Oh come off it, try pulling the other leg!
First
the article says super-strength "skunk" which is actually just one
particular strain of the cannabis plant grown to increase THC levels,
which is what most users wanted at the time, now over a decade ago.
Then
you talk about cananbis sprayed with heroin which is much more
expensive than cannabis - five to ten times the price I am told.
The greedy dealers would have to buy the costly heroin to spray on the plants they grow cheaply
Surely
greedy dealers whose profit is entirely enabled by crazy prohibition
laws that are not only an expensive failure when it comes to decreasing
risk of harm, but so often punishes the very same victimless users and
growers that it should protect - would not choose heroin to pullute the
weed.
Whilst
it may be true that some younger and even older novice cannabis users
may not know the difference between good and bad cannabis, that which
is pure and well grown, and that which is sprayed it is ridiculous to
say that dealers would add heroin, which is nothing like cannabis (more
akin to pills or booze) to get their customers addicted to the heroin
and go back to buy more cannabis - and even more ridiculous when you
claim that the cannabis itself is addictive -
It suggests that you do not know the meaning of the word addiction.when a heroin user that is addicted abstains or runs out, they often suffer uncontrollable withdrawal sysmptoms.when a cannabis user runs out, they may go out looking to more, but that is more the case of missing what one enjoys.and
to think all this is caused by bad law - it does not happen in
Netherlands where adults can buy from "Coffeeshops" and it is not
happening in Colorado or Uruguay where cannabis is legal to buy.
Neither
was it observed in all those countries such as India where cannabis
has been used for many hundreds of years, even as part of religions.you
want to put kids off smoking cannabis - blatant lies and distortion of
the truth will not work just as it has never worked in the past!you
want to reduce risk of harm, actual harm and consumption by youngers -
legailse the cultivation at home for own use and open cannabis retail
outlets for adults
To
bring in a reformed drug addict to tell us how he used drugs, became
addicted, overcame the addiction and is now OK - how stupid is that?
Liverpool Echo, February 23 2014
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/hooked-now-mersey-drug-dealers-6735907
Hooked: Now Mersey drug dealers are lacing skunk weed with heroin
Experts say many of youngsters 'don't know what they're smoking'
Drug dealers are hooking cannabis users to their ‘products’ by lacing them with highly addictive heroin, diazepam and methadone.
And
now cannabis has overtaken alcohol as the drug that is gripping hold
of teens and putting their mental health at risk, a Sunday ECHO
investigation reveals.
Now the rising use of super strength cannabis, commonly known as skunk, is causing unknown damage, experts fear.
Specialist
Dr Faizal Mohammed, clinical director for Mersey Care NHS Trust’s
addiction service, says most young people turning to addiction services
for help now come to them for cannabis problems rather than alcohol –
so much so that they had to adapt what they do to help them.
And
we have spoken to one recovered addict, who is still close to the
drugs scene on Merseyside, who revealed how the hard drugs are sprayed
onto cannabis leaves to create a ‘hit’ that users will become desperate
to repeat.
He told us the kids taking the drugs ‘wouldn’t even know what they were smoking.’
Dr
Mohammed told the Sunday ECHO: “We are increasingly seeing more
patients report to us with cannabis. If you look at national trends, the
numbers of people with crack cocaine and heroin there has been a
decline, for cannabis there has been an increase.”
He
said figures suggest in the 16 to 24 age group, cannabis is the most
commonly used drug rather than alcohol, saying: “Those people coming to
our services for treatment in that age group, 60% are coming for
cannabis and related issues, 40% are coming for alcohol. Cannabis seems
to be the main drug.
“About one in ten
experience unpleasant effects of cannabis when using it. If someone
takes a large amount of cannabis they could end up with racing heart,
paranoia – where they think someone is following them, hallucinations,
seeing, hearing things. I would say the increase in numbers coming to
us has happened in the last two to three years.”
And
he added that “skunk” – man manufactured using artificial intensive
growth methods such as hydroponics – was causing the biggest worry among
health professionals.
He said this breed of
cannabis contains more Tetrahydro-cannabinol (THC) – the mind altering
ingredient that gives cannabis its potency. But little is known of how
damaging it is.
Dr Mohammed, who has been a
consultant in Liverpool for five years, said: “10 years ago most of the
cannabis that was used had a small amount of THC, skunk has more THC –
the harmful element.
“There is a clear
association between cannabis and psychosis (abnormal condition of the
mind), maybe a causal link. Whether it can cause psychosis is not
entirely clear, but there is some link with depression and anxiety.
“Those
who are vulnerable or have a family history of mental illness are
vulnerable and that group should be careful using any amount of
cannabis.”
The Campaign Against Living
Miserably (CALM) , which was launched on Merseyside in 2000, is also
worried about the growth of skunk cannabis. They run a helpline open
5pm-midnight, seven days a week, every day of the year, where men can
talk to someone on a whole range of issues from suicide, substance
misuse, depression, illness, bereavement and more.
Simon
Howes, Merseyside CALMzone Co-ordinator, said: " When we talk to
people who use a lot of cannabis or skunk, the general themes are that
it's not the quality it was, it causes more side affects and they feel
it is having a negative effect either on their mood now or they have
noticed it having an effect on their mental health in later life.
"Each
person’s experiences can be different, but from our experience people
may be experiencing increased anxiety, depression, difficulty managing
anger, paranoia, panic attacks or difficulty with their short term
memory. Often callers have used cannabis to try and manage their stress
or cope with the difficulties they are facing in life, but it may
actually end up adding to their problems and making it harder to cope."
David’s warning after 20 years of drugs hell
A victim of laced cannabis has revealed how he spend 20 years fighting a desperate drug habit.
David,
who has now managed to get clean, warns that diazepam and methadone
can be sprayed on to cannabis with users absolutely clueless as to what
they are smoking.
The 32-year-old, who did
not want to be identified, said: “These kids of the new generation are
in an even worse place than we were. Now they spray it with methadone,
diazepam. They put fibreglass, sand and saw dust in to weight it. The
diazepam gives you a buzz but when you stop taking it, you get mad
panic attacks and it’s a scary place to be.
“They’ll put heroin in it which shows how determined they are to keep people on the end of the line.
Far from being a ‘soft’ drug, David calls cannabis “psychosis in a cigarette”.
He
said: “ If you had 1,000 criminals, 850 would say cannabis is where it
all started, especially in this city. Cannabis is everywhere. To look
at cannabis as harmless is delusional. Certain parts of this city are
run by drugs. No matter where you go, you can get it. Ask kids on the
corners, they’ll know where – one of them might even be selling it.”
David
went from cannabis use at 13 to heroin, crack and cocaine in later
years, but he counts cannabis as being the most dangerous.
“The
most violent drug is crack but the most dangerous is cannabis, because
you’ve still got an alertness and as soon as you run out of it, you
think in your head ‘I’ll do anything to get it’.”
David
was convicted for a number of crimes all committed as a result of
needing a cannabis high. One of the worst, he said, was breaking into a
home shared by nurses.
Ashamed, he said: “I knew it was wrong at the time, these are people who heal the sick, but I wanted money for cannabis.”
His life was turned around by Mersey Care NHS Trust who has been helping him overcome addiction, he urges others to get help.
Sunday, 23 February 2014
Thursday, 6 February 2014
What does it mean that cannabis is illegal?
What does it mean that cannabis is illegal?
First it must be stressed that it is not cannabis itself that is illegal or punished by law.
It means that people can be punished for possession or cultivation even if they have done no harm or posed no threat.
It means that people that could benefit from medicinal uses are denied the right to grow for themselves, forced to either go to drug dealers or take pharmaceutical pills that are often pricey, with possibly serious side-effects, and often highly dangerous in themselves.
It means that police and courts have to spend their time prosecuting people that are more often-than-not otherwise law-abiding citizens.
It means that whilst pharmaceutical companies make massive profits the taxpayers foot the bill.
It means that whilst those denied the benefits of the plant are punished, those minority of users that suffer often hide away for fear of punishment.
It means that people of all ages are exposed to hard drugs and crime through street dealers - and it is quite obvious after so many years of prohibition that cannot be stopped.
My question is: if one comes across a person suffering from mental health abnormalities after consuming cannabis, would one call a policeman or a doctor?
That is what prohibition is about and that is why I favour repeal of the repressive drugs laws to take control out of the hands of criminals and to respect Human Rights.
First it must be stressed that it is not cannabis itself that is illegal or punished by law.
It means that people can be punished for possession or cultivation even if they have done no harm or posed no threat.
