of that to be convinced that religion was evil. I developed that notion a long time ago. I didn't go anywhere liberal enough to have students pushing socialism (let alone communism) nor anywhere big enough to have an entrenched faculty doing the same. Schools depend on the notion that students will cough up money, or go into debt anyway, so they have little motivation to disabuse people of the ridiculous notion that mercantilism best serves their needs.

      No, in fact when I was young I was very much more of a "everyone should have to work to survive" type. Now that I've seen that people aren't starving because there's not enough food, and that consumer devices are deliberately made to be shitty so that they can sell you a new one every year rather than made to last so that you can keep using them, I can see that mercantilism is not a working solution, and that's the problem with capitalism. Every system will devolve into a lesser system (from the point of view of the populace) if not given attention. Capitalism into mercantilism, and what comes after that if not fascism?

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    22. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by xmundt · · Score: 1

      Hey...you do not know that...it is quite possible that those wild and crazy Canadians had open air breweries.
              pleasant dreams
              dave mundt

      --
      YAB - http://blog.beemandave.com/
    23. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As much as I hate the idea of expropriating land from private owners, if you want to really preserve these sorts of things you've got to remove them from private ownership and recompense the land owner either with money or a swap of some new land of equal value. As long as these sorts of things are in private ownership, this will continue.

      There is also the common option of supporting the maintenance of the historical structure via tax money and requiring the maintenance and protection as a condition for the economic support, with a punishment for intentional damage as a stick. Lost commercial value of the property is also usually compensated.
        Land use, as in making a hole in the ground is often regulated with different laws or by different authorities than the historical monuments. Impact studies are often needed in the commercial scale construction. I suspect the area was protected from such land use.

    24. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

      Often times they'll be rotting out from under them but due to ordnance they can't fix it.

      They have artillery in their house?

      --
      Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
    25. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All hail capitalism and conservative values!

    26. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by kpoole55 · · Score: 1

      I do remember a cricket match when I was high school where the field was next to a brewery, here in Vancouver. Weirdest match we ever played.

    27. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by kpoole55 · · Score: 1

      Judging from the picture of the remnant, the maintenance of this particular pyramid had been left to the jungle for some time but when you're talking about a large stone or stone covered gravel structure a good thick covering of dirt and vegetation will preserve it nicely against everything except, it seems, large excavators and such.

      Many archaeological digs are simply covered back over with sand or dirt to preserve them form the simple elements. In this case, though, something other than the simple elements came along and did the damage.

      Now, if you're going to uncover them and try to keep them in a pristine state while tourists climb all over them (which others have commented was not happening here.) then I can see where there would be a taxpayer burden.

      I still expect that the full truth will be that the landowner saw a good opportunity to make some money selling some easily accessed gravel and fill and told someone to have at it. No one has mentioned yet who paid whom for the gravel and the equipment to move it.

    28. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      Expropriating land from private owners, who in turn expropriated the land from someone before them. Unless they can show a valid bill of sale all the way back to Adam, then someone, somewhere, stole the land.

    29. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      There won't be anything to follow as it will all die down very quickly. If people can destroy historical site US at the exact same time that a court hearing is being held on how to preserve the site and it all blows over with no penalties, then I'm sure that a builder in a third world country has nothing to fear over this.

    30. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by wisnoskij · · Score: 1

      The law made this illegal, just like if you rolled down main street with a bull dozer and pushed over town hall.

      --
      Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
    31. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by wisnoskij · · Score: 1

      Very unstable artillery ammunition, that is why they cannot do any construction.

      --
      Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
    32. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You should think long and hard about what the term "privately owned land" actually means. How does a person claim to 'own' a piece of land? Who did he buy it from? How did THAT person claim to OWN it in the first place?
      There should be NO private land owners - because the majority of the land is owned by less than five percent of the population - meaning 95% of the population are being forced to SLAVE in order to survive, since they are landless. Hence the term 'landed gentry', and the word 'landlord'.

    33. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mayans were savages, headhunters and ate human flesh.. Who cares.

    34. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by kpoole55 · · Score: 1

      I agree that it was illegal (that was in the original article and many others I read associated with this) but, like the people who clear cut a lot in contradiction of the law to save trees in the city, it depends on what the cost of breaking the law is compared to the value of the cleared lot.

      Follow the money and you'll find out why this was done and by who.

    35. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by CharlieG · · Score: 1

      depending on where you live, even in the US, you want to build an addition to you house, go right ahead. a lot of the country does not have zoning laws

      --
      -- 73 de KG2V For the Children - RKBA! "You are what you do when it counts" - the Masso
    36. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bollocks. The regulations are there to ensure that repairs are done correctly. If they weren't there I assure you about every other house would fall apart at random due to the resident idiot thinking he can just rip floor joists out because he wants to (I have heard seemingly competent people express exactly this desire on multiple occasions, always for a terribe idea).

    37. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by ArsonSmith · · Score: 1

      but they have been stupid. Past present and most likely future.

      --
      Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
    38. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      Okay, the pyramid was on privately owned land. Time to check and see what the land owner wanted to do with the land that the pyramid was getting in the way of.

      A new Starbucks.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    39. Re:Private land owner wanted to clear his land by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      Mayans were savages, headhunters and ate human flesh.. Who cares.

      The people they were eating?

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  30. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    religion != ethnicity

  31. Re:Fat, squat, and stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    haha. prefect response.

  32. Re:Fat, squat, and stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This is nothing new. Just look throughout the Middle East and Europe and you'll find all kinds of plundered and recycled architecture. Mostly because it's easier to have your stone masons rework something to fit rather than carve something from scratch.

    The Great Mosque of Kairouan is a good example where it used to be punishable by death to count the columns. The real reason is they didn't want people looking at them too closely because they were mostly stolen from places like Carthage and are a mix of Greek, Roman, and Christian designs.

  33. Re:Fat, squat, and stupid by robogun · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The major cities of the Indus Valley civilization were dismantled for railroad ballast for the same reasons.

  34. Re:Fat, squat, and stupid by moeinvt · · Score: 1

    No race of people and no culture is without its flaws. Maybe the half-breeds got the worst of everything? Rapacious greed of the Western European race/culture with the short-sightedness of those that evolved in equatorial climates? Snake eyes of the gene pool.

  35. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by NatasRevol · · Score: 2

    Grammatically correct racism is so en vogue.

    --
    There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
  36. "Mayan" is a noun by Colonel+Korn · · Score: 2, Informative

    "Mayan" is the name of the language. The adjective is "Maya," as in Maya temple or Maya people.

    --
    "I zero-index my hamsters" - Willtor (147206)
    1. Re:"Mayan" is a noun by wcrowe · · Score: 4, Informative

      Not according to Merriam-Webster.

      --
      Proverbs 21:19
    2. Re:"Mayan" is a noun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Mayan" is also an adjective: "Of or relating to the Mayas, their culture, or the Mayan linguistic stock."

      http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Mayans

    3. Re:"Mayan" is a noun by ArcadeMan · · Score: 2

      And Mayannaise.

    4. Re:"Mayan" is a noun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The OED disagrees with you

      Mayan, adj. and n.
        A. adj.
        1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of the Maya.

      That certainly applies to the summary.

      For that matter, Maya is also permissible to describe the language.

