Egyptian ‘bent’ pyramid dating back 4,600 years opens to public • Hacker News Board

Re: Egyptian ‘bent’ pyramid dating back 4,600 years opens to public

#11

Post by yitosda » Wed, Jul 17, 2019, 7:07 PM UTC

MartianSquirrel wrote: post #7

Circuits wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am sure they are but I like my head where it is so I think I will pass on visiting Egypt and the pyramids.

Which is exactly why I'd rather visit Egypt than the US ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intention... )

Fascinating data. There's a breakdown per-state showing that only eleven states have a lower homicide rate than Egypt.

Looks like Puerto Rico, District of Columbia and Louisiana are the worst as of 2012 (latest the set shows unfortunately). Puerto Rico is an outlier at 2x the next, but District of Columbia has improved massively between 2000 and 2012.

EDIT: This might be a bit misleading. While there is more recent data for the US (up to 2016), there seems to be no reliable data on Egypt post 2012. Additionally, the 2012 number (2.5) represents a 4x /increase/ in homicides since 2003 (0.6). Only 2011 (year of the Egyption revolution) was higher at 3.2. So there's a clear trend towards an increase in homicide rates that might not be accounted for.

That said, I guess it's unlikely that the number is much higher than the US average, even discarding the outliers mentioned above.

Re: Egyptian ‘bent’ pyramid dating back 4,600 years opens to public

#12

Post by EGreg » Wed, Jul 17, 2019, 7:11 PM UTC

Tourists will be allowed inside the ancient structure after archaeologists found “hidden tombs” containing mummies, masks and tools.

Did they miss a NOT? That seems like a strange reason to go from not allowing tourists to allowing them!

Re: Egyptian ‘bent’ pyramid dating back 4,600 years opens to public

#13

Post by mc32 » Wed, Jul 17, 2019, 7:16 PM UTC

jmondi wrote: post #2

Aaand it is destroyed.

I think they have a new antiquities minister/secretary. Remains to be seen if under pressure he might accede to making things more “touristy”.

The previous minister (Hawass) seemingly managed their patrimony reasonably well.

Re: Egyptian ‘bent’ pyramid dating back 4,600 years opens to public

#14

Post by trevyn » Wed, Jul 17, 2019, 7:32 PM UTC

Related, physicist Kurt Mendelssohn’s The Riddle of the Pyramids is a great read. It proposes that the “bent” pyramid has its shape because of the catastrophic collapse of another pyramid being built at the same time, which led to choosing a safer angle for the remaining portion of the bent pyramid.

It took away a lot of the marketing “mystery” of the pyramids for me, instead taking a very practical engineering, scientific, and analytical approach to investigating the pyramid phenomenon.

Re: Egyptian ‘bent’ pyramid dating back 4,600 years opens to public

#15

Post by bordercases » Wed, Jul 17, 2019, 7:36 PM UTC

pastor_elm wrote: post #9

jmondi wrote: post #2

Aaand it is destroyed.

nothing lasts forever

That doesn't mean we have to put the peddle to the gas all the time for every damn thing to decay.

Re: Egyptian ‘bent’ pyramid dating back 4,600 years opens to public

#16

Post by jessriedel » Wed, Jul 17, 2019, 7:38 PM UTC

MartianSquirrel wrote: post #7

Circuits wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am sure they are but I like my head where it is so I think I will pass on visiting Egypt and the pyramids.

Which is exactly why I'd rather visit Egypt than the US ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intention... )

As thaumasiotes points out, the overall homicide rate is not the most relevant when selecting where to be a tourist. For instance, between 2012 and 2015, 15 and 5 British citizens were murdered in the US and Egypt, respectively

https://www.quora.com/How-many-tourists-have-been-murdered-w...

even though ~3M brits visit the US each year but only ~50k visit Egypt. So we can be pretty confident the murder rate for British tourists is at least an order of magnitude larger in Egypt.

Re: Egyptian ‘bent’ pyramid dating back 4,600 years opens to public

#17

Post by retSava » Wed, Jul 17, 2019, 7:42 PM UTC

mc32 wrote: post #13

jmondi wrote: post #2

Aaand it is destroyed.

I think they have a new antiquities minister/secretary. Remains to be seen if under pressure he might accede to making things more “touristy”. The previous minister (Hawass) seemingly managed their patrimony reasonably well.

From all the reporting coming out of Egypt the last couple of years it certainly seems like so - someone has issued a memo to better leverage the heritage for tourism.

Re: Egyptian ‘bent’ pyramid dating back 4,600 years opens to public

#18

Post by scarejunba » Wed, Jul 17, 2019, 7:42 PM UTC

Circuits wrote: post #5

throwaway3627 wrote: post #3

Pyramids are awesome feats of engineering and construction. Also reminds me of the muon detection tech that can probe through solid material. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/ancient/cosmic-ray-muons-...

I am sure they are but I like my head where it is so I think I will pass on visiting Egypt and the pyramids.

Your loss. Quite the amazing sights and sounds.

Re: Egyptian ‘bent’ pyramid dating back 4,600 years opens to public

#19

Post by periya » Wed, Jul 17, 2019, 7:44 PM UTC

Fascinating, is there a site with pictures taken on the inside of the pyramid.

Re: Egyptian ‘bent’ pyramid dating back 4,600 years opens to public

#20

Post by patientplatypus » Wed, Jul 17, 2019, 8:07 PM UTC

Heh -

I've been reading some of Joseph Campbell's Oriental Mythology and he goes into some of the early burial rituals. It's truly fascinating stuff. Did you know that a lot of the early rulers of the area were buried with their entire retinue (10s or 100+ servants) alive? Including sometimes the ruler himself. Gruesome stuff, but also quite fascinating.