
Laser Scans Unveil a Network of Ancient Cities in Cambodia - kawera
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/20/science/angkor-wat-cambodia-archeaology.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
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apathy
This is prosaically brilliant. Turns out that Lidar can be more culturally
useful than just for speeding tickets.

Anyone who hasn't visited Cambodia (or SE Asia in general) should go. At least
once in your life. It's cheap, the people are kind (do not insult the king of
Thailand though) and the incredible diversity of people streaming in from
India, China, and later France has left behind an amazing cultural chronicle.
Cambodia will, for better or worse, forcibly remind you of both the heights
(Angkor) and the depths (the Khmer Rouge) of humanity.

Note that the KR almost certainly would not have come to power and killed
1/3rd of the population if we hadn't bombed the shit out of eastern Cambodia
during the Vietnam war. (Henry Kissinger received the Nobel peace prize for
these antics) Almost exactly like Isis, except the KR didn't see the point of
destroying their own heritage. So in spite of the odd bullet hole, Angkor and
surrounding sites are as awesome as they were when Mouhot stumbled upon them
in ~1855. (The Frenchman could not believe that "savages" built such
incredible temples and attributed them to the Romans.)

Amazingly resilient people with a glorious legacy that continues to grow as we
learn more about it.

~~~
mafribe

       KR almost certainly would 
       not have come to power 
    

Whatever one thinks of the Viet Nam war, and there are many valid criticisms
of the conduct of the western armies and their leadership, it is worthwhile to
bear in mind that the West fought there to prevent communist organisations
like the KR to come to power.

The KR would certainly not have come to power if not

1\. The French communist party had radicalised Pol Pot.

2\. The Soviet and Yugoslav communist parties had further schooled Pol Pot in
how to overthrow a regime.

3\. The Soviet, Chinese and North Vietnamese communist parties had supported
the KR with weapons and other forms of logistics with the explicit aim of
instituting a communist regime in Cambodia.

~~~
vkou
4\. The near-century of French and American imperialism that preceded 1, 2,
and 3.

There's direct causes, and there's indirect causes. Kissinger directly created
the circumstances that let 1, 2, and 3 create the KR.

~~~
mafribe
I disagree.

While it is true that the Vietnamese and Cambodians didn't want to be
colonies, the KR were _vastly_ worse than being colonised.

KR were following the classic communist script that we have seen played out in
many developing countries. The KR were created by communists, lead from Moscow
and Beijing.

~~~
vkou
Hindsight is 20/20\. While it's true that the Confederacy didn't want to give
up slavery, the civil war and reconstruction were vastly worse for slaveowners
then giving it up peacefully would have been.

The classic communist script hasn't _always_ resulted in genocide. Much like
how the classic imperialist script hasn't _always_ resulted in genocide.

Besides, Moscow hardly had a monopoly on sponsoring and/or training political
death squads.

~~~
mafribe
No hindsight. Communist takeover plans were very well-know and public for a
long time.

    
    
        Moscow hardly had a monopoly
    

Nobody claims this.

The fact of the matter remains: the KR and Pol Pot were created following the
standard communist script for "liberation movements" in the developing world
(i.e. thinly veilded preparations for communist takeover). All the ideological
training was provided by the Soviets and their allies, as were all the many
weapons and other logistics. The US was in East Asia primarily to counter the
communist threat, not to prop up French colonies.

All responsibility for the KR and their actions is with the communists
leadership in Moscow (and Beijing and Paris and Belgrade and Hanoi).

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akshayB
This is very impressive finding and it highlights sophisticated planning and
design done long time ago without any modern technology. Doing a Laser Scans
not only help in creating a digital footprint but also digitize it for future
generations in-case of any natural disaster.

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source99
Does anyone have any information on the software used to process the LIDAR
data?

