Month: August 2015

Tekeze Dam, in northern Ethiopia, is the largest arch dam in Africa at 118 meters / 617 feet tall.

It was completed in 2009, with the underground powerhouse containing four 75 MW (101,000 hp) turbines, generating 300 MW (400,000 hp) of electricity.

The image below shows the lake created behind the Tekeze Dam.

Found without additional assistance:

• Garfield
• steve willis
• Phil Ower
• Steve J.
• Ben S.
• Lighthouse
• Andy Hoxie

With the hint:

• Paul Voestermans
• Mehmet Durmus

And thus ends another series. We have a 4-way tie for 1st place this time, each missing only 1 of 20 possible points. Congratulations to Steve Willis, Phil Ower, Lighthouse, and Garfield

3.5 years pouring concrete 24 hours a day / 7 days a week!

Dry Creek Quarry was the filming location for one of the most important battles in contemporary literature, The Battle of Helm’s Deep (also known as The Battle of the Hornburg) from Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

For those unfamiliar with the books and/or movies, Helm’s Deep was an impenetrable fortress that was attacked by Orcs, who found and exploited a vulnerability and came very close to swamping the complex. Saruman’s forces were defeated in the end, with a race of sentient trees (hence the hint) called the Huorns delivering the final blow to the Orcs. The design of the location for this scene in the movie is detailed in depth in a group of message posts that were combined in the page at this link.

For those who question the importance of this battle, I’m forced to point out that there was actually a Lego set made of it (the very hallmark of an indicator of vital knowledge).

Those who beat back the Orcs before the hint were:

• Steve Wills
• Gillian B
• Lighthouse
• Garfield

And those who crawled out of the forest for an single point:

• Phil Ower
• Marisa Boraas
• Maureen
• donaaronio
• Dackelz.HP
• Farceur

“Gandalf, why are those trees walking this way?”

Caroline Island (also known as Millenium Island) sits nearly 30° east of the anti-meridian, yet, because of a 1985 realignment, it is officially west of the International Date Line, and is, in fact, the farthest easterly point west of the date line.

Fun fact: Because of the political nature of realignments of the date line, it has become quite an eccentric line. The farthest westerly point that is officially east of the date line is Cape Wrangell on the Aleutian island of Attu at about 172° east. That makes for a 38° separation of the points, roughly the width of Australia.

Those who found it on Day+1 included:

• Farceur
• Paul Voestermans
• steve willis
• Garfield
• mehmet DURMUS
• Christian Groenne
• Phil Ower
• Gillian B
• lelie
• Chris Nason
• Jesus Rodriguez
• Bryan Hix
• Lighthouse
• Bill Close
• Marisa Boraas
• Maureen

And with a hint:

• steve simmons
• Steve J.
• Luis Filipe Miguel
• donaaronio

Any further east, and you’d be west.