[Rockhounds] Inca Indians Used Solar Power To Cut Rocks

[Nick & Brenda Van Dyke]

I thought the article was interesting enough to reprint.

My "off the clock" job is to try to keep our club informed of club-related
information.  Along with that comes trying to fill blank pages.  In that
area, I aim to entertain.  Glad to see at least it got this crowd talking
:o)

Brenda


On 11/8/07, DonH <donhalterman at verizon.net> wrote:
>
> 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
>
>
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