It means that people that could benefit from medicinal uses are denied the right to grow for themselves, forced to either go to drug dealers or take pharmaceutical pills that are often pricey, with possibly serious side-effects, and often highly dangerous in themselves.
It means that police and courts have to spend their time prosecuting people that are more often-than-not otherwise law-abiding citizens.
It means that whilst pharmaceutical companies make massive profits the taxpayers foot the bill.
It means that whilst those denied the benefits of the plant are punished, those minority of users that suffer often hide away for fear of punishment.
It means that people of all ages are exposed to hard drugs and crime through street dealers - and it is quite obvious after so many years of prohibition that cannot be stopped.
My question is: if one comes across a person suffering from mental health abnormalities after consuming cannabis, would one call a policeman or a doctor?
That is what prohibition is about and that is why I favour repeal of the repressive drugs laws to take control out of the hands of criminals and to respect Human Rights.
Tuesday, 4 February 2014
THE GREAT PYRAMID OF CHEOPS : FACTS
“The Pyramid which is the Place of Sunrise and Sunset”
Fourth dynasty; approx. 2575 BC ?
As the reader will know the pyramids at Giza are amongst the greatest and most mysterious structures ever built. I hesitate before saying “ever built by man”. We do not know who really built them, when or why!
Although it is generally believed that these massive structures were built over about 70 years, anyone with any knowledge of even the most up-to-date engineering technology available today will know that this would be an impossible task now, let alone thousands of years ago before they had even invented the wheel or the pulley. Classic Egyptologists tend to rely on their readers ignorance or lack of imagination when they state figures like 100,000 men taking 20 years to build the Great Pyramid.
A quick calculation reveals the impossibility of such a feat, using ropes and rollers and dragging stones up to 70 tons up ramps, placing them in incredibly accurate positions which aligned perfectly with the stars. They seldom consider how these ancient workers could have dragged and lifted the stones weighing 200 tons used to build the temples and causeways around the pyramids and Sphinx.
Although it is often stated that the Pharaohs Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure ordered the building of these wonders in the fourth dynasty, there is no actual evidence of this. Quarry marks inside the Great Pyramid may be forgeries; the tiny statue of Khufu found, upside down as if dropped, in a crack in the ground outside the pyramid no more suggests that he was the builder than would the finding of Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square suggest that Nelson engineered the Square.
Not only are these impressive structures surrounded by mystery, but it appears that even the Egyptian authorities are keen to suppress any new discoveries and many explorers have in recent days been stopped from continuing their work on the point of possibly momentous discoveries. This is precisely what happened to the work of scientist Rudolf Gantenbrink who, using a robot, examined the so-called ventilation shafts leading from the so-called Queen’s Chamber in 1993. Having found evidence of a small door at the end of one shaft and seen (through the robot eye) a piece of wood which could be dated to reveal the true age of the pyramid, his work was halted and he has not been allowed to continue since. Others, like John West and the geologist Robert Schoch of Boston University, have been ignored, because the results of their work would seriously effect the classic Egyptologists view of the past; their work on the weathering of the Sphinx would suggest it is much older than Egyptologists want it to be. It certainly appears that either there is some hidden knowledge which us common folk are not privilege to, or else there is some sort of anti-intelligence conspiracy.
There are hundreds of books written on the Great Pyramid. Authors approach the monuments from a variety of angles. For some it is evidence of extra-terrestrial life or of an advanced civilisation from the past. Others see the Pyramid as a cosmic message, either warning us of some great disaster or promising us the coming of a Messiah. Measurements, undeniably precise, can be interpreted as magical, astronomical or numerological. Some claim the Pyramid was a tomb, others an observatory of the stars and yet others believe it was a centre for mysterious initiation ceremonies. Whatever its true purpose, it is now certain that a great number of inscriptions, paintings and papyri refer to Giza in terms we are only just beginning to understand.
As the author of this presentation, I would have thought the whole thing was no more than science fantasy, if I had not myself been able to walk around, enter and climb upon the Great Pyramid.
Items found within the Great Pyramid of Giza
Iron Plate 2.6 cms x 8.6 cms, discovered by J.R.Hill (1837) stuck inside joint inside southern shaft from King’s Chamber. Purpose and origin unknown. Now in British Museum.
Three items found in northern ‘ventilation’ shaft from Queen’s Chamber: *
1.Piece of cedar wood: may have been a measure
2.Bronze forked hook-like item, believed to have been used for Opening of the Mouth ceremony, with part of wooden handle.
3.Green granite ball, 0.850 kg (1 lb 3 oz)
All discovered by Wayman Dixon and Grant in 1872.
*NB : These so-called ‘ventilation’ shafts where these objects were found do not appear to have run as far as the outside of the pyramid.
Size and comparison of size
Height 418.9 feet (146.0 m)
North side755 feet 4.9818 inches
West side755 feet 9.1551 inches
East side755 feet 10.4937 inches
South side756 feet 0.09739 inches
Corner Angles : SE 89o 56’27”; NE 90o 3’ 2”; SW 90o 0’ 33”; NW 89o 59’ 58”
Area 53,000 square metres
Estimated number of rocks = 2,500,000; average weight 2.6 tons
91,000,000 cubic feet
Estimate of tonnage of rock = 6,300,000 tons
The following size comparisons have been made:
The pyramid contains more solid masonry than all the cathedrals, churches and chapels built in Britain since the time of Christ.
The Great Pyramid could contain the cathedrals of Florence, Milan, St. Peter’s, Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s.
The base of the pyramid occupies 13 acres, equivalent to 7 New York city blocks!
The casing blocks were removed by Arabs to build the mosques of Cairo; the mosques contain less material than than the outer casing of the pyramids..
Early entries:
It seems likely that the Great Pyramid was open through most of the New Kingdom and then sealed up, maybe due to local superstitions that it housed powerful magic or a powerful and frightening magician.
Within the period of fairly ‘modern’ history there was a report by the historian Strabo in 24 BC, that the entrance to the Great Pyramid was through a hinged stone door, which, once replaced, was indistinguishable from the rest of the outside of the pyramid. There is no evidence of this, although one of the pyramids at Dahshur does have such a doorway. At this time it must have been an even more magnificent building since the outer layer of polished limestone was still intact. Remember that the pyramid was, to Strabo, as ancient as Strabo is to us today.
The first major attempt to re-find or create an entrance after the original entrance was lost, was in 820 AD by the young caliph Abdullah Al Mamun. Convinced that the pyramid contained much treasure the caliph used the services of many men to try to burrow in through the side. Hammers and chisels failing they then tried cracking the stones by throwing cold vinegar onto the stones heated by red hot fires, knocking out the pieces. This process enabled them to tunnel in one hundred feet. They met up with a passageway 3_ feet wide by nearly 4 feet high, sloping at an angle of 26o. They discovered a large stone on the floor, which seemed to have been dislodged from the roof. They then discovered the original secret entrance ninety feet to the North and some forty-nine feet above the base of the pyramid. Following this tunnel, the ‘Descending Passage’ as it became known later, they came upon the empty ‘pit’. Returning to the fallen stone they attempted to dislodge further stones from the ceiling but were unable to do so.
They decided to dig in along side this huge ‘plug’. After six feet they found another plug, then a third. Eventually they came to limestone so hard that they could go no further so they forced there way into the ‘Ascending Passage’, again 4 feet high, at a slope of 26o again. They crawled 150 feet along this slippery passageway, reaching a horizontal passage which itself led to a rectangular limestone chamber with a gabled limestone ceiling, which later became known as the ‘Queen’s Chamber’, although there was no evidence that it related to any ancient queen; in fact it was the Arabs who buried their women in tombs with gabled ceilings. There was an empty niche in one of the walls, which attracted Mamun’s attention further, which could have once housed a statue or hidden another passage or chamber. Mamun decided to get his men to burrow into this niche, but they gave up after 3 feet.
Returning to the Ascending Passage they discovered they were in a narrow gallery, some 28 feet high, stretching up at a slope of 28o. This became known as the ‘Grand Gallery’. With great difficulty they climbed 150 feet to find a huge stone which they had to climb over. Beyond this stone the passage levelled out, the ceiling now only 41 inches high. The explorers found another chamber (the ‘Antechamber’) and a larger chamber made from massive polished granite blocks, 34 feet long, 17 feet wide and 19 feet high. Notice the ratio of the length to breadth of this chamber is 2 : 1. The roof here was level and the chamber became known as the ‘King’s Chamber’ because that was the type of ceiling used in Arab tombs for the men. Unfortunately this chamber was empty except for a sarcophagus without a lid, although this in itself became fascinating to later explorers because it is slightly too big to pass through the chamber door. There were reports that a stone statue had been found in the sarcophagus although there is no other evidence of this. Mamun and his men had become so frustrated with the lack of treasure that they attacked the floor!
