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.
  • #1,351
I know, its a giant paper mache duck with a handlebar moustache named Groucho. The duck is named Groucho, not the moustache.
 
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  • #1,352
RAF Fylingdale?

No
 
  • #1,353
obviously not my fibre optic thing in da pacific
 
  • #1,354
Yes or no, Ivan : Is it in the Bay Area ?
 
  • #1,355
obviously not my fibre optic thing in da pacific

no.

One more clue and then I have to go for just a bit.
1973
 
  • #1,356
Yes or no, Ivan : Is it in the Bay Area ?
Yes.
 
  • #1,357
1973 was the year the draft was rescinded. Something military, methinks ...
 
  • #1,358
Howard ...
 
  • #1,359
Project Jennifer
Hughes Glomar Explorer (AG 193)

I had thought the Spruce Goose, but the dimensions didn't fit, and then the date was wrong from your later hint.
 
  • #1,360
Evo said:
Project Jennifer
Hughes Glomar Explorer (AG 193)

I had thought the Spruce Goose, but the dimensions didn't fit, and then the date was wrong from your later hint.

CORRECT! Neptune refers to the sea.

The Hughes Glomar Explorer [HGE] was built in 1973 by Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Co. for an intricate CIA undertaking. The mission of Glomar Explorer was to raise a Soviet nulear submarine [the deeply held secret] that had sunk in the Pacific, resting on the ocean floor nearly 17,000 ft. ...The Soviet Golf-II Class ballistic missile submarine sank on April 11, 1968, ...

...the vessel has since been mothballed with the Naval Reserve Fleet in Suisun Bay CA, where it could be seen by cars crossing the Benicia bridge on U.S. Highway 680 east of San Francisco.

...This was the first instance of an agency using the "can neither confirm nor deny" answer in response to a FOIA request. Since then, the terms "Glomar response," and "Glomarization" are used to describe an agency’s response when they can neither confirm nor deny whether records exist.
http://www.fas.org/irp/program/collect/jennifer.htm

When this was a very secret enterprise in the early 70's, it was sometimes docked in Long Beach harbor. We passed it in our boat few times while heading out to fish. For some reason my dad knew that it was involved in work for the CIA, so we made a real point to take a look; and stand and wave at the secret agents as we went by.
 
  • #1,361
Oh yes, about the time that he refused to wear clothes any longer, Howard Hughes wrote an instruction manual for his employees. It instructed them how to catch flies with their bare hands.
 
  • #1,362
This is pictorial.
 

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  • #1,363
curved tetrahedral surface with 1 verticy open and filled with a spherical object and is surrounded by an eliptical object with an interesting pattern?

that's the best I could do...
 
  • #1,364
Too easy.:biggrin:
 
  • #1,365
oohh! is it some kind of clock?
 
  • #1,366
why does evo always post here but it says she's not online?
 
  • #1,367
Ivan Seeking said:
Too easy.:biggrin:
Yeah, that one's a bit obvious. But what's Evo doing with an industrial-grade egg salad masher at home?
 
  • #1,368
Ivan Seeking said:
Too easy.:biggrin:
Easy for you... I need a hint (maybe time period or country?) Oh, is it in the Sistine Chapel??
I was thinking a triangle with an eye in it is a Masonic symbol, but the triangle is upside down
 
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  • #1,369
I have an unfair advantage on this one.
 
  • #1,370
Where's that wanker Brewnog hiding? This is his kind of thing. :rolleyes:
 
  • #1,371
What's the painting in the background? Peter and the wolf? Is that a dragon's foot?
 
  • #1,372
Looks like a calendar, or an early model of the universe.
 
  • #1,373
Ivan Seeking said:
I have an unfair advantage on this one.
Likewise. If you've seen one before it is obvious.


To those still guessing, there is a near-clue here:

Danger said:
Where's that wanker Brewnog hiding? This is his kind of thing. :rolleyes:

Also, it's not art.
 
  • #1,374
I know what it is!

I'd like to see some non-engineers think about this one a bit.
 
  • #1,375
If I didn't already know what it was, I can't think how you'd find out, except by showing the picture to people till you found someone who recognized it.
 
  • #1,376
hints - a triangular rotor that revolves around a shaft

patented in the late 1920's

(seems a lot of the guys already know this one anyway)
 
  • #1,377
Why didn't someone just say Wankel rotary engine?? You like to torture me? That's it, I know. That is it, right? Yeah, an eye in a triangle- why didn't someone just shoot me?
 
