Word: monumentous
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...craggy rocks in an English field, Stonehenge's ability to capture the imagination is impressive. The ancient monument - composed of massive stones arranged into concentric circles by unknown builders - is referenced almost as far back the Norman Conquest, when an English historian remarked in 1130 A.D. that "no one can conceive how such great stones have been so raised aloft, or why they were built here." That certainly hasn't kept many from trying. It seems like everyone has a theory for why the ruins were constructed. Some are more plausible than others...
...analysis, he identified 165 separate points on the monument, and linked them to astrological phenomenon like the two solstices and equinoxes and lunar and solar eclipses. It's a difficult theory to disprove completely and some evidence is persuasive - at dawn on the summer solstice, for example, the center of the Stonehenge ring, two nearby stones (The Slaughter and Heel Stones) and the sun all seem to align. Still, critics of Hawkins' theory say he gives the ancient builders too much credit, arguing they wouldn't have had the sophistication or precision necessary to predict all the astrological events Hawkins...
...opportunity to run a substantial budget deficit and to cut taxes by an action as simple as selling the Washington Monument and a few other assets which have little value to taxpayers but a great deal of value to private enterprise. Admission to the Washington Monument is free. Who does that serve during a budget crisis...
...Encore, which opened officially in January, stands like a luxurious monument of defiance to the recession. It is not; it cannot. Wynn Resorts boss Steve Wynn has cut room rates to as little as $169 a night - the original projected rates were something on the order of $350 - but he won't cut service. That act of defiance means the Encore is a pretty astonishing value for any visitors in the mood to treat themselves to a Las Vegas fling in these tough times. The $2 billion, 2,034-room project adjoins the Wynn - the hotels are connected...
Meanwhile, black swastikas have appeared painted on many walls of the city of Buenos Aires, including on a monument on Plaza Israel, on Figueroa Alcorta avenue, one of the city's main thoroughfares. The government has said it plans to clamp down on the wave of intolerance and Williamson's expulsion is seen as a gesture by the government to try and allay fears within Argentina's Jewish community. Rabbi Daniel Goldman, a child of Holocaust survivors who sought government action against Williamson, told the Jewish News Agency that "actions such as these clearly show that our people...