Metric vs. other measurement systems - chart

[Philip Davies]

Interesting hypothesis but applies more to the Sphinx than the pyramids.

The Sphinx is apparently a natural rock out-cropping that was carved way, way back. It's still one of the biggest puzzles of the Giza plateau. Some archaeologists believe it was carved into an image of a lion by stone age natives long before the appearance of the Egyptian culture (it still has lion paws). Only later was it reshaped into the image of an Egyptian king. Which king is also an issue. Some folks think it represents Khufu, the builder of the great pyramid. Hard to tell since the only confirmed image of Khufu is a tiny 3" statue in the Cairo museum.

Also, if you examine the interior of the pyramid, there is evidence of carved, individual blocks of stone, not in situ rock carved to look like blocks. But the real kicker is the burial chamber itself. The sarcophagus is too big to fit around the corner between the ascending and descending passage so it must have been placed in the chamber before the structure above it was constructed. It's granite so it wasn't carved from the surrounding limestone bulk of the pyramid.

What amazes me is the fact that, despite centuries of searching, nothing depicting the construction of the pyramids has been found. Modern folks like us are in awe of the pyramid; the folks alive during its construction would have been positively dazzled. If you had worked on it, wouldn't you want the fact recorded on your tomb walls so the gods knew you were a dedicated worker? OK, we can't expect the ephemera of that age to still exist, but the fact that a bunch of folks who liked to chisel all manner of stories into rock suggests that some hints about how they did it should appear, not so?

You could read about the papyri discovered by Pierre Tallet.

[mklotz]

You could read about the papyri discovered by Pierre Tallet.

I have already read about Tallet's discoveries. Merer's papyri provide considerable detail about his tasks transporting limestone from Tura to the pyramid building site. However, since he and his men were apparently not involved in the actual construction, no detail about the construction engineering is provided.

How were the blocks processed once delivered? What was done with the spoil? And the most important question, how were the blocks raised and delivered to their eventual resting place in the structure? The Egyptians loved to keep written records; papyri and ostraca include everything from grocery lists to love letters yet no one seems to have thought building the biggest structure on earth important enough to deserve documentation. This absence suggests to me that their religion somehow convinced them that it was bad juju for the king to leave a record of how his tomb was built.

[Toolmaker51]

The Egyptians loved to keep written records; papyri and ostraca include everything from grocery lists to love letters yet no one seems to have thought building the biggest structure on earth important enough to deserve documentation. This absence suggests to me that their religion somehow convinced them that it was bad juju for the king to leave a record of how his tomb was built.

IF boiled down, could other than intended spectacle, pyramid were large safes; to hold the contents indefinitely? That scant records exist is part of that security.
A big old Mosler safe is for sale on craigslist, one of those double door bank grade +5,000 pound beauties. It's in good cosmetic condition but size reduces customer interest. 3 years ago it was $4,500, the average going rate. Last week the owner who knew the combination, passed away.

[Hoosiersmoker]

Dough thickness measured in post-it notes.

While I think an actual measurement would be better here (I actually put a caliper to 9 post-its because... well because) it's roughly .89mm or .035". Not sure why this needs to be so precise for a recipe but at least they identified it as a trademarked measurement... Why not just say 1mm?

On the other hand (they wore a glove), if you peel off 9 post-its and stick them to the full depth of either side of your work surface and roll the dough out between them letting your rolling pin run across the top of the post it notes, it would give you an exact thickness across the dough... of course you have to allow for manufacturing flaws in the rolling pin: Crowned rolling pin, board surface imperfections, uneven rolling pin surface etc, thin rolling pins can deflect and cause uneven thicknesses as well - NIGHTMARE!!!!!. With the proper precision baking instruments though, the post-its would be great but, if you're being precise would you not state the thickness as .035" or .89mm and allow the baker to use their own devices to achieve the desired thickness? For example, 18" long feeler gauges? Precision lathed SS rolling pins with different outer shoulder diameters (Outer shoulder diameters .5, 1, 1.5, 2mm etc or 1/32", 1/16", 3/32", 1/8" etc. Granted you would need a dozen or so just for precision thicknesses, but there you have it. The recipe would then read "Using a number 4 metric rolling pin with a shoulder to rolling surface differential of 2mm, roll one ball of dough..."

[marksbug]

are you mesuring the stickey portion or the non stickey portions??

[Hoosiersmoker]

are you mesuring the stickey portion or the non stickey portions??

Yes...

And how do you get them to stick to a lightly floured surface?

[Hoosiersmoker]

This must be a widely accepted measuring method in Italy...?

[old kodger]

We should see this a very insidious Bruce Kathie in one of his "harmonics" books made the statement that, "by changing the measuring system from feet and inches, to metric, you inhibit the ability of future researchers to do the 'harmonic calculations' because they don't work so well in metric". "thereby you slow down the ability of ordinary people to comprehend time/speed/mass equations" Thus they keep that information in the hands of the selected few. He showed in ( I think it was Harmonic 33 ), that these equations are intimately involved with atomic explosions

[NortonDommi]

Which is why I like having Metric and Imperial systems. Each has its pro's and con's and I have no problem flicking from one to the other. Whatever makes the job at hand easier.

[Frank S]

I've been waiting for an opportunity to post this