Episode #011: Annunaki, Breaking World Records, and Impossiblocks

In this episode we start off already completely distracted by Default Android Voice 001, which leads to Sitchin and aliens and Annunaki  (of course), but eventually that leads to Ba'albek which completely distracts us a second time because it has Impossiblocks. Naturally that leads to the subject of Shamanism and Tibetan monks and fakin' it till you make it and a guy in Brazil named Jon OfGod and thousands of Inca getting killed trying to move an Impossiblock 10 feet.

We discuss the Third Man Effect, the rate of world records being broken and the advent of extreme sports which (obviously) ties right back into Impossiblocks and basically solves that whole mystery.

Elementary, really.

(Tangetards please note: there are only two (2) tangents in this entire episode) 

Ba'albek platform from space
Note temple of Jupiter wing on the left, you can see the shadows of the 6 remaining columns from the south wall, which the Romans were unable to put all the way out on the southernmost edge of the platform

Six columns are all that still stands of the Roman temple of Jupiter

The still mostly-intact temple of Bacchus / Dionysius: note the tiny people at the bottoms of columns and things to get an idea of scale

Ba'albek is a sprawling confusion of ancient-to-modern stonework fragments

One of the truly immense blocks at Ba'albek....at the bottom levels of the stonework. Note difference in surfaces from the blocks above. Also, this block has square holes in it similar to the large core stones of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem

Immense blocks of the "secondary retaining wall" at Ba'albek

"Stone of the Pregnant Woman" in the Ba'albek quarry

After excavating around the Stone of the Pregnant Woman in the quarry, it was discovered to be sitting on top of two even larger blocks

Dropped Block in between Ba'albek and the quarry
Look at this for a while and try to really grasp the fact that someone was actually fucking moving this thing

Another view of the "second retaining wall", you can see where later peoples have cut into the stones to make passageways

Biggest stuff is always at the bottom at Ba'albek, note the jumbled sculpt work on some of the blocks, indicating they were recycled

"Second retaining wall" is clearly disconnected with the remainder of the platform

Note heavy weathering on lowest blocks in the foreground

Truly immense entryway into temple of Bacchus

From "Archaeological Park" in Jerusalem, here is a very large core/foundation block with characteristic square "lifting" holes

Beneath the Temple Mount, where some of the truly large original core blocks remain to this day

Close-up of Temple Mount core block surface

Petrified wood stuck in core block in Jerusalem

Egyptian stone vase made from porphyry

Made of Andesite, a very hard type of granite

Egyptian bottle made from amethyst, a gemstone not known for softness

How about Holy Shit
P.S. Why is Russ even in this comic? He doesn't say anything or do anything