Years later, after an earthquake had destroyed much of the Arab city El Kaherah, the Arabs removed 22 acres of outside covering from the pyramid, to rebuild the city, as well as two bridges! In 1356 AD Sultan Hassan removed stone to build his mosque which still stands in modern Cairo. There was much rubble left piled up and this eventually covered Al Mamun’s entrance Although the removal of the outer layer had uncovered another two possible entrances, there were now rumours of black magic and nobody wanted to enter the pyramid.
The next entry of interest was made by John Greaves, a mathematician and astronomer. He climbed the rubble and followed Mamun’s route to the Queen’s Chamber which now stank so bad he had to abandon it. He visited the King’s Chamber and collected much data and measurements. Greaves also discovered the ‘Well’ in the Grand Gallery. He descended 60 feet into this well (there was no water in it) finding that it widened into a rough chamber later called the ‘Grotto’. Unfortunately the stench and the large volume of bat dung forced his retreat. He then climbed the outside of the pyramid counting the courses and estimating the height to be 481 feet without the missing top layers.
The Well was entered again in 1765 by Nathaniel Davison, an explorer, only to find the bottom blocked in. Davison also made another remarkable discovery, the area above the roof of the King’s Chamber, by climbing the Grand Gallery and crawling down a hole only 2 foot wide. The chamber he found had been made from rough granite slabs, weighing each some 70 tons. How these slabs could ever have been lifted and placed so perfectly is yet another mystery. The chamber is now known as ‘Davison’s Chamber’. The ceiling of this low crawl space is also made from 70 ton slabs.
In 1798 Napoleon arrived in Egypt and visited the Pyramid with a unique group of scientists and soldiers, to search for knowledge of the ancient past. Napoleon was a man convinced of supernatural powers and fascinated by magic, but they found nothing more except even more bat dung. On August 12 1799 Napoleon himself entered the King’s Chamber and asked to be left alone. Upon exiting he was asked what he had found as he looked shocked and pale. He answered nothing and never spoke about his experience, until his dying day when he started to speak but then said “What’s the use, you’d never believe me” (in French, of course).
The next discovery was made by an Italian, Caviglia, who cleared the bat dung from Davison’s Chamber and dug a tunnel off it, finding nothing. Then Caviglia descended the Well and tried to clear the rubble that had collected since Mamun’s men had burrowed up into the ceiling. He struggled 150 feet down a stifling passage, the Ascending Passage and, despite sickness from heat and smell, he pressed on another 50 feet, finding a low doorway leading into a hole. Digging into this they emerged into the bottom of the Well.
About this time an Englishman, Colonel Howard-Hyse, arrived on the scene at Giza. His team dug up the floor of the Queen’s Chamber but found nothing there, so thoughtfully refilled the holes! Discovering a crack in the roof of Davison’s Chamber they tried to dig into the roof, but were unable to do and so blasted their way up. Here Hyse discovered another chamber, the floor of which was the roof of Davison’s Chamber. The ceiling was made of 50 ton blocks. Continuing upwards they found another similar chamber made of 8 granite blocks. Over the next four moths they found three more chambers, all empty, except for a fine black dust originating from decayed insects. Howard-Hyse named these chambers after Nelson, Lady Ann Arbuthnot and Colonel Campbell. They are now seen to be a means of relieving the immense pressure that would otherwise be directly on the roof of the King’s Chamber; the topmost chamber also had a gabled roof. Red painted cartouches (upside down so probably quarry marks rather that decoration), were found on some of the stones up here and proved to be of a fourth dynasty Pharaoh called Khufu. Khufu was believed to be the Cheops whom the historian Herodotus had heard of and reported. It was therefore concluded that Khufu built the Great Pyramid, although there is very little direct evidence to support this conclusion. Howard- Hyse also found two shafts running from the King’s Chamber through 200 feet of solid masonry to the outside of the pyramid; there is no knowing whether they ever went through the original outer layer, although it is now widely accepted that these were ventilation shafts - air poured through when they were unblocked. Incidentally Howard-Hyse also took the sarcophagus from the third pyramid at Giza, that of Menkaure, but this was lost off the coast of Spain in a shipwreck and now lies deep in Davy Jones’ Locker.
The Subterranean Chamber
A passage only 3 feet 6 inches (1.1 m) wide and 3 feet 11 inches (1.2 m) high, at an angle of 26o, descends 345 feet (105 m) from the true entrance, into the bedrock. It ends in a roughly hewn pit measuring 46’ x 27’1” x 11’ 6” (14 m x 8.3 m x 3.5 m), 600 feet (183 m) below the apex of the pyramid. There is a hole sunk into the floor, leading nowhere. In the western side there is a squared, polished, passage, cut horizontally, 100 feet (30 m) long, leading nowhere. In 1992 Professor Jean Kerisel used radar to examine the walls and floor of the subterranean chamber and reported that he found evidence of an undiscovered system of corridors within the Great Pyramid. Unfortunately the Egyptian Government has not allowed this to be further investigated. Strangely Herodotus had reported being told of an underground chamber at Giza.
The Ascending Passage
This passage leads up into the pyramid, at an angle of 26o, matching the Descending Passage. It is 129 feet (39 m) long, but too low to stand up in. Where the passage levels out, it forks, one way to the Queen’s Chamber, the other down steps to the Grand Gallery.
The Grand Gallery
Height 28 feet (8.52 metres)
Length 157 feet (48 m)
Angle of ascent 26o
Seven courses of limestone, each course corbelled in 3 inches over the lower course.. The gallery is 62” wide (1.6 m) at the bottom but only 41” (1 m) at the top. In present times the gallery is fitted with a wooden ramp.
The King’s Chamber
Size : 34’4” (10.45 m) E-W; 17’2” (5.23 m) N-S; height 19’1” (5.81 m)
= 20 x 10 Egyptian Cubits
Reached by a passageway from the top of the Grand Gallery, it is empty, apart from a broken sarcophagus which is too wide to have been carried through the passageway. The passage leads to an antechamber with three deeply cut grooves, which may have been to house a portcullis. A pair of granite leaves are set above the portcullis entrance, with a small protuberance or seal on the granite face, on the lower leaf. The meaning of this is unknown, it is not hieroglyphic. The antechamber becomes a restricted passage for a few feet, then opens up to the King’s Chamber.
The floor is made from 15 massive granite paving stones. The floor plan of the chamber is the ratio 2:1; the height is in the ratio of the diagonal of the floor, representing the Golden Section, or Phi, the formula _(1+˚5) .
The walls are formed from 5 courses of stone containing exactly 100 blocks, each about 70 tons. The ceiling is formed from nine immense red granite stones, some of which weigh over 50 tons.
The sarcophagus is still inside the King’s Chamber. As mentioned already it is bigger than the doorway so it could not be moved out. The sarcophagus has inside measurements of 6 foot 6.6 inches long, 2 foot 2.81 inches wide and 2 foot 10.42 inches deep, whilst its outside measurements are 7 foot 5.63 inches long, 3 foot 2.5 inches wide and 3 foot 5.31 inches deep. This makes it about an inch wider than the doorway, so it could not have been carried through the lower entrance (now plugged). The sarcophagus is made of chocolate coloured granite with hard granules of feldspar, quartz and mica. It is wondrous how such a piece could ever have been cut in the Stone Age. It would require saws 8 feet long, made of some material such as bronze and jewels - diamond was extremely rare in those days. How on earth such a block could be hollowed out remains a mystery, as no saws or drills have ever been found.
There are small ‘ventilation holes’ on the North and South walls, although these may have been wrongly named.
The Queen’s Chamber
A horizontal passage, 127 feet (39 m) long, from the Grand gallery leads to the Queen’s Chamber; the floor of this passage drops two feet towards its end. There is a stepped niche cut into the chamber’s southern wall. The floor of the chamber has been left rough. Two ‘ventilation shafts’, left sealed at the outer extremity, run from the walls.
Davison’s Chamber
Above the roofing slabs of the King’s Chamber, closed to the public, a series of rough hewn blocks set in 4 layers, rise to a roofed compartment. This causes an echo in the King’s Chamber. It was discovered by Davison in the eighteenth century and it is believed to be a device for relieving the pressure on the roof of the King’s Chamber. On one of the upper levels were found quarry marks containing the cartouche of Cheops - Khufu.
