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.
  • #2,001
OH! I was going to say Thomas Edison for lots of stuff too! Mk, you will be my new nemesis.
 
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  • #2,002
It goes round and round not up and down, this was the key to the invention.
 
  • #2,003
I think he was the first cartoon cat.
 
  • #2,004
Mk said:
In 1891, Thomas Edison (as in Tom and Jerry) built a Kinetoscope, which spins around. This device was installed in penny arcades, where people could watch short, simple films. This was especially important to Thomas Edison because he had been searching for a way to entertain customers that were listening to music on his phonograph, which spins around.

yay! I got the 2,000th post!

Congratulations MK, you win a free go
:biggrin:
 
  • #2,005
wolram said:
Congratulations MK, you win a free go
:biggrin:
What about one oh those beautiful Kia's cat?
 
  • #2,006
Was that the answer?

Who was the cat? Some say Krazy Kat, but I think you meant Felix.
 
  • #2,007
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  • #2,008
honestrosewater said:
Felix Wankel, rotary engine? (I swear we had this clue already - it was a picture clue.) I'm sure that's the answer, mister. Goes round and round (rotary thingy), as opposed to up and down (pistons - I know pistons go up and down! Right?)

Yep, here 'tis: https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?p=594193&highlight=wankel#post594193
And I answered it! :rolleyes:

You clever old thing, :smile: Your turn Rose, but MK has a free go.
 
  • #2,009
Heh, Wankel. :cool:


These two are real characters; one trails the other and fire trails them both.
 
  • #2,010
wolram said:
Congratulations MK, you win a free go
:biggrin:
Which one was it?

Arctodus's largest skull ever found was found by a gold miner, whose home is closest to a US state that has a captial that is the opposite of Rome in what way?

I'm going to sleep, and will be back here in approximately 12 hours, if you have found your answer you will be sure. Spell out your process and provide the next question.

I was going to post a hint but decided not to, I'm sure you'll find the shortcut and/or solve it before I awaken.
 
  • #2,011
Yukon (home) -> Alaska (state) -> Janeau (capital) -> ??
 
  • #2,012
Was he Alaskan or no?
 
  • #2,013
While things are quite i will sneak this one in.

You are looking for some thing that connects.

A statue in birmingham A.

Oppenheimer

Icarus

And the Blue danube.
 
  • #2,014
wolram said:
While things are quite i will sneak this one in.

You are looking for some thing that connects.

A statue in birmingham A.

Oppenheimer

Icarus

And the Blue danube.
Wax?...
 
  • #2,015
wolram said:
While things are quite i will sneak this one in.

You are looking for some thing that connects.

A statue in birmingham A.

Oppenheimer

Icarus

And the Blue danube.

This is crazy dude...I need another hint.
 
  • #2,016
Townsend said:
This is crazy dude...I need another hint.

just one more clue "V".
 
  • #2,017
wolram said:
just one more clue "V".

Vulcan is the god of fire and Oppenheimer worked on the first atomic bomb so there is some connection there but what that has to do with Icarus or a dance is beyond me... :confused: :redface:
 
  • #2,018
Townsend said:
Vulcan is the god of fire and Oppenheimer worked on the first atomic bomb so there is some connection there but what that has to do with Icarus or a dance is beyond me... :confused: :redface:

You have 90% of clue solved. "V".
 
  • #2,019
honestrosewater said:
Yukon (home) -> Alaska (state) -> Janeau (capital) -> ??
Yes, Juneau is the answer, and it is opposite from Rome, which all roads lead to, because no roads at all lead to Juneau.

wolram said:
While things are quite i will sneak this one in.

You are looking for some thing that connects.

A statue in birmingham A.

Oppenheimer

Icarus

And the Blue danube.

No hints yet, this one sounds [do-able without them].
 
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  • #2,020
Connections

Vulcan, (featuring the god Vulcan at his forge) the largest cast iron statue in the world which was first cast for the 1904 St. Louis Exposition, and displayed on top of Red Mountain in 1938.

There may be a connection with the sun: Atomic bombs harness "the power of the sun", Icarus's wings melted because of the sun... exploding Blue Danube? Heat.

Daedalus, Icarus's father arrived safe in Sicily, where he built a temple to Apollo, and hung up his wings, an offering to the god. Apollo, in modern times has became in part confused or equated with Helios, god of the sun.

Vulcanoids are theoretical asteroids that may orbit in a dynamically stable zone between 0.08 and 0.21 astronomical units from the Sun.

1566 Icarus was an asteroid discovered in 1949 by Walter Baade

That backs up the sun idea more.

"The devil take the waltz, my only regret is for the coda—I wish that had been a success." Strauss once said.
Devil -> Satan -> Hell -> Heat -> Flames -> that stuff

A sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus takes advantage of the piece's fame, featuring, in typical Monty Python fashion, "the exploding version of the Blue Danube."
So the Blue Danube can explode...
 