      Maya
        2. The language of the Maya people, which is a member of the Mayan language family. Also called Yucatec.

      With helpful quotations to justify it.

    5. Re:"Mayan" is a noun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Mayan" is the name of the language. The adjective is "Maya," as in Maya temple or Maya people.

      In addition, "May" is the name of a month, and "Ma" is a term for a female parent.

    6. Re:"Mayan" is a noun by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      M is a letter in many alphabets.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    7. Re:"Mayan" is a noun by infinitelink · · Score: 1

      Maybe some Mayans ignorant of English insist on that, but "Mayan" like "Polynesian" or "Hawaiian" or "German" or "Anglican" et cetera is the proper way of adjectivializing "Maya". You can have "the Maya" or "the Mayan People" but not "Maya People", "Mayan language" but not "Maya language". You can even have "the language of the Maya", but note, not "Maya" as adjective. Sorry. Welcome to English. cf. https://www.google.com/search?q=mayan+language

      --
      Intelligent idiots are we. | Evil men do not understand justice.
    8. Re:"Mayan" is a noun by kaatochacha · · Score: 1

      sounds delicious.

    9. Re:"Mayan" is a noun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Mayan" is the name of the language. The adjective is "Maya," as in Maya temple or Maya people.

      Let's see... google "mayan temple": 460K results. "maya temple": 97K results.

      I'd throw in the towel on that one.

    10. Re:"Mayan" is a noun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually Maya is a noun, Mayan is an adjective.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayan

      http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/maya

  37. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by greenfruitsalad · · Score: 5, Funny

    Fortunately, thanks to 22nd amendment, he was only able to serve two terms.

  38. Re:Fat, squat, and stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nah only the ones that went to the US. nobody else wanted those fuckwits eg that bunch on the Mayflower etc.

  39. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by CanHasDIY · · Score: 4, Informative

    Muzzies

    http://www.early-advantage.com/

    That word doesn't mean what you think it means.

    --
    An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
  40. it's a cover story by DriveDog · · Score: 3, Funny

    The destruction was intentional by some authorities still looking for McAfee. Now they'll charge him with the human sacrifices that occurred two millenia ago.

  41. Destroying priceless sites for petty reasons by afeeney · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This kind of destruction for the pettiest of reasons isn't anything new. In Malta, a group took a bulldozer to the stone temples at Mnajdra, a glorious megalithic site, older than Stonehenge and the Pyramids. Mnajdra is breathtakingly lovely and enigmatic and fascinating. Fortunately, it's largely been restored and is again open to the public. Why? People had constructed illegal bird-hunting hides on the adjacent land and objected to their hides being destroyed. People will be vicious destructive assholes for any number of reasons, including just because they can. Profit, sheer revelry in destruction (Persepolis), symbolism of dominance or victory (Summer Palace in Beijing), religious fanaticism (Buddha statues), a fanatical dislike of cities (Mongols and most of the cities in their way), to discourage attacks (Carthage), any number of reasons.

    1. Re:Destroying priceless sites for petty reasons by Bigby · · Score: 0

      Look at the positives. The destruction of this temple has made all the other historic sites more valuable.

    2. Re:Destroying priceless sites for petty reasons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, one of the ancient wonders of the world, the mausoleum at halicarnassus, was destroyed by the Knights of St John to make either rubble, or burnt to make mortar.

    3. Re:Destroying priceless sites for petty reasons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Reminds me of the individual who chainsawed the most significantly tree in my country because in his words he wanted "people to hate"

  42. Re:Fat, squat, and stupid by wagnerrp · · Score: 2

    Does that mean the AC is learned?

  43. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Religion is one example of ethnicity.

  44. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by doggo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Religion is not an ethnicity. And religious fanatics deserve no consideration of respect.

  45. In similar news by wcrowe · · Score: 1

    A friend shared this story recently.

    The new global zeitgeist of sans souci. "Ah, well. It doesn't affect me. Let's have another Coke", and don't forget to toss the empty cup out the window.

    --
    Proverbs 21:19
  46. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    educated young men primarily from Saudi Arabia. and they weren't nuts. they were committed to a bad idea, driven by hatred that we fomented.

    so what do we do? we go bomb illiterates in an entirely different region.

    good job. good job.

  47. Re:Fat, squat, and stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Looking at the flipside, the GOP has been allowing the country to be flooded with undocumented workers and H1B workers. Both work for cheap wages.

  48. Gratuitous link to inaccurate content by zedrdave · · Score: 5, Informative

    So tell me again, why is the first link for that story a bulshitty post on a New Zealand rightwing blog, with a blatantly misidentified picture? (this is what the actual temple looks like)

    For chrissake, the blog post starts with "Reports are coming in", as if it was written by some international news channel, not some guy in his underwear sitting on the opposite side of the world.

    1. Re:Gratuitous link to inaccurate content by kpoole55 · · Score: 1

      Yah, that's what the temple looks like now that most of it has been excavated. There are enough other citations that you can find using Google to see the pyramid before the excavation.

    2. Re:Gratuitous link to inaccurate content by zedrdave · · Score: 1

      The point was: it looks nothing like the picture posted by that joke of an article (which looks more like some stock "mayan pyramid" picture). The size alone should be a dead giveaway.

      And unlike some of the less dodgy sites out there that make a point to include a pointless picture in all their SEO articles, this one did not bother including a clarifying description ("Example of a Mayan temple"), instead going the flat-out-lie road.

  49. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    And to all coders out there, language != country.

    I'm tired of selecting "French" and having my country code set to "France" and my keyboard set to fucking "AZERTY".

  50. Re:Temple in the picture is not Noh mul, it's Lami by doggo · · Score: 1

    You insensitive clod! ;-)

  51. Re:Fat, squat, and stupid by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 2

    Napoleon's troops in Egypt were using the Sphinx for target practice. But it is not always racist. Chinese have been quarrying their great wall for bricks for ages. Many Italian homes were built using recycled bricks from the aqueducts. Stone tablets inscribed with royal decrees being used as washing stones...

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  52. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Chrisq · · Score: 1

    'When I use a word ... it means just what I choose it to mean â" neither more nor less.'

  53. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I prefer that he does use the ethnic slur -- as well as the personal attacks, foul language, anger, and hate -- that way we immediately know his age (teenager), and therefore his credibility (zero). This makes slashdot more efficient for those of us who come here for knowledge.

    In other words, if he was polite and courteous, I would need to spend more time and effort on evaluating his position. The anger and hate reduces my workload.

  54. Re:Temple in the picture is not Noh mul, it's Lami by D1G1T · · Score: 1

    Visual impressiveness is rarely an indication of archaeological importance. In fact, something that looks like a pile of rocks is often a structure that hasn't been studied yet. The fantastic pyramids and temples you see are often the result of best-guess reconstruction.

  55. Re:Fat, squat, and stupid by kyrsjo · · Score: 2

    Yup - here in Oslo, an abandoned monastery (and many other old buildings) got picked to pieces for the stone - it was easier to go there and pick the materials you needed, than to quary new materials. There are probably tons of similar examples in every old city.

  56. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Stormthirst · · Score: 1

    So everyone else thinks you're an ill educated moron?

