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LEGO ideas

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  LEGO ideas ray carter <ray@zianet.com> - 2015-12-21 21:33 +0000
    Re: LEGO ideas Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> - 2015-12-22 01:02 +0000
      Re: LEGO ideas Michael J. Mahon <mjmahon@aol.com> - 2015-12-21 23:39 -0600
        Re: LEGO ideas andrew@cucumber.demon.co.uk (Andrew Gabriel) - 2015-12-23 13:05 +0000
      Re: LEGO ideas neverland@GOODEVEca.net (Pete) - 2015-12-22 06:48 +0000
        free case survey is it legit..seems to just ask for name address phone etc only looks fishy for the wdcpihd mrbrad <lostgonzo@gmail.com> - 2015-12-22 00:52 -0600
      Re: LEGO ideas "Dave Liquorice" <allsortsnotthisbit@howhill.com> - 2015-12-22 11:36 +0000
      Re: LEGO ideas ray carter <ray@zianet.com> - 2015-12-22 15:53 +0000
        Re: LEGO ideas Roger Bell_West <roger+csrp201512@nospam.firedrake.org> - 2015-12-22 16:07 +0000
          Re: LEGO ideas Another Dave <dmarsden@nospam.com> - 2015-12-27 10:03 +0000
      Re: LEGO ideas Alister <alister.ware@ntlworld.com> - 2015-12-22 16:11 +0000

#10173 — LEGO ideas

You may find this proposal for a Lovelace & Babbage LEGO set interesting. 
It is also built to house a RPi if one so desires.

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/102740

If you like it, you might 'support' it - no obligation, but I'd sure like 
to see it register 10000 hits (over 7000 already).

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#10174

On Mon, 21 Dec 2015 21:33:29 +0000, ray carter wrote:

> You may find this proposal for a Lovelace & Babbage LEGO set
> interesting.
> It is also built to house a RPi if one so desires.
> 
> https://ideas.lego.com/projects/102740
> 
> If you like it, you might 'support' it - no obligation, but I'd sure
> like to see it register 10000 hits (over 7000 already).

That is just 3D bullshit to me, regardless of whether it houses an RPi or 
not, because AFAICT its merely models a cutesy and very low resolution 
external view of what a Babbage engine might have looked like.

If the project was to use Lego to let any interested person build a 
working mechanical analogue of a Babbage Analytical Engine (or even a 
Difference Engine) it would have value, but as it apparently makes no 
attempt to do that its just junk.

NOTE: when it was first completed, the Science Museum used to demonstrate 
their Difference Engine in operation. But, now its encased in a close-
fitting glass box it can't be run because there's no space to turn its 
crank, let alone input settings or take and read its output. As there is 
no published schedule for periodically opening the box and operating the 
Engine I conclude that nobody will ever again see it in operation. Last 
time I looked, there was no description of The Method of Differences on 
which it is based anywhere near it. From this I conclude that the Science 
Museum doesn't give a flying fuck whether anybody should be able to 
understand how it works and therefore fails utterly to fulfil its mission 
of informing and educating the public on this topic. 

This ridiculous Lego project, as it stands, serves to further trivialise 
Babbage's work.


-- 
martin@   | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org       |

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#10175

Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> wrote:
> On Mon, 21 Dec 2015 21:33:29 +0000, ray carter wrote:
> 
>> You may find this proposal for a Lovelace & Babbage LEGO set
>> interesting.
>> It is also built to house a RPi if one so desires.
>> 
>> https://ideas.lego.com/projects/102740
>> 
>> If you like it, you might 'support' it - no obligation, but I'd sure
>> like to see it register 10000 hits (over 7000 already).
> 
> That is just 3D bullshit to me, regardless of whether it houses an RPi or 
> not, because AFAICT its merely models a cutesy and very low resolution 
> external view of what a Babbage engine might have looked like.
> 
> If the project was to use Lego to let any interested person build a 
> working mechanical analogue of a Babbage Analytical Engine (or even a 
> Difference Engine) it would have value, but as it apparently makes no 
> attempt to do that its just junk.
> 
> NOTE: when it was first completed, the Science Museum used to demonstrate 
> their Difference Engine in operation. But, now its encased in a close-
> fitting glass box it can't be run because there's no space to turn its 
> crank, let alone input settings or take and read its output. As there is 
> no published schedule for periodically opening the box and operating the 
> Engine I conclude that nobody will ever again see it in operation. Last 
> time I looked, there was no description of The Method of Differences on 
> which it is based anywhere near it. From this I conclude that the Science 
> Museum doesn't give a flying fuck whether anybody should be able to 
> understand how it works and therefore fails utterly to fulfil its mission 
> of informing and educating the public on this topic. 
> 
> This ridiculous Lego project, as it stands, serves to further trivialise 
> Babbage's work.
> 
> 

