“Ancient Mayan city” discovered by teen may in fact be cannabis crop • Hacker News Board

Re: “Ancient Mayan city” discovered by teen may in fact be cannabis crop

#11

Post by danso » Fri, May 13, 2016, 3:33 AM UTC

Maybe the link should be changed to Gizmodo instead of "BBC Trending" (which seems to be the linkbait division of BBC)...Gizmodo has much more detail and original reporting, e.g. contacting the Canadian Space Agency for comment:

http://gizmodo.com/experts-doubt-that-a-teen-found-a-lost-ma...

FWIW, the CSA doesn't seem to have much of an explanation...

> We asked De Lisle to respond to the claims made by experts that this is “junk science,” and that the objects in the satellite photos are probably abandoned milpas. To which he responded: “The area of interest covers more than 78 square kilometers, and many linear features that appear manmade are visible from space.” Which is not much of an answer.

If the Maya ruins end up being nothing, I think this story is a great example of how silly it is to think of science as one monolithic entity, where every scientist automatically has a clue about fields far outside of their expertise. The CSA were likely impressed with the kid's tracking of the stars...there's no reason to think the CSA has any expertise in what an actual Maya city looks like.

Re: “Ancient Mayan city” discovered by teen may in fact be cannabis crop

#12

Post by fleitz » Fri, May 13, 2016, 3:57 AM UTC

danso wrote: post #11

Maybe the link should be changed to Gizmodo instead of "BBC Trending" (which seems to be the linkbait division of BBC)...Gizmodo has much more detail and original reporting, e.g. contacting the Canadian Space Agency for comment: http://gizmodo.com/experts-doubt-that-a-teen-found-a-lost-ma... FWIW, the CSA doesn't seem to have much of an explanation... > We asked De Lisle to respond to the claims made by experts that…

Science is a method, I don't understand why 'science' is all lumped together anymore than mechanics and carpenters being 'hammer users'

Re: “Ancient Mayan city” discovered by teen may in fact be cannabis crop

#13

Post by readams » Fri, May 13, 2016, 4:09 AM UTC

The claim that it's a cannabis field is at least as unsupportable as any other claims. It's a throwaway comment in the article, and frankly considering the remoteness of the location seems very unlikely.

Re: “Ancient Mayan city” discovered by teen may in fact be cannabis crop

#14

Post by ps4fanboy » Fri, May 13, 2016, 4:21 AM UTC

You can see it on google maps using these co-ords (4.20, -4.20)

Re: “Ancient Mayan city” discovered by teen may in fact be cannabis crop

#15

Post by neat » Fri, May 13, 2016, 4:49 AM UTC

neat

Re: “Ancient Mayan city” discovered by teen may in fact be cannabis crop

#16

Post by nathancahill » Fri, May 13, 2016, 4:51 AM UTC

You could literally throw a dart at a map of the Yucatan/Northern Central America and it would land on an "Ancient Mayan city". I grew up there, and our house was built on top of Maya ruins, we'd find hundreds of ruins in the surrounding mountains. We used to dig up full ceramic bowls and a ton of obsidian in the garden.

The hype around this kid is amazing.

Re: “Ancient Mayan city” discovered by teen may in fact be cannabis crop

#17

Post by themartorana » Fri, May 13, 2016, 4:53 AM UTC

spraak wrote: post #9

> "The whole thing is a mess - a terrible example of junk science hitting the internet in free-fall," wrote Dr David Stuart Wouldn't it actually be an excellent example of 'junk science hitting the internet in free-fall' ?

"I'm in terrible pain."

Re: “Ancient Mayan city” discovered by teen may in fact be cannabis crop

#18

Post by themartorana » Fri, May 13, 2016, 5:00 AM UTC

ps4fanboy wrote: post #14

You can see it on google maps using these co-ords (4.20, -4.20)

I, just for a second, almost opened Google Maps. I feel shame.

Re: “Ancient Mayan city” discovered by teen may in fact be cannabis crop

#19

Post by captaintacos » Fri, May 13, 2016, 5:01 AM UTC

ps4fanboy wrote: post #14

You can see it on google maps using these co-ords (4.20, -4.20)

The coordinates you posted point to the sea off the coast of Cote d'Ivoire...

The actual coordinates are these: 17.9447247, -90.1666302

And by the way, I also noticed that no news outlet seems to even bother to post the coordinates.

Re: “Ancient Mayan city” discovered by teen may in fact be cannabis crop

#20

Post by azernik » Fri, May 13, 2016, 5:03 AM UTC

nathancahill wrote: post #16

You could literally throw a dart at a map of the Yucatan/Northern Central America and it would land on an "Ancient Mayan city". I grew up there, and our house was built on top of Maya ruins, we'd find hundreds of ruins in the surrounding mountains. We used to dig up full ceramic bowls and a ton of obsidian in the garden. The hype around this kid is amazing.

Like Roman stuff in the Middle East. It's interesting when something pops up that's particularly well preserved, but that they were here is not a particular surprise.