tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post7037108813474565226..comments2024-03-28T10:08:38.560-04:00Comments on The Adventures of Roberta X: This Is How Far We Have ComeRoberta Xhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09956807794520627885noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-79739128698327054632010-11-14T11:56:05.747-05:002010-11-14T11:56:05.747-05:00Far too ate to be true Steampunk, but still...BeHo...Far too ate to be true Steampunk, but still...<a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/article/welcome-machine" rel="nofollow">BeHoLD THe MONIAC | zero hedge</a>Dranghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08082177597135236652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-56276285943791855592010-11-14T11:04:42.574-05:002010-11-14T11:04:42.574-05:00The video should be titled "Steampunk Borg&qu...The video should be titled "Steampunk Borg".Ed Skinnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09332424242231481277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-59213215104810931982010-11-14T10:46:25.162-05:002010-11-14T10:46:25.162-05:00Ken: oh, my yes! It's delightful!
Black...Ken: oh, my yes! It's delightful!<br /><br /> Blackwing1: Originally "Tunnel Through The Deeps," I first read it serialized in used bookstore back-issues of <i>Analog</i>, complete with delightful illustrations and I was utterly charmed. Went looking for more of the same -- very thin on the ground, those days.Roberta Xhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09956807794520627885noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-64732663762836316482010-11-14T10:23:38.318-05:002010-11-14T10:23:38.318-05:00You guys have to be reading 2D Goggles, right? Bab...You guys <i>have</i> to be reading 2D Goggles, right? Babbage, Lady Lovelace, <i>and</i> Brunel.<br /><br />(2dgoggles daht com)Kenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04780425923108876647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-13571996169680733462010-11-14T10:10:35.406-05:002010-11-14T10:10:35.406-05:00Good programmers gotta eat, too...
Since I'm ...Good programmers gotta eat, too...<br /><br />Since I'm on kind of a Google Books kick lately, here are some Google ebooks by or about Babbage:<br /><a href="http://www.google.com/search?tbs=bks%3A1&tbo=1&q=babbage&btnG=Search+Books#sclient=psy&hl=en&tbo=1&tbs=bks:1&q=charles+babbage&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&pbx=1&fp=16f35626202e765e" rel="nofollow">charles babbage - Google Search</a><br />And, what the heck? Here's Google Books' collection on Ada Lovelace: <a href="http://www.google.com/search?tbs=bks%3A1&tbo=1&q=babbage&btnG=Search+Books#sclient=psy&hl=en&tbo=1&tbs=bks:1&q=ada+lovelace&aq=0&aqi=g4g-o1&aql=&oq=ada+&gs_rfai=&pbx=1&fp=16f35626202e765e" rel="nofollow">ada lovelace - Google Search</a>Dranghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08082177597135236652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-31134110669347203302010-11-14T10:09:05.927-05:002010-11-14T10:09:05.927-05:00My hero is still Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the hero...My hero is still Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the hero of the railways.<br /><br />Have you ever read Harry Harrison's, "A Trans-Atlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!"? It's sort of a fore-runner to the current steam-punk stuff. An alt-history in which the Colonials lost the War of Rebellion, and one of George Washington's direct descendants is a great railway engineer.<br /><br />Babbage's engine is mentioned briefly in it.Blackwing1noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-60346248444350670392010-11-14T09:19:10.348-05:002010-11-14T09:19:10.348-05:00John, I'd argue against that reading. If Bill...John, I'd argue against that reading. If Bill Gates had fallen (deeply) into that trap, he'd've never mad a dime from a single line of code, other than by accident, and he'd never released any product; there'd be clever snippets of his work used by everyone else but probably nothing complete.<br /><br /> The Gates/DOS/Windows story teaches us something else: even kludgey code that does what the greatest number of paying users want in a way they can use it without having to learn a lot about the mechanics, will always beat elegant but harder to use competition. Especially if the kludge arrives with a lot more software.<br /><br /> It is just about backwards to everything that makes a really good programmer happy.Roberta Xhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09956807794520627885noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-8457821588675693292010-11-14T08:27:36.139-05:002010-11-14T08:27:36.139-05:00"...you end up playing with what the machine ..."...you end up playing with what the machine can do instead of making it actually do what it actually ought..."<br /><br />Bill Gates made billions using that simple precept as a business model. <br /><br />All you need is a gullible market and some attractive-even if accidentally created-product.<br /><br />No matter that nobody needs it.<br /><br />As a further incentive, it's also monument to the genius of the inventor, until it's eclipsed by next month's newest invention.John Peddie (Toronto)noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-5655564885455101782010-11-14T05:01:39.256-05:002010-11-14T05:01:39.256-05:00That was the kewlest thing I've seen in a whil...That was the kewlest thing I've seen in a while.Timmeehhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14947474034421954929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-37470271076883801802010-11-14T01:35:40.707-05:002010-11-14T01:35:40.707-05:00This one I must read again in the AM with a full h...This one I must read again in the AM with a full head of caffeine. There is something important here.<br /><br />JimAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-60371680686388100432010-11-13T22:09:13.961-05:002010-11-13T22:09:13.961-05:00That video made me giggle like an idiot.
Thank yo...That video made me giggle like an idiot.<br /><br />Thank you.Alanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18382683082580500698noreply@blogger.com