The Well or Grotto
At the junction of the Ascending Passage and the passage to the Queen’s Chamber is a sealed entrance to a narrow, roughly hewn, shaft, running partly perpendicular, partly obliquely, to the Descending Passage, near its lowest point in the bedrock.
How Did They Build It?
Bearing in mind the huge size of the pyramids, classical Egyptologists have kindly calculated that it must have taken something like twenty years and 100, 000 men to build the Great Pyramid of Giza. I think this statement must require some quantitative analysis.
Firstly we must not, of course, forget that this building was achieved (we think) in the Stone Age, before (we think) the invention of the pulley or the wheel. However the work was done it would involve (as far as we know) only the power of human and animal muscles, along with basic rollers, ramps and levers. We do not know whether such human muscle would have been provided by reluctant slaves or devoted servants, but one thing is sure, it would take several highly experienced generals of the calibre of Napoleon or Caesar to organise such a work-force in one place. Then there is the question of the number of highly trained engineers needed constantly on site, supervisors for lifting and dragging the stones weighing from 1 to 25 tons each. We must not, of course, forget the huge task force required to feed the workers.
Next consider how the stones were actually lifted and moved. “Dragged up ramps”, the Egyptologists explain. But here we are considering dragging huge stones along rollers, probably wooden and constantly in need of replacement, up a ramp from river level to an eventual height of hundreds of feet, to be then placed perfectly. Such a ramp would in fact involve something like three times the material involved in the pyramid itself - some 8 million cubic metres - and would need to be something like 4800 feet long. This material would need to be very strong and hard and would itself require a huge task force to transport it ( and, presumably move it away afterwards, since it doesn’t seem to be around any more). Now for a little mathematics. It is estimated that the Great Pyramid contains some 2,5000,000 stones, a total weight of about 6,300,000 tons ( an average of about 2.6 tons each). The 23rd course alone consists of several hundred 5 ton limestone blocks. Now we are told that the workers built only during the time of the annual inundation, when they were not required on the land. But let’s be generous and assume that the work force worked 365 days a year for the twenty years and each day they worked 16 hours. This gives us a total of about 116,800 hours. So they had to cut, transport, drag, lift and place some two and a half million 2.6 ton (average - a lot weighed over 20 tons) stones in 116,800 hours. That is one stone every 3 minutes! Quite a feat trying to imagine the large numbers of men crowded into the available places, pulling and pushing to the shouts of their supervisors “Left a bit, up a bit, back a bit, down - no, up and forward a bit - now down again - oh sand, we’ll have to move that one again!”. I very much doubt that any construction company in the world today, with all the technology and power available, would take on the task. 54 tons of solid stones moved each hour, 16 hours a day, 365 days a year, for 20 years. Obviously, we cannot sensibly accept these figures based on what we know today, let alone in Stone Age times.
Now here we have a problem. How can we cook the books? How can we adjust the figures to make this construction more feasible. To increase the work force would be difficult, since only so many men can occupy the space. We do not know any way of making the stones smaller or lighter. We cannot increase the hours worked per day, or the number of days in a year, so the number of years must be changed. So far we calculated the time taken to lift and place a stone to be 3 minutes. This in itself cannot be possible given our technological knowledge. Safely lifting huge stones takes a lot longer. But if we estimate 30 minutes the overall time factor is increased tenfold, that is it will take 200 years. This is all being on the generous side; it would, of course, have taken longer still. This means workers and bosses alike dying off, as well as the Pharaoh himself. Then there would be the Second Pyramid of Giza, as huge as Cheop’s, to build - another few hundred years. We are now faced with the prospect of a huge organisation spanning over several hundreds or a thousand years and many successive Pharaohs (many of whose names we seem to have lost). Do you believe it?
Personally I can only conclude that such as feat as the building of three pyramids at Giza is physically impossible given our technological knowledge ( hardly considering the other 70 odd pyramids in Egypt). The problem is that the pyramids are not science fiction, but real, I have been inside them, like millions of tourists over the last few hundred years. Sure, there must be some explanation, it was done. But how? Alien technology, lost magic, the will of the gods? I’ll leave you to think about that one!
The Valley Temple
Almost as fascinating as the pyramid is the nearby so-called Valley Temple, composed of hundreds of limestone blocks as large as 30 feet by 12 feet by 10 feet and weighing up to 200 tons each (yes 200!). How could these blocks be lifted 40 feet into the air and placed so precisely. In 1997 AD there are only two cranes in the world capable of lifting such a massive stone and these require 6 weeks preparation by a team of 20 specialised men, as well as a huge counter-weight. Egyptologists seem to ignore these questions.
The Ground Plan of Giza
There are a remarkable number of coincidences in the way in which the three main pyramids at Giza are laid out. As well as the representation of mathematical concepts such as PI (22/7) and the alignment of the pyramids with the poles, it has now been suggested that the ground plan may be a representation of part of the sky at night. Certainly an aerial photograph of the pyramid plateau reveals a great similarity with the shape of the stars in the belt of the constellation of Orion, with the third pyramid slightly out of line with the other two. Recently, with the aid of computer generated images of the sky thousand of years ago, it seems that at least one of the so-called ventilation shafts pointed directly at Orion. What is even more incredible is that if you look at the situation of the other pyramids in that part of Egypt, they represent even more stars of Orion, with the Nile representing the Milky Way. Maybe there is some significance in this, because we know the Ancient Egyptians were fascinated by the night sky. Why Orion? Could it have been the home of Osiris?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/From-Dot-Cleopatra-Alun-Buffry-ebook/dp/B007I5N0I4
Fourth dynasty; approx. 2575 BC ?
As the reader will know the pyramids at Giza are amongst the greatest and most mysterious structures ever built. I hesitate before saying “ever built by man”. We do not know who really built them, when or why!
Although it is generally believed that these massive structures were built over about 70 years, anyone with any knowledge of even the most up-to-date engineering technology available today will know that this would be an impossible task now, let alone thousands of years ago before they had even invented the wheel or the pulley. Classic Egyptologists tend to rely on their readers ignorance or lack of imagination when they state figures like 100,000 men taking 20 years to build the Great Pyramid.
A quick calculation reveals the impossibility of such a feat, using ropes and rollers and dragging stones up to 70 tons up ramps, placing them in incredibly accurate positions which aligned perfectly with the stars. They seldom consider how these ancient workers could have dragged and lifted the stones weighing 200 tons used to build the temples and causeways around the pyramids and Sphinx.
Although it is often stated that the Pharaohs Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure ordered the building of these wonders in the fourth dynasty, there is no actual evidence of this. Quarry marks inside the Great Pyramid may be forgeries; the tiny statue of Khufu found, upside down as if dropped, in a crack in the ground outside the pyramid no more suggests that he was the builder than would the finding of Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square suggest that Nelson engineered the Square.
Not only are these impressive structures surrounded by mystery, but it appears that even the Egyptian authorities are keen to suppress any new discoveries and many explorers have in recent days been stopped from continuing their work on the point of possibly momentous discoveries. This is precisely what happened to the work of scientist Rudolf Gantenbrink who, using a robot, examined the so-called ventilation shafts leading from the so-called Queen’s Chamber in 1993. Having found evidence of a small door at the end of one shaft and seen (through the robot eye) a piece of wood which could be dated to reveal the true age of the pyramid, his work was halted and he has not been allowed to continue since. Others, like John West and the geologist Robert Schoch of Boston University, have been ignored, because the results of their work would seriously effect the classic Egyptologists view of the past; their work on the weathering of the Sphinx would suggest it is much older than Egyptologists want it to be. It certainly appears that either there is some hidden knowledge which us common folk are not privilege to, or else there is some sort of anti-intelligence conspiracy.
There are hundreds of books written on the Great Pyramid. Authors approach the monuments from a variety of angles. For some it is evidence of extra-terrestrial life or of an advanced civilisation from the past. Others see the Pyramid as a cosmic message, either warning us of some great disaster or promising us the coming of a Messiah. Measurements, undeniably precise, can be interpreted as magical, astronomical or numerological. Some claim the Pyramid was a tomb, others an observatory of the stars and yet others believe it was a centre for mysterious initiation ceremonies. Whatever its true purpose, it is now certain that a great number of inscriptions, paintings and papyri refer to Giza in terms we are only just beginning to understand.
As the author of this presentation, I would have thought the whole thing was no more than science fantasy, if I had not myself been able to walk around, enter and climb upon the Great Pyramid.