  57. Execute everyone involved and be done with it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Problem solved

    1. Re:Execute everyone involved and be done with it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Reinstate the age-old practise of human sacrifice! The Lords of Xibalba require their due!

  58. Re:Fat, squat, and stupid by Stormthirst · · Score: 3, Informative

    Indeed - didn't the Egyptian pyramids used to be smooth (ish) on the outside. The locals removed the outside shells, leaving the stepped shapes they are now.

  59. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Culture20 · · Score: 1

    It would finally prove the UN/alien/illuminati/Yeti/Hollow-Earth/Egyptian theory.

  60. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Dishevel · · Score: 1

    To be fair. It is not like you could trust anything that the people in power or the government over there have to say any more than "one nutcase".
    In fact, I don't know the nutcase so he may very well be correct. I have had some experience with what the government over there says and does ...
    So I might be more inclined to believe some random nutcase over the government over there.

    --
    Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
  61. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Dishevel · · Score: 0

    Wow.
    You even did that without posting anon.
    Mistake? or ...
    wow.

    --
    Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
  62. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nutcase might not be the right word.
    Osama Bin Laden got his terrorist training from CIA during the cold war when he was working for the U.S.
    He did what he was trained to do, it's just that his loyalties shifted since then.

  63. Re:Temple in the picture is not Noh mul, it's Lami by unimacs · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Visual impressiveness is rarely an indication of archaeological importance. In fact, something that looks like a pile of rocks is often a structure that hasn't been studied yet. The fantastic pyramids and temples you see are often the result of best-guess reconstruction.

    I agree. My point was that in the few pictures I was able to find of it prior to being destroyed, it didn't look like much more than what could have been a natural limestone formation covered by vegetation. Again I think it's a stretch, but it's possible the workers didn't realize they were digging up a temple. After reading some of the local news coverage though, this seems very unlikely.

    Anyway, I'm disappointed that the article pictured the wrong temple and I suspect that it might have been intentional.

  64. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Dishevel · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wow.
    You French people are touchy.

    --
    Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
  65. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by TWiTfan · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ill informed racists

    As opposed to the well-informed, who think Islam is a race?

    --
    The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
  66. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by TWiTfan · · Score: 1

    And also a leader of the second largest party in the Egyptian Parliament.

    --
    The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
  67. Re:Fat, squat, and stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The Spanish deliberately dismantled every great Inca temple and palace they could find, most of the time reusing the materials but sometimes just throwing them down the valley or into a lake. Their goal was simple destruction for its own sake, to prove that the protection of their god was more powerful than the Inca gods who would have taken umbrage at the waste.

  68. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by interval1066 · · Score: 0

    Idiot. How many hideous acts does one group have to commit to get moved from the "racist slur" pile to the "enemy of civilization" pile?

    --
    Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
  69. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    It does not change the fact that the Egyptian government is not going to destroy their largest tourist draw

    That's what people thought about those statues in Afghanistan. And besides, wtf tourists have been going to Egypt since the Arab Spring? No one in their right mind goes there anymore unless they're looking to get raped or kidnapped.

  70. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by slackware+3.6 · · Score: 1

    I don't think to many non-muslim tourists are planning to head to Egypt any time soon.

  71. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Racists won't capitalize a slur because it can be seen as adding respect to the slur.

  72. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by sociocapitalist · · Score: 1

    Religion is not an ethnicity. And religious fanatics deserve no consideration of respect.

    Do you consider the pope to be a religious fanatic?

    --
    blindly antisocialist = antisocial
  73. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And he express posted the terorists familly out of the country when all the other planes were grounded.

  74. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thank you. If anything this is antisemitism.

  75. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    'When I use a word ... it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.'

    So everyone else thinks you're an ill educated moron?

    Its a quotation. Anyway muzzy is well known

  76. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by gstoddart · · Score: 1

    Do you consider the pope to be a religious fanatic?

    Does the Pope advocate for the destruction of the evidence of other people's religion and history, or call for people's death?

    The Pope is the head of a church, but I'm not certain any of the last few have done anything I'd think is reason to call 'religious fanatic'. The Westboro folks maybe.

    The Taliban, who think everybody who doesn't agree with them deserves death, well, now those guys I'll call fanatics.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  77. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Regardless of OPs use of a racial slur, we are living in a time when Muslims are destroying religious sites and related material more than any other group on Earth, second only to what the Chinese are doing in Tibet. It is a cause for concern.

  78. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Mod error

  79. Re:Fat, squat, and stupid by tizan · · Score: 1

    And that i am sure you include in your description the white folks in Arizona who ground the petrified trees in the petrified forest region for use as industrial abrasive material.
     

  80. What to do? by Sla$hPot · · Score: 0

    Sacrifice the guilty to the Mayan gods

  81. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Immerman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Are you even sure it was a bad idea? They managed to take an small extremist group on the verge of collapse due to disinterest and lack of funding and give it an enemy that built it into a large and thriving terrorist network inspirational enough that mimics across the region adopted their name. If Osama actually cared a whit about the US that was probably another success - he managed, with the help of our totally disproportionate and chaotic response of course, to turn us from one of the most-loved nations in the world into a nation broadly considered to be one of the single greatest threats to global security. He may have underestimated just how useful his attack and the promise of perpetual war was going to be to certain tyrannical interests in the US government, and got himself killed due to our dogged persistence, but still, very nearly an unqualified success.

    --
    --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
  82. About What I Expected by Phrogman · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Most of the posts in response to this story seem to focus on
    * Bad Grammar
    * Bad Jokes
    * US Politics (how the fuck everything can be related to US politics is beyond me)
    * Ethnic Slurs (including of course the obligatory insults to Muslims that must appear in any article on anything these days. Keep up the hate guys, its only helping your reputation with the rest of the world).
    * Lastly, and apparently leastly, some outrage at the destruction of a part of human history, thus lessening our understanding of the same by some degree. A site like this belongs to all of humanity, its our heritage, its a way to understand where we came from and thus perhaps where we might be going. The people who knocked this temple down (and the owner of the company responsible) should be in prison for the rest of their lives.
    Hopefully this at least serves to make governments all through the region aware of the need to protect heritage sites like this. Without our history, we are *nothing*.

    --
    "The first time I got drunk, I got married. The second time I bought a chimpanzee, after that I stayed sober" Arian Seid
    1. Re:About What I Expected by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dammit, those Catholic fanatics are at it again, destroying the common heritage of man kind!

    2. Re:About What I Expected by ChrisMaple · · Score: 0

      A site like this belongs to all of humanity

      Oh bullcrap. There's a world of difference between it having some value and you being part owner.

      --
      Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
    3. Re:About What I Expected by Phrogman · · Score: 1

      See Heritage:
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritage

      Specifically "the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society: man-made heritage"

      I wasn't using "belongs" to mean ownership and you were completely aware of that, but chose to speak like a fucking moron instead.

      --
      "The first time I got drunk, I got married. The second time I bought a chimpanzee, after that I stayed sober" Arian Seid
  83. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Immerman · · Score: 1

    I tend to slightly agree, but Muzzie is a slur against the entire religion, not just the minority of fanatic sects that use the name. An analog might be calling people ChristWhores because you disagree with the fanatisism of the Christian Scientists.

    --
    --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
  84. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by sociocapitalist · · Score: 1

    Do you consider the pope to be a religious fanatic?

