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Author Topic: Sean thinks stuff !!!!!The last invention you totally understood ?  (Read 906 times)

Sean

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What was it ..and I mean every part of the process/mechanism etc

..for David Bowie it was 'the fountain pen'

flyingmice

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Sean thinks stuff !!!!!The last invention you totally understood ?
« Reply #1 on: April 01, 2008, 03:00:40 PM »
Quote from: Sean
What was it ..and I mean every part of the process/mechanism etc

..for David Bowie it was 'the fountain pen'


Mmmm... I'm pretty technical, so... laser range finder/target designators? GPS real-time mapping? Sonic lithotripty? X-ray fluorsescence provenance determination of archaeological artifacts? It's pretty current whatever it is.

-clash
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Sean

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Sean thinks stuff !!!!!The last invention you totally understood ?
« Reply #2 on: April 01, 2008, 03:13:33 PM »
:jaw-dropping:

Spike

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Sean thinks stuff !!!!!The last invention you totally understood ?
« Reply #3 on: April 01, 2008, 04:46:52 PM »
I'm not sure I understand the question.  Though I will admit to getting Clash's answer.

Are you suggesting that there are people out there that find things more technical than a fountain pen beyond their simple minds and they accept it as 'magic' as much as anything else?

 if so I should be doing the googly eyes thing, not you. :raise:
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Sean

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Sean thinks stuff !!!!!The last invention you totally understood ?
« Reply #4 on: April 01, 2008, 05:02:02 PM »
Spike, there are people who don't understand how a rainbow works, let alone a simple camera or a cathode ray tube ?

arminius

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Sean thinks stuff !!!!!The last invention you totally understood ?
« Reply #5 on: April 01, 2008, 05:08:58 PM »
I'm pretty confident that I could fully understand a number of 19th-century/Edison-stage inventions and maybe even build some of them myself. Incandescent light. Phonograph. Telegraph. Motion-picture projector (though not a talkie). Telephone. A/C generator.

For the stuff that clash mentions I have a general understanding of the principles but there are ingredients on which they depend that I couldn't replicate even on paper. Like, the idea of a laser rangefinder is simple, but I don't completely understand how a laser itself works.

But velcro's pretty recent and I understand its operation--I just couldn't begin to say how to manufacture it.

Rob Lang

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Sean thinks stuff !!!!!The last invention you totally understood ?
« Reply #6 on: April 02, 2008, 04:35:25 AM »
I had to google some of Clash's and I'm pretty technical too.

The last thing I understood was an Artificial Intelligence algorithm called Temporal Plastic Self Organising Maps. Everything from memory management in the computer through the the results.

Most of my day job of programming involves me using libraries so although I understand the nitty gritty of computing and I understand coding, there is a huge grey area inbetween.

Koltar

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Sean thinks stuff !!!!!The last invention you totally understood ?
« Reply #7 on: April 02, 2008, 05:10:29 AM »
Roll vs Gadgeteer skill......


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Cthy

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Sean thinks stuff !!!!!The last invention you totally understood ?
« Reply #8 on: April 02, 2008, 05:18:38 AM »
Do you need to know how something works just to use it?
Your current safe boundaries were once unknown frontiers.

Caesar Slaad

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Sean thinks stuff !!!!!The last invention you totally understood ?
« Reply #9 on: April 02, 2008, 10:22:42 AM »
I'm an engineer.

I know more about inane crap like "PCI bridge chips" than I ever wanted to know.
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Spike

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Sean thinks stuff !!!!!The last invention you totally understood ?
« Reply #10 on: April 02, 2008, 02:17:37 PM »
I mean, I can't claim to know every bit of every peice of technology I've ever heard of (or those I haven't...), and Rob's computing example left me cold... but seriously, anything I've ever wanted to know more about I've always been able to grasp, I just figured that was how higher brain functions worked, man...

And oddball stuff like Clash's examples, I just happen to know enough of the fundaments of what he's talking about (though never having before heard some of the terms he used put together) to pretty much grasp the entire thing from concept alone.

This is, as you say, odd? Jaw droppingly so?

Great. I'm a genius working peanuts. Now I'm off to sulk and generally drink my advanced brain into the cell death so I can feel comfortable around all you baselines...
For you the day you found a minor error in a Post by Spike and forced him to admit it, it was the greatest day of your internet life.  For me it was... Tuesday.

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Pierce Inverarity

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Sean thinks stuff !!!!!The last invention you totally understood ?
« Reply #11 on: April 02, 2008, 02:23:06 PM »
A cathode is this thing that goes into the TV and does stuff there, yes?

I'm not with Clash, I'm with Bowie.
Ich habe mir schon sehr lange keine Gedanken mehr über Bleistifte gemacht.--Settembrini

arminius

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Sean thinks stuff !!!!!The last invention you totally understood ?
« Reply #12 on: April 02, 2008, 02:29:33 PM »
Quote from: Pierce Inverarity
A cathode is this thing that goes into the TV and does stuff there, yes?

Not for much longer, I'm afraid.

Pierce Inverarity

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Sean thinks stuff !!!!!The last invention you totally understood ?
« Reply #13 on: April 02, 2008, 02:33:39 PM »
What will replace it? Gremlins?
Ich habe mir schon sehr lange keine Gedanken mehr über Bleistifte gemacht.--Settembrini

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Sean thinks stuff !!!!!The last invention you totally understood ?
« Reply #14 on: April 02, 2008, 02:37:35 PM »
Quote from: Pierce Inverarity
What will replace it? Gremlins?


What's in my house. LED and Plasma screens. I have one CRT left, bought just before it became silly.

-clash
clash bowley * Flying Mice Games - an Imprint of Better Mousetrap Games
Flying Mice home page: http://jalan.flyingmice.com/flyingmice.html
Currently Designing: StarCluster 4 - Wavefront Empire
Last Releases: SC4 - Dark Orbital, SC4 - Out of the Ruins,  SC4 - Sabre & World
Blog: I FLY BY NIGHT