Archaeologist May Have Found the First Protractor 78
If physicist Amelia Sparavigna is correct, in addition to frogs, lice, and locusts, Egyptian schoolchildren were also plagued with useless geometry instruments in their new notebooks at the beginning of every school year. A mysterious object was found in the architect Kha's tomb in 1906 and its function has remained the subject of debate ever since. Sparavigna is certain the object is actually the world's first protractor. From the article: "The key, she says, lies in the numbers encoded in the object's ornate decoration,(Pdf) which resembles a compass rose with 16 evenly spaced petals surrounded by a circular zigzag with 36 corners."
Re:Not useless (Score:5, Funny)
That's quite a passionate and protracted argument. I think you covered all the angles.
Re:Not useless (Score:4, Funny)
I couldn't follow the arc of his somewhat obtuse argument, but the poster seems pretty rad and probably has a few advanced degrees.