Little Things That Puzzle You 2: Twisted Membrane

[Cassius_Smoke]

The great Pyramid is the most amazing construction in human history.

Here are some crazy facts:

The curvature designed into the faces of the pyramid exactly matches the radius of the earth.

The Great Pyramid is the most accurately aligned structure in existence and faces true north with only 3/60th of a degree of error. The position of the North Pole moves over time and the pyramid was exactly aligned at one time.

The Great Pyramid is located at the center of the land mass of the earth. The east/west parallel that crosses the most land and the north/south meridian that crosses the most land intersect in two places on the earth, one in the ocean and the other at the Great Pyramid.

The weight of the pyramid is estimated at 5,955,000 tons. Multiplied by 10^8 gives a reasonable estimate of the Earth’s mass.

The Descending Passage pointed to the pole star Alpha Draconis, circa 2170-2144 BCE. This was the North Star at that point in time. No other star has aligned with the passage since then.

[cutmymilk]

Yeah but most of that is sheer luck, if any of it is true.

[Zen Monkey]

It's certainly true. There's photographic evidence and the indent has been measured using modern tools at 33 inches. Some experts agree with you and believe it's luck, some even put it down to a design fault. Other experts say the angles are too perfect and uniform as all 4 indents are 90% from each other. Who knows what the truth is. That's why it's so puzzling.

[Zen Monkey]

The great Pyramid is the most amazing construction in human history.

Here are some crazy facts:

The curvature designed into the faces of the pyramid exactly matches the radius of the earth.

The Great Pyramid is the most accurately aligned structure in existence and faces true north with only 3/60th of a degree of error. The position of the North Pole moves over time and the pyramid was exactly aligned at one time.

The Great Pyramid is located at the center of the land mass of the earth. The east/west parallel that crosses the most land and the north/south meridian that crosses the most land intersect in two places on the earth, one in the ocean and the other at the Great Pyramid.

The weight of the pyramid is estimated at 5,955,000 tons. Multiplied by 10^8 gives a reasonable estimate of the Earth’s mass.

The Descending Passage pointed to the pole star Alpha Draconis, circa 2170-2144 BCE. This was the North Star at that point in time. No other star has aligned with the passage since then.

Nice!

[Neon Ignition]

Red Dwarf always summed it nicely:

Rimmer: 'I mean like the pyramids. How did they move such massive stones without modern technology?'
Lister: 'They had whips, Rimmer. Massive, massive whips'

[Zen Monkey]

The unearthing of ancient pay stubs suggest the pyramids were not built by slaves as originally believed.

[Asura]

The unearthing of ancient pay stubs suggest the pyramids were not built by slaves as originally believed.

Yeah, that's something of a myth. While slaves were certainly involved (because they were involved in most things in the ancient world), the people who built the pyramids were apparently well-paid for their services.

It's the old story; some of the oldest writings we have from the ancients are tax records.

[Dogg Thang]

They also led to one of the most amazing wonders, now sadly swept away in time: the pyramints.

[kryss]

There are only 6 certainties in life. Death, taxes, bad Sonic games, douche-bag Audi drivers, white guys who drive white pick-up trucks like they stole the road from douche-bag Audi drivers, and drug-users constant "but alcohol is worse" defense.

...I started at 2 and it just seemed to keep escalating...

[Blobcat]

They also led to one of the most amazing wonders, now sadly swept away in time: the pyramints.

Whenever I hear about pyramints I always think of Star Trek - The Toy Generation

[Anpanman]

the people who built the pyramids were apparently well-paid for their services.

Yep, had the good fortune to visit a couple of times, apparently there were all sorts of support services to keep the workers happy like singers (where we might use a radio in the office today) and also mental health workers.

Some of the things they used to come up with to solve engineering problems are amazing, lighting up the rooms deep in the Valley of the Kings for the painters by using mirrors made of gold and silver (candles were withdrawn as they gave off smoke) to reflect sunlight from the surface.
No dynamite to blast in quarries so they made holes in the rock inserted tree trunks, soaked the wood - sometimes by diverting rivers. The wood expanded and split the rock.

Genius.

[Zen Monkey]

There are only 6 certainties in life. Death, taxes, bad Sonic games, douche-bag Audi drivers, white guys who drive white pick-up trucks like they stole the road from douche-bag Audi drivers, and drug-users constant "but alcohol is worse" defense.

...I started at 2 and it just seemed to keep escalating...

So if I talk about illegal drugs I'm tiresome and if I point out that alcohol is more harmful I'm predictable? I see.

Folk sure are prickly on this forum. Never been anywhere where even something as harmless as incorrect grammar draws forth irritation and condemnation and character judgement is formed on one's taste in potato chips and movies! It's so ridiculous, you gotta laugh.

I'll tell you a secret, judgementalism isn't a virtue. Don't confuse it for discernment. Judging everything all the time only puts you in opposition to things and who wants that? And on a purely practical and pragmatic level, it will never make you happier, because even if you convinced ten million people to change their ways and life a life that meets your every approval, you'd feel no better, you'd only shift your gaze to the ten millionth and first person and seek fault in him/her. We should work on ourselves, not others.

[Brad]

So if I talk about illegal drugs I'm tiresome and if I point out that alcohol is more harmful I'm predictable? I see.

Folk sure are prickly on this forum. Never been anywhere where even something as harmless as incorrect grammar

Incorrect grammar is more harmful than Heroin a study has possibly shown.

I'll tell you a secret, judgementalism isn't a virtue. Don't confuse it for discernment. Judging everything all the time only puts you in opposition to things and who wants that? And on a purely practical and pragmatic level, it will never make you happier, because even if you convinced ten million people to change their ways and life a life that meets your every approval, you'd feel no better, you'd only shift your gaze to the ten millionth and first person and seek fault in him/her. We should work on ourselves, not others.

Actually I'd feel a lot better. I'd try to make myself feel better still by converting subject #10,000,001

Oh, and it's judgmentalism ;-)

[Neon Ignition]

Step One to self improvement - Giving up drugs ;p

[kryss]

Step One to self improvement - Giving up drugs ;p

Step Zero - Stop berating those who have given up giving up on drugs, and give up drugs.