Items found within the Great Pyramid of Giza
Iron Plate 2.6 cms x 8.6 cms, discovered by J.R.Hill (1837) stuck inside joint inside southern shaft from King’s Chamber. Purpose and origin unknown. Now in British Museum.
Three items found in northern ‘ventilation’ shaft from Queen’s Chamber: *
1.Piece of cedar wood: may have been a measure
2.Bronze forked hook-like item, believed to have been used for Opening of the Mouth ceremony, with part of wooden handle.
3.Green granite ball, 0.850 kg (1 lb 3 oz)
All discovered by Wayman Dixon and Grant in 1872.
*NB : These so-called ‘ventilation’ shafts where these objects were found do not appear to have run as far as the outside of the pyramid.
Size and comparison of size
Height 418.9 feet (146.0 m)
North side755 feet 4.9818 inches
West side755 feet 9.1551 inches
East side755 feet 10.4937 inches
South side756 feet 0.09739 inches
Corner Angles : SE 89o 56’27”; NE 90o 3’ 2”; SW 90o 0’ 33”; NW 89o 59’ 58”
Area 53,000 square metres
Estimated number of rocks = 2,500,000; average weight 2.6 tons
91,000,000 cubic feet
Estimate of tonnage of rock = 6,300,000 tons
The following size comparisons have been made:
The pyramid contains more solid masonry than all the cathedrals, churches and chapels built in Britain since the time of Christ.
The Great Pyramid could contain the cathedrals of Florence, Milan, St. Peter’s, Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s.
The base of the pyramid occupies 13 acres, equivalent to 7 New York city blocks!
The casing blocks were removed by Arabs to build the mosques of Cairo; the mosques contain less material than than the outer casing of the pyramids..
Early entries:
It seems likely that the Great Pyramid was open through most of the New Kingdom and then sealed up, maybe due to local superstitions that it housed powerful magic or a powerful and frightening magician.
Within the period of fairly ‘modern’ history there was a report by the historian Strabo in 24 BC, that the entrance to the Great Pyramid was through a hinged stone door, which, once replaced, was indistinguishable from the rest of the outside of the pyramid. There is no evidence of this, although one of the pyramids at Dahshur does have such a doorway. At this time it must have been an even more magnificent building since the outer layer of polished limestone was still intact. Remember that the pyramid was, to Strabo, as ancient as Strabo is to us today.
The first major attempt to re-find or create an entrance after the original entrance was lost, was in 820 AD by the young caliph Abdullah Al Mamun. Convinced that the pyramid contained much treasure the caliph used the services of many men to try to burrow in through the side. Hammers and chisels failing they then tried cracking the stones by throwing cold vinegar onto the stones heated by red hot fires, knocking out the pieces. This process enabled them to tunnel in one hundred feet. They met up with a passageway 3_ feet wide by nearly 4 feet high, sloping at an angle of 26o. They discovered a large stone on the floor, which seemed to have been dislodged from the roof. They then discovered the original secret entrance ninety feet to the North and some forty-nine feet above the base of the pyramid. Following this tunnel, the ‘Descending Passage’ as it became known later, they came upon the empty ‘pit’. Returning to the fallen stone they attempted to dislodge further stones from the ceiling but were unable to do so.
They decided to dig in along side this huge ‘plug’. After six feet they found another plug, then a third. Eventually they came to limestone so hard that they could go no further so they forced there way into the ‘Ascending Passage’, again 4 feet high, at a slope of 26o again. They crawled 150 feet along this slippery passageway, reaching a horizontal passage which itself led to a rectangular limestone chamber with a gabled limestone ceiling, which later became known as the ‘Queen’s Chamber’, although there was no evidence that it related to any ancient queen; in fact it was the Arabs who buried their women in tombs with gabled ceilings. There was an empty niche in one of the walls, which attracted Mamun’s attention further, which could have once housed a statue or hidden another passage or chamber. Mamun decided to get his men to burrow into this niche, but they gave up after 3 feet.
Returning to the Ascending Passage they discovered they were in a narrow gallery, some 28 feet high, stretching up at a slope of 28o. This became known as the ‘Grand Gallery’. With great difficulty they climbed 150 feet to find a huge stone which they had to climb over. Beyond this stone the passage levelled out, the ceiling now only 41 inches high. The explorers found another chamber (the ‘Antechamber’) and a larger chamber made from massive polished granite blocks, 34 feet long, 17 feet wide and 19 feet high. Notice the ratio of the length to breadth of this chamber is 2 : 1. The roof here was level and the chamber became known as the ‘King’s Chamber’ because that was the type of ceiling used in Arab tombs for the men. Unfortunately this chamber was empty except for a sarcophagus without a lid, although this in itself became fascinating to later explorers because it is slightly too big to pass through the chamber door. There were reports that a stone statue had been found in the sarcophagus although there is no other evidence of this. Mamun and his men had become so frustrated with the lack of treasure that they attacked the floor!
Years later, after an earthquake had destroyed much of the Arab city El Kaherah, the Arabs removed 22 acres of outside covering from the pyramid, to rebuild the city, as well as two bridges! In 1356 AD Sultan Hassan removed stone to build his mosque which still stands in modern Cairo. There was much rubble left piled up and this eventually covered Al Mamun’s entrance Although the removal of the outer layer had uncovered another two possible entrances, there were now rumours of black magic and nobody wanted to enter the pyramid.
The next entry of interest was made by John Greaves, a mathematician and astronomer. He climbed the rubble and followed Mamun’s route to the Queen’s Chamber which now stank so bad he had to abandon it. He visited the King’s Chamber and collected much data and measurements. Greaves also discovered the ‘Well’ in the Grand Gallery. He descended 60 feet into this well (there was no water in it) finding that it widened into a rough chamber later called the ‘Grotto’. Unfortunately the stench and the large volume of bat dung forced his retreat. He then climbed the outside of the pyramid counting the courses and estimating the height to be 481 feet without the missing top layers.
The Well was entered again in 1765 by Nathaniel Davison, an explorer, only to find the bottom blocked in. Davison also made another remarkable discovery, the area above the roof of the King’s Chamber, by climbing the Grand Gallery and crawling down a hole only 2 foot wide. The chamber he found had been made from rough granite slabs, weighing each some 70 tons. How these slabs could ever have been lifted and placed so perfectly is yet another mystery. The chamber is now known as ‘Davison’s Chamber’. The ceiling of this low crawl space is also made from 70 ton slabs.
In 1798 Napoleon arrived in Egypt and visited the Pyramid with a unique group of scientists and soldiers, to search for knowledge of the ancient past. Napoleon was a man convinced of supernatural powers and fascinated by magic, but they found nothing more except even more bat dung. On August 12 1799 Napoleon himself entered the King’s Chamber and asked to be left alone. Upon exiting he was asked what he had found as he looked shocked and pale. He answered nothing and never spoke about his experience, until his dying day when he started to speak but then said “What’s the use, you’d never believe me” (in French, of course).
The next discovery was made by an Italian, Caviglia, who cleared the bat dung from Davison’s Chamber and dug a tunnel off it, finding nothing. Then Caviglia descended the Well and tried to clear the rubble that had collected since Mamun’s men had burrowed up into the ceiling. He struggled 150 feet down a stifling passage, the Ascending Passage and, despite sickness from heat and smell, he pressed on another 50 feet, finding a low doorway leading into a hole. Digging into this they emerged into the bottom of the Well.
About this time an Englishman, Colonel Howard-Hyse, arrived on the scene at Giza. His team dug up the floor of the Queen’s Chamber but found nothing there, so thoughtfully refilled the holes! Discovering a crack in the roof of Davison’s Chamber they tried to dig into the roof, but were unable to do and so blasted their way up. Here Hyse discovered another chamber, the floor of which was the roof of Davison’s Chamber. The ceiling was made of 50 ton blocks. Continuing upwards they found another similar chamber made of 8 granite blocks. Over the next four moths they found three more chambers, all empty, except for a fine black dust originating from decayed insects. Howard-Hyse named these chambers after Nelson, Lady Ann Arbuthnot and Colonel Campbell. They are now seen to be a means of relieving the immense pressure that would otherwise be directly on the roof of the King’s Chamber; the topmost chamber also had a gabled roof. Red painted cartouches (upside down so probably quarry marks rather that decoration), were found on some of the stones up here and proved to be of a fourth dynasty Pharaoh called Khufu. Khufu was believed to be the Cheops whom the historian Herodotus had heard of and reported. It was therefore concluded that Khufu built the Great Pyramid, although there is very little direct evidence to support this conclusion. Howard- Hyse also found two shafts running from the King’s Chamber through 200 feet of solid masonry to the outside of the pyramid; there is no knowing whether they ever went through the original outer layer, although it is now widely accepted that these were ventilation shafts - air poured through when they were unblocked. Incidentally Howard-Hyse also took the sarcophagus from the third pyramid at Giza, that of Menkaure, but this was lost off the coast of Spain in a shipwreck and now lies deep in Davy Jones’ Locker.
