Day: June 22, 2005

To out-weigh the cost of making it, it has to run 24/7

“Built by Krupp, seen here crossing a federal highway in Germany en route to its destination (an open-pit coal mine), it is cheaper to move the thing like this, than to construct or re-assemble on-site.The mover stands at over 311 feet tall and is over 705 feet long. It weighs over 45,500 tons (yes that’s 45 thousand tons!) Cost $100 million USD, took 5 years to design & manufacture and 5 years to assemble. It only requires 5 people to operate it. The Bucket Wheel is over 70 feet in diameter with 20 buckets, each of which can hold over 530 cubic feet of material. A 6-foot man can stand up inside one of the buckets. It moves on 12 crawlers (each is 12 feet wide, 7′-10″ high and 46 feet long).There are 8 crawlers in front and 4 in back. It has a maximum speed of 1 mile in 3 hours (1/3 mile/hour). It can remove over 76,455 cubic meters (100,000 large dump trucks at 40Yds. each of overburden per day).”

others of this family found http://mining-technology.com/

because I missed him

Persepolis burnt me to the ground, dark gray marble eyes leading me like paths and stairs to a treasury trap of words. I felt bare, richly carved with splendid relief, “Five years is a rock hewn tomb, too long to be without the silk cotton of skin.” His hair curled as inscriptions do, written to ward off misfortune. “I enjoy the silence,” he said, and he laughed, lambent pearl. My heart was caught in the light of it, a hidden thing suddenly unshadowed, becoming a lantern to hold in my hand. A wet red ruby to guide me to Thoth.

“What is the geography here?” He asked and gestured, his hands describing the arc of mythical heroes. “It is tumbled land, fit for caves and caverns. Happy alone.”

I’m staying in tonight. I have been moving too often for sleep to find me and I wish to be claimed for decency’s sake. Whatever strange endorphin level I have arrived at, it’s not feeling anymore like home.