Monthly Archives for May 2009

Self-Promoting Bookhenge

solving stonehenge

photo by akent, sent in by Sean Johnson

You know how when you get too many calls promoting a politician you like, you start to think you may not vote for him, or when there are too many annoying adverts for a product, you swear you’ll never buy it? Well, on sites related to Stonehenge lately, plugs for the book  Solving Stonehenge have become so frequent and insistent that we resolved to ignore them as much as possible.

Then someone (possibly related to the author) sent us this picture and we found ourselves in a bind. Do we ignore a perfectly good replica photo or do we post it and fall into being additionally annoying to people already wearied of hearing about this book? We came up with a brilliant solution:  post it and whinge about it. A good whinge now and then is therapeutic.

Don’t get us wrong–this could be a decent book for all we know. There are so many people who have come up with a brilliant theory for what Stonehenge was and did that one more doesn’t hurt anything. As a matter of fact here’s our theory: Stonehenge was built to generate as many completely bonkers theories as possible. Maybe we should write a book!

Score for this replica: 4½ druids (it’s just trilithons). Wow, we feel better! What else can we whinge about?

Happy Camper Snowhenge, Antarctica Yet Again

hulabelly snowhenge

photo by Breana Simmons, aka hulabelly, with permission

Okay, so we’ve developed a fascination with the Antarctica/snowhenge connection. How can South America have no Stonehenge replicas and Antarctica have so many? Breana’s explanation of this one goes some way toward explaining it: “Snowhenge was built by a group of researchers during Happy Camper School in Antarctica. We have to pass this course if we want to work in the field. It’s a lot of fun, but you have to keep moving to stay warm. Hence, Snowhenge.”

For those who have forgotten, here are the other Antarctica snowhenges we’ve posted: The Bushmills-Conjuring Snowhenge and Sky-Blu, plus the one we haven’t been able to post, here. And we will continue to post Antarctic snowhenges as they come down the line.

When we started we wanted to get a Stonehenge replica on Antarctica and one on the International Space Station. Turns out, the people on Antarctica were way ahead of us. Now we need one on the South American continent and one on the space station. Maybe we can get Stephen Colbert to help–he seems to have an in with NASA!

Score for this snowhenge: 6 druids. It lacks a little detail but we’ll cut people slack when they’re working in weather well below freezing!

Therme Erding Stonehenge: Mandatory Nudity!

Therme+Erding+Stonehenge

photos from spa promotional materials

Outside Munich is the spa to end all spas, Therme Erding, parts of which have a Celtic Theme. And bowing to the ubiquitous misconception that Stonehenge was built by the Celts, the spa includes a Stonehenge replica! And, yes, our title may be gratuitously sensational (we are not above anything, however low!), but it is true. Nudity in the sauna areas, which are shared by both genders, is mandatory.

therme erdingBabelfish translations are all we have to work with in order to learn what we can about this replica. One says: “the Erdinger Stonehenge consists of 30 blocks of Italian volcanic rock, of which everyone is heavy about four meters highly and 17 tons.” Babelfish insists on translating something to do with spas as sow kidneys.  Examples: “Sow kidneys in the original Stonehenge reproduction, ease everything in the garden Eden” and “refreshing rain showers and a spring water-fed torrent, which in-loads sow kidneys to a style-genuine refreshment to that.” We’re guessing they’re not discussing pig entrails. Heh. Have we mentioned we ♥ Babelfish?! If one of our gentle readers knows German, perhaps they can help us out with the kidney thing. Here’s a link to one of the translated pages.

At any rate, what about a score? Do we give an extra druid for the suggestion of the skyclad tradition? 6 druids for the Therme Erding Stonehenge. This is our second Stonehenge near München, and our fourth in Germany. We detect megalith envy!

[See comments for explanations of the sow kidney conundrum by helpful readers.]

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War-Game Terrain Stonehenge

wargame2

photo from War-Game Terrain promotional website

We’ve featured virtual war games’ versions of Stonehenge, but what about table-top war games? You know there had to be some. Fantasy games all eventually come around to needing a Stonehenge, don’t they?

wargame1Wargame Terrain or War-Game Terrain–spelled a couple of ways–can supply you with your wargame Stonehenge needs. “Each terrain piece is carefully hand crafted from insulation and or beveled 1/8″ hardboard, foam, strengthened with filler, flocked with gravel, grass or sand and hand painted.”

This one includes one trilithon and one, well–quadlithon? But they’ll work with you. Each piece is custom-made.

Score: 5 druids for the wargame Stonehenge. But keep war well away from the real stones.

Kerbhenge

kerbhengephoto by Tom Ryan, aka mint imperial, with permission

Somewhere in Britain, after removing decorative standing stones (!) and doing other work in his garden, Tom Ryan decided to build some trilithons with the debris. You see the result above.

What we like most about this photo is the angle. He manages to make these concrete chunks look like august and ancient stones. Impressive.

We won’t go on and on about this one. A nice whim-of-the-moment garden replica, which he tells us is dismantled already. Score: 6 druids. The season is young, gentle readers. Every garden needs a henge. Send us yours!