526 Years On, Da Vinci's Clockwork Car Constructed 402
SimianOverlord writes "The Guardian (and several other news outlets) report on the attempt by Professor Paulo Galluci and his team to build a working model of Leonard Da Vinci's clockwork powered car, designed in 1478. Previous attempts have been made to create the vehicle, but they failed to work properly. This is thought to be due to a misunderstanding of the original design, which is corrected in the new model. Apart from the 1/3 scale replica, the team have also made a full size model but have not dared to test it. Professor Galluzzi explained "It is a very powerful machine. It could run into something and do serious damage.""
fascinating (Score:5, Funny)
I guess that 2 things can be learned from this
1) Da Vinci was a genius ahead of his own time
2) Document your frigging drawings! were not all mind readers ya know!
Re:fascinating (Score:5, Funny)
Re:fascinating (Score:3, Flamebait)
Re:fascinating (Score:3, Funny)
No, no... in Linux, the comments are written *backwards*.
Re:fascinating (Score:4, Funny)
Re:fascinating (Score:5, Informative)
Whew, I finally figured out what that said. It only took about 5 mins, a mirror, and some head-scratching.
For all of those who don't have a mirror handy, or are too lazy (who are we kidding
One more thing:
I guess this function knows how big a buffer to convert? I mean, is it converting some words to little-endian or dwords? hmm, what about 64-bit ints? Doesn't seem very clear. I hope this didn't come out of the Linux kernel
Re:fascinating (Score:3, Informative)
Now who wants to take bets that someone will write a program/script to translate text into backwards 733+ speek?
Re:fascinating (Score:5, Interesting)
Once upon a time, in a New World far, far away from it's cultural origins, there arose a new nation, founded by men who thought very hard about what they were doing and, for the most part, got things pretty right (there are always men who think only of their own benefit who muck up the system).
Thomas Jefferson got the patent system pretty right, and while things were under his direct control the system worked very well and Leonardo (had he come to America) would have felt free to publish and comment without fear, and the public would not have had to wait hundreds of years for his ideas to become freely available to them. This system actually stood as a model for the world for 100 years.
But extraordinary men are always replaced by lesser men.
Patents are not the problem. Patents are the solution to a problem that most people have forgotten existed. Except, perhaps, those trying to create corporeal versions of Leonardo's drawings.
The problem is protectionism bolstered by greed. Congress, of course, is supposed to represent the people in creating systems that allow the people to engage in profit making enterprises without abrogating the rights of the people.
But congress, for the most part, is made up of these lesser men, driven by protectionism and greed.
"What if you were an idiot? And what if you were a member of congress? But I repeat myself." --Mark Twain.
KFG
Re:fascinating (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:fascinating (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm sorry you believe this. Who exactly told you this? Did you read this somewhere? Was it part of your history class in high school? PATENTS DO NOT FURTHER SCIENCE. Patents are a legal document that are claimed to exist for incentive purposes, but used more so as protection against competition. You have no idea what science is if you believe that patents are somehow directly involved in progress in science and technology. The idea that patents help progress i
Re:fascinating (Score:5, Insightful)
He encoded the tanks and the ballistas and everything in case the wrong guy wanted to build them. He encoded other things for his own reasons, but he never encoded anything because he was afraid that Italian noblemen would start paying for the bragging rights of having the guy who ripped off Da Vinci stay in the guest house.
Re:fascinating (Score:3, Insightful)
In the case of the machinery of warfare the federal government often takes the place of the Lord, as they stand in much the same relationship to one another.
The government often employs its own patent systems to protect the ideas embodied in its war machines, since those 'secrets' never remain secret very long after a device is actually produced.
Perhaps that's an underlying reason why governments have been so willing to extend the protections of patents beyo
Re:fascinating (Score:3, Insightful)
Though I think he would have had to fear the general public instead. When the patent system was passed by congress Leonardo had been dead for over 200 years. Him coming to America and walking around then would probably have caused quite a stir. ;-)
It is however true that the idea of patents are a good thing. Encouraging people to freely share their ideas is good. However in the current implementations patent systems
Re:fascinating (Score:5, Funny)
top 2 things overheard in Da Vinci's lab:
"Even a simplten with a mere IQ of 210 will be able to understand these drawings, no need to document"
"Surely, everybody will want to read my writing as if they are looking into a mirror."
top 2 things heard in developers cubes:
"If it's hard to write, it should be hard to read"
"My code is self documenting"
Re:fascinating (Score:4, Funny)
"My code is self documenting"
Hey, not all of us are cobol programmers!
Re:fascinating (Score:3, Funny)
Re:fascinating (Score:5, Interesting)
I saw somewhere that DaVinci purposely put flaws into his drawings as a type of copy protection. Only another genius would be able to see the flaw and build the device correctly. This would come in handy if his plans were stolen or captured since many of his designs were commissioned for siege craft.
Re:fascinating (Score:5, Insightful)
Most people are sheep and blindly follow "