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Absurdum
Level 1: 42 points
Alltime Score: 712 points
Last Logged In: December 15th, 2009
TEAM: Level Zerø Biome Rank 1: Hiker
highscore

retired

15 + 17 points

Salt the Earth by Absurdum

October 6th, 2008 3:07 AM

INSTRUCTIONS: Find a place on earth that must never show a sign of life.

Remove everything from this plot of land.
Burn the Earth.
Salt the Ground.

Finally, after a month or so of waiting for the right opportunity, It was time to salt the earth. I had a specific spot in mind you see - some 50km from where I live. I used to work out there - in the middle of nowhere next to the Fairlight (steam) train station.

Anyway, I've had my supplies in the front seat of my car for a month, and finally, today, go time. Not a particularly complicated process, all things considered, but I made pretty sure that nothing will be growing in that specific spot for quite some time.

And finally - a suitable political statement....

Let the sight of this blighted patch of earth stand as a stark and harsh warning to all those city-states who seek to challenge the hegemony of SF0. I say to thee - Yesterday Carthage, Today Fairlight, Tomorrow... Chicago?

+ larger

Mmmm Salty
Deliniating the patch
Burning the earth
Scraping the topsoil
Lining the patch
Gravel.
More salt.
Final gravel

6 vote(s)



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10 comment(s)

(no subject)
posted by Jellybean of Thark on October 6th, 2008 8:12 AM

Yikes.

(no subject) +2
posted by susy derkins on October 6th, 2008 8:13 AM

"Must never show a sign of life", care to comment on that? Why there?

(no subject)
posted by Jennifer Juniper on October 6th, 2008 9:58 AM

I agree - as often - with susy derkins. More! Please? Why there? Feelings while burning and salting? It could be an angry task, I imagine. Depending, though, it could also be extremely satisfying.

If it needed to be done, then I am glad it is done.

(no subject)
posted by Absurdum on October 6th, 2008 7:58 PM

Suzy... Ahh Suzy, I thought I'd get away with minimal explanation on this one... Why there? Well, I've spent 3 years trying to obliterate life in that one particular spot. I managed the little train station near there, and that particular part of the property was covered in grass, broom and gorse. All these things are hard to kill, especially whent hey team up. I've set it on fire properly twice (week long burn-offs), mowed it countless times, dug and hand-pulled roots from it many many times (because broom and gorse reproduce from rhyzomes). Finally I got it to proper grass, and then decided to go one step further... Also, I will confuse the people who camp there most nights during the warm part of the year.

(no subject)
posted by Absurdum on October 6th, 2008 8:01 PM

Jennifer... feelings... Well, as so often in situations like this, the overwheleming feeling was one of hubris and a great satisfaction on getting one over on mother nature - looking her in the eye, and then scarring her up. Not a very pretty emotion, but one I suspect of being near-universal. I wouldn't say it was an angry task by any means, in fact apart from the hubris and satisfaction it was remarkably neutral feeling - which was one of the reasons I never really strayed from the basic desription...

Geotagging?
posted by Waldo Cheerio on October 6th, 2008 9:26 AM

Where is the location? Is the message posted, or is it to be a remnant of a bygone era, to which mournful Chicagø players pilgrimage in the after-years?

For YOU Waldo, anything that doesn't involve too much effort...
posted by Absurdum on October 6th, 2008 8:11 PM

OK, geotagged just for you Waldo. For those of you looking at the satelite photo, the white oblong blobs are house buses, hence my reference above to those who camp there nightly - we get up to 10 sets of people a night staying there for free (it's kind, but also good security when the nearest town is 15 mins drive away, and the nearest police over an hour). It's an old capture - I burnt the building to the rear of the main station down over a year ago (after we scavenged re-usable materials).

As for the Chicago stuff - mainly tounge in cheek. It's just the kind of thing you say at times like this - Just ask Cisero.

Recognition At Last! +2
posted by Waldo Cheerio on October 6th, 2008 11:25 PM

Thank you Absurdum, my time was due. Also now we all have an obtuse excuse to run off into the hills of New Zealand next time we have a layover on the way to Sydney. Which, ya know, is all the time.

(...) flowers have a very distinctive strong coconut scent (...)
posted by susy derkins on October 6th, 2008 9:52 PM

That´s more like it!
You can´t expect junkies let their dealer walk away like that...

(no subject)
posted by Mr Everyday on October 6th, 2008 10:07 PM

Huh, never come across that description before... It doesn't really fit either, it's too... astringent for coconut - Medicinal and bitter. They're right it's a very distinctive smell though, I always think it smells like burning.