[Rockhounds] Inca Indians Used Solar Power To Cut Rocks

[DonH]

Gary Brown wrote:
> Did some research...  1990 article.  They tried to replicate it on a PBS
> Nova show, but couldn't.  Only 2 pages of Google links on a search for "Ivan
> Watkins" and "Inca".  There's no "Ivan Watkins" at St. Cloud State as of
> 2007.


Indeed... A simple recall of high school mathematics will remind us that 
parabolas focus incoming rays at a point.  Conversely, rays emanating 
from the focal point will be reflected in parallel.  Satellite dishes 
are not parabolas, they are offset parabolic sections.  If the Incas had 
such a technology, they would have been clearing forests, reshaping the 
landscape, and most likely, laying waste to enemies.  The use of such 
tools would have been legendary and would have certainly been noted by 
the Spaniards.

This goes to show that someone can have a PhD and still be an idiot.

Don