    Does the Pope advocate for the destruction of the evidence of other people's religion and history, or call for people's death?

    The Pope is the head of a church, but I'm not certain any of the last few have done anything I'd think is reason to call 'religious fanatic'. The Westboro folks maybe.

    The Taliban, who think everybody who doesn't agree with them deserves death, well, now those guys I'll call fanatics.

    fanatic /fnatik/
    Noun
    A person filled with excessive and single-minded zeal, esp. for an extreme religious or political cause.
    (source: google.com)

    It's a subjective qualifier. Arguably anyone who dedicates their life to a religion is 'excessive and single-minded' and the leaders of any religion are going to qualify at some point or another.

    With regard to your specific question...yes, popes have many times "advocate(d) for the destruction of the evidence of other people's religion and history, or call for people's death(s)" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusades

    So I disagree with your statement. People should be judged on their actions and not grouped together under a religious (or other) context and denied respect on that basis alone.

    --
    blindly antisocialist = antisocial
  85. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Absolutely yes ...

  86. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by tbannist · · Score: 2

    I'm not sure, how many "hideous acts" does your group have to commit to turn you into the enemy of civilzation?

    --
    Fanatically anti-fanatical
  87. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1

    So everyone else thinks you're an ill educated moron?

    Considering that his post is a quote from Humpty Dumpty...

    --
    An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
  88. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ethnic slur? Racist? Fuck of you politically correct piece of shit. "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

  89. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 2

    Now is a great time to go. The tourist areas are about as safe before, and nothing much has changed for visitors... except that things are less crowded and cheaper, what with so many scared tourists staying away. Stick to the main tourist centers and don't wander off alone at night, and you'll be a-ok.

    --
    If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
  90. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    uh...no its not

  91. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

    If you're that upset about it, you should ask the ISO to revise ISO-639 to include your dialect.

    --

    "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

  92. Re:Fat, squat, and stupid by Dunbal · · Score: 1

    And bits of Hadrian's wall can be found in the stone walls of cottages and farms all over Scotland...

    --
    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
  93. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Do you consider the pope to be a religious fanatic?

    Unreservedly, yes.

  94. Re:Fat, squat, and stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In the same way the muzzies will maybe realize one day that their prayers and snackbars don't work because allah isn't powerful enough to stop a predator drone. One can only hope. But muzzies are pretty dumb.

  95. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Hatta · · Score: 1

    Not all Muslims are religious fanatics.

    --
    Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
  96. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by ogdenk · · Score: 0

    Abso-f**king-lutely

  97. Re:Fat, squat, and stupid by ogdenk · · Score: 2

    BWAHAHAHAH BRAVO! Wish I had mod points.

  98. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Muzzie is a slur ... ChristWhores .

    I'm fairly sure the first is a diminutive, and only the second contains an actual slur.

  99. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No.. you're getting confused. He was out of power for about 8 months by then (thanks to the 22nd amendment). It was his successor that few the family our of the country.

  100. troll? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    I know that you religious people get butt-hurt when people point out that you are evil, but let's face it, the Catholic church is and has always been a criminal conspiracy. No one who knows anything about its history can deny this.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    1. Re:troll? by Mike+Buddha · · Score: 1

      Some Catholics have done some truly horrible things, therefore the Catholic Church is a vast criminal conspiracy. That makes perfect sense, except it doesn't.

      --
      by Mike Buddha -- Someday the mountain might get him, but the law never will.
    2. Re:troll? by triffid_98 · · Score: 2

      Some Catholics have done some truly horrible things , and their leaders actively worked to suppress that information and prevent criminal charges from being filed therefore the Catholic Church is a vast criminal conspiracy.

      FTFY. This is of course ignoring indulgences, the crusades, religious persecution, etc.

  101. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And not all Germans are Nazis. So let's not firebomb Dresden or fight WWII. It would be morally wrong.

  102. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Medievalist · · Score: 1

    Idiot. How many hideous acts does one group have to commit to get moved from the "racist slur" pile to the "enemy of civilization" pile?

    I don't know, I'm not a piler. Help me out. Does the Tuskegee Syphilis Study count as just one hideous act, or should it be one for each infected black man who was given fake treatments? What about all the children born with congenital syphilis, do they count extra since their damage is incurable? Do all forty years of the study count, or just the 30 years when syphilis was routinely treated successfully for white men in the same geographic area?

  103. Re:Fat, squat, and stupid by magarity · · Score: 2

    Stone tablets inscribed with royal decrees being used as washing stones...

    If they're anything like typical modern laws then they've finally been recycled to be useful.

  104. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by MightyYar · · Score: 1

    OR, I could go to the millions of other places I haven't been and just not worry about the whole violence thing.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  105. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There is still one Sambo's restaurant (the original one, in Santa Barbara, CA). I guess this means that Sambo is 100% the name of a restaurant, and 0% a racial slur. Feel free to go into the 'hood and greet people with "hey Sambo". They will look at you questioningly and say, "Why are you calling me that, it's the name of a restaurant chain that's only in Santa Barbara now". Go on, don't be afraid. Try it.

  106. Re:Fat, squat, and stupid by magarity · · Score: 1

    And bits of Hadrian's wall can be found in the stone walls of cottages and farms all over Scotland...

    And I bet they regret not leaving it intact to keep out the English.

  107. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by MightyYar · · Score: 1

    Yes, the US is so universally hated that our president received the Nobel Peace Prize.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  108. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by MightyYar · · Score: 1

    I'll see your moral firebombing and raise you a moral atom bombing.

    Personally, I frequently get bombed in the name of morality.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  109. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by tqk · · Score: 1

    It is not like you could trust anything that the people in power or the government over there have to say any more than "one nutcase".

    I wonder why you make the distinction, "over there." Have you not been watching what's been happening over here? "People who live in glass houses ..." and all that, ya know?

    It often appears to me these days that Soviet and Nazi era policies have been exported and happily embraced by pretty much all the world, and hardly anybody expects, or is offering, any apologies. Curious. Progress?

    --
    "Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit ..." -- Pink Floyd.
  110. Re:Temple in the picture is not Noh mul, it's Lami by MightyYar · · Score: 2

    Anyway, I'm disappointed that the article pictured the wrong temple and I suspect that it might have been intentional.

    Agreed. Also buried in the article: the site has been very thoroughly worked over by archeologists over the decades, and there are archeologists who see this as an opportunity to study the lower layers that would have been impossible before.

    So is this bad? I'd certainly say so. But in reality, a degraded monument not in current use was destroyed. The biggest shame in my mind is that the archeologists weren't given the opportunity to disassemble it. I certainly hope future civilizations don't spend too much time arguing over the ruins of the corner church on my street.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  111. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  112. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by flyneye · · Score: 1

    To assign credibility as though it were linked to politesse does more damage to information than radical Islam has already done to Buddha statues.
    It may be easy to call out "nutcase" for those who offend your " sensibilities", but recall that todays nutcase is tomorrows leader. Try it with a pinch of salt, but, if you are just hearing this here,now, it is surely closer to reality there. If you are hearing only one Muslim voice, what about those you don't hear?
    Perhaps you should check yourself once or twice and don't write off those who offend you.
    Perhaps "racial and religious epithets" reflect a cause for which they are invoked by those trespassed against. It doesn't muddy raw information anymore than emotional campaigning for political causes linked to scientific endeavors do. It is merely frosting on an information cake, scrape it off and analyze the cake.
    Frankly the endless whining of those without any real input, sully slashdots reputation more than a thousand trolls. You've accomplished nothing more than to waste my and Chrisqs time and effort and the bandwidth it took to post it.

