By: mule98J
I can't believe you all missed the point. It was a planet, do you hear me? The Death Star blew their world up when they began to develop their psi-warrior skills. Check out the secret Hubble photos...
View ArticleBy: kyrademon
No, I understand exactly what kind of civilization you were talking about. I started a long post trying to explain what I meant, but, honestly, you're right, it's a derail. Forget it, believe what you...
View ArticleBy: localroger
Arbitrarily declaring that only the technological developments in the 0.2% of most recent human history "count" is very strange It's not strange when the last sentence of the comment that started this...
View ArticleBy: localroger
Moving goalposts, again. To be clear, I was admitting that they could be moved a bit in that case in a direction counter to my own original argument.
View ArticleBy: stebulus
The well is very helpful if you don't have very precise measuring instruments. Instead of two crude angular measurements there was only one crude angular measurement. Also, the idea of doing the...
View ArticleBy: kyrademon
I think it's important to point out that the goalposts localroger has set, whether moved or unmoved, are kind of weird. Arbitrarily declaring that only the technological developments in the 0.2% of...
View ArticleBy: Mitheral
cthuljewwrites"Diamond addresses Aztec wheels. There was nothing to pull wheeled carts. Llamas aren't big enough, and there are no other options in central America. Much easier to just have dudes carry...
View ArticleBy: XMLicious
Yeah, it's weird crossing the border into Quebec from Northern New England. Almost everything looks better and a tad more advanced—clearer and more frequent signage, superior rest stop facilities, the...
View ArticleBy: Philofacts
I'd say the point is that saying "even the Romans", as if they were also-rans, is a distortion, a belittling of their considerable skill in building roads. They dug them several feet, sometimes yards,...
View ArticleBy: kyrademon
> "Name the technological advances which led to space travel (even early ones like the invention and development of chemistry and the perfection of the steam engine) which occurred south of the 30th...
View ArticleBy: localroger
even the Romans built roads Even Silicon Valley can build computers. Does this have a point? Roads are low tech. Well, I guess the Romans did use wheeled vehicles, but that's kind of a chicken and egg...
View ArticleBy: stebulus
and from there it's just trigonometry. I understand the method. The only element that depends on the latitude is the use of the well, and it's not an essential feature of the method in any reasonable...
View ArticleBy: justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow
Why could it only be done in the tropics? All it needs is a simultaneous measurement in two places at the same longitude, no? Taking one measurement at the tropic of Cancer made it possible for a...
View ArticleBy: localroger
Much easier to just have dudes carry stuff. I will remember this at work next time I'm tempted to go looking for a hand truck to move a heavy box. Or maybe I won't. And before you mention rolling...
View ArticleBy: cthuljew
Diamond addresses Aztec wheels. There was nothing to pull wheeled carts. Llamas aren't big enough, and there are no other options in central America. Much easier to just have dudes carry stuff.
View ArticleBy: localroger
Twang, the second sentence of your first link reads: The Aztecs used wheels in children's toys (such as small wheeled dogs made of pottery or occasionally obsidian) yet never considered using wheels...
View ArticleBy: localroger
Does a planet not inclined to the solar plane have seasons? No,and yes that makes a difference, but if your planet has a liquid core it's not going to stay that way. Liquid core planets wobble, and the...
View ArticleBy: maxwelton
Does a planet not inclined to the solar plane have seasons? If you don't have seasons, your planet looks a lot different.
View ArticleBy: cthuljew
It just struck me that the moon, in the form of tides, probably had a lot to do with life moving from the sea to land, and that on a planet without strong tides, animal life might never get onto land....
View ArticleBy: stebulus
The first accurate measurement of the size of the earth surely counts for something on the road to spaceflight, and that measurement technique could only be performed in the tropics Why could it only...
View Article
