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all 184 comments

[–]Araucaria 189 points190 points ago

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Even more interesting than the statues being complete bodies:

  • The Rapa nui natives were attempting to build a complete ring of statues around the island.
  • All the statues were supposed to face inward. When viewed from the peak in the center of the island, you would have the sensation of being at the navel of the world.
  • The islanders cut down every last tree on the island to use as rollers for transporting the statues.
  • no other islands are close enough to provide wood, so within a few years all contact with the rest of polynesia was cut off as boats went into disrepair, and it was no longer possible to fish effectively.
  • With no trees to "comb" the clouds for moisture, the island became drier and crops were less productive.
  • The population collapsed from several thousand to a few hundred when the Spanish found them a hundred years later.
  • the heads were incomplete statues, buried by soil erosion from the treeless slopes.
  • the partly completed ring of statues fell over in an earthquake.

A bit like Ozymandius ... "Look on my works, O you mighty, and despair."

Source: Jared Diamond, Collapse

[–]YawnSpawner 34 points35 points ago

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A couple of your facts directly dispute the Wikipedia article, I don't know who to believe!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moai

[–]memeasaurus[!] 65 points66 points ago

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Any discrepancies were caused by wizards.

[–]boywizard 15 points16 points ago

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They're on to us...

[–]InfiniteImagination 20 points21 points ago

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The ones about cutting down their own source of natural resources are also in my environmental science textbook. It's basically a microcosm of what we're doing with larger continents.

Think about it.

[–]lilililililillililii 21 points22 points ago

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THINK ABOUT IT

[–]little_chickadee 4 points5 points ago

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Is your username supposed to look like a barcode? I used to play with this guy in WoW who had a username like that. We called him Barcode.

[–]tenfttall 3 points4 points ago

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This one time, at band camp.....

[–]atheist_creationist 1 point2 points ago

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Wow, that must really screw with the cultural relativists.

[–]noonelikesrejection 2 points3 points ago

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[–]latro 0 points1 point ago

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If they had grown trees as a crop as we do in the rest of the world, they wouldn't have run out.

[–]InfiniteImagination 1 point2 points ago

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That's debatable. For one thing, given the amount of space they had, there's no way they could have grown the trees at the same rate they were chopping them down. It's renewable, but it's not renewable that fast.

Also, are you suggesting that in "the rest of the world," we are not running out of trees? Deforestation is one of our largest ecological problems, so we're certainly not replacing the trees at the same rate that we're chopping them down. Even if we were, we're removing them from their ecosystems, which is going to damage those areas for years to come.

[–]latro 1 point2 points ago

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For one thing, given the amount of space they had, there's no way they could have grown the trees at the same rate they were chopping them down. It's renewable, but it's not renewable that fast.

Sounds like this small island isn't really a microcosm of larger continents then.

Also, are you suggesting that in "the rest of the world," we are not running out of trees?

30% of the land mass on the planet is forest.

The rate of deforestation per year has been dropping for decades. In the developed world (including China), not only aren't we seeing deforestation, we're seeing re-forestation.

The world is in no danger of running out of trees.

[–]InfiniteImagination 0 points1 point ago

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Ah, but the key phrase is "that fast." In the larger world, too, we are depleting natural resources more quickly than they can be regenerated.

The rate of deforestation per year has been dropping for decades. In the developed world (including China), not only aren't we seeing deforestation, we're seeing re-forestation.

In certain parts of the developed world, yes. However, in many, many developing countries, and in parts of developed countries, deforestation is a huge problem.

We're not going to RUN OUT of trees, but we may have so few that they stop producing enough resources for us to depend upon them, or for ecosystems.

If you have any information that actually says that the world's trees are safe, I'd love to see it, honestly.

[–]Punchomatic -3 points-2 points ago

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Yeah, that's a tough call. Researcher or internet. I dunno...

[–]pseudotype -4 points-3 points ago

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Don't believe Jared Diamond, he is a dumbass.

