What was it ..and I mean every part of the process/mechanism etc
..for David Bowie it was 'the fountain pen'
Quote from: SeanWhat 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
:jaw-dropping:
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:
Spike, there are people who don't understand how a rainbow works, let alone a simple camera or a cathode ray tube ?
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.
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.
Roll vs Gadgeteer skill......
- Ed
Do you need to know how something works just to use it?
I'm an engineer.
I know more about inane crap like "PCI bridge chips" than I ever wanted to know.
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...
A cathode is this thing that goes into the TV and does stuff there, yes?
I'm not with Clash, I'm with Bowie.
Quote from: Pierce InverarityA cathode is this thing that goes into the TV and does stuff there, yes?
Not for much longer, I'm afraid.
What will replace it? Gremlins?
Quote from: Pierce InverarityWhat 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
Quote from: SpikeGreat. 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...
Like you wouldn't anyway? :O
Pikas don't need excuses!
-clash
It's just you and me, buddy, drinking our advanced brains to early stages of cell death...
Though I wonder where the Baselines are taking their brains.... o.0
Quote from: CthyDo you need to know how something works just to use it?
No, but it does help when you have to explain how you haved fixed something.
Sometimes.
I fixed a TV set for a friend that had just a loose wire needing to be resoldered, but when I tried to explain what I had done I might as well have been telling him that I had used my mad witch doctor skillz to scare away the evil spirits that were preventing this TV from working. The guy was perfectly satisfied with not knowing how his TV worked as long as he could operate it and watch the shows he wanted. I think the vast majority of technology users are like that.
With mechanics and electronics, I'm a good common sense technician - but everything I know is pretty much self-taught so there are points of supurb insight coupled with bizarre gaps in knowledge.
Quote from: jeff37923No, but it does help when you have to explain how you haved fixed something.
Sometimes.
I fixed a TV set for a friend that had just a loose wire needing to be resoldered, but when I tried to explain what I had done I might as well have been telling him that I had used my mad witch doctor skillz to scare away the evil spirits that were preventing this TV from working. The guy was perfectly satisfied with not knowing how his TV worked as long as he could operate it and watch the shows he wanted. I think the vast majority of technology users are like that.
With mechanics and electronics, I'm a good common sense technician - but everything I know is pretty much self-taught so there are points of supurb insight coupled with bizarre gaps in knowledge.
My father was an engineer from rural Maine. During the Big One, he worked on various defense related projects around Boston, and when he went back to Maine to visit, an older fellow asked him "Bob, how does that theah RADAH wohk?" My father proceeded to tell him, and after a few minutes of nodding and smiling, the fellow interjected "O' couhse, I nevah did unduhstand the telephone..." My dad just shut up.
-clash
Quote from: flyingmiceWhat's in my house. LED and Plasma screens.
I've been repeating this to myself all morning wondering why it sounds funny. I just realized: you mean L
CD screens. An LED screen would look like an animated Lite-Brite.
Well, I'm not sure. I dod know enough to make a old walkman into an MP3 player :D Admittedly, it was soldering 3 wires to the circuit board and to an old headphone jack so I could have this god-awful huge case, but I see it as awesome.
Quote from: Elliot WilenI've been repeating this to myself all morning wondering why it sounds funny. I just realized: you mean LCD screens. An LED screen would look like an animated Lite-Brite.
It will be interesting to see how much longer that's true, Mr. Wilen. They are doing a lot with LED's.
Unless I've got my acronyms mixed up...
But you're probably right that clash meant LCD - if not, he's way ahead of the curve!
Quote from: SpikeIt's just you and me, buddy, drinking our advanced brains to early stages of cell death...
Though I wonder where the Baselines are taking their brains.... o.0
How do you think I got to be a baseline - years of "experience"...
Quote from: James J SkachIt will be interesting to see how much longer that's true, Mr. Wilen. They are doing a lot with LED's.
Unless I've got my acronyms mixed up...
But you're probably right that clash meant LCD - if not, he's way ahead of the curve!
IIRC, LEDs are being used in video billboards nowadays. I work in the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg part of the Smokey Mountains and the damn video billboards are all over the Redneck Riviera. They can be extremely bright and distracting while driving.
Quote from: jeff37923IIRC, LEDs are being used in video billboards nowadays. I work in the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg part of the Smokey Mountains and the damn video billboards are all over the Redneck Riviera. They can be extremely bright and distracting while driving.
And IIRC they are experimenting with using them in video displays. I think they use less energy...wait..isn't there some push to make cars use them as it decreases the energy required...
These days, I hear so much shit out of the corner of my ear when I'm trying to get Dunfalcon going, or plan baseball practice, or talk with Gleichman about Age of Heroes...
Quote from: Elliot WilenI've been repeating this to myself all morning wondering why it sounds funny. I just realized: you mean LCD screens. An LED screen would look like an animated Lite-Brite.
D'oh! Yes indeed! I had been writing about an LED warning light just before answering, and my fingers embarassed me!
-clash
I understand Glocks pretty well.
I now understand some of the more basic sorting algorithms.
Quote from: James J SkachIt will be interesting to see how much longer that's true, Mr. Wilen. They are doing a lot with LED's.
You mean like
this (http://www.cramscience.ca/fileBin/lab/128712dfc6eee5e466f775d68eaf8ca7.pdf)? :haw:
!i!