Monday, October 05, 2009

Facts & Fantasy - New Steampunk Webcomic, Glooper & MONIAC

In the Terry Pratchett book Making Money, Moist Von Lipwig learns about the secret in the basement. If you have not read Making Money and you do not want to read a bit of a spoiler, please skip this entire post. Here's a video of a kitten instead. If you don't mind the tiny spoiler, scroll past the kitten video and read on.




I had no idea that there was a real Glooper (you *are* a Discworld fan, right?)...wow! I found out about MONIAC (or Phillips Hydraulic Computer) because I just was introduced to 2D Goggles - a web comic about Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage via BoingBoing.

Source: Wikimedia Commons "This is a faithful photographic reproduction
of an original two-dimensional work of art.
The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason:
This image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired"



Source: Wikimedia Commons: "A scan or photograph of a page from The Illustrated London News Newspaper
by unknown staff artist
Permission: Published in 1871, copyright expired 70 years after publication, 1941.

This image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired"


Here are two videos of the MONIAC at work:





Of course playing around with MONIAC doesn't actually make the world economy change, like Glooper did...or does it? I may have just invented a new world economic meltdown conspiracy theory.

3 comments:

Heather Leavers said...

I always knew economists were weird!

Frank Baron said...

Sorry Dawno, dear. You know I love you. But not being a Pratchett afficionado, I never got past those cute kitties. :)

I think I'm nearly ready to have another cat in the house. It's been quite a few years since Hobbes died.

Dang.

.....

Thanks a LOT Dawno!!!

ohdawno said...

On behalf of the APWWYHK*, my work here is done...



*Association of People Who Want You to Have a Kitten