The World's Largest Computer in 1951

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The discussion centers around two significant machines: the ENIAC, an early computer that was 10 feet tall, weighed 30 tons, and required 150 kilowatts of power, and the Russian Ekranoplan, a ground effect vehicle that could travel over 400 km/h and weighed 540 tons. The ENIAC utilized a vast number of electronic components but had less processing power than a modern pocket calculator. The Ekranoplan, developed by the Soviet Union, operates just above water using a shock wave principle, allowing it to travel over various terrains. The conversation also touches on trivia and historical facts about these machines, highlighting their unique engineering and capabilities. Overall, the thread showcases a blend of technical details and engaging quiz-like interactions.
  • #851
Give me an hour first, then give us the boring one.
 
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  • #852
Danger said:
Didn't help any, but it was amusing. I can't think of any kind of transport that was invented around that time with the possible exception of the hyrdofoil or hovercraft, and I think they're both a lot older than that.

...The hovercraft was invented by Christopher Cockerell in 1956... Christopher Sydney Cockerell was born in 1910. He worked for the Radio Research Company until 1935 and then for the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company from 1935 until 1951. During the war years, Christopher Cockerell worked with an elite team at Marconi to develop radar, a development which Churchill believed had a significant effect on the outcome of the Second World War, and Cockerell believed to be one of his greatest achievements. While at Marconi, Christopher Cockerell patented 36 of his ideas. Christopher Cockerell was knighted for his achievement in 1969...
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blhovercraft.htm
 
  • #853
Ivan Seeking said:
Quote:
...The hovercraft was invented by Christopher Cockerell in 1956...
Amazing! Even when I'm wrong, I'm right. :approve:

Or more likely, even when I'm right, I'm wrong. :frown:
 
  • #854
I bet you wish you could make smiles smaller huh?
 
  • #855
yomamma said:
I bet you wish you could make smiles smaller huh?
That's been irritating the hell out of me for quite some time now, yes.
 
  • #856
So is Danger up?
 
  • #857
You'll just have to do what BT does and draw them yourself. that's a pretty low-level, BT
 
  • #858
Ivan Seeking said:
So is Danger up?
I didn't get it, you did.

yomamma said:
You'll just have to do what BT does and draw them yourself.
I drew some up in Illustrator and put them in ImageShack, but when I tried them in preview mode they looked like blobs.
 
  • #859
The Racetrack upon which these move tells a tale, thus the mystery.
 
  • #860
Ivan Seeking said:
The Racetrack upon which these move tells a tale, thus the mystery.
Comets?...
 
  • #861
Not comets.
 
  • #862
Binary stars?
 
  • #863
Hadrons? (10)
 
  • #864
No, and I'm not quite sure what inspires that thought...

I would suggest the 23rd Psalm
 
  • #865
My last post was in response to Zooby, but no, not Hadrons
 
  • #866
Ivan Seeking said:
No, and I'm not quite sure what inspires that thought...
If that's in reference to my guess, I was thinking of a cyclotron.

Ivan Seeking said:
I would suggest the 23rd Psalm
Not me, dude! :eek: I won't look something up in the encyclopedia for this; I'm sure as hell not going into the Bible (as if I even have one :rolleyes: ).
 
  • #867
'Read' heads?
 
  • #868
Danger said:
If that's in reference to my guess, I was thinking of a cyclotron.


Not me, dude! :eek: I won't look something up in the encyclopedia for this; I'm sure as hell not going into the Bible (as if I even have one :rolleyes: ).

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.
 
  • #869
Ivan Seeking said:
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.
For I am the meanest son-of-a-***** in the valley.
I have that poster. In fact, I'm going to have it painted on the trunk of the Roadrunner whenever I get it restored. :biggrin:
 
  • #870
Ivan Seeking said:
The Racetrack upon which these move tells a tale, thus the mystery.
Ivan Seeking said:
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.
I'm drawing a blank.
 
  • #871
Known to happen but never observed, it seems that like water, the wind can move rocks.
 
  • #872
Ivan Seeking said:
Known to happen but never observed, it seems that like water, the wind can move rocks.
That really doesn't rhyme very well. :wink:
 
  • #873
Oh man... I got to go check out some other stuff. Maybe it'll come to me when I'm not paying attention to it.
 