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  • #1,378
honestrosewater said:
Why didn't someone just say Wankel rotary engine?? You like to torture me? That's it, I know. That is it, right? Yeah, an eye in a triangle- why didn't someone just shoot me?
Wankel Rotary Engine is correct!
 
  • #1,379
Evo said:
Wankel Rotary Engine is correct!
Hooray! I was only the last person to get it. :rolleyes: Oh well, I guess a win is a win.

You will find a monkey, horse, and duck in these.
 
  • #1,380
No to the first thing Danger says.
I'll be back in a flash.
 
  • #1,381
i though for a moment ,and If its what i think it is, i must have thought right,
I could be wrong, and in that case I am thinking my thoughts might be wrong
do you get marks for thinking the right answer?
 
  • #1,382
Sure, special people gets marks for everything. :smile:

What do you think it is? What happened to people actually trying to guess the answer??
 
  • #1,383
The Marx brothers had shows, i can only remember, Duck soup, but
horse something, and chicken something featured somewhere.
 
  • #1,384
it's a zoo :rolleyes:
 
  • #1,385
Oh, I was going to have so much fun with this one too.
Monkey Business, Horse Feathers, and Duck Soup. And many, many more. They're hilarious. They're movies, BTW. Did you see them on what are youmacallit- Vaudeville?
 
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  • #1,386
honestrosewater said:
Oh, I was going to have so much fun with this one too.
Monkey Business, Horse Feathers, and Duck Soup. And many, many more. They're hilarious.

Have you seen them recently? i used to love watching them but haven't seen
any of their stuff for years.
 
  • #1,387
honestrosewater said:
No to the first thing Danger says.
:smile:
You mean it's not Artman's bedroom? :confused:
 
  • #1,388
Can not think of a good question so this will have to do.

Use this for making water ? what a waste, how hot was it?
 
  • #1,389
brewnog said:
I know what it is!
Sorry about the insult. You're naturally the first Brit that comes to mind, and that 'wanker' gag just wouldn't have sounded right in reference to a Yank. :biggrin:
 
  • #1,390
wolram said:
Can not think of a good question so this will have to do.
If by 'good' you mean 'incomprehensible', then you're doing just fine. :-p
 
  • #1,391
Danger said:
Sorry about the insult. You're naturally the first Brit that comes to mind, and that 'wanker' gag just wouldn't have sounded right in reference to a Yank. :biggrin:

Is that supposed to have a double meaning? :confused:
 
  • #1,392
wolram said:
Have you seen them recently? i used to love watching them but haven't seen
any of their stuff for years.
I watch them often. Duck Soup is my favorite. We watched them as a family and have them memorized, so we'll sometimes just start running through a movie at a restaurant or something, especially to embarrass the young ones. :-p
 
  • #1,393
If by 'good' you mean 'incomprehensible', then you're doing just fine

put some," trim", on and take the weight of :smile:
 
  • #1,394
Danger said:
:smile:
You mean it's not Artman's bedroom? :confused:
See, some men are dependable :)
 
  • #1,395
wolram said:
Is that supposed to have a double meaning? :confused:
If you mean the original post, sort of. It was just my way of showing the other people who knew the answer that I also knew, plus maybe give a cryptic clue to the others. :devil:
If you're referring to the one that you quoted, no. If you can come up with a second one, more power to you. :biggrin:
 
  • #1,396
Have to go for a bevy, sugar cane, i hope catch you later.
 
  • #1,397
Pregnancy?
Okay, maybe it's time for me to call it a day.
 
  • #1,398
zoobyshoe said:
If I didn't already know what it was, I can't think how you'd find out, except by showing the picture to people till you found someone who recognized it.
I was thinking that an enlargement showing the spark plugs in more detail might do it.

In reference to Wolram's clues, the only thing that comes to mind at all is a 'cloud-seeding' aeroplane, and I know that's wrong.
 
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  • #1,399
In reference to Wolram's clues, the only thing that comes to mind at all is a 'cloud-seeding' aeroplane, and I know that's wrong

Well if you get the temperature wrong in this process, the produce from this apparatus, "the thing i want", will make your mind cloudy.
 
  • #1,400
wolram said:
Use this for making water ? what a waste, how hot was it?
When you say "making water" do you mean:

1) peeing?

2) heating water?

3) making H2O from some something else?
 

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