[–]jud34 6 points7 points ago

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I was under the impression the statues were actually a competition among various tribes as a "whose is bigger" type thing that went horribly awry.

[–]dexcel 3 points4 points ago

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yeah thats what i thought it was to, i think i read in Jared Diamonds book Collapse where he talked about Easter Island quite a bit

[–]bearfucker 5 points6 points ago

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Once they could no longer fish, they turned to killing a (flightless?) bird that inhabited the island. And once it was gone, they started eating each other.

To this day, the gravest insult you can hurl at a Rapa nui is "The flesh of your mother sticks between my teeth"

[–]VWEEEEDUB 1 point2 points ago

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Awesome, I felt like I was in my art history classes all over again. I miss those classes.

[–]highintensitycanada 0 points1 point ago

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also when they lost boats they stopped fishing and started eating the chickens that they had brought to the island

[–]Jimmyup 0 points1 point ago

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Also became cannibals.

[–]desgraciado 0 points1 point ago

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goddamnit, now I want to play CIV

[–]ChicagoBuckeye -1 points0 points ago

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Stats make threads fun. I want an easter Island statue.

[–]Karmamechanic -1 points0 points ago

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You were a little off the page with that last line there. Isn't that copyright? :)

[–]witt 49 points50 points ago

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They also had hats and eyes

[–]brawl 26 points27 points ago

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They're also direct relatives of Jebediah Springfield.

[–]BlackestNight21 7 points8 points ago

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A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man.

[–]bookey23 5 points6 points ago

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It's a perfectly cromulent word.

[–]thecastorpastor 13 points14 points ago

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r/tf2 will be into this

[–]avtryck 3 points4 points ago

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And the hats were made in one place och the bodies in one. If you go there you'll see one crater with several hats and a larger other crater with a bunch of bodies.

[–][deleted] ago

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[deleted]

[–]thatdamnyankee 1 point2 points ago

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Maybe it's late, but that made me skratta högt.

[–]blasstula 2 points3 points ago

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Ay Carumba!

[–]rockne 1 point2 points ago

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I think "they also had hats" needs to be the top comment.

[–]SkimMilkyWay 1 point2 points ago

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Now I know where the hell they got this idea from.

[–]jensenw 1 point2 points ago

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You sound like someone who nose their Pokemon pretty well.

[–]cheeseburgerpizza 1 point2 points ago

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Evidence of extensive polychrome decoration has also been found on the famously-pure-white Parthenon and other classical buildings, contrary to the popular imagination of history and to the philosophy of its revival in neoclassicism. Like the alert, dressed-up Ahu Tahai, this more accurate attempt at understanding the past can't have the same significance as the idealized image that entered our culture though our contact with the ruins.

[–][deleted] 188 points189 points ago

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If you think that's good, see what the Egyptians pyramids are all about.

Pyramids

[–]pyromaniac28 34 points35 points ago

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Most people don't know that the pyramids used to be smooth.

[–]frogmander 3 points4 points ago

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I didn't even know that they weren't.

[–]funkshanker 16 points17 points ago

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Yeah, they scavenged the outer surface during the construction of Dubai.

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points ago

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Yep, used to be covered in polished limestone and gold.

[–]funkshanker 1 point2 points ago

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It worries me a little that I got so many upvotes without anyone pointing out that this happened during the construction of CAIRO, not Dubai. Either people noticed and are playing along, or didn't notice and skipped grade school.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point ago

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I honestly couldn't remember what city it was.

[–]Mclarenf1905 14 points15 points ago

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No everyone knows that pyramids were actually landing zones for alien spaceships that ruled over the ancient egyptians pretending to be gods.

[–]dracotuni 7 points8 points ago

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Yes we do, we've seen Stargate...

[–]choochunk 6 points7 points ago

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I especially like the part where jack goes "PEW PEW" and those dog men things go dead. Great movie

[–]RichterScale 43 points44 points ago

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I feel like this is a dumb question. But is that real?

[–]psychojazzman 31 points32 points ago

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From Brass Eye, a UK television series of satirical spoof documentaries.

