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Alex's avatar

Thoreau nailed it! As I was reading, I was reminded of:

I met a traveller from an antique land

Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:

And on the pedestal these words appear:

‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

-Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ozymandias (1818)

Amazing that man is willing to toil for "greatness" for far less than 70 years, when he could have an eternity to spend with his Redeemer.

P.S. The answer to the riddle is man. (He may use a cane in old age.) Oops, I should have given a spoiler alert. :)

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Steve L's avatar

Truly incredible Joel, not only the wonder of the great Pyramids, but that you continue to write with a broken arm! “In an announcement that has generated a storm of controversy, a team of Italian and Scottish researchers claims to have made a significant discovery beneath the Pyramids of Giza. Using advanced radar technology, the team, led by Corrado Malanga from Italy's University of Pisa and Filippo Biondi from the University of Strathclyde in Scotland, say they’ve detected what appears to be a massive underground complex spanning over 6,500 feet (1980 meters) directly beneath these ancient structures. This could be some type of underground city, the researchers say, which if true would be a staggering discovery.” 😳 Please let us know if this is true and what you have discovered? The wonder of these great structures are a testament to man and how incredibly powerful we are at building and unfortunately tearing down 🤔

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John P Movelle's avatar

Man’s equivalent to fire ant hills. Amazing but…….

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Doug Hornig's avatar

I'm with Thoreau on this one. The pyramids are an engineering marvel but in the end the ancient Egyptians were just really adept at employing a zillion slaves to pile a bunch of rocks on each other until they got to something big. There's no real aesthetic value, in no way comparable to what one man could accomplish with a single block of marble in, say, Michaelangelo's Pietà...

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Philip J Irwin's avatar

The truth! I looked in the mirror this morning! I was told at an early age that I had apart to play in this life; but I would never know what that was or ever know if I accomplished the task. I am still wondering. Life has been good to me. The ancient world is intriguing, who, what and why is the question? Keep going. Thank you for your work!

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A.L.'s avatar

I met a traveller from an antique land

Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desart.[d] Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:

And on the pedestal these words appear:

"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

No thing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

— Percy Shelley, "Ozymandias", 1819 edition[17]

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Kevin Leader's avatar

On this Journey, you should be called the one armed bandit...

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