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here.(Give up? This is a negative image of the center of the lighted dome inside the
Saskatchewan Legislative Building.)
Posted by Edward Willett at 6:00, November 22nd, 2006 under Blog |
The Great Pyramid at Giza recently reopened after a year of restoration, allowing visitors to Egypt to once again see where King Khufu was entombed more than 4,500 years ago.
The Great Pyramid is an astonishing human achievement, on a scale that impresses even now, in the age of Superdomes and skyscrapers. Originally 145.5 metres high, it was the world's tallest structure for more than four millennia--right up until the turn of this century. Even today, at 137 metres, it's more than twice as tall as the leaning tower of Pisa and half again as tall as the Statue of Liberty or Big Ben. (Egypt plans to replace the missing 8.5 metres with a golden cap this ...
Posted by Edward Willett at 20:57, June 10th, 1999 under Blog, Columns, Science Columns |
"One dark night, when we were all in bed,
"Mrs. O'Leary lit a lantern in the shed,
"And when the cow kicked it over, she winked her eye and said,
"'There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight. Fire! Fire! Fire!'"
This famous bit of verse doesn't mention it, and somehow I doubt either Mrs. O'Leary or her cow (one of the most famous cows in history -- actually, just about the only famous cows in history) intended it, but on that fateful night of October 8, 1871, they not only started the Great Chicago Fire, they also helped invent the skyscraper.
With a third of Chicago in ruins, architects had the rare opportunity of completely redesigning the commercial centre of ...
Posted by Edward Willett at 5:58, March 3rd, 1993 under Blog, Columns, Science Columns |