Fortunately the other Difference Engine reproduction is at the Computer
History Museum in Mountain View, California, and it is operational and
regularly demonstrated. 
-- 
-michael - NadaNet 3.1 and AppleCrate II:  http://michaeljmahon.com

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#10197

In article <VvidnT-d-KG7f-XLnZ2dnUVZ5vEAAAAA@giganews.com>,
	Michael J. Mahon <mjmahon@aol.com> writes:
> Fortunately the other Difference Engine reproduction is at the Computer
> History Museum in Mountain View, California, and it is operational and
> regularly demonstrated. 

Not only that, but when I saw it, the chap demoing it went
through a worked example of the polynomial solving.

Sorry to hear we don't bother doing this with the one in the UK.

-- 
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

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#10176

In article <n5a7f5$mao$1@dont-email.me>,
Martin Gregorie  <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> wrote:
>
>NOTE: when it was first completed, the Science Museum used to demonstrate 
>their Difference Engine in operation. But, now its encased in a close-
>fitting glass box it can't be run because there's no space to turn its 
>crank, let alone input settings or take and read its output.

Maybe they got tired of repairing it... (:-/)  Last time I saw it
demonstrated [long ago), they turned the crank, there was a "sproing",
and a piece of one of the cams flew off!  End of demo.

[Maybe the one im Mountain View benefits from being the second model]

	-- Pete --

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#10177 — free case survey is it legit..seems to just ask for name address phone etc only looks fishy for the wdcpihd

just wondering if below is a scam or not?

 > Happy Holidays!
 >
 > Thank you for filling out our survey about your WD PiDrive kit, we
 > sincerely appreciate your feedback and insights. To those who filled out
 > our survey, we want to ensure that you receive the free Enclosure for
 > your WD PiDrive and Raspberry Pi as promised!
 >
 > To receive your enclosure, fill out this quick survey (link below) with
 > your preferred mailing address and contact information *_by next Friday
 > 12/25_*. We will start shipping after the holidays.
 >
 > Fill out your mailing information here:
 > https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LWQ7MDG
 > 
<http://tr.subscribermail.com/cc.cfm?sendto=https%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Esurveymonkey%2Ecom%2Fr%2FLWQ7MDG&tempid=6be09d9f4156437f8de1f1a8d1df0917&mailid=4f14c30a2f654c0c9b17f1a8d1df0917>
 >
 > Please feel free to contact us at wdlabsassistant@wdc.com
 > <mailto:wdlabsassistant@wdc.com> if you have any questions or concerns!
 >
 > Thank you,
 > The WDLabs Team


again survey just seems to be name/ship/phone etc

brad

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

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#10180

On Tue, 22 Dec 2015 01:02:29 -0000 (UTC), Martin Gregorie wrote:

> NOTE: when it was first completed, the Science Museum used to 
> demonstrate their Difference Engine in operation. But, now its encased 
> in a close-fitting glass box it can't be run because there's no space to 
> turn its crank, let alone input settings or take and read its output.

Sounds suspiciously like the funding has run out. A great wodge of
money is granted to build the thing, the demonstrate/maintain it for,
say, a year. After that it's up to the museum to fund the
demo/maintenance, money it hasn't got.

> Museum doesn't give a flying fuck whether anybody should be able to 
> understand how it works and therefore fails utterly to fulfil its 
> mission of informing and educating the public on this topic. 

"Old school" museum thinking, however it is a museum not a
"discovery" place. I remember going to the Science Museum in London
as a lad, all of the glass cased, press button for demo, exhibits
worked and there was a good explantion of what the "thing" was doing.
Went a decade or two later, most of the pres button for demo things
didn't work...

A few years back went to the Manchester Museum of Science and
Industry. Some interesting exhibts, particularly in the broadcast
section, but very little information about them "Used by BBC
Manchester in Studio 4" was about it. But then that might be because
I used to use, in anger, a significant number of the exhibits...

-- 
Cheers
Dave.

