Charles Babbage designed computers in the mid-1800’s - though operating with gears, many were effectively digital. He designed (yet never successfully completed building) the “Difference Engine no. 2″ - designed to do complex polynomial equations (necessary at the time for navigation reference tables, etc.).
In 2002, the “Babbage Engine no. 2″ was finally built (London Science Museum), and in March 2008 a second one was built, and as of today the second one is on display at the Computer History Museum (Mountain View, CA) for the next year. Went to the opening event today.
Bonus Round:Babbage Groupies
(photo courtesy of Dana Chrisler)
This is an actual Ada Lovelace tattoo (a mathematician and colleague of Charles Babbage) - perhaps the only one of its kind in existence. Its owner was at the exhibit opening today.
It’s a parade.
But it may be one of the only parades in the world where you can see Brownies, Imperial Stormtroopers, Kung Fu schools, highschool bands, go-carts, and a street cleaner.
Oh man . . . my creativity gland is sore from spending the day at the 2008 Maker Faire. I don’t even have the energy to make a video of it; below are some photo highlights.
If you live in the Bay Area: GO!
It’s happening tomorrow (Sunday) also.
GO! . . . and be crafty.
May 25 - The Neil Diamond cover band SuperDiamond plays Golden Gate Fields, Berkeley. May 25 - NASA’s Phoenix Lander will land near the north pole of Mars. May 25 - The Crucible in conjunction with NASA present a Mars-themed show “Fire and Ice,” Oakland, CA.
A spectacular gallery of old school rap/hip-hop party flyers.
This is like an archaeological record of the early history of hip-hop.
Also, they make great laptop wallpapers.
Last night (December 15th), several major world cities were hit with flash-mobs of thousands of Santa Clauses. Christmas is near and once again Santarchy / Santacon has arrived. Last night, San Francisco was swarmed with drunk and festive Santas wearing cheap suits and drinking cheaper alcohol.
I’m putting the brakes on my proclivity towards discussing the love/hate relationship with Kanye that haunts my every thought as well as the handful of half baked conspiracy theories that have amassed in the old brain basement.
Instead, please enjoy this beautiful tribute to Evel.
If there is one thing the history of evolution has taught us - it’s that animatronic dinosaurs will not be contained. Animatronic dinosaurs break free, expand to new territory, and crash through barriers . . . painfully . . . maybe even dangerously.
Oh man . . . ROBOTSandDINOSAURS!! Two supercool things in one place (much like bacon and chocolate). On tour now, the Bay Area venue is the San Jose HP Pavillion, December 26-30.
The Latin American holiday Dia de los Muertos “Day of the Dead” is today, November 2nd. It is a Precolombian celebration to honor deceased family and friends . . . and Frida Kahlo. This year Redwood City made a great first attempt at a city-sponsored Dia de los Muertos celebration. Traditional dancers, sugar skulls, Oingo Boingo album artwork, pan de los muertos ["bread of the dead"], taquitos de los muertos ["little tacos of the dead"], Chihuahuas de los muertos ["lapdogs of the dead"], churros de los muertos ["breadsticks of the dead"], and tons of enthusiastic dead ancestor fans.
Well done, Redwood City.
Now please make the rest of the year in Redwood City suck less.
This evening we had an earthquake here in the South Bay Area.
Magnitude: 5.6.
Location: San Jose-ish.
No big deal.
A list of lame things to do during an earthquake
•Duck-and-cover beneath your 100 gallon fishtank.
•Play Jenga.
•Find shelter underground: a deep parking garage or an old mineshaft.
•Get a tattoo.
•Climb onto the roof of your 7 story apartment building so nothing will fall on you.
•Wait for FEMA to bring help.
•Trim your eyelashes or nose hair.
•Seek shelter in a greenhouse or a cactus nursery.
When?: September 24th, 2007 Where?: The Microsoft Hall of Doom, Silicon Valley What?: The HALO 3 Prelaunch Party Who?: Blogadilla “reporter in the field” - James Why?: ’cause it’s cool.
Here’s James’ report:
“This last Monday evening, I was lucky enough to be invited by Microsoft to the longest commercial I’ve ever been privileged to partake in. The interesting thing about it being that everyone there was already going to buy the damn product they were hocking. I speak of course of Halo 3, that dastardly game that has taken over the airwaves (as well as the inter-tubes) for a few weeks now, and is at this very moment hogging precious time on beautiful HD TVs the world over.