[–][deleted] 17 points18 points ago

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Lol this guy didn't know about the cat!

[–]alexanderwales 73 points74 points ago

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... Yes.

[–]neoform3 12 points13 points ago

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.... No.

[–]burke 26 points27 points ago

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Nope. Fun idea though.

[–]bigstevec 29 points30 points ago

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Yes. That is a dumb question.

[–]kturtle11 17 points18 points ago

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No question is dumb.

[–][deleted] 35 points36 points ago

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how is babby formed?

[–]byttle 3 points4 points ago

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Isn't he from dragonball z?

[–][deleted] 5 points6 points ago

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[–]Xipro 1 point2 points ago

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[–]McBurger 1 point2 points ago

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Seemingly created as a "last resort" by the demented Machine Mutant Dr. Myuu, Baby is a parasite whose purpose for living is to see through the annihilation of the Saiyan race and domination of the universe in the name of the Tuffles.

[–]MattKronik 1 point2 points ago

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we need to do way instain mother

[–]Horatio_Hornblower 5 points6 points ago

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I don't think that old saying is accurate, except in areas where any mistake could cost lives, like if you're an electrician or in the army or something.

That said, even though a question is dumb, we should never berate people for stupid questions, because doing so works to keep them ignorant.

[–]MBuddah 3 points4 points ago

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that question was a little bit dumb though

[–][deleted] -4 points-3 points ago

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Are you fucking serious?

[–]9ren 0 points1 point ago

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I think that's good.

[–]Jeff_Bridges- 13 points14 points ago

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[–]habitue 10 points11 points ago

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I could only find one picture from modern times that shows Paro (the statue in the photo) and it seems to be face down now. Does anyone know the story behind what happened to it?

[–]AllDesperadoStation 58 points59 points ago

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fucking kids.

[–]KBPrinceO 31 points32 points ago

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Gosh, those poor kids, crushed by a statue trying to fuck them. What an awful way to lose your children.

[–][deleted] ago

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[deleted]

[–]bitingmyownteeth 8 points9 points ago

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They're probably not poor either. It isn't exactly cheap to visit Easter Island.

[–]patman21 1 point2 points ago

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It probably wasn't awful, they died instantly.

[–]night_owl 7 points8 points ago

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this is why we can't have nice things

[–]keist 1 point2 points ago

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Kids with wrenches.

[–]quiky 1 point2 points ago

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Get off my lawn.

[–]kahirsch 24 points25 points ago

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One time on a radio show (the now-defunct Todd Mundt Show), I heard a guest on who was an expert on the Easter Island statues. Todd asked her how the giant statues were moved to their locations all over the island.

She replied: “Horizontally.”

[–]elvisdiazjr 2 points3 points ago

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A Horizontal Mystery...

[–]Dubbys 82 points83 points ago

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You give me Gum Gum Dumb Dumb

[–]LarsThorwald 4 points5 points ago

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I audibly laughed at that one. Well played.

[–]ddixonr 13 points14 points ago

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You mean, LOL?

[–]wassailant 13 points14 points ago

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Nope, AL - 'audibly laughed', 33% more efficient for character saving purposes!

[–]GrantSolar 3 points4 points ago

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I dunno. L and O are right next to each other. A and L are on opposite ends

[–]turabaka 9 points10 points ago

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which means you can type A and L faster since you can use both hands instead of just one hand. Especially so since if you're touch typing L and O use the same finger.

[–]rolfeman02 1 point2 points ago

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<33% more efficient for character saving purposes!>

Not anymore since you had to explain yourself

[–]kturtle11 4 points5 points ago

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What is this mysterious LOL you speak of?

[–]snowmous 9 points10 points ago

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League of Legends? :(

[–]DonSlice 1 point2 points ago

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You read this in my voice, Dumb Dumb.

[–]colorblindboy 0 points1 point ago

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Wow haven't thought of that movie in a while. Thanks for the laugh!

