I had a little time after I finished at the customers' today, so I did something I've been wanting to do for a long time. I drove out to Elberton, GA which is about 90 miles East of Atlanta to see something called the "Georgia Guidestones". This is a long story, so be patient with me.

Elberton is the granite capital of the world. There are factories here which make everything from tombstones to counter tops. The town is sitting on a ton of granite, literally, under their feet.

In 1979, a strange fellow named "Mr Christian" (shades of 'Mutiny on the Bounty') walks into one of these companies and says he wants to build a granite monument. You see, he and a couple of friends have decided that the world is

going to end soon. They want to build a marker with guidelines for the survivors telling them how to rebuild their society. (I'm not making this up)
By this point, I'm sure you can imagine what the guy at the granite company is thinking. He tells 'Mr Christian' (not his real name) that, if he is serious, he should go down to the local bank and set up a trust to fund the project and protect his group's anonymity. Of course, our executive thinks he's just gotten rid of the guy and can now get back to work. On the contrary, Mr Christian sets up the trust and deposits a cashier's check into it that same day.

The design reminds me a little of Stonehenge. There are four tablets which provide eight surfaces on which to put the instructions. They are aligned with the four compass points and include a capstone over the top to connect them all. There is even a slit in the center which allows the sun to pass through on the solstice.