|
Our long ago ancestors were very smart
05-31-2019, 10:12 PM
|
#1
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: West of the Mississippi
Posts: 17,169
|
Our long ago ancestors were very smart
Here’s an example of human ingenuity that gives me hope for our species.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/...e=facebook.com
“Giardini Panteschi are perfectly circular and are precisely calibrated to have walls of a specific height: tall enough to catch the fog and block the wind, but short enough to allow as much sun in as possible. Basketball-sized boulders are expertly stacked freehand—mortar is never used—into five-foot-thick walls that curve to encircle a 30-foot diameter enclosure with one small opening through which the gardener can crawl. The top of the circular wall always slopes inward, which is the key to the unique design of the giardino Pantesco: The jagged, convoluted crevices of the volcanic rock catch the fog (which explains why using mortar is forbidden: the goal is to maximize surface area), and then the inward-facing slope channels the moisture into the enclosure, where it moistens the soil. At the center of all this a single orange or lemon seed is planted, in hopes of eventually growing into a full-size tree. “
__________________
Comparison is the thief of joy
The worst decisions are usually made in times of anger and impatience.
|
|
|
|
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!
Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!
|
06-01-2019, 05:10 AM
|
#2
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Rio Grande Valley
Posts: 38,006
|
Yep, and why they are our ancestors rather than dying out.
Need article. Thanks for sharing!
__________________
Retired since summer 1999.
|
|
|
06-01-2019, 05:46 AM
|
#3
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 8,360
|
Interesting stuff. Thanks for the article.
Every time I see something like this I'm reminded of the fact that some people several millennia ago decided to take a common grass (teosinte) and breed it over many generations to create corn.
They say that if you were to submit this idea for a grant today you'd be laughed out of the room.
I always wonder if there is some missing piece of human history where all this knowledge came from thousands of years ago. (Pyramids, terra-preta soil, solar observations, calendars, herbal medicines etc) How much trial and error went into it!
__________________
Living well is the best revenge!
Retired @ 52 in 2005
|
|
|
06-01-2019, 05:56 AM
|
#4
|
Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: chicago
Posts: 539
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by marko
Interesting stuff. Thanks for the article.
…..
I always wonder if there is some missing piece of human history where all this knowledge came from thousands of years ago. (Pyramids, terra-preta soil, solar observations, calendars, herbal medicines etc) How much trial and error went into it!
|
Not sure it is true but I was told in history class that ancient people like the Greeks actually only worked about 4 hours a day unless it was harvest time.
If so they had a lot more time to contemplate solutions to a problem.
Hence the problem of a squirrel proof bird feeder. One person thinks of a feeder to thwart squirrels.. A billion squirrels spend all day scheming and trying to get that food.
|
|
|
06-01-2019, 06:06 AM
|
#5
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 8,360
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ready-4-ER-at-14
Not sure it is true but I was told in history class that ancient people like the Greeks actually only worked about 4 hours a day unless it was harvest time.
If so they had a lot more time to contemplate solutions to a problem.
|
Yes. Except for a pause for the Dark Ages, I suspect that was true everywhere until the Industrial Revolution.
Seeing as they didn't have TV (and hanging out at the beach was likely frowned upon) they had lots of time to discover other things. Like, who figured out how to make wine, beer? Who looked at a snail and said "Mmmm! Escargot! Get some butter"
__________________
Living well is the best revenge!
Retired @ 52 in 2005
|
|
|
|
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
|
|
Thread Tools |
|
Display Modes |
Linear Mode
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
» Recent Threads
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
» Quick Links
|
|
|