[–]LordGuderian 33 points34 points ago

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And they also appear to be masturbating.

[–]Lizardizzle 12 points13 points ago

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woahh!! Source, perhaps!?

[–]Cremnlin 6 points7 points ago

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I recommend reading Aku-Aku. It's a pretty interesting read about one of the first explorations of Easter Island by the Norwegian scientist Thor Heyerdahl.

[–]sal139 1 point2 points ago

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This is a fantastic book. I agree - a very fascinating read. Also try Kon-Tiki by him. He built a raft and sailed from Brazil to Easter Island trying to determine how Indigenous islanders may have gotten there originally.

[–]Cremnlin 2 points3 points ago

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Kon-tiki is definitely a classic. It's a shame that you never hear about such daring expeditions anymore.

[–]SirKeyboardCommando 1 point2 points ago

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Read Tim Severin's stuff. He's built several ancient boats and sailed them across oceans.

[–]Cremnlin 1 point2 points ago

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Thanks, I will

[–]Vox_Populi 0 points1 point ago

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Well, there was the the Plastiki Voyage a few years ago.

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points ago

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My wife steadfastly refuses to believe this, no matter how much evidence I offer.

[–]thegirlwhowanted 1 point2 points ago

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That's a shame.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point ago

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The real shame is, I cant get her to play WOW with me, or COH or anything else.

[–]thegirlwhowanted 1 point2 points ago

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Some things we can't get :(

[–]dkramer73 3 points4 points ago

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Lack of context or source. Blerg.

[–]redditor3000 27 points28 points ago

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So, did they bury a hole and put them in it? Or are they old as fuck?

[–]WraithXt1 157 points158 points ago

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They buried a hole, then dug another one and put the statue in it.

[–]Alacritous 17 points18 points ago

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Did you know that the hole's only known enemy is the pile?

[–]Comment111 7 points8 points ago

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And my penis.

[–]aCleverMoniker 116 points117 points ago

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How does one bury a hole?

attains enlightenment

[–]bitingmyownteeth 16 points17 points ago

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and not a single fuck was given this day.

[–]ultrafetzig 1 point2 points ago

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Cover my socks with dirt.

[–]aCleverMoniker 0 points1 point ago

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That's hot.

[–]abk0100 1 point2 points ago

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Maybe they just sank into the ground over time? I don't know.

[–][deleted] ago

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[deleted]

[–]vulturepenguin 5 points6 points ago*

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I live in the UK and the video just gave me the 'content not available in your country' message, it's a bbc documentary, WTF!?

[–]Lolfest 3 points4 points ago

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I just clicked on it too, and had the very same rage reaction. There is a reason why people pirate things, it is because of bullshit 'not available in your country' crap. They put DRM on music and games when if you pirate it, you get it without it...

Sorry, it just makes my blood boil.

[–]Kyuuketsuki 5 points6 points ago

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Save the boiling blood for another fight. It's just a rickroll and you've been spared. :P

[–]StretchinAZ 0 points1 point ago

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That must explain why he's getting hammered with downvotes.

[–]chitownhawks 2 points3 points ago

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No, you'll be ok. Your country is just trying to protest you from the trolls.

[–]UnholyOsiris 2 points3 points ago

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Is that where the government forms a picket line to keep me from interacting with trolls?

[–]Dawggoneit 0 points1 point ago

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That's because aliens build them... duh! Never abandon the truth!

[–]nyxmori 4 points5 points ago

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It looks like hes holding a pineapple below his waist. Someone from r/trees has discovered time travel!

[–]dE3L 1 point2 points ago

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i thought the same thing.

[–]Bhockzer 1 point2 points ago

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It looks more like he's presenting his junk. Looks more like r/gonewild.

[–]xTravis_Bicklex 31 points32 points ago*

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10 seconds of Google will inform anyone that this is not true and that the picture you've posted is of the largest one.

Edit: I recant. I don't why I connected the picture with you meaning that all of them had huge bodies buried underground. I see that the title doesn't say that. My mistake.