The Subterranean Chamber
A passage only 3 feet 6 inches (1.1 m) wide and 3 feet 11 inches (1.2 m) high, at an angle of 26o, descends 345 feet (105 m) from the true entrance, into the bedrock. It ends in a roughly hewn pit measuring 46’ x 27’1” x 11’ 6” (14 m x 8.3 m x 3.5 m), 600 feet (183 m) below the apex of the pyramid. There is a hole sunk into the floor, leading nowhere. In the western side there is a squared, polished, passage, cut horizontally, 100 feet (30 m) long, leading nowhere. In 1992 Professor Jean Kerisel used radar to examine the walls and floor of the subterranean chamber and reported that he found evidence of an undiscovered system of corridors within the Great Pyramid. Unfortunately the Egyptian Government has not allowed this to be further investigated. Strangely Herodotus had reported being told of an underground chamber at Giza.
The Ascending Passage
This passage leads up into the pyramid, at an angle of 26o, matching the Descending Passage. It is 129 feet (39 m) long, but too low to stand up in. Where the passage levels out, it forks, one way to the Queen’s Chamber, the other down steps to the Grand Gallery.
The Grand Gallery
Height 28 feet (8.52 metres)
Length 157 feet (48 m)
Angle of ascent 26o
Seven courses of limestone, each course corbelled in 3 inches over the lower course.. The gallery is 62” wide (1.6 m) at the bottom but only 41” (1 m) at the top. In present times the gallery is fitted with a wooden ramp.
The King’s Chamber
Size : 34’4” (10.45 m) E-W; 17’2” (5.23 m) N-S; height 19’1” (5.81 m)
= 20 x 10 Egyptian Cubits
Reached by a passageway from the top of the Grand Gallery, it is empty, apart from a broken sarcophagus which is too wide to have been carried through the passageway. The passage leads to an antechamber with three deeply cut grooves, which may have been to house a portcullis. A pair of granite leaves are set above the portcullis entrance, with a small protuberance or seal on the granite face, on the lower leaf. The meaning of this is unknown, it is not hieroglyphic. The antechamber becomes a restricted passage for a few feet, then opens up to the King’s Chamber.
The floor is made from 15 massive granite paving stones. The floor plan of the chamber is the ratio 2:1; the height is in the ratio of the diagonal of the floor, representing the Golden Section, or Phi, the formula _(1+˚5) .
The walls are formed from 5 courses of stone containing exactly 100 blocks, each about 70 tons. The ceiling is formed from nine immense red granite stones, some of which weigh over 50 tons.
The sarcophagus is still inside the King’s Chamber. As mentioned already it is bigger than the doorway so it could not be moved out. The sarcophagus has inside measurements of 6 foot 6.6 inches long, 2 foot 2.81 inches wide and 2 foot 10.42 inches deep, whilst its outside measurements are 7 foot 5.63 inches long, 3 foot 2.5 inches wide and 3 foot 5.31 inches deep. This makes it about an inch wider than the doorway, so it could not have been carried through the lower entrance (now plugged). The sarcophagus is made of chocolate coloured granite with hard granules of feldspar, quartz and mica. It is wondrous how such a piece could ever have been cut in the Stone Age. It would require saws 8 feet long, made of some material such as bronze and jewels - diamond was extremely rare in those days. How on earth such a block could be hollowed out remains a mystery, as no saws or drills have ever been found.
There are small ‘ventilation holes’ on the North and South walls, although these may have been wrongly named.
The Queen’s Chamber
A horizontal passage, 127 feet (39 m) long, from the Grand gallery leads to the Queen’s Chamber; the floor of this passage drops two feet towards its end. There is a stepped niche cut into the chamber’s southern wall. The floor of the chamber has been left rough. Two ‘ventilation shafts’, left sealed at the outer extremity, run from the walls.
Davison’s Chamber
Above the roofing slabs of the King’s Chamber, closed to the public, a series of rough hewn blocks set in 4 layers, rise to a roofed compartment. This causes an echo in the King’s Chamber. It was discovered by Davison in the eighteenth century and it is believed to be a device for relieving the pressure on the roof of the King’s Chamber. On one of the upper levels were found quarry marks containing the cartouche of Cheops - Khufu.
The Well or Grotto
At the junction of the Ascending Passage and the passage to the Queen’s Chamber is a sealed entrance to a narrow, roughly hewn, shaft, running partly perpendicular, partly obliquely, to the Descending Passage, near its lowest point in the bedrock.
How Did They Build It?
Bearing in mind the huge size of the pyramids, classical Egyptologists have kindly calculated that it must have taken something like twenty years and 100, 000 men to build the Great Pyramid of Giza. I think this statement must require some quantitative analysis.
Firstly we must not, of course, forget that this building was achieved (we think) in the Stone Age, before (we think) the invention of the pulley or the wheel. However the work was done it would involve (as far as we know) only the power of human and animal muscles, along with basic rollers, ramps and levers. We do not know whether such human muscle would have been provided by reluctant slaves or devoted servants, but one thing is sure, it would take several highly experienced generals of the calibre of Napoleon or Caesar to organise such a work-force in one place. Then there is the question of the number of highly trained engineers needed constantly on site, supervisors for lifting and dragging the stones weighing from 1 to 25 tons each. We must not, of course, forget the huge task force required to feed the workers.
Next consider how the stones were actually lifted and moved. “Dragged up ramps”, the Egyptologists explain. But here we are considering dragging huge stones along rollers, probably wooden and constantly in need of replacement, up a ramp from river level to an eventual height of hundreds of feet, to be then placed perfectly. Such a ramp would in fact involve something like three times the material involved in the pyramid itself - some 8 million cubic metres - and would need to be something like 4800 feet long. This material would need to be very strong and hard and would itself require a huge task force to transport it ( and, presumably move it away afterwards, since it doesn’t seem to be around any more). Now for a little mathematics. It is estimated that the Great Pyramid contains some 2,5000,000 stones, a total weight of about 6,300,000 tons ( an average of about 2.6 tons each). The 23rd course alone consists of several hundred 5 ton limestone blocks. Now we are told that the workers built only during the time of the annual inundation, when they were not required on the land. But let’s be generous and assume that the work force worked 365 days a year for the twenty years and each day they worked 16 hours. This gives us a total of about 116,800 hours. So they had to cut, transport, drag, lift and place some two and a half million 2.6 ton (average - a lot weighed over 20 tons) stones in 116,800 hours. That is one stone every 3 minutes! Quite a feat trying to imagine the large numbers of men crowded into the available places, pulling and pushing to the shouts of their supervisors “Left a bit, up a bit, back a bit, down - no, up and forward a bit - now down again - oh sand, we’ll have to move that one again!”. I very much doubt that any construction company in the world today, with all the technology and power available, would take on the task. 54 tons of solid stones moved each hour, 16 hours a day, 365 days a year, for 20 years. Obviously, we cannot sensibly accept these figures based on what we know today, let alone in Stone Age times.
Now here we have a problem. How can we cook the books? How can we adjust the figures to make this construction more feasible. To increase the work force would be difficult, since only so many men can occupy the space. We do not know any way of making the stones smaller or lighter. We cannot increase the hours worked per day, or the number of days in a year, so the number of years must be changed. So far we calculated the time taken to lift and place a stone to be 3 minutes. This in itself cannot be possible given our technological knowledge. Safely lifting huge stones takes a lot longer. But if we estimate 30 minutes the overall time factor is increased tenfold, that is it will take 200 years. This is all being on the generous side; it would, of course, have taken longer still. This means workers and bosses alike dying off, as well as the Pharaoh himself. Then there would be the Second Pyramid of Giza, as huge as Cheop’s, to build - another few hundred years. We are now faced with the prospect of a huge organisation spanning over several hundreds or a thousand years and many successive Pharaohs (many of whose names we seem to have lost). Do you believe it?