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#10184

On Tue, 22 Dec 2015 01:02:29 +0000, Martin Gregorie wrote:

> On Mon, 21 Dec 2015 21:33:29 +0000, ray carter wrote:
> 
>> You may find this proposal for a Lovelace & Babbage LEGO set
>> interesting.
>> It is also built to house a RPi if one so desires.
>> 
>> https://ideas.lego.com/projects/102740
>> 
>> If you like it, you might 'support' it - no obligation, but I'd sure
>> like to see it register 10000 hits (over 7000 already).
> 
> That is just 3D bullshit to me, regardless of whether it houses an RPi
> or not, because AFAICT its merely models a cutesy and very low
> resolution external view of what a Babbage engine might have looked
> like.
> 
> If the project was to use Lego to let any interested person build a
> working mechanical analogue of a Babbage Analytical Engine (or even a
> Difference Engine) it would have value, but as it apparently makes no
> attempt to do that its just junk.
> 
> NOTE: when it was first completed, the Science Museum used to
> demonstrate their Difference Engine in operation. But, now its encased
> in a close- fitting glass box it can't be run because there's no space
> to turn its crank, let alone input settings or take and read its output.
> As there is no published schedule for periodically opening the box and
> operating the Engine I conclude that nobody will ever again see it in
> operation. Last time I looked, there was no description of The Method of
> Differences on which it is based anywhere near it. From this I conclude
> that the Science Museum doesn't give a flying fuck whether anybody
> should be able to understand how it works and therefore fails utterly to
> fulfil its mission of informing and educating the public on this topic.
> 
> This ridiculous Lego project, as it stands, serves to further trivialise
> Babbage's work.

I'm sorry you're so upset about the concept. I view it as a way to get 
LEGO to acknowledge that some RPi projects might be worthwhile pursuing 
as well as a tribute to Babbage and Lovelace. It seems rather impractical 
to expect them to market a full working model.

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#10186

On 2015-12-22, ray carter wrote:
>It seems rather impractical to expect them to market a full working
>model.

That's been done, anyway:

http://acarol.woz.org/LegoDifferenceEngine.html

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#10285

On 22/12/15 16:07, Roger Bell_West wrote:
> On 2015-12-22, ray carter wrote:
>> It seems rather impractical to expect them to market a full working
>> model.
>
> That's been done, anyway:
>
> http://acarol.woz.org/LegoDifferenceEngine.html
>

Wonderful and relevant. I prefer the Meccano one though.

http://www.meccano.us/difference_engines/rde_1/

Another Dave

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#10188

On 22/12/15 01:02, Martin Gregorie wrote:
> On Mon, 21 Dec 2015 21:33:29 +0000, ray carter wrote:
>
>> You may find this proposal for a Lovelace & Babbage LEGO set
>> interesting.
>> It is also built to house a RPi if one so desires.
>>
>> https://ideas.lego.com/projects/102740
>>
>> If you like it, you might 'support' it - no obligation, but I'd sure
>> like to see it register 10000 hits (over 7000 already).
>
> That is just 3D bullshit to me, regardless of whether it houses an RPi or
> not, because AFAICT its merely models a cutesy and very low resolution
> external view of what a Babbage engine might have looked like.
>
> If the project was to use Lego to let any interested person build a
> working mechanical analogue of a Babbage Analytical Engine (or even a
> Difference Engine) it would have value, but as it apparently makes no
> attempt to do that its just junk.
>
> NOTE: when it was first completed, the Science Museum used to demonstrate
> their Difference Engine in operation. But, now its encased in a close-
> fitting glass box it can't be run because there's no space to turn its
> crank, let alone input settings or take and read its output. As there is
> no published schedule for periodically opening the box and operating the
> Engine I conclude that nobody will ever again see it in operation. Last
> time I looked, there was no description of The Method of Differences on
> which it is based anywhere near it. From this I conclude that the Science
> Museum doesn't give a flying fuck whether anybody should be able to
> understand how it works and therefore fails utterly to fulfil its mission
> of informing and educating the public on this topic.
>
> This ridiculous Lego project, as it stands, serves to further trivialise
> Babbage's work.
>
>
A Very harsh response considering this is supposed to be for Children! 
(Last time a looked Lego was classified as a toy).

Anything that makes children aware of our computing history has to be a 
good thing & I often found it advantageous if you can educate them 
"through the back door" whilst they are playing

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