In a message of 15 Apr 98 Ross Sauer wrote to me:
 RS> Ah yes, the "Von Daniken effect."
NO nothing like the von Daniken effect. von Daniken was a perpetually broke 
no-hoper until he discovered his calling. He was a joking prankster and found 
a way of making money out of it. Good on him, if people were silly enough to 
pay him.
 RS> The belief that ancient people were a bunch of drooling a***oles until
 RS> "aliens" or whatever showed up.
I have very carefully searched the few lines I wrote on the subject and try 
as I might, I can't find any reference to aliens or anyone else `showing up'.
I don't know how you took that meaning from my comment. You have an extremely 
creative imagination. Did you go to the von Daniken School of Deductive 
Reporting? You have done well.
 RS> Had you bothered to look at any CREDIBLE source of info on pyramid
 RS> building, you'd see that it went through a number of stages, including
 RS> two monumental (literally) screwups.
Yes, I have. Some of the best information is in books on languages and art, 
rather than archeology. Archeologists tend to focus too much on the methods 
of their trade rather than the results and draw conclusions that are very 
tenuous and unprovable.
I have not read of any good explanation of how they came to build pyramids 
that fell down, and why they didn't know how it should be done.
I have also never read any credible explanations of how they transported the 
stone and built them either. I do have a theory about that, that could show 
the task was easier than it looks. I need to get some more information before 
I make it public though. It doesn't involve any technique that would be 
beyond a normal 2500 BC agricultural society.
 RS> And it doesn't take rocket science to carve big features on a large
 RS> rock.
No it doesn't. In fact I would think a rocket scientist would be at a 
singular disadvantage compared to most people when confronted with such a 
task. They could perhaps design a 2000 degC hot gas gun to fracture the rock 
by thermal shock, but this may not be the best way. It might give a nice 
vitrified surface though. 
I think that if I were carving a Sphinx, I would decline offers of help from 
rocket scientists, however kindly such help was offered.
Have there in fact been /any/ large outdoor stone artworks attributed to 
rocket scientists?
-patrick 
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