    --
    *Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
  113. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And of course everyone knows that the Nobel Peace Prize really is a reflection of the opinion of the majority of the world's population. Just look at the other people who got it. They're all hearts and roses.

  114. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by flyneye · · Score: 1

    Hated countries citizens don't get peace prizes?
    I wouldn't go spouting off about Obama getting one, before they have time to retract and control the damage from an obvious mistake.

    --
    *Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
  115. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by MightyYar · · Score: 1

    Just letting you know that your opinions aren't universal.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  116. I wonder... by Mike+Frett · · Score: 1

    ...If, in 2000 Years, my old bones will be scooped up out of the ground by some anti-gravity Bulldozer and used as a beauty product ingredient. Can you imagine some teen-aged Girl applying Lipstick made from my Bones?. Would she would be shocked that the product she is placing on her silicone-enhanced lips once belonged to a Slashdot poster whom used an actual Desktop Linux box?. Nah, she wouldn't care and wouldn't have the faintest of clues as to what a Slashdot was.

    Obviously I wouldn't care, and I seriously doubt the Mayans whom built this Temple care. It's a tragedy for Archaeologists and History buffs like myself, but the Earth continues to tick without it.

    1. Re:I wonder... by MarkTina · · Score: 1

      A teen-aged girl rubbing you into her lips ? Is this wishful thinking on your part ? ;-)

  117. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by MightyYar · · Score: 1

    Personally, I think the Peace Prize has been a joke for about 35 years or so. I mean... ARAFAT??? Kissinger, Gore... very puzzling choices.

    That said, it shows that the hatred is not universal. I was trying to make Immerman realize that his comment comes from a very insular worldview.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  118. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

    When visiting Egypt be sure and see the sphinxter.

    --
    John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  119. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I said nothing about over here.
    The GP pointed out it was not "their government" that stated it.
    So I pointed out that their government is not to be trusted any more than some nutcase.

    If you want to have a discussion about the UK government or the Russian government or the US government you are welcome to.
    That is not what this was about.

  120. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    *applauds* Wow, with five words, you could troll not just grammar Nazis, but also the PC crowd, potentially racists, and anyone else that has a near aneurism reading that. But it might not actually troll many people in the end, because remember the three important things about trolling: location, location, and your mom sucks.

  121. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So the family that invented a weapons grade high explosive and made they're fortune on war, gives Obama a Peace prize for jack shit, and somehow he's popular all over the world?

  122. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Progress implies a direction...

  123. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by kaatochacha · · Score: 1

    Because then they could be destroyed too, of course.

  124. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Based on the frequency of accusations, I think you might be the only non-teenager on Slashdot!

    Isn't it enough to just discount angry hateful comments, instead of insulting grown adults and teenagers alike?

  125. Re:Fat, squat, and stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As the steps are on the English side it probably wouldn't have helped them.

  126. Re:Temple in the picture is not Noh mul, it's Lami by rtb61 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Bullshit. They excavated the material for road fill, they knew exactly what it was and the quality of the material they would obtain and how much money they would save paying for quarried material trucked to the site. You do not just use any passing dirt for road fill because it will be impossible to compact properly and could be subject to extreme bulking when exposed to water, you do not randomly excavate hills because you do not know what they constitute and how difficult they will be to excavate.

    You win the prize for civil construction ignorance as do those who thought your ignorance was informative. Even ancient Romans knew better than you http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_roads please check diagram at bottom of article.

    The greedy shit head owner of the company knew exactly what they were doing and how much they would save.

    --
    Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  127. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by xmundt · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Greetings and Salutations;
              I feel as if I am feeding the trolls here, although this is such a fantasy trip that it almost is insulting to trolls to compare it to them. Your re-writing of history is neither accurate nor anywhere near the facts. The fact of the matter is that the previous administration (a REPUBLICAN one) truly scared the world because it was so random and irrational. After all, Dubya, in response to a terrorist attack used bad data to justify an 11 year war on a country that did not have a bloody thing to do with 9/11. However, there was one telling conference where he spoke the truth about his motivations for going into Iraq. In the conference, when pressed on why Iraq and Saddam were a target he said "...he tried to kill my daddy...".
              America's image in the world has taken many hits in the past few decades, thanks to the two-faced dealings we have had with many countries, and, the brutal dictatorships we have supported. When Pres. Obama was elected, there was dancing in the streets in other countries because they thought, finally, a very intelligent, rational person was at the controls, and, the actions that caused America to lose face would change. They, did not realize that America is a huge ship, and, it takes a lot of time an ocean to turn it around. They also did not realize how much the Republicans hated Pres. Obama, and, how they would do anything they could to force him to fail. These, and other factors, have caused his presidency to be far less effective than it could have been.
              So...do not fool yourself. America has not been the "most loved" country in the world for a long time. We might still have a chance to get there, but, it will take time, and a change in attitudes of the representatives in the Federal government away from competition and towards actually doing things that are good for the country as a whole.

    --
    YAB - http://blog.beemandave.com/
  128. Common, History repeats itself. by DarthVain · · Score: 2

    This has happened countless times over history, this is far from unique. There is little evidence to think it will stop, unless it is more valuable as ruins.

    Hadrian's Wall is a perfect example. "Hey free building stone sweet!" In this case it was used for roads, rather than dwellings. Old castles are subject to this as well. Heck the Vatican has destroyed a huge part of history, recycling ruins, particularly for valuable easily accessible marble, bronze, and just about anything from roman ruins. I am sure they felt that not only can they get great materials on the cheap, but also the destruction of heathen, pagan, temples is just a bonus!

    Ironically I think there should be a special place in hell for those that intentionally destroy historical artifacts that that.

  129. cortes' and alvarado mesoamerica's most wanted? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    note that the ordinance in question is still working on 'filing' similar criminal charges on alvarado and cortes' for similar crimes.

  130. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You seem not to be aware that words can have multiple meanings.

  131. Re:Temple in the picture is not Noh mul, it's Lami by unimacs · · Score: 1

    Bullshit. They excavated the material for road fill, they knew exactly what it was and the quality of the material they would obtain and how much money they would save paying for quarried material trucked to the site. You do not just use any passing dirt for road fill because it will be impossible to compact properly and could be subject to extreme bulking when exposed to water, you do not randomly excavate hills because you do not know what they constitute and how difficult they will be to excavate.

    You win the prize for civil construction ignorance as do those who thought your ignorance was informative. Even ancient Romans knew better than you http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_roads please check diagram at bottom of article.

    The greedy shit head owner of the company knew exactly what they were doing and how much they would save.

    I'm sure they knew what they were getting even if they didn't realize it was a Mayan temple (which as I said is a stretch). The limestone was visible through the vegetation. I'm not suggesting that people commonly dig up random hills to use as road fill.

    However, even if total ignorance of the significance of the site is a stretch, what I also find unbelievable is that someone thought they could tear down the most prominent feature of a major archaeological find and figure that nobody would notice.

