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[–] 52 points 5 months ago (8 children)

Almost nothing built today will last as long as the pyramids already have.

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  • [–] 7 points 5 months ago* (5 children)

    Plenty of things build today will last much longer:

    Every nuclear waste disposal site (hopefully)

    Seed vaults

    Nuclear bunkers

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  • [–] 5 points 5 months ago (2 children)

    Concrete doesn't last, stone does. Brick to a lesser extent.

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  • [–] 7 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    *Concrete with rebar. Roman concrete has lasted plenty long. Though the lime in it helps.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago

    That is true. Roman Concrete is still standing 2k years on. Ours lasts decades, maybe a century if well done.

    They used ash from Mount Aetna in Sicily to make some of it. I forget the thing with the lime, how that was different than what we use?

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  • [–] 37 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    A Dane not impressed with putting blocks on top of each other.

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  • [–] 28 points 5 months ago (2 children)

    In Denmarkanons defense, pyramids really are just the easiest way to stack shit.

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  • [+] 13 points 5 months ago (2 children)
  • [–] 8 points 5 months ago (5 children)

    I mean.. I don't find my country super impressive either, but Tolkien based middle earth on Djursland and both Aragorn and Eowyn are based on the same character from an old Danish myth about Hervør, the shield maiden who dressed like a man to gather an army. Isengard, Helms Deep and Esgaroth are real places in the area.

    Hamlet is also based on the myth about Amleth and his grave can be visited in Denmark if people can be fucked to find it.

    In fact, we have so many viking graves all over the countryside, that tourists don't even realize what they are until they are told. My Ukrainian friend was thrilled to get to stand on one and he started talking about the riders of Rohan and their graves and all that. He was almost about to keel over when we told him we weren't that far away from the part of Denmark that Tolkien based Middle Earth on.

    Ps: I haven't seen the pyramids irl, but I think they are amazing. Still insane how they were created without modern technology. I can't hate on them even if I wanted to.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago (2 children)

    Danes have to be proud of fantastic stories written by somebody who never even set foot in their country because they don't have any impressive architecture to have survived thousands of years.

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  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago (1 child)

    What are the places in Djurland that inspired Isengard, Helms Deep, and Esgaroth called?

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  • [–] 3 points 5 months ago

    Isgård = Isengard

    Helms Deep = Hjelms Dyb which is a strait between Djursland and the island of Hjelm.

    Esgaroth = Eskerod

    For bonus, apparently, and I didn't know this, Tolkien also named a river in Middle earth Aros, which is the ancient name of the second largest city of Denmark, Aarhus or Århus depending on how you prefer to spell it. It does make sense since Aros means something like the mouth of the river.

    As for the saga that inspired Aragorn and Eowyn's characters, that story plays out on the island of Samsø and here's a short summary of the story

    I'm pretty sure there are more places. There's a hill called Ellemandsbjerg = Mountain of the elfman which is part of folklore, where the elfking lives with his daughters underground, under a hill. Supposedly, Tolkien took inspiration from that hill too and based his elfkings on that hill. Granted, Tolkien elves and folklore elves are two very different things, but most people think about Tolkien elves when they think about elves. In reality, Danish elves are more nature than they are human. They dance in the morning mists and are delikate, beautiful creatures. Their backs are hollow like a tree trunk and if you become ensnared by them they will either take you underground to the halls of the elfking where you will die or they will drown you in the lake.

    Some kind soul made a map of Tolkien inspirations in Djursland, that you can check out, but it's all in Danish.

    Bonus fun fact: our longest reigning regent, Queen Margrethe II was a big fan of Tolkien and had similar interests in folklore and language as he did and she illustrated Lord of the Rings under the pseudonym Ingahild Grathmer. Tolkien himself said that he liked her interpretations of his world the best out of all the illustrations he had seen.

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  • [–] 15 points 5 months ago (3 children)

    The Øresund bridge?? Literally one of the coolest feats of civil engineering ever???

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  • [–] 5 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    Now, now. Denmark has clogs.

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  • [–] 8 points 5 months ago (3 children)

    Pretty sure they have some cool castles in denmark. They did at one point at least, around the early 1600's I know they had castles with batteries around their straits to enforce tolls for ships passing through, the monarchies main source of income.

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  • [–] 3 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    They also did a lot of work with water management to control/reduce flooding. Once upon a time they had a bunch of coastal marshland and seasonal floodlands but invested significantly in infrastructure and solved that back in the medieval age.

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  • [–] 4 points 5 months ago

    Yeah they are super low, like they don't have hills to speak of and are really flat and close to the sea. They would have to, although you never hear about them like the netherlands in that regard. Not sure if they are included in "the low countries," people mention, but I didn't think so, but they are.

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  • [–] 4 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    Danmark actually has pre historic construction. But, you could very much see dolmens as stacked rocks, more than the pyramids.

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  • [–] 4 points 5 months ago
    [–] 2 points 5 months ago (2 children)