are massive which is what makes them impressive. Some of the behind the scenes engineering is also pretty impressive but not unexpected (using water leveling for the foundations is more a common sense thing for example).

I've seen some ship engineering that would blow the socks off of the Egyptians in everything that they did.

Keep in mind that I have over eight years on nuclear powered submarines and a bit over over two years underwater in total, including sea trials where we weren't 100% sure that it was seaworthy and we might just pop instead (good old Newport news shipyard where tightening bolts on critical seawater piping was apparently a hobby and not a job, luckily we caught it but it delayed our getting out by 4 months as we re-checked every single valve from stem to stern).

You know what, I'm feeling generous right now. Ask me anything about that part of my life and I'll answer it as long as it won't put me in jail over revealing secrets. Considering that all of those boats are long gone by 2 decades (except for one which is now a museum ship, you may have heard of it, the Nautilus) and the specs have been published by the Naval Institute Press I doubt that there isn't anything that you can ask that hasn't already been put out there by the USN in one form or another.

I won't answer any weapons questions however seeing as the same weapons are still in use today although they have been modified and I highly doubt that the specs are the same in any reasonable manner aside from basic operation. 

 

No. Quake was 4 years after I left. Doom was, I guess, 2 years after I got out. My computer gaming was limited to the DOS games at the time. I "Stole" the chief nuke's laptop when he wasn't looking (he gave me his approval to do it though as long as he didn't need it) and played some of the very (VERY) early PC games on it.

I did bring aboard a Commodore 64 and a TV where I modeled a torpedo tube firing sequence (all valves and it was actually quite well received by the instructors in that school when I showed it to them) but computers at that time were pretty much not involved in day to day operations. The only computer aboard was the size of your garage and what you are typing on beats it by miles in capacity.

Yeah, I'm old. 

alien pyramids always struck me as people underestimating those ancient humans. we're not all that much smarter than those guys back then.

it's more than we're standing on the shoulder of giants that makes us seem so and throws our perspective on those old dudes and what they were capable of. 

 

The six simple machines are all well known (although for some reason the Mayans missed the wheel and pulley, those dummies). Those are really all you need to build anything solid. I think that this is why I failed to release anything as a (partial) Quake level. I'm too picky about making it "Real". In other words I always want it to have a sense of place so there's a reason for it being there.

I can sling brushes as well as anyone else in general but I'm never happy with the results. I don't know why but I'm not. 

Ancient societies were in many ways smarter than we are today, technological progress is an ongoing process. It is a mistake to consider ourselves superior to our ancestors in every aspect. Domestication has made the average westerner become more of a proxy to the production process, whilst ancient man lived it. Thus having more respect for the fundamental aspects of life, which brings with it a certain wisdom that is now paradoxically less accessible. 

some ancient societies had the benefit of slavery. if you have unlimited work force and capacities, I guess you can do pretty huge things.

spiney, would you mind sharing some examples of those many ways? 

totally, we have the same brains as our hunter-gatherer ancestors (which explains a lot). I'm not about to go work in a factory or a farm, but being so out of touch with the system that makes what we need to survive can't fail to bite us in the ass. I also think "10 billion currency" worth of equipment/goods, as China produces, can't REALLY be equivalent to "10 billion currency" worth of cellphone games or advertising sneakery, shit has to get real sooner or later.

Quaketree, I am all for a sense of place in a Quake map, and my favourite ones (ie Shadow) have that, but I also think Quake was so abstract that most of the original maps had no reason for their existence, and that was liberating - and remains liberating compared to the level design in modern games. 

pretty amazing, especially from an engineering and/or architectural viewpoint.

You cant really compare that sort of stuff to mapping the human genome. 

them to the average skycraper and/or sport stadiums is also silly IMHO. The mayan and egyptian pyramids hardly have a mm between each rock, not to mention the location of stuff like Macchu Picchu etc. 

I'm not making a case for these things being technologically superior, I was simply pointing out that we should still be amazed by them. 

 

Read this and the comments:

http://michaelsheiser.com/PaleoBabble/2012/08/transporting-trilithon-stones-baalbek-applied-physics-ancient-aliens/

Also - I would love to visit this place:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baalbek 

I like the derogative "mainstream" in reference to science.

The moon causes tides? Oh, please, that's what mainstream gravitologists say. There is evidence all over the planet (look at the signs!!) that it is an ancient water power generator which some people (LOL!) refer to as a myth like Atlantis.

Snow is cold? It's just a psychological reaction to white powder that "their" scientists around the time of Jesus of Nazareth implanted into the masses using sinusoidial audio pressure. There is proof in all ancient societies that you can reduce the feeling of coldness by meditation or hypnosis. Of course those techniques are ridiculed by the mainstream. 

err Ricky, the WP link includes an explanation as to how the stones might have been moved. 

I've seen demos where people have moved stones the size of easter island heads up hills and then righted them. It's all possible with some smart people doing the planning.

Assuming that anything you don't understand is the work of aliens is silly. 

We don't know how they moved the heads. There was a lever and rollers system posited be it proved to be unworkable.

Probably why the original populace rebelled and cast down the moan - the work of moving them was just too much.

The impressive thing is what it would have taken to actually move a few tonnes of rock with just what you can find on a tiny island.

That's ancient technology - blood sweat and tears. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9w-i5oZqaQ 

This guys shows how one man could lift a gigantic stone block. If you had enough time, you could dig the center stone under a huge block, dig out one side, and literally do the whole process single handed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYQBDhkBfr0&t=2m40s 

holy fuck Ricky you are retarded.

In the words of a wiser man than you, I give you some advice:

p.s1-> put the gun in your mouth
p.s2-> put real monition
p.s3-> make us that favor!  

Scampie that isn't a very nice thing to say to someone you know. Shows what kind of person you are I guess.