Personally I can only conclude that such as feat as the building of three pyramids at Giza is physically impossible given our technological knowledge ( hardly considering the other 70 odd pyramids in Egypt). The problem is that the pyramids are not science fiction, but real, I have been inside them, like millions of tourists over the last few hundred years. Sure, there must be some explanation, it was done. But how? Alien technology, lost magic, the will of the gods? I’ll leave you to think about that one!
The Valley Temple
Almost as fascinating as the pyramid is the nearby so-called Valley Temple, composed of hundreds of limestone blocks as large as 30 feet by 12 feet by 10 feet and weighing up to 200 tons each (yes 200!). How could these blocks be lifted 40 feet into the air and placed so precisely. In 1997 AD there are only two cranes in the world capable of lifting such a massive stone and these require 6 weeks preparation by a team of 20 specialised men, as well as a huge counter-weight. Egyptologists seem to ignore these questions.
The Ground Plan of Giza
There are a remarkable number of coincidences in the way in which the three main pyramids at Giza are laid out. As well as the representation of mathematical concepts such as PI (22/7) and the alignment of the pyramids with the poles, it has now been suggested that the ground plan may be a representation of part of the sky at night. Certainly an aerial photograph of the pyramid plateau reveals a great similarity with the shape of the stars in the belt of the constellation of Orion, with the third pyramid slightly out of line with the other two. Recently, with the aid of computer generated images of the sky thousand of years ago, it seems that at least one of the so-called ventilation shafts pointed directly at Orion. What is even more incredible is that if you look at the situation of the other pyramids in that part of Egypt, they represent even more stars of Orion, with the Nile representing the Milky Way. Maybe there is some significance in this, because we know the Ancient Egyptians were fascinated by the night sky. Why Orion? Could it have been the home of Osiris?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/From-Dot-Cleopatra-Alun-Buffry-ebook/dp/B007I5N0I4
Cannabis Social Clubs - A Healthy and Safe Alternative to Unjust Prohibition
Cannabis Social Clubs
introduced and functioning in Spain, Belgium, Italy and France.
How much better is that than in the UK where so many millions are resorting to illegally growing their own or running the risk of buying from dealers that cannot always assure (or do not care) about quality or contamination and often offer hard drugs - as well as making untaxable profits.
We - adults - are capable of making our own choices on what we do with our lives including what we put into our own bodies - even though many may make wrong choices.
Guidance, advice, safety are essential - but none of that is offered by criminalised cannabis suppliers.
It ought to have nothing to do with Government what a citizen does in private - unless the person poses a risk to public health or order, national security or the Rights of others as demanded by Human Rights legislation.
A person should be free to grow and use (possess) cannabis for their own use and Government ought to be looking at how best to protect them, just as those that choose to consume alcohol and tobacco are protected (and the rest of us protected from them).
The same logic and care ought to be applied to victimless cannabis users.The Cannabis Social Clubs model as promoted by ENCOD is a good way to go.
CSC's are non-profit groups of individuals collectively growing good quality cannabis for their own personal and beneficial use.
Cannabis Social Clubs Proposal https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cannabis-Social-Clubs-Proposal/145368762174099
Cannabis clubs blossoming in the UK
The Guardian, Nov 17 2013There are 49 of them around the UK now, with members meeting to discuss the drug's production, its medicinal use and legalisation – and to get high
"I
guess it's like wine-tasting – but with cannabis," says Orson Boon (not
his real name), head of the London Cannabis Club. "People come to
exchange samples, try new strains and have a chat."
Sitting around a table in north-east London are several members of the LCC. One member is examining a sample of cannabis under the blue light of a small microscope to check for mite faeces. Another is comparing the smell of a lemon equinox strain and a Jack Herer, a medicinal sativa strain named after a famous cannabis decriminalisation activist. Different-sized lenses, vaporisers and an assortment of labelled pots containing buds and cuttings from cannabis plants cover the table. It's like a science laboratory crossed with the Chelsea flower show."This is the strain that won the Underground London Cannabis Cup," says Boon, holding a small tube labelled K3M under the nose of a recent recruit, who works in an investment company in the City. The newcomer takes a sniff: "I'm seriously considering growing one or two plants with friends. Homegrown stuff like this is so much smoother than the weed I buy off the streets and you know exactly what you're getting." The others begin speculating as to where would be the best place in their homes to set up a hydroponics tent.
Over the past few years, local cannabis clubs have blossomed over Britain. There are now 49 around the UK, which are united by the UK Cannabis Social Club, an organisation founded in 2011 to represent cannabis users. Operating primarily through Facebook, (the LCC's page has had 39,301 likes the clubs bring cannabis users together from all over Britain to discuss topics ranging from fertiliser to self-medication and campaigning for the decriminalisation of the drug. They also organise meetings, from a recent 10,000 person smoke-out in Hyde Park to more intimate evenings such as tonight's soiree, allowing pensioners, students, bricklayers and bankers to talk about one of their favourite hobbies.
Boon's day job – he holds a senior position in the medical field – compelled him to start the cannabis club in the first place. "A lot of my work has been out of the UK where I have seen how effective cannabis has been on patients suffering all kinds of illnesses. I understand cannabis can have bad effects and can be abused – like anything. But when used correctly it is a very different story. When I came to London I met so many people who were secretly medicating with cannabis, which just didn't seem right. So I set up a Facebook page with the intention to normalise cannabis use and bring users together"One of the mantras of the cannabis clubs is to encourage a more healthy use of cannabis. "I only ever vaporise now, it's so much better for you and the taste is much purer," says Orson, placing a tiny piece of cannabis inside the vaporiser and inhaling deeply. It's also more discreet: only weeks before, several members of the LCC had gathered in the Shard, London. While the surrounding guests tucked into their steak tartare, the unlikely club members proceeded to get high with cannabis vaporisers 31 floors up. "It just looks like you're sucking on the end of a posh pen," says Orson.
The fact that growing and possessing cannabis is illegal in Britain does not deter many cannabis clubs across the UK from using social media to publicise meetings – "It's not illegal to talk about cannabis," says Boon – and the openness is part of the campaign for normalisation. Members themselves usually keep their involvement private: "Many of the people I've met have families, high-profile jobs, mortgages and all sorts, and are terrified of losing everything," he adds.
Millie, 59, is a member of a club in Wales. "As an MS sufferer, I found cannabis to be the only thing that really works. Years ago I had been buying it from a lad down the road, but then I thought, screw it, I'm going to grow my own. I go to little meetings a few times a month and they give me tips on how to grow the best weed for my condition, which helps a lot. It also gets me out of the house."
"At present, our main priority is following America's footsteps and legalising cannabis for medical use," says Boon. "If at the very least that happens I will be a happy man."
How much better is that than in the UK where so many millions are resorting to illegally growing their own or running the risk of buying from dealers that cannot always assure (or do not care) about quality or contamination and often offer hard drugs - as well as making untaxable profits.
We - adults - are capable of making our own choices on what we do with our lives including what we put into our own bodies - even though many may make wrong choices.
Guidance, advice, safety are essential - but none of that is offered by criminalised cannabis suppliers.
It ought to have nothing to do with Government what a citizen does in private - unless the person poses a risk to public health or order, national security or the Rights of others as demanded by Human Rights legislation.
A person should be free to grow and use (possess) cannabis for their own use and Government ought to be looking at how best to protect them, just as those that choose to consume alcohol and tobacco are protected (and the rest of us protected from them).
The same logic and care ought to be applied to victimless cannabis users.The Cannabis Social Clubs model as promoted by ENCOD is a good way to go.
CSC's are non-profit groups of individuals collectively growing good quality cannabis for their own personal and beneficial use.
Cannabis Social Clubs Proposal https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cannabis-Social-Clubs-Proposal/145368762174099
Cannabis clubs blossoming in the UK
The Guardian, Nov 17 2013There are 49 of them around the UK now, with members meeting to discuss the drug's production, its medicinal use and legalisation – and to get high
"I
guess it's like wine-tasting – but with cannabis," says Orson Boon (not
his real name), head of the London Cannabis Club. "People come to
exchange samples, try new strains and have a chat."Sitting around a table in north-east London are several members of the LCC. One member is examining a sample of cannabis under the blue light of a small microscope to check for mite faeces. Another is comparing the smell of a lemon equinox strain and a Jack Herer, a medicinal sativa strain named after a famous cannabis decriminalisation activist. Different-sized lenses, vaporisers and an assortment of labelled pots containing buds and cuttings from cannabis plants cover the table. It's like a science laboratory crossed with the Chelsea flower show."This is the strain that won the Underground London Cannabis Cup," says Boon, holding a small tube labelled K3M under the nose of a recent recruit, who works in an investment company in the City. The newcomer takes a sniff: "I'm seriously considering growing one or two plants with friends. Homegrown stuff like this is so much smoother than the weed I buy off the streets and you know exactly what you're getting." The others begin speculating as to where would be the best place in their homes to set up a hydroponics tent.
