Random Thought of the Day

Quote:

When researchers in North Dakota set up "nest cams" over the nests of song birds, they expected to see a lot of nestlings and eggs get taken by ground squirrels, foxes, and badgers. Squirrels hit thirteen nests, but other meat-eaters made a poor showing. Foxes and weasels only took one nest each. Know what fearsome animal out-did either of those two sleek, resourceful predators?

White-tailed deer.

These supposed herbivores placidly ate living nestlings right out of the nest. And if you're thinking that it must be a mistake, that the deer were chewing their way through some vegetation and happened to get a mouthful of bird, think again. Up in Canada, a group of ornithologists were studying adult birds. In order to examine them closely, the researchers used "mist-nets." These nets, usually draped between trees, are designed to trap birds or bats gently so they could be collected, studied, and released. When a herd of deer came by, they deer walked up to the struggling birds and ate them alive, right out of the nets.

This behavior is not limited to one species or one continent. Last year, a farmer in India made a video of a cow eating a recently-hatched chick.

[...]

The famous line from The Simpsons might be accurate - If a cow ever got the chance, he'd eat you and everyone you ever cared about.

Maybe they should just start running over those cows in India.

http://io9.com/field-cameras-catch-deer-eating-birds-wait-why-do-deer-1689440870

Quote: Face

Three men go fishing.

since you say you aren't into math, this makes me think this happened to you LOL

difficulty level 2?

difficulty level 4 if you are required to turn it into an equation that will work

not that I tried to figure it out

What I regard as the greatest mystery of Ancient Egypt is this: Why wasn't Tutankhamen's tomb robbed?

Quote: Nareed

What I regard as the greatest mystery of Ancient Egypt is this: Why wasn't Tutankhamen's tomb robbed?

Just off the top of my head I think the kinks realized that maybe a pyramid marking where all the riches are was not a good idea.
I am under the impression all the kings after the pyramids realized a hidden tomb better then a pyramid telling all the grave robbers here are the riches

Quote: terapined

Just off the top of my head I think the kinks realized that maybe a pyramid marking where all the riches are was not a good idea.
I am under the impression all the kings after the pyramids realized a hidden tomb better then a pyramid telling all the grave robbers here are the riches

Kings, and Queens too, built many styles of tombs all over the country. Pyramids were built in many places as well (Sakkara and Giza being the best known). By the New Kingdom, most royal tombs were located in the Valley of the Kings. That's where Tutankhamen's was found.

The valley was guarded for some centuries. Even so, just about all the tombs were eventually robbed. Many had secret chambers, many had other security features (such as massive stones blocking the mortuary chamber), and so on.

Most robbers were probably the builders, the workmen who carried out the actual construction. They'd know where things were and how to get at them. And even with guards around, many would be working on other tombs often.

Tomb robbing got so bad, latter pharaohs moved the mummies of their predecessors to safer places. One cache of royal mummies was famously found early in the XX Century, shortly before Carter found King Tut's Tomb.

Supposedly Tutankhamun wasn't very important in life in comparison to his peers, and was buried in a smaller tomb than he was entitled too, and apparently they even threw diggings from other nearby tombs covering up his tomb. And his tomb was robbed twice but they took oils and perfumes. Maybe gold prices were really deflated when he was robbed!!!

That's all from Wiki -- so don't know how reliable that information is.

Wasn't Tut's tomb covered by a lot more sand
for a very long time? That and they didn't know
it was there, or where it was if they did know.
A combination of the three is the answer.

Quote: rxwine

Supposedly Tutankhamun wasn't very important in life in comparison to his peers, and was buried in a smaller tomb than he was entitled too,

Oh, he was one of the most unimportant kings of Egypt. But a very interesting one.

He was the son of Akhenaton, the heretic king. See, Akhenaton abolished the cults of all gods, save the Aton, the god of the Sun's disk. he declared Aton to be the only true god, and to be abstract. He then moved out of Thebes to a place known now as Al-Amarna. Tutankhamen's name originally was Tutankhaton. He married his sister Ankhasunamun (the spellings may be all wrong), whose original name, as you might have guessed by now, was Ankhasunaton.

When Akhenaton died, the old religion was restored, and most references to Akhenaton's were removed. His name was struck from plenty of places. The names of his heirs were changed. The community at Al Amarna was abandoned.

Tutankhamen ascended to the throne when very young. he died very young, around 18 to 20 if memory serves, and very unexpectedly. There is reason to suppose he was murdered by his vizier, a man named Ay, who happened to succeed him in the throne.

Egyptian ritual provided for 70 days for mourning. After that, the young king had to go into his tomb. So it was hastily prepared and furnished. Making the measures taken to hide it either more remarkable or serendipitous, depending on whether they were done on purpose or by accident.

Tutankhamun's name was also nearly obliterated, as was Ay's later on. His name was discovered only a few decades before his tomb. had things been reversed, we'd have found a tomb of an unknown pharaoh.

BTW the names of Egyptian kings almost always contained the name of a god. I forget what Tutankhamen means, but it contains the name of the god "Amun" and I know "ankh" means life or eternal life.

A more common name, for pharaohs, nobles and commoners alike, used the god's name and the suffix "hotep" meaning "is pleased" or "is satisfied." Therefore names like Mantuhotep, Amunhotep, etc.

But things are more complicated than that. An Egyptian king had five names: the given name, the royal name, the Golden Horus name, the Two Ladies name and the Horus name. Usually they are known by given name and/or royal name. The other names coming up only when relevant.

One thing I enjoy about Egypt is that names carry meanings, and are bestowed often because of their meaning.

An exception to the god in the name was Sneferu, whose name means "The one who builds beautiful things." This is most appropriate, as he was the impetus behind Egypt's first true pyramid, the Red Pyramid at Sakkara (after two failed pyramids, no less).

Quote: odiousgambit

since you say you aren't into math, this makes me think this happened to you LOL

difficulty level 2?

difficulty level 4 if you are required to turn it into an equation that will work

not that I tried to figure it out

It was the puzzler on the last Car Talk I listened to.

Hearing it gave me that feeling of utter emptiness, not even a mote of a clue of where to begin. Then hearing the solution and the relatively simple equation gave me one of those forehead slapping moments.

I just wondered how easy it is for those with math ability