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jlf1961 -> RE: Who figures this stuff out? (12/29/2008 3:16:12 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Hippiekinkster
Well, that's enlightening. Not the point. Who figured out how to make glass? Who figured out the crossbow? I mean, the progression from a bow to a crossbow isn't exactly obvious (too me, anyway). Who figured out how to make gunpowder? They just sat around combining shit and igniting it? Stoners?
See what I mean?
Actually, from the evidence, the asian branch of the species homo sapians, from which we, homo sapian sapians discovered that when certain types of manure (a common source for fuel for fires) were mixed and ignited, it exploded.
As the culture advanced from stone age to civilization, which by the way in asia was in the Indus river valley, these people took the trick with them and settled in China.
The crossbow did not evolve from the bow, but descended from the roman scorpion, which was discovered by the greeks who used it on thier ships to fire prehistoric napalm at enemy ships.
As for glass, that was simple deductive reasoning, volcanic and meteor impact glass had been long used as gem stones. What happened was Hero (or Heron) of Alexandria studied the areas where these gems were found (he designed the first steam device, and rigged up a bunch of special effects for priests to prove the roman gods were still in power, not the christian one) and discovered that if you heated sand, you ended up with crude glass.
So, the theory had been around for sometime, the 'gems' were used in trade along the silk road, and then the chinese got ahold of them, and they figured out how to make opaque glass panes and net floats.
The Japanese took the process still further and developed the first practical windows, sometime around 500AD, from there it made its way back along the silk road to Europe in time for the dark ages to lose it, then find it again in time for the building of the great gothic cathedrals.
Is there anything else I can help you with?
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