Over the past few years, local cannabis clubs have blossomed over Britain. There are now 49 around the UK, which are united by the UK Cannabis Social Club, an organisation founded in 2011 to represent cannabis users. Operating primarily through Facebook, (the LCC's page has had 39,301 likes the clubs bring cannabis users together from all over Britain to discuss topics ranging from fertiliser to self-medication and campaigning for the decriminalisation of the drug. They also organise meetings, from a recent 10,000 person smoke-out in Hyde Park to more intimate evenings such as tonight's soiree, allowing pensioners, students, bricklayers and bankers to talk about one of their favourite hobbies.
Boon's day job – he holds a senior position in the medical field – compelled him to start the cannabis club in the first place. "A lot of my work has been out of the UK where I have seen how effective cannabis has been on patients suffering all kinds of illnesses. I understand cannabis can have bad effects and can be abused – like anything. But when used correctly it is a very different story. When I came to London I met so many people who were secretly medicating with cannabis, which just didn't seem right. So I set up a Facebook page with the intention to normalise cannabis use and bring users together"One of the mantras of the cannabis clubs is to encourage a more healthy use of cannabis. "I only ever vaporise now, it's so much better for you and the taste is much purer," says Orson, placing a tiny piece of cannabis inside the vaporiser and inhaling deeply. It's also more discreet: only weeks before, several members of the LCC had gathered in the Shard, London. While the surrounding guests tucked into their steak tartare, the unlikely club members proceeded to get high with cannabis vaporisers 31 floors up. "It just looks like you're sucking on the end of a posh pen," says Orson.
The fact that growing and possessing cannabis is illegal in Britain does not deter many cannabis clubs across the UK from using social media to publicise meetings – "It's not illegal to talk about cannabis," says Boon – and the openness is part of the campaign for normalisation. Members themselves usually keep their involvement private: "Many of the people I've met have families, high-profile jobs, mortgages and all sorts, and are terrified of losing everything," he adds.
Millie, 59, is a member of a club in Wales. "As an MS sufferer, I found cannabis to be the only thing that really works. Years ago I had been buying it from a lad down the road, but then I thought, screw it, I'm going to grow my own. I go to little meetings a few times a month and they give me tips on how to grow the best weed for my condition, which helps a lot. It also gets me out of the house."
"At present, our main priority is following America's footsteps and legalising cannabis for medical use," says Boon. "If at the very least that happens I will be a happy man."
The law is not about risks from cannabis use
Mr Rolles of Transform says "Cannabis needs to be legalised because of its risks, not because it is safe, the charity says."
The "risks" are mainly from cannabis of unknown strength, additives, lack of hygiene and selling to underaged people - those risks are caused by the prohibition and associated greed, not the plant itself - there are numerous reports from around the world that show that cannabis is not only safer than most pills and drugs, but also, according to the DEA's Judge Francis Young, safer than potatoes.
Maybe Mr Rolles could tell us what risks he is talking about and what percentage of users are supposed to be at risk.
Of course it is not about risks - or safety - because bearing in mind the risk: benefit ratio, it is not and never has been banned because of risks!
Any risk is determined by the individual - and how much sense does it make to punish people that not only do no harm to others but benefit from their use of cannabis - and for that matter how much sense to punish the small minority of users that have suffered?
TRANSFORM and others need to realise that prohibition of drugs causes more damage than the drugs, look at it from the Human Rights angle.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/12/13/legalise-cannabis-in-britain-would-save-money_n_4438609.html
Huffington Post:: 13 Dec 2013
The "risks" are mainly from cannabis of unknown strength, additives, lack of hygiene and selling to underaged people - those risks are caused by the prohibition and associated greed, not the plant itself - there are numerous reports from around the world that show that cannabis is not only safer than most pills and drugs, but also, according to the DEA's Judge Francis Young, safer than potatoes.
Maybe Mr Rolles could tell us what risks he is talking about and what percentage of users are supposed to be at risk.
Of course it is not about risks - or safety - because bearing in mind the risk: benefit ratio, it is not and never has been banned because of risks!
Any risk is determined by the individual - and how much sense does it make to punish people that not only do no harm to others but benefit from their use of cannabis - and for that matter how much sense to punish the small minority of users that have suffered?
TRANSFORM and others need to realise that prohibition of drugs causes more damage than the drugs, look at it from the Human Rights angle.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/12/13/legalise-cannabis-in-britain-would-save-money_n_4438609.html
Huffington Post:: 13 Dec 2013
Legalising Cannabis In Britain, Like Uruguay, 'Would Save Millions'
Recent reform victories are reshaping the landscape of the oldest debate in drug policy.
As Uruguay passed historic legislation this week – becoming the first country in the world to make the production, sale and possession of cannabis legal – the debate around the regulation of the drug in the UK has been thrown back into the spotlight.
The debate over the legalisation of cannabis has been moving increasingly from the margins into the political mainstream, with multiple cities, states and countries considering, developing or implementing a range of regulated market models.
Many public figures, including some politicians, are in agreement that fifty years later, the war on drugs has failed – so has the time come for Britain to take the step from prohibition to legalised regulation?
At a time when Britain is facing brutal austerity measure, The Institute For Social And Economic Research recently estimated that a regulated market could reduce the government deficit by up to £1.25bn, whilst producing roughly £400m in "net benefit" for the country.
The Huffington Post UK spoke to one of the experts who advised the Uruguayan government on its landmark decision on whether Britain could benefit from a similar move.
Steve Rolles, the Senior Policy Analyst for the Transform Drug Policy Foundation, has argued for a regulated cannabis market under a strict and sensible framework, like the one implemented in Uruguay.
He acknowledged that, for the UK, "it's a long way away," but now that a country has successfully pursued government-led legalisation "it is going to be hard for other places to ignore it."
"It's one of those things where someone had to go first," he said.
Mr Rolles said the battle in the UK was now to try and change the more "old school" political attitude towards cannabis and the steadfast idea that "drugs are bad."
Nearly a century ago cannabis, along with other drugs, was identified as "evil, a threat to be fought in a winnable war that would completely eradicate the non-medical use of these substances," Transform said in their Practical Guide on how to regulate cannabis, which was released this week. "The experience of the past 50 years demonstrates that prohibitionist policies have not, and cannot, achieve their stated aims."
Transform is not primarily interested in the discussion of the specific harms that cannabis causes – arguing instead that the negative outcomes of drug use are effectively reduced, whatever they are, by regulating the drug.
Cannabis needs to be legalised because of its risks, not because it is safe, the charity says.
As Diego Canepa, the president of the Uruguay's National Drug Board, said: “A regulated market that is visible has greater oversight than prohibition.”
Uruguayans who register on a national database can now buy up to 40g of cannabis from a pharmacy, and adults are allowed to grow up to eight marijuana plants each.
Everything is monitored by a government database and all forms of advertising, promotion and sponsorship are banned – effectively killing the black market.
Additionally, around 20 US states have now decriminalised cannabis possession for personal use, while Washington and Colorado, have passed ballot legislation to legalise and regulate non-medical cannabis production and supply – ̨the first jurisdictions ever to doso.
Mr Rolles said the point of legalising cannabis is to gain control of the substance and protect public health.
“Prohibition doesn’t improve public health, it actually endangers public health. It doesn’t protect children, it imperils children. It doesn’t reduce crime, it fuels crime. It’s very expensive and is delivering terrible outcomes," he said.
Legalisation, he said, would also effectively eradicate an underclass of people burdened with crippling criminal records and give police more time to "pursue real crime."
But whether legalisation will ever happen here is hard to say.
David Cameron, who once called for "alternative ways" to tackle drugs, has been accused of "chickening out" of reforming Britain's drug laws.
A former government adviser previously told the Huffington Post UK the Prime Minister is "posturing with tough policies" and that his stance has hardened since he became Tory leader.
Professor David Nutt, who used to chair the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, said this was down to "pressure from the old men in the party who told him he could not get elected if he was not hard on drugs."
As a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee, Mr Cameron voted in favour of the United Nations looking at whether the drugs trade could be legalised and regulated.
But last year he rejected calls for a royal commission to look at whether drugs could be legalised.
"It's a huge disappointment. Now he's just a traditional Tory," Prof Nutt said.
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