    So the truth is probably somewhere in between. The picture in the linked article was a deliberate misrepresentation of what was destroyed in order to fan outrage. If they'd shown a picture of the actual temple readers wouldn't be nearly as upset because frankly it didn't look like much. Now again, the fact that it didn't look like much doesn't mean it's not an important site. I'm not condoning what happened. But tearing down something like the high temple at Laminai is a much different sort of crime that what we have here.

  132. Re:Fat, squat, and stupid by painandgreed · · Score: 1

    You stupid fuck, when the British wanted to build a railroad in Bolivia and there weren't any handy gravel deposits nearby they smashed up big chunks of Tiahuanacu. You can still see pieces of statues in the foundations for the railroad bridges in the area. Greed and laziness will win out over respect for the past pretty much every time that money is involved.

    While I don't doubt that the British did what you said they did, it wasn't necessarily greed or laziness. The simple fact is that ideas about heritage, property, and such have changed greatly over the years. There was an article on BBC a while back lamenting the loss of many such cultural heritage spots in Britain for similar reasons. Laws protecting such things are relatively recent development as society grew rich enough to preserve as well as value them. Respect for the past means little if you are still trying to get everybody in the present fed. Previous to the last century ownership had complete rights to tear down, reuse, or do whatever they wanted with their property, no matter what the history behind it.

  133. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

    You quote him in full and then ignore what he wrote. Amazing! He wrote "the Pope" which can only mean the current pope, and then wrote "any of the last few". You cite the Crusades, which is hardy recent.
    Islam has always been a violent religion, and most of the Crusades were a Christian response to Muslim aggression.

    --
    Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
  134. Why is this surprising? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The ancient Egyptians did this, the ancient Greeks did this, the ancient Romans did this, the ancient (insert culture here) all did this. I am sure even the Maya did this. They all tore down the old to make materiel for the new.

    It only proves that people have not learned a thing in over 10,000 years.

  135. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by ChrisMaple · · Score: 3, Funny

    The idea that "Sambo" is a slur shows the stupidity of those who think the word derogatory.

    "Little Black Sambo" is a fantasy about a black boy who outsmarts a tiger. If you think the story is bad, you must disagree with the notion that blacks are smarter than tigers.

    --
    Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
  136. Re:Temple in the picture is not Noh mul, it's Lami by unimacs · · Score: 1

    Bullshit. They excavated the material for road fill, they knew exactly what it was and the quality of the material they would obtain and how much money they would save paying for quarried material trucked to the site. You do not just use any passing dirt for road fill because it will be impossible to compact properly and could be subject to extreme bulking when exposed to water, you do not randomly excavate hills because you do not know what they constitute and how difficult they will be to excavate.

    You win the prize for civil construction ignorance as do those who thought your ignorance was informative. Even ancient Romans knew better than you http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_roads please check diagram at bottom of article.

    The greedy shit head owner of the company knew exactly what they were doing and how much they would save.

    I'll try putting it a little differently. I have a hard time believing they knew exactly what they were doing because if they did they'd know there'd be hell to pay. There are lots of completely un-excavated buildings of lesser importance that they'd have a much better chance of destroying and getting away with. In fact that may be exactly what they were supposed to do. Somebody picked the wrong hill.

  137. Saint Money by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In the iberian penninsula we are experts in expulsions, independently of how high or how deep they get. And if they got in here (I suppose the inquisition for rent of about 70 years ago is to be blamed), I imagine they are everywhere, like a big dinosaur wishing to be struck again. I am just a simple Computer Scientist, but I imagine that what did not happen for good, then it will have to happen for bad. Especially since it was pretty clear since World War II that certain "people" are not wanted anywhere (or they would not have talked about "final solutions"). And I would obviously have to agree.

  138. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Immerman · · Score: 1

    Never claimed anything about universality, or even hatred - just that our recent military actions have severly damaged our position in international opinion, and given the fact that much of the esteem we were held in was actually based on "Democracy", "The American Dream" and other ideals that, while still getting lip service, have actually been severely degraded over the last century, we probably won't be able to get that esteem back easily. And as the world stage shifts to an increasingly multi-polar arrangement over the net century or so we're likely to need all the good esteem we can get, especially in the face of the serious global problems we'll be facing.

    --
    --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
  139. Re:Temple in the picture is not Noh mul, it's Lami by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

    Come to New England and examine all the stone cellar holes.

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    Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
  140. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Scarletdown · · Score: 1

    Yes, the US is so universally hated that our president received the Nobel Peace Prize.

    Man, I would kill for one of those.

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    This space unintentionally left blank.
  141. Re:Fat, squat, and stupid by Patch86 · · Score: 1

    That would be a good feat, seeing as Hadrian's Wall is dozens of miles (more than 100 miles at one point) south of the Scottish border for most of it's length. For that stonework to now be all over Scotland (but not all over England) would imply those Scots are some seriously greedy pillaging bastards!

    (It's a common misconception that it is on the Scottish/English border. It was built by Romans to keep out Picts, two groups who have long since gone extinct and who's borders were only passingly related to the borders between the two Anglo-Saxon groups, the English and the Lowland Scots, who would come to inhabit the area centuries later.)

  142. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Immerman · · Score: 1

    I don't disagree with much of what you just said, and I didn't bring up political parties at all, I tend to feel that the people actually calling the shots these days mostly aren't elected anyway. Yes, Obama's election was celebrated internationally, before the reality set in that he wasn't going to do anything substantial - even in the first two years when the Ds had a majority in both houses and could have forced through some real reforms, instead we got a bunch of rhetoric about "building consesus" with a party that was quite obviously locked firmly into maximum opposition mode. Hell, for his one big "cause", health care reform, he basically endorsed the R's wet-dream version, and they lambasted him as a socialist over it.

    As for the US having been one of the (I didn't say *the*) "most loved nations" though, care to offer up some serious contenders? Hell, we're probably still in the running, we've just shed a bunch of the fuzzy veneer that let people believe the ruthless political manueverings were the exception rather than the rule, and exposed the fact that we're perfectly willing to invade other countries just because it suites our interests (And no, I don't believe for a minute that we invaded Iraq because of Dubya's daddy issues - that may be why he personally supported it, but I seriously doubt it was a major factor in the back-room dealings that made it happen)

    --
    --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
  143. Re:Fat, squat, and stupid by bitt3n · · Score: 1

    You stupid fuck, when the British wanted to build a railroad in Bolivia and there weren't any handy gravel deposits nearby they smashed up big chunks of Tiahuanacu.

    this is what we need more of in the world. disparate cultures spanning continents and centuries, each making its unique contribution to public works projects that benefit everyone.

  144. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is the Pope Catholic?

    (colloquialism for yes that's somewhat apt in this case :-)

  145. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Pope · · Score: 1

    educated young men primarily from Saudi Arabia. and they weren't nuts. they were committed to a bad idea, driven by hatred that we fomented.

    They were willing to die themselves and kill how ever many thousands of innocent civilians to supposedly make a point. No sane person would do such things.