[–]aeror 84 points85 points ago

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Ah this reminds me about this story:

An economist, a statistician, and a mathematician were traveling by train. After a while, the train entered a new and unfamiliar country. Looking outside, they saw a field, and in the field, a black cow. The economist turned to his friends and said, "Look! A black cow. I think that in this country, all cows are black." "Not so fast, my friend, said the statistician. "All you can state is that in this country there exists at least one black cow." "You're both wrong!" said the mathematician. "Really?" said the other two. "Yes. All you can say is that in this country there exists at least one field in which there exists at least one cow which has one black side."

[–]BoonTobias 63 points64 points ago

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We need to go beefer

[–]MattKronik 2 points3 points ago

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Look beefer you leap.

[–]okayplayer 0 points1 point ago

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A good economist says: "I don't know."

[–]HonestCorporation 18 points19 points ago

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Well the title does use plurals implying that more than one statue has a large torso.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points ago

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I don't why

[–]gonxdefetch 3 points4 points ago

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yeah, I either

[–]cmmoyer 2 points3 points ago

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Good catch

[–]aglorifiedidiot 1 point2 points ago

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Oh thank god. I woulda freaked if they were all that huge. Thank you sir for easing my mind.

[–]bjorna 5 points6 points ago

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Isn't that Thor Heyerdahl in blue jeans and shirt?

[–]HSMOM 0 points1 point ago

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Kon-Tiki YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

[–]Magento -1 points0 points ago

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I'm guessing you are Norwegian? That's Thor for ya...

[–]HSMOM 1 point2 points ago

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I'm Thor
You're Thor
Well It Hurts!

[–]lancexxiii 1 point2 points ago

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Is he holding his balls?

[–]Anirath 0 points1 point ago

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Yes.

[–]djstangl 1 point2 points ago

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[–]stringerbell 2 points3 points ago

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TIL the Easter Island statues are actually complete torsos showing off their dicks.

  • Fixed that for you

[–]WhiteMouse 0 points1 point ago

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OH NOES, WHY DID NOBODY APPEND A NSFW TAG?? WE'RE ALL DOOMED.

[–]lust333 0 points1 point ago

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Looks like they pulled a "sphinx." We must go deeper.

[–]staffell 0 points1 point ago

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I learned this from Sam and Max: Moai Better Blues.

[–]Nick1977 0 points1 point ago

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despair.com has is right with these statues Now I always chuckle when I see one.

[–]mehbroyawhynot 0 points1 point ago

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anyone else see the goatse? o nvm thats teh other hole...

[–]Lil-Bear 0 points1 point ago

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[–][deleted] 0 points1 point ago

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I am chilean and TIL.

[–]beatatarian 0 points1 point ago

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COME AT ME BRO

[–]plastiqmanb 0 points1 point ago

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FUCK!! :D

[–]roxizzle 0 points1 point ago

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I never knew that! That's amazing!

[–]damnkidsgetoffmylawn 0 points1 point ago

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See this is the kind of shit that got done before the internet came along...

[–]flyco 0 points1 point ago

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I haven't been this impressed since I've discovered what Diggletts look like under the ground

[–]gorn38 0 points1 point ago

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No f-way ! Wow. Didn't expect that. Hmm will have to read up on this.

[–]krakow057 0 points1 point ago

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this looks soooooooooo fake (not photoshoped because this looks pret-photoshop) that it hurts, I can't believe smart redditores would fall for this.

I was wrong.

[–]krakow057 0 points1 point ago

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From the wiki page: It is forbidden for visitors to climb on the moai.

Challenge Accepted!

I'm going to Chile soon, anyone wanna make a bet that I can climb one and take a picture on top of it doing the 'challenge accepted' pose??

[–]robinsonketty 0 points1 point ago

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I am Amazed!!! Is that true?? These statues are so big. http://www.historicaltravelguide.com/easter-island-statues.html

[–][deleted] -2 points-1 points ago

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Woah, they are all fapping!?!

