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Post by dolphie on Sept 29, 2009 11:28:50 GMT -5
Step out of the General Discussion thread and head on over to the Geeks/Techies thread. raddy posted a tube about Babbage's Difference Engine No. 2 AMAZING - the concept was conceived between 1847-1849 and this manually powered machine can calculate 7th order polynomials with UNERRING accuracy. Plus it not only prints out it creates a stereoplate such that tables can be reproduced accurately. 1847 - 1849!That is just a few decades short of 2 centuries (200 years) There were AMAZING minds back then, in the 1770s, during the times of Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, Michaelangelo, Leonardo di Vinci, etc. AMAZING.... and look at us now - yes, we have creature comforts - but where are the truly AMAZING NEW concepts? We go so fast. The hurrieder we go the slower we get there and the more we miss along the way. Thank you for that, D. I appreciate your observations...they are a good break from the usual partisan bickering... You are welcome - I think? I am usually one of the main bickerers!!!!
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Post by jdredd on Sept 29, 2009 11:37:12 GMT -5
There's a place for partisan bickering...just not 100% of the time!
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Post by dolphie on Sept 29, 2009 11:43:14 GMT -5
There's a place for partisan bickering...just not 100% of the time! Did you go read the thread on Babbage? Amazing. A concept from that era, when put together, is _unerringly_ accurate AND with 7th order polynomials. That is more complex than many today can even contemplate. The kudos go to raddy though - he was the one who posted the video. I just appreciated it.
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Post by johng on Sept 29, 2009 13:04:13 GMT -5
There's a place for partisan bickering...just not 100% of the time! Did you go read the thread on Babbage? Amazing. A concept from that era, when put together, is _unerringly_ accurate AND with 7th order polynomials. That is more complex than many today can even contemplate. The kudos go to raddy though - he was the one who posted the video. I just appreciated it. The mere mention of "7th order polynomials" in the old age thread makes a non partisan agreement we are beyond our time! Thanks.
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Post by dolphie on Sept 29, 2009 13:37:31 GMT -5
Did you go read the thread on Babbage? Amazing. A concept from that era, when put together, is _unerringly_ accurate AND with 7th order polynomials. That is more complex than many today can even contemplate. The kudos go to raddy though - he was the one who posted the video. I just appreciated it. The mere mention of "7th order polynomials" in the old age thread makes a non partisan agreement we are beyond our time! Thanks. Ohhhh... did the mere mention of mathematics scare the widdle bitty old man ? I will be more careful in the future to not scare you oldsters with such things. *GRIN*
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Post by johng on Sept 29, 2009 13:55:41 GMT -5
The mere mention of "7th order polynomials" in the old age thread makes a non partisan agreement we are beyond our time! Thanks. Ohhhh... did the mere mention of mathematics scare the widdle bitty old man ? I will be more careful in the future to not scare you oldsters with such things. *GRIN* That is why we have Computers, calculators and Geeks - yet another dependency we cannot count on
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Post by dolphie on Sept 29, 2009 14:02:59 GMT -5
That is why we have Computers, calculators and Geeks - yet another dependency we cannot count on Hey! Us Geeks is why you have this board to do that thing you call communicatin' !
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Post by jdredd on Sept 29, 2009 14:12:44 GMT -5
There's a place for partisan bickering...just not 100% of the time! Did you go read the thread on Babbage? Amazing. A concept from that era, when put together, is _unerringly_ accurate AND with 7th order polynomials. That is more complex than many today can even contemplate. The kudos go to raddy though - he was the one who posted the video. I just appreciated it. Just proves that even 150 years ago there was stuff going on way beyond my pea brain to understand. Probably true of 1500 and 15000 years ago too.
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Post by johng on Sept 29, 2009 14:33:04 GMT -5
Did you go read the thread on Babbage? Amazing. A concept from that era, when put together, is _unerringly_ accurate AND with 7th order polynomials. That is more complex than many today can even contemplate. The kudos go to raddy though - he was the one who posted the video. I just appreciated it. Just proves that even 150 years ago there was stuff going on way beyond my pea brain to understand. Probably true of 1500 and 15000 years ago too. Shhsh ***wink**** you are the smarter of all as you "slime" out of any corner with ease
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Post by jdredd on Sept 29, 2009 14:34:24 GMT -5
Just proves that even 150 years ago there was stuff going on way beyond my pea brain to understand. Probably true of 1500 and 15000 years ago too. Shhsh ***wink**** you are the smarter of all as you "slime" out of any corner with ease Why thank you, JG. I try.
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Post by IrishMike on Oct 1, 2009 18:28:04 GMT -5
I don't consider my self old yet but I have noticed my frontal lobe must be maturing because I seem to view things a lot differently than I did at 25,also my interest in politics has risen to a level I never knew I had.I guess I can thank Obama for this keen interest in our political process.Thanks Obama,lol.
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Post by johng on Oct 1, 2009 18:34:50 GMT -5
I don't consider my self old yet but I have noticed my frontal lobe must be maturing because I seem to view things a lot differently than I did at 25,also my interest in politics has risen to a level I never knew I had.I guess I can thank Obama for this keen interest in our political process.Thanks Obama,lol. Isn't that the way it goes and just think Obama was really targeting that 25 and under crowd! Surprise.
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Post by EscapeHatch on Oct 3, 2009 9:11:21 GMT -5
An absurd truth about growing older is that you get a running start at it when you are younger. Why do we rush into it?
I was much younger than I am now when I was born. Who wasn't, right? We all like to say that life was simpler then. People have said that since the dawn of time. The truth was, we were just simpler when we were younger. Somehow, simple minds end up wiser. Well, ususally.
It was once said that youth is wasted on the young. I'd say that is certainly true. It's also true that the young waste their time trying to be older. Remember when you wanted people to think you were older than you really were? Young people have no sense of time, and so, they waste it trying to be older than they are.
Most of life is lived in the in-between ages. Time mysteriously passes at different rates. It flies when your having fun and drags when you're not. There are pills for that, so I am told. Those are the years when all people are Russians. They are Russian here, Russian there and rushing into another age.
I have reached an age where I realize that there are people that grew old, but, never grew up. I am not sure I like being able to know this. I know a very old guy that, throughout my life, I thought was really cool. He just finshed his VW dune buggy that he started working on in 1985. Now that I am older, I realize I am older than he is. How messed up is that?
I have always intended to live forever, or die trying. I am not old enough to really "know" the folly of that kind of thinking, but, I am beginning to see that it is unwise to be so full of wisdom every minute of the day. At least I've come to realize that growing old really isn't a problem. You just have to live long enough.
I suppose that, when the time comes, I too will lie to young people about how things were when I was young. You know, walking barefooted five miles in the snow to get to school- and liking it. And how I was around when there were no astronauts and girls actually hated frogs. I'm not planning on it. Just sayin.
I got an email from my first wife the other day. She reminded me about a clause in our divorce papers. It said she gets 10% of all of the possessions we had jointly that I kept after I pass on. I plan on being cremated and having someone send her 10% of my ashes. I figure that squares me with the world.
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Post by johng on Oct 3, 2009 13:04:26 GMT -5
Some would say - "Had we given them that 10% when it counted..." but then if working 3 jobs and going to college at night wasn't giving enough they can bury me upside down so the whole world can kiss my keyster!
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Post by jdredd on Oct 3, 2009 14:19:48 GMT -5
Fortunately, I've been lucky enough (or my wife has been stupid enough) that I don't have an ex wandering around. From what I've heard it's not much fun...
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