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Archaeologist May Have Found the First Protractor
If physicist Amelia Sparavigna is correct, in addition to frogs, lice, and locusts, Egyptian schoolchildren were also plagued with useless geometry instruments in their new notebooks at the beginning of every school year. A mysterious object was found in the architect Kha's tomb in 1906 and its function has remained the subject of debate ever since. Sparavigna is certain the object is actually the world's first protractor. From the article: "The key, she says, lies in the numbers encoded in the object's ornate decoration,(Pdf) which resembles a compass rose with 16 evenly spaced petals surrounded by a circular zigzag with 36 corners."
Seriously, this is supposed to be news for nerds and the summary gets a gratuitous attack on protractors? They aren't useless now and they certainly weren't useless in the past. Before electronic systems, protractors were needed for all sorts of applications in architecture and engineering. In other areas, the way stars were carefully charted used protractor-like instruments. This last was particularly important in many ancient cultures because they relied on the stars to figure out just when to plant. Later, in the age of navigation, the sextant (again a protractor variant) was used to help accurately estimate latitude, a critical ability for sailors allowing the exploration and trade which eventually gave us the modern world. Moreover, aside from these applications, having children work with protractors helps them improve their ability to estimate things at a glance and improve their geometric intuition something that is important in daily life as well as all sorts of jobs, whether as things like carpenters or more academic jobs like engineers and physicists.
I would considered it multi-tool.
You could use it a balance scale, a straight edge, a measuring unit, a protractor... Probably more. It would seem like a good tool for a Foreman to carry around and make sure the workers are getting things right or they need to be beaten more, heck by the look of it it could work as a nice club too.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
The Egyptians who built the pyramids were white (or at least, the people who DESIGNED them were white)
White? Really? Can you please explain why Scandinavians were living in Egypt?
Tesla was a genius. Edison however was a overrated hack who liked to torture puppies.
How do we know that this isn't the world's second protractor?
Hidden within the article is that this is an empty case that might have held something. Looking at the outer shape, it could just as easily have been a cannon. If they wanted to be helpful, they shou'd have shown pictures of the opened case. There is also no scale for this object, but it appears fairly large. Why would an empty box be put into a tomb? It could be hollow as a way to make it lighter, instead of making it a box. It could have been a childs see-saw. I'd look for wear patterns on this, ubkess it was made new for the funeral. Is this the only one of these ever seen? If they were being commonly used, they would have shown up in one of the numerous paintings the Egyptions were known for.
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
I thought the archaeologist found Phssthpok, a Pak Protector. That would have been news.
The worlds first pocket protector too? I'm also missing a "Dukes of Hazzard" lunchbox and Thermos so if the archaeologists see it, let me know.
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
Indeed. Tha'ts exactly what is said in all the movies and literature put out by the over-powering force.
Actually, the original quote is something along the lines of "[They] have nuclear weapons, all we have is a protractor" ... but I kinda expected some people to recognize it anyway.