    --
    It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
  146. Re:Fat, squat, and stupid by erroneus · · Score: 1

    Yes, something like that. The Europeans [Spanish] brought with them the destruction of the local religion, culture AND technology and was replaced with something else... different and, in some ways inferior. It's damned sad, but "god" can't handle competition and requires man to do God's work for him. (I don't think I'll ever get that... God is all-powerful and yet requires help from people?) And let's not candy-coat the fact that European religion (Catholic and Protestant) all but require participants to leave their brains at the door when worshiping.

    Anyway, this is as disturbing to me as when I first heard of Muslims destroying ancient Buddhist structures in Afghanistan.

  147. Re:Fat, squat, and stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No British railroad in Latin America was a 'public works project', they were always private property, generally to get product to market. Any benefit that the general public of the country ever received was purely accidental.

  148. This is what happens to buildings IRL by mveloso · · Score: 1

    In real life, building material is re-used. In fact, it may be the only benefit of these structures for "the people".

    The limestone casing of the pyramids? Gone. Various ruins around Europe? Once abandoned, people used them for building materials.

    Not every old thing is worth saving.

    1. Re:This is what happens to buildings IRL by unimacs · · Score: 1

      It brings up a good question. There's an old fort near where I live. Up until after WWII it served the military in various ways, primarily as place for training in it's later years. Now it's mostly a living museum. The main buildings and walls have been restored and are maintained, but a lot of the supplemental buildings on the edges of the complex have stood empty for decades. They've become dilapidated and would be increasingly expensive to repair. At what point do you say we have enough examples of buildings like this, we don't need to keep all of them?

      Mayan ruins are different of course. They're much older and could provide valuable information about that culture and that time period that has been lost. Still, it's very unlikely that all the ruins will be ever excavated or studied in any detail. In fact excavating them would probably just hasten their erosion. I'm sure that many of the structures are very much like a lot of the other ones.

      A good road in Belize however, might have much more practical value to the local population. But I don't really understand the whole context of this. I'm sure there are lesser ruins that could have been used instead. Further, I'm pretty sure that limestone is a pretty common material in Belize (hence its use by Mayans) so is it really that hard and that expensive to get it some place else? Would the local population have been better off had the tourism potential of the ruins been realized? I don't now. I do know that it's pretty easy to sit here and judge when shown a picture of an impressive ruin which is not in fact the one that was destroyed and when we can take roads for granted.

  149. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by KeensMustard · · Score: 1

    The chances are you don't think that about your own religion, you just think your own beliefs are somehow special and deserving of respect - this permits you to continue to hate in arbitrary way, because you are exceptional - exactly the racist mindset.

  150. Re:Temple in the picture is not Noh mul, it's Lami by Darinbob · · Score: 1

    This stuff happens a lot in various contexts. You send in bulldozers then later apologize that a mistake was made. They know they won't go to jail, they know the local historical society doesn't have funds to sue, and it'll all blow over shortly.

  151. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Who gives a fuck if he's using racist language. Correct him by reminding him that he isn't winning any extra points, and move on. What he says is that nothing is sacred. And Muslims are just as bad as Belizans.

  152. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Peace prize did not increase popularity here. 8 adults. Confirmed non-plussed.

  153. Re:Temple in the picture is not Noh mul, it's Lami by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And I'm sure that codes enforcement and civil engineering standards are the same in Belize as they are in [your country] (fill in with your country name.)

  154. Re:Temple in the picture is not Noh mul, it's Lami by ehiris · · Score: 2

    Lamanai, not Laminai,, from the Mayan Lama'anayin meaning submerged crocodile.

    Beautiful pyramids though and it is very easy to know what they are is as they are always in areas with other Mayan structures.
    And yes, the Belize gov is pretty incompetent (ask McAffee)

  155. Re: Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Guess what? His comments and link aren't entirely unfounded. That "one guy" managed to help destroy ancient Buddha statues in Afghanistan, as the article also reminds it's readers of. These thoughts aren't confined to just one lone wolf as you like to believe. It is a very real and valid threat which has already been proven successful. Don't be so quick to call people racists.

  156. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by shaitand · · Score: 1

    Not really a fair comparison. You don't have a choice about skin color. Beliefs are a choice. You can't make valid judgements about someone based upon their genetics. You CAN potentially make valid judgments about someone based upon their choices.

    For example. I would characterize myself as white and so would pretty much anyone else in this country. I had no choice in that. I do have a choice about whether or not to join the KKK. It may well be that I would choose to do so out of pride for my heritage rather than out of hatred of radical religious views. There are members of that organization who do terrible things. Is it reasonable to judge me for their actions? To some extent, yes it is. Because even though I would not have chosen to do those terrible things I would have chosen to associate myself with those who do. Beyond that, people who make the same choice patterns often have tendencies toward the same results.

    Organized religion with any sort of divinely dictated code of right and wrong is historically among the most evil and atrocious groups ever to exist. It includes all of the KKK for instance. If someone chooses to join this group or associate with it there are certainly valid judgements one can draw from that choice.

  157. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Must've been the democracy thing that severly degraded the esteem over the last century, since that is how long we've been a democracy. They admired the Republic and we sold them democrazy instead. Bitter pill for the world there. Kinda like giving them herpes. I'd be mad too.
    So quit sounding so damned scared of losing something you never had anyway. It's a disagreeable world, that's why we have borders. If we have something the world wants, then they'll trade. Oh they might kibbutz for a while, to look "politically correct, but, basically they're run by scumbags with as much gall as our scumbags in charge, even more in some cases. That's your f**king diplomacy, supply and demand. We already know they have no morals above profit. Now quit repeating that public education hypno-mantra, pull your head out and look around.

  158. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by MightyYar · · Score: 1

    I didn't say he was popular all over the world. My point was that the US is not universally reviled.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  159. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by MightyYar · · Score: 1

    I'm not so pessimistic about the future of the US reputation. As the US fades from hegemony, Europe and China (and possibly India) will have to fight their own oil wars. Just as European atrocities of the 20th century have faded, Iraq will soon be a distant memory.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  160. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by tmosley · · Score: 1

    They don't call them Grammar Nazis for nothing.

    Double negative to fight intolerance.

  161. Re:Temple in the picture is not Noh mul, it's Lami by alleycat0 · · Score: 1

    I spent two seasons in the mid-1980s excavating at Nohmul, and can put a rest to some of the speculation here.

    Nobody in this region is unaware of the nature of these ruins, nor their significance. This part of the country is flat limestone plains, and it is generally understood that any small hills are in reality ancient ruins.

    The site draws almost no tourists whatsoever (it is almost entirely unrestored), so liability is not a concern. While not amongst the better known sites, it had much historic value nonetheless, which is why it was the subject of numerous investigations by Cambridge and Rutgers Universities, National Geographic, etc. The destruction of one Nohmul's primary structures for road fill is indeed a tragedy. The gentleman who owned the site when I excavated there would never have let this happen, but I suspect that ownership changed hands in the interim.

    --
    I am not a number - I am a free man!
  162. McAfee by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So that was what John McAfee was lacking. If he had a 2k year old Mayan Pyramid, he'd not have needed to flee..

  163. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh poor sad little dickmonkey, Nobel didn't "invent a weapons grade high explosive" and that was a big hoo-hah for peace, the PEACE part comes from the fact that he took a "weapons grade high explosive" and made it safe. Safety-safe mcsafe o'saferson safe.