  • #874
Got it!
Death Valley Moving Rocks
Address:http://www.billandcori.com/deathvalley/dv_moving_rocks.htm

I should have been able to put it together from the psalm clue, because "Death Valley" was one of the things that occurred to me, but I didn't. I had read about the moving rocks a long time ago and forgotten about them.
 
  • #875
zoobyshoe said:
Got it!
Death Valley Moving Rocks
It's a good thing I checked back when I saw your post show up, rather than waste any more time on it. I've never heard of those things, so I certainly never would have gotten it.
 
  • #876
The lake bed is called "Racetrack Playa".
 
  • #877
This one should be easy:

Though Edison and Bell thought they had it covered, the only versions that ever thrived were based on this third person's efforts.
 
  • #878
Record player? Joe Victrola?
 
  • #879
Not "Joe Victrola", no.
 
  • #880
zoobyshoe said:
Not "Joe Victrola", no.
Ralph Carmichael Alphonso Victor, and his little dog?

Sorry, man... I have no idea who followed up on that. (How old is Phil Specter again?)
 
  • #881
Johnson?

Berliner?
 
  • #882
Ivan Seeking said:
Johnson?

Berliner?
One of these is correct, yes.
 
  • #883
zoobyshoe said:
One of these is correct, yes.


:smile: Tight ass.
 
  • #884
Okay, Berliner.
 
  • #885
Ivan Seeking said:
Okay, Berliner.
Well, you could post a link to google and say "It's somebody in here, right?"

Yes, Emile Berliner

Your turn.
 
  • #886
Well, you could post a link to google and say "It's somebody in here, right?"

:biggrin: It seemed that what hit the market was a merger of both technologies, so I really couldn't be sure.

Okay, next question:
Since there was a place with none, the librarian knew that this was the key.
 
  • #887
Errmm... sure...
 
  • #888
high noon.
 
  • #889
I'm guessing that was a hint?
 
  • #890
Mk said:
I'm guessing that was a hint?
Correct! Your turn. :biggrin:
 
  • #891
That's an interesting clue. :bugeye:
I'll just throw out some free-association and see if I hit on something
Librarian: books, card catalogs, shelves, quiet
Key: clock, lock, door, solution to puzzle, skeleton, tumblers
High noon: clock, grandfather clock, Westerns, cowboy, shoot out, hands, time, chime

Maybe this will help someone else. I can't solve a clue yet because I haven't had time to think up a new one of my own. :smile: (At least with Ivan's clue, there's no risk of that happening anytime soon anyway.)
 
  • #892
Eratosthenes measurement of the circumfrence of the earth!
 
  • #893
Man, to show you how screwed up I am over this, the only thing that I can think of at all is Franklin running that lightning bolt to an empty Leyden jar. I know that ain't right. First thought was something about a sundial, and that makes no sense at all.
 
  • #894
Shadows, light, dark. Lots of stuff comes to mind, none of it pointing toward a possible solution.

Zooby, please tell me that's a wild guess there and you didn't figure out that cryptic clue already!
 
  • #895
It's absolutely the right answer. I'm just waiting for confirmation.
 
  • #896
zoobyshoe said:
It's absolutely the right answer. I'm just waiting for confirmation.
:rolleyes: Care to explain it while we're waiting?
 
  • #897
Moonbear said:
:rolleyes: Care to explain it while we're waiting?
I know what he's talking about, and I'm afraid that he's probably right. :frown:
 
  • #898
You throw a librarian down a well at high noon in a certain city in Egypt or something, and if he sees his shadow then the Earth is such and such a diameter.
 
  • #899
zoobyshoe said:
You throw a librarian down a well at high noon in a certain city in Egypt or something, and if he sees his shadow then the Earth is such and such a diameter.

:bugeye: I'm going to have to google more about that one! (This has been a highly educational thread so far; I've learned about lots of obscure trivia I never knew I was missing before. :biggrin:)
 
  • #900
Well, Ivan has been distracted, so, in the faith I'm right here my clue:

a slippery mishap
 

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