Dutchman's Builds "Noah's Ark"

[Lord Poe]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6604879.stm

A half-sized replica of the biblical Noah's Ark has been built by a Dutch man, complete with model animals.

Dutch creationist Johan Huibers built the ark as testament to his literal belief in the Bible.

The ark, in the town of Schagen, is 150 cubits long - half the length of Noah's - and three storeys high. A cubit was about 45cm (18in) long.

The ark opened its doors on Saturday, after almost two years' construction, most of it by Mr Huiber himself.

'Past comprehension'

"The design is by my wife, Bianca," Mr Huibers said. "She didn't really want me to do this at all, but she said if you're going to anyway, it should look like this."

Life-size models of giraffes, elephants, lions, crocodiles, zebras and bison are included in the ark's interior.

The Bible's Book of Genesis says Noah kept seven pairs of most tamed animals and one breeding pair of all other creatures in the boat, which survived a catastrophic flood sent down by God to punish man.

Mr Huibers, a contractor, built the ark out of cedar and pine - because Biblical scholars are still not sure as to which type of wood was used in the ark's construction.

He began building in May 2005, after he dreamed of the Netherlands being flooded.

"In February 1992, I had a dream that Holland will become flooded. The next day, I found a book about Noah's Ark in the local bookshop, and since then, my dream has been to build the ark," he said.

Visitors were stunned. "It's past comprehension," Mary Louise Starosciak told the Associated Press.

"I knew the story of Noah, but I had no idea the boat would have been so big."

The ark includes a 50-seat theatre showing a segment of the Disney film Fantasia retelling the story of Noah's Ark.

US visitor Lois Poppema told AP she thought the Netherlands was the right place for an ark to be built: "Just a few weeks ago we saw Al Gore on television .. saying that all Holland will be flooded.

"I don't think the man who made this ever expected that global warning will become [such an important] issue - and suddenly having the ark would be meaningful in the middle of Holland."

Half-sized? Now that's goin' all the way for your beliefs!

[Darth Wong]

Oh for fuck's sake, how can those idiots say it's "past comprehension" due to its sheer size? I can see it in the picture, and it's not that big. They must not see a lot of large boats in their country.

[Vympel]

They must not see a lot of large boats in their country.

It's all the dykes.

[mr friendly guy]

Visitors were stunned. "It's past comprehension," Mary Louise Starosciak told the Associated Press.

Yeah, its past comprehension. I can't comprehend how someone can be so stupid to believe it and then build a replica because of that belief.

[Bounty]

So he did actually finish it. Welcome to the Dutch Bible Belt - like Alabama, but loonier.

[Darth Raptor]

Hey now, "past comprehension" is a great description of the Flood story.

[Lord Poe]

Oh for fuck's sake, how can those idiots say it's "past comprehension" due to its sheer size? I can see it in the picture, and it's not that big. They must not see a lot of large boats in their country.

Oh my god!!! I wonder if God can lift it?

[Gandalf]

Since it's half size, let's see him fit one of every animal in it.

[Chris OFarrell]

Pft. I stood 10 meters away from the hull of the Queen Mary when she was docked in Sydney a month or two ago.

THAT is beyond comprehension. This thing is nothing of the sort.

[Siege]

Pft. I stood 10 meters away from the hull of the Queen Mary when she was docked in Sydney a month or two ago.

THAT is beyond comprehension. This thing is nothing of the sort.

I've seen bigger boats in the local harbour, and that's a small marina compared to the Rotterdam international harbour. This is only 'beyond comprehension' if you're the sort of person who's never ventured 20km outside their own village. Which knowing the typical Dutch fundie a bit is probably exactly what the person that made that comment is.

In all fairness the thing is pretty impressive for a single dude's hobby project on the side, but it's just retarded to build it on land. If you're going to all that trouble why not build it somewhere it can float, so you can actually do something with it? Before, y'know, Gawd floods everything, somehow, somewhere, someday?

[Ford Prefect]

You know, I would consider it impressive if he built it with his own two hands, as it was implied that Noah did. Then I would be impressed.

[PeZook]

Now let's put it out on the ocean to simulate Flood condictions....

...and watch it sink.

[The Spartan]

I've stood on larger boats and I'm not even a sailor.

And why half sized? Surely his piety and conviction is enough that he would want to build full size, put a replica of 2 of every animal on earth inside to prove those non-believers wrong or drown in the process. I'll bet he didn't even try to make the damn thing sea worthy. Why would he when God will float it?

[Spearfish]

I saw the picture, and thought "Wow, that's pretty big. It's past comprehension"

Then I remembered standing on the ski-jump of HMS ARK ROYAL and realised it wasn't.