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  • #2,021
honestrosewater said:
Heh, Wankel. :cool:

These two are real characters; one trails the other and fire trails them both.
Well "real" rules out all my mythology answers.

The Lockheed SR-71 Type A "Blackbird," has exactly two pilots, one in front of the other, and fire trails them both. Correct?
 
  • #2,022
Mk said:
Vulcan, (featuring the god Vulcan at his forge) the largest cast iron statue in the world which was first cast for the 1904 St. Louis Exposition, and displayed on top of Red Mountain in 1938.

There may be a connection with the sun: Atomic bombs harness "the power of the sun", Icarus's wings melted because of the sun... exploding Blue Danube? Heat.

Daedalus, Icarus's father arrived safe in Sicily, where he built a temple to Apollo, and hung up his wings, an offering to the god. Apollo, in modern times has became in part confused or equated with Helios, god of the sun.

Vulcanoids are theoretical asteroids that may orbit in a dynamically stable zone between 0.08 and 0.21 astronomical units from the Sun.

1566 Icarus was an asteroid discovered in 1949 by Walter Baade

That backs up the sun idea more.

"The devil take the waltz, my only regret is for the coda—I wish that had been a success." Strauss once said.
Devil -> Satan -> Hell -> Heat -> Flames -> that stuff

A sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus takes advantage of the piece's fame, featuring, in typical Monty Python fashion, "the exploding version of the Blue Danube."
So the Blue Danube can explode...
I was following most of that and then I remembered the link with extrasolar planets.

Vulcan Camera Project is searching for extrasolar planets using transit photometry

S. J. Icarus - THE Reference

Caltech astronomer Ben Oppenheimer, who helped to discover the apparent brown dwarf, Gliese 229 B, is part of a growing group that would like to define a brown dwarf as an substellar object with the mass of 13 to 80 (or so) Jupiters. While these objects cannot fuse "regular" hydrogen (a single proton nucleus) like stars, they have enough mass to briefly fuse deuterium (hydrogen with a proton-neutron nucleus). Therefore, stellar companions with less than 13 Jupiter masses would be defined as planets.

Quantum Teleportation across the Danube

SETI
 
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  • #2,023
Mk said:
Well "real" rules out all my mythology answers.

The Lockheed SR-71 Type A "Blackbird," has exactly two pilots, one in front of the other, and fire trails them both. Correct?

To be correct I believe the person in the back is not a pilot but more like a weapons guy..
 
  • #2,024
Townsend said:
To be correct I believe the person in the back is not a pilot but more like a weapons guy..
:confused: That aeroplane doesn't contain nor can hold any weapons, it is only for reconnaissance.

But now that I think about it, the second guy may not be a pilot. But what is he?
 
  • #2,025
Mk said:
:confused: That aeroplane doesn't contain nor can hold any weapons, it is only for reconnaissance.

But now that I think about it, the second guy may not be a pilot. But what is he?
Officially he is the 'observer' ... he handles the equipment.
 
  • #2,026
My equipment is for the ladies only.
 
  • #2,027
Mk said:
My equipment is for the ladies only.
No ... Like another Perter Sellers Movie Chance. "I like to watch." :-p
 
  • #2,028
I thought the second guy was the navigator??

None are correct yet. The 2 characters have 22 friends.
 
  • #2,029
honestrosewater said:
I thought the second guy was the navigator??

None are correct yet. The 2 characters have 22 friends.
Does it have to do with math? I get where you're going with charachter, and looking for the answer.
 
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  • #2,030
Mk said:
Does it have to do with math? I get where you're going with charachter, and looking for the answer.

Ahhhh HAAAAAAAAAAA! I got it. Alpha and Beta from the alpha-numeric 24 letter greek alphabet!
 
  • #2,031
:frown: I realized I DON'T have it. But I almost did.

I was going with the characters are letters, so I thought it was either A and B, or C and D, because they are consecutive letters, and the letters in FIRE trail them. But I realized there were 26 letters in the Romans alphabet, so I looked for a 24 letter alphabet, I found the greek one, and Alpha and Beta correspond to A and B, there is no C and D. BUT there is no corresponding FIRE letters, but there are! Phi, Iota, Elipsion, Eta. Phonetically equivelent.

I now still think it is correct.
 
  • #2,032
You're in the right alphabet (greek). Just say the alphabet aloud and see if you notice a word in there somewhere... oh, and keep the 'fire' clue in mind.
 
  • #2,033
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! This was a Eureka moment. I said Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! outloud. Hah! ?? Pi-Rho

Good one.
 
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  • #2,034
Wow, it's been a long time since I've had that effect on anyone.


A loooooooooong time. :biggrin: Nice work.

pi rho = pyro.