  164. Re:Temple in the picture is not Noh mul, it's Lami by unimacs · · Score: 1

    Lamanai, not Laminai,, from the Mayan Lama'anayin meaning submerged crocodile.

    Beautiful pyramids though and it is very easy to know what they are is as they are always in areas with other Mayan structures. And yes, the Belize gov is pretty incompetent (ask McAffee)

    It's only easy to know that the other hills in the area are ruins if you've been told that. I saw the temples at Lamanai and maybe eventually on my own I would have figured out that the other hills are ruins but it wasn't obvious to me at first. They were completely unremarkable to me and looked very much like the limestone hills and outcroppings I'd see around here near some rivers and streams.

    Nohmul might be different.

  165. Whats is big deal! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This happens daily in india

  166. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by sociocapitalist · · Score: 1

    You quote him in full and then ignore what he wrote. Amazing! He wrote "the Pope" which can only mean the current pope, and then wrote "any of the last few". You cite the Crusades, which is hardy recent.

    Actually 'The Pope' is a job, not a single person, but whatever.

    Using your logic I can choose one current peaceful leader of Islam to be compared to the current Pope. It is non-representative in both cases.

    Islam has always been a violent religion, and most of the Crusades were a Christian response to Muslim aggression.

    Islam itself is no more violent than Catholicism is - and Christianity as been, historically, every bit as violent as Islam. In both cases, as with all major religions, the leaders of the religions have used the relative ignorance of their followers to achieve what they wanted.

    In the case of the first Crusades, and the Muslim conquests leading up to them, and the Roman Catholic conquests before them, and the Jewish conquests before them...none of the wars was any more or less justifiable than any other war over land and power.

    Later Crusades had nothing to do with Muslims and were political in nature, again nothing more than fighting for territory and power for example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aragonese_Crusade. Then we have all the wars of Christians against Christians, against Catholics, against Protestants, etc, etc, ad nauseum. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_wars_of_religion

    No religion is free of violence to the point where they can throw stones while living in their own glass houses. Christianity is not free of violence even today.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-abortion_violence
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_of_God_(USA)
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provisional_Irish_Republican_Army
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_Republican_Army
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Liberation_Front_of_Tripura
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Behring_Breivik
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legionnaires'_rebellion_and_Bucharest_pogrom#The_Bucharest_pogrom

    I could continue but I think that's enough to make the point.

    --
    blindly antisocialist = antisocial
  167. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1

    You seem not to be aware that words can have multiple meanings.

    Sure - there's the actual meaning, then the one that bigotted douche-bags come up.

    Hence the reason I can't use the term "niggardly" in polite company; Racist assholes ruined it.

    --
    An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
  168. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by Medievalist · · Score: 1

    Did I say I was condemning white people for Tuskegee? Maybe I'm talking about doctors. Or maybe about government employees. Or maybe about carbon based life forms. If having one thing in common with someone who commits atrocities makes you a party to those atrocities, then sharing skin color or profession or employer seems like fair grounds for equally nasty bigotry and hate-mongering. Shall we burn all doctors at the stake for Tuskegee?

    And many people don't get to choose their belief systems, anyway - do you think an impoverished Saudi woman in Jazan or an abused Haredi child in Jerusalem will ever be allowed to leave the faith? They are kept in total ignorance of any other options; essentially they are sequestered and groomed psychologically by their own families, conditioned like Soviet children were during the glory days of the Stalinism and the New Soviet Man.

    And speaking of Uncle Joe, the only two atheist regimes with any staying power (China and the USSR) did a pretty good job of showing that evil and atrocity occur with tedious frequency both within and outside of religions. There have clearly been plenty of anti-religious bigots who were just as brutal and antihuman as any religious bigot - who was the better man, Laurenti Beria or Teilhard de Chardin? Felix Dzerzinsky or Theodore Parker?

    You can't condemn all Muslims for the actions of some Muslims without abandoning reason and decency for bigotry and hatred. It's a logical impossibility that was codified as far back as Aristotle. The characteristics of some parts of a whole are not always the characteristics of all parts of that whole, and to over-categorize is the fallacy of bigotry.

  169. Re:Temple in the picture is not Noh mul, it's Lami by Fjandr · · Score: 1

    The key is that any native from Belize knows that all hills in the flatlands are ruins.

  170. Re:Temple in the picture is not Noh mul, it's Lami by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

    Here, I found of recent picture of Nohmul for you.

    That'll teach those bastard Mayans for being wrong about the calander! Almost put the History channel out of business.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  171. Re:Temple in the picture is not Noh mul, it's Lami by Belizean · · Score: 1

    The Maya Complex at Nohmul is not a tourist attraction as it has not been developed. We have several thousand pyramids here and only a few are developed and open for tourists. There is not enough money to develop all of them and some people do not want tourists trampling all over the countryside. Everyone in Belize knows that a hill can be a Maya pyramid. It is only a thin layer of top soil that covers a pyramid. In the north where this event took place it is even easier to determine as the region is flatland, thus any hill more than likely is a pyramid or ceremonial center. Take a look at the picture in this post as Nohmul is being destroyed. http://www.belize.com/no-more-noh-mul-road-contractor-bulldozes-maya-temple.html You will see anyone would immediately know from the first dig the excavator takes, it is a pyramid by the distinctive stones that were hand fitted by the ancient Mayas. Pyramids are destroyed for two main reasons. 1. They provide cheap high-grade road fill. 2. Gold, jade and precious antiquities are million-dollar items eagerly sought by traffickers in the developed world. By destroying the pyramid you destroy any evidence of burial chambers that contain the items - after the items are removed of course.

  172. Re:Fat, squat, and stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well technically that racist poster would argue it was the influx of Berber genes as Spain is basically the Maghreb sans Islam.

  173. Re:Temple in the picture is not Noh mul, it's Lami by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Bullshit. They excavated the material for road fill, they knew exactly what it was and the quality of the material they would obtain and how much money they would save paying for quarried material trucked to the site. You do not just use any passing dirt for road fill because it will be impossible to compact properly and could be subject to extreme bulking when exposed to water, you do not randomly excavate hills because you do not know what they constitute and how difficult they will be to excavate.

    You win the prize for civil construction ignorance as do those who thought your ignorance was informative. Even ancient Romans knew better than you http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_roads please check diagram at bottom of article.

    The greedy shit head owner of the company knew exactly what they were doing and how much they would save.

    Bullshit. They excavated the material for road fill, they knew exactly what it was and the quality of the material they would obtain and how much money they would save paying for quarried material trucked to the site. You do not just use any passing dirt for road fill because it will be impossible to compact properly and could be subject to extreme bulking when exposed to water, you do not randomly excavate hills because you do not know what they constitute and how difficult they will be to excavate.

    You win the prize for civil construction ignorance as do those who thought your ignorance was informative. Even ancient Romans knew better than you http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_roads please check diagram at bottom of article.

    The greedy shit head owner of the company knew exactly what they were doing and how much they would save.

    the owner is running for office and needs the money

  174. "Mayan Pyramid in Belize by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The tiltle of the originator was "anonymous". In most cases, this title affixes a value of zero to the accompanying text.

  175. Re:Well its not a good time for pyramids by JeanInMontana · · Score: 1

    idiot

    --
    *Think globally~Dream universally*