Seriously though, am I the only one visualising wallowing and capsizing on the open water, taking a good number of idiots with it?

[Lord Zentei]

Now let's put it out on the ocean to simulate Flood condictions....

...and watch it sink.

My thoughts exactly: is it even seaworthy?

[PeZook]

Now let's put it out on the ocean to simulate Flood condictions....

...and watch it sink.

My thoughts exactly: is it even seaworthy?

Are you fucking kidding? It doesn't even have a keel!

Trying to take it out onto open water would be suicide for everyone involved.

[Lord Zentei]

Now let's put it out on the ocean to simulate Flood condictions....

...and watch it sink.

My thoughts exactly: is it even seaworthy?

Are you fucking kidding? It doesn't even have a keel!

Trying to take it out onto open water would be suicide for everyone involved.

I was joking.

[Gil Hamilton]

"The design is by my wife, Bianca," Mr Huibers said. "She didn't really want me to do this at all, but she said if you're going to anyway, it should look like this."

This kind of makes me picture this Dutch dude rushing up to his wife with a stack of poorly drawn cartoons of the boat he made on line paper with pencil going "Bianca, Bianca! This is it!"

Bianca: "Oh... Johan... *facepalm*"

Johan: "I will not be convinced! I will show my love of God by building this! See, it's all there. Here is the boat. And here is the deck. And here is the lion cages... and that's a little picture of me with a beard and a shepherd's crook with an elephant..."

Bianca: "You can't be serious!"

Johan: "I've already contacted my lumber supplier! They are delivering 500 tons of cedar here tomorrow."

Bianca: "WHAT?!"

Johan: "This will really save some souls."

Bianca: "Ah, hell, if you are going to do it, at least let's not look like retards, OK? *takes the drawings away and starts making good ones* Geez, couldn't you just build a barbeque pit in the backyard like a normal husband?"

[Lord Sander]

They must not see a lot of large boats in their country.

Yes, yes we do.. formerly the biggest harbor in the world, that's the sad part.

[CaptJodan]

The ark, in the town of Schagen, is 150 cubits long - half the length of Noah's - and three storeys high. A cubit was about 45cm (18in) long.

So wait...they're saying it measures about 67.5 meters long? That's it? Modern day yachts can exceed this. In fact, modern day yachts can MORE than double that size. Let's not even get started on warships and supertankers.

Visitors were stunned. "It's past comprehension," Mary Louise Starosciak told the Associated Press.

It is. It's past comprehension that people who do not believe in evolution can believe that they fit every variety of land animal on a boat that size.

I never knew the Dutch to have fundies like this, to be honest. It's ironic that it's a Dutchman who builds it and yet cannot see how unseaworthy it would be.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

It isn't even that impressive for a wooden ship, in that it is only 225 feet long--about typical for large wooden Men of War and big merchants in the early 19th century. The Chinese, however, built actual seagoing wooden ships nearly the same length as Noah's Ark--400 feet instead of 450, so 50 feet shorter--in the 1400s. Those vessels, with their nine masts, were extremely beamy, being built more like rafts than proper vessels with considerable flexibility and massive internal subdivision, and actually displaced more than Noah's Ark would have if it had ever existed. But the Chinese still needed dozens of them for a major expeditionary force which ultimately reached Africa after intervening in politics like a modern American carrier taskforce from the Straits of Malacca through India.

The idea of Noah's ark is perhaps one of the more patently silly in the bible.

[Lord Zentei]

The size of the boat is one thing...

But then there are the ecological issues, such as the small matter of getting all the animals to their proper continents after the Ark stranded, having enough food for the carnivores in the immediate aftermath of the flood (whoops, there go our only gazelles), having any food for the herbivores at all (as anyone who has ever owned a potted plant will attest to, plants can, in fact, drown), all the topsoil having become saline, having freshwater for the freshwater fish since the sea would have filled all the lakes, etc, etc...

[Jericho Kross]

It took them 2 years to creat that piece of crap . If Noah even existed it would have taken him a lot longer than the two years it took to build that crud [ and that is at half size].

[Lord Zentei]

So he did actually finish it. Welcome to the Dutch Bible Belt - like Alabama, but loonier.

Heh, the link to the pic of the other boat referenced in that thread "Raw Faith" isn't working; though after a spot of googling I found this thread about it on a boating forum: linka.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

It took them 2 years to creat that piece of crap .:roll: If Noah even existed it would have taken him a lot longer than the two years it took to build that crud [ and that is at half size]. :roll:

Half the size? Try more like one-fourth of the displacement. If it's kept to scale, reducing the length by half will reduce the overall displacement by at least three-fourths and probably closer to seven-eighths.