Just something else that I thought was funny about pi and rho: they're backwards. pi sounds like p, looks like r - \pi; rho sounds like r, looks like p - \rho. :smile:
 
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  • #2,035
A member of the wheat tribe and is closely related to barley and wheat (catchers were sometimes in it), and also a kind of lawn grass was on an island somewhat near to Guam and was used as money. What was it colloquially called? This one may be more difficult.
 
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  • #2,036
The Catcher in the Rye, funny. cereal??

If so, you can go again. I want a harder question! :-p :biggrin:
 
  • #2,037
Not quite. You're on the right track though.

(I edited my question a bit because it was un-understandable.)
 
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  • #2,038
Oats or oatmeal?
 
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  • #2,039
Rye is right for the first portion, A member of the wheat tribe and is closely related to barley and wheat (catchers were sometimes in it), and also a kind of lawn grass

But the second is a phonetical equivalent, what was it and what is is colloquially called?
was on an island somewhat near to Guam and was used as money. What was it colloquially called?
 
  • #2,040
Mk said:
Rye is right for the first portion, A member of the wheat tribe and is closely related to barley and wheat (catchers were sometimes in it), and also a kind of lawn grass

But the second is a phonetical equivalent, what was it and what is is colloquially called?
was on an island somewhat near to Guam and was used as money. What was it colloquially called?
Oh, I get it. Okay, off to search. (oatmeal was used as currency somewhere, BTW. :wink:)
 
  • #2,041
Mk said:
Vulcan, (featuring the god Vulcan at his forge) the largest cast iron statue in the world which was first cast for the 1904 St. Louis Exposition, and displayed on top of Red Mountain in 1938.

There may be a connection with the sun: Atomic bombs harness "the power of the sun", Icarus's wings melted because of the sun... exploding Blue Danube? Heat.

Daedalus, Icarus's father arrived safe in Sicily, where he built a temple to Apollo, and hung up his wings, an offering to the god. Apollo, in modern times has became in part confused or equated with Helios, god of the sun.

Vulcanoids are theoretical asteroids that may orbit in a dynamically stable zone between 0.08 and 0.21 astronomical units from the Sun.

1566 Icarus was an asteroid discovered in 1949 by Walter Baade

That backs up the sun idea more.

"The devil take the waltz, my only regret is for the coda—I wish that had been a success." Strauss once said.
Devil -> Satan -> Hell -> Heat -> Flames -> that stuff

A sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus takes advantage of the piece's fame, featuring, in typical Monty Python fashion, "the exploding version of the Blue Danube."
So the Blue Danube can explode...

I thought you had it when you found "vulcan" if you found the connection with "V", and Icarus, "some thing to do with wings", the blue danube is
some thing it carried.
 
  • #2,042
I was going to be nice and not steal this from Mk, but... meh... okay... it's in white - no peeking, Mk.

Am I right, woolie >>Britain's first atomic bomb, the Blue Danube, was to be carried by the Vulcan B.2A, a 'V-bomber'.[/color]<< ??
 
  • #2,043
honestrosewater said:
I was going to be nice and not steal this from Mk, but... meh... okay... it's in white - no peeking, Mk.

Am I right, woolie >>Britain's first atomic bomb, the Blue Danube, was to be carried by the Vulcan B.2A, a 'V-bomber'.[/color]<< ??

The bells rining, you got it Rose :biggrin:
 
  • #2,044
wolram said:
The bells rining, you got it Rose :biggrin:
Woot! I love it when that happens. But Mk did most of the work, so I want to give him(?) a chance to figure it out. I was confused at first because I thought that The Blue Danube was a popular waltz, but I found out that it was actually a real bomb when it first debuted. :wink: :wink:
 
  • #2,045
wolram said:
The bells rining, you got it Rose :biggrin:

Ok then, next question...
 
  • #2,046
Townsend said:
Ok then, next question...
Mk still has an outstanding question - the rye something one.
 
  • #2,047
So who is up Rose ??
 
  • #2,048
Here's Mk's question, still unanswered:
Rye is right for the first portion, A member of the wheat tribe and is closely related to barley and wheat (catchers were sometimes in it), and also a kind of lawn grass

But the second is a phonetical equivalent, what was it and what is is colloquially called?
was on an island somewhat near to Guam and was used as money. What was it colloquially called?
 
  • #2,049
Blast it i knew this one, the money part any ways, now i won't sleep tonight.
 
  • #2,050
Rye is right for the first portion, A member of the wheat tribe and is closely related to barley and wheat (catchers were sometimes in it), and also a kind of lawn grass

But the second is a phonetical equivalent, what was it and what is is colloquially called?
was on an island somewhat near to Guam and was used as money. What was it colloquially called?
It is a 4 island "volcanic complex." Like Hawai'i.
 

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