I attended a pre-launch party for this game-of-games, and it was an… interesting experience. First let me say that after having looked at some coverage of other pre-launches around the world, this one kinda sucked. There was some delicious food, and even more delicious beer (thank you Tide house, even though your bartender did try to sell me on it. Why the hell would I ask for an Ironwood if I don’t already like it?), but none of the huge excitement of the others. Sorry for the bad quality photos, my phone was having a bad day; please bear with me. Here (A) is what it looked like when I walked up. (click to enlarge)
This line carried a few dozen back, and took about 5 minutes or so to get through. Obviously we’re not talking the standard late-teen to college crowd, but rather the Silicon Valley tech geeks we all know and love.
December 8: Pretend to Be a Time Traveler Day. If you’re stumped, the Web site offers many helpful suggestions about how to carry this off:
Walk up to random people and say “WHAT YEAR IS THIS?” and when they tell you, get quiet and then say “Then there’s still time!” and run off.
If you go the “prisoner who’s escaped the future” try shaving your head [Contributor's note: This one would work really well for fellow Blogadiller timbotron] and putting a barcode on the back of your neck. Then stagger around and stare at the sky, as if you’ve never seen it before.
Take some trinket with you (it can be anything really), hand it to some stranger, along with a phone number and say “In thirty years dial this number. You’ll know what to do after that.” Then slip away.
I can hardly wait to see who actually observes these…holidays.
If you missed the MTV VMA’s last night, which is totally understandable if you did because, well, MTV sucks; you should at least check out Sarah Silverman’s opening bit which followed a less than amateur performance by Britney Spears. Silverman’s comedic style is so well suited for hosting award shows because she’s great at creating an awkward setting and is not afraid to call out certain “celebrities” for being stupid people in “real life.” Overall the show seemed to lack any genuine excitement. I’m not surprised. There is something about today’s American pop-culture that is disgustingly reminiscent about high school to me. Whatever…I’m blogging about it, which is what they want, right? Anyhow, watch the clip. You’ll feel pleasantly uncomfortable.
Thirty years ago today (August 16th), Elvis Aaron Presley “left the building” forever. In an odd yet brilliant marketing move, Reese’s (Hershey’s) released the commemorative limited-edition Peanut Butter and Banana Creme cup (Elvis was fond of peanut butter and banana sandwiches [recipe]).
Location: Kepler’s Books in Menlo Park, CA. In a sea of thousands awaiting the new Harry Potter book.
Local Time and Date:
11:30PM, July 20th, 2007. 30 minutes until we find out what happens to Harry! OhMyGod!
Local Mood:
Compared to the premier of the iPhone, there are actually less people dressed like Harry Potter. And more Yodas. I can understand the 2,000+ costumed kids at this literacy cluster-f***, but the hundreds of dressed up 20- and 30-year-olds reek of a Dungeons & Dragons convention.
My Mood:
Do I personally care? No. Haven’t even seen all the movies. No robots or nudity. Don’t get me wrong - any author who can get millions of children excited to read while simultaneously pissing-off the religious right is a national hero. But when there is a 45 year old man running around in a cape pushing his way to the front of the line to buy a book, we’ve moved beyond literature - J. K. Rowling has invented crack for geeks (or the antidote for sexiness).
•The (insanely touristed) ancient Maya site of Chiche’n Itza’ in Yucatán, Mexico.
•The Christ the Redeemer Statue overlooking Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
•The Great Wall of China - “Keeping China Mongol-free since the 5th Century BC!”
•The ancient Inca citadel of Machu Pichu in Peru.
•The Palace Tombs of the ancient Nabataean city of Petra in Jordan - the apparent resting place of the Holy Grail in “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.”
•The Roman Colosseum in <duh>Rome</duh>.
•The Taj Mahal in India.
Among the many losing candidates are: pretty much everything else in the world that is not those seven things.
The original/traditional list of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World comes from Greek Poet Antipater of Sidon (~140 BC). All are destroyed except for the Great Pyramid at Giza:
•The Hanging Gardens of Babylon (at present day Al Hillah, Iraq).
•The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus (at present day Ephesus, Turkey).
•The Statue of Zeus at Olympia (at present day Olympia, Greece)
•The Mausoleum of Maussollos* at Halicarnassus (*where the word mausoleum came from) (at present day Bodrum, Turkey).
•The Colossus of Rhodes (at the present day Greek Island of Rhodes).
•The Pharos (Lighthouse) of Alexandria (at present day Alexandria, Egypt).
•The Great Pyramid of Giza (nearby present day Cairo, Egypt).
John Linnell - Nevada: 
