Programming Windows Azure

Chapter 9. Queues

Elberton, Georgia, is the home of America’s very own version of Stonehenge: the Georgia Guidestones. The origins of the Georgia Guidestones are shrouded in mystery. In 1979, an individual calling himself “R.C. Christian” walked into a local granite company and made a most unusual order. Claiming to represent a “small group of loyal Americans,” he laid out exact specifications for the stones. When asked what it was for, he was evasive, revealing only that it needed to survive the most catastrophic of events.

Construction of the five stones made of granite, each towering 20 feet high, took almost a year. The stones are arranged in a precise astronomical pattern, aligned with the sun’s solstices and equinoxes, as well as its motion through the year. Inscribed on the stones are 10 guidelines or principles, written in eight different languages. The messages themselves seem fairly benign, covering everything from keeping human population under control, to protecting people with fair laws. The only person who knew for sure what the messages meant, the mysterious R.C. Christian, disappeared, and nothing was discovered about who he really was, and what his “group” was up to.

Regardless of whether the Georgia Guidestones had their origins in paganism or were simply the product of an overzealous environmental protection group, one thing is very clear. The stones are meant to be a message, one that lasts for a long, long time, and one that humanity can decipher far into the ...