[–]bitingmyownteeth -1 points0 points ago

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...underground. Classy.

[–]cmmoyer 0 points1 point ago

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Nothing makes fapping easier than lubing your junk up with dirt

[–]Kweasel -1 points0 points ago

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Mmmm gravelly

[–]mrpickles -3 points-2 points ago

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Why isn't this a topic of more archaeological interest? It's obvious something was going on that is way beyond what we currently understand about these ancient peoples and their capabilities.

[–]cweaver 18 points19 points ago

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It's obvious something was going on that is way beyond what we currently understand about these ancient peoples and their capabilities.

There are like, dozens and dozens of books and studies published on Easter Island and the Moai. Maybe you should read a few before you go making assumptions like that.

[–]unclefreeze 9 points10 points ago

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No way, man, mainstream science, man, won't accept that the ancients had chisels and logs, man. The Tower of Babel, man, reached the sky, man, SPACE ELEVATOR, man, the Romans had a sewage system, man, explain that with your educated evil, man, and open your eyes. Man. Also.

[–]mrpickles -1 points0 points ago

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I don't know what you're talking about and I think you're on drugs.

[–]mrpickles 0 points1 point ago

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Every documentary show I've ever watched about it was like "We have no idea how or why they did this. In fact, we don't even know how they died out except that they did and we're really confused by it."

[–]B1ackmath 5 points6 points ago

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show

There's your problem. Turn off the TV and read a book or two.

[–]cweaver 2 points3 points ago

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The problem with that is that most 'documentary' shows that mention Easter Island have a vested interest in making it sound mysterious and spooky, for ratings reasons.

[–]mrpickles 0 points1 point ago

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I'd be interested in any decent literature you can recommend

[–]cweaver 0 points1 point ago

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Katherine Routledge, "The Mystery of Easter Island." - the first real archaeological study of the island in the early 1900s.

Brett Shephardson, "On the Shoulders of Giants" - http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba86/feat2.shtml - article about some modern efforts to continue Routledge's work, and a nice little bit at the end about ignoring TV shows that just want to sell you on mystery for mystery's sake, heh.

Thor Heyerdal, "Aku-Aku" - 1950s study of the island, a his theories about the Incans bringing their stoneworking to Easter Island have been pretty well refuted, but it's still interesting stuff.

Jared Diamond, "Collapse" - one of the sections is his theory about how the collapse of Easter Island society was due entirely to their cutting down of their own forests, but a lot of people disagree.

Terry Hunt, "Rethinking the Fall of Easter Island" - https://www.americanscientist.org/issues/feature/rethinking-the-fall-of-easter-island/1 - nice article giving you the opposite side of the argument from Jared Diamond.

[–]mrpickles 0 points1 point ago

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Thank you. I'm vaguely familiar with Diamond's account. I'll be interested to read up on the other viewpoints.

[–]Von32 0 points1 point ago

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Who would fund something like that right now?

[–]mrpickles 1 point2 points ago

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The same people that fund archaeology all around the world.

[–]Von32 0 points1 point ago

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Yes, but a lot of the funding for research is being cut back. A LOT. esp in this field.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point ago

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Maybe by some institutions. Most digs are privately operated anyway. I doubt that the field of archaeology is being cut back across the board.

[–]jordanlund 0 points1 point ago

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One guy seems to have unlocked it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRRDzFROMx0

Watch until he moves the barn by himself.

[–]mrpickles 1 point2 points ago

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That video is messed up - can't see what's going on

[–]jordanlund 0 points1 point ago

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Sorry about that... try this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCvx5gSnfW4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

2:00 mark he moves a barn.

[–]ZappaZoo -1 points0 points ago

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Invaders? Ha, we piss on you.

[–]somafp -1 points0 points ago*

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Please, provide imgur link so i can change to i.mirur and then bypass this stupid company firewall.

edit: Thanks!!

[–]zaggynl 5 points6 points ago

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[–]AllHipoCrates 1 point2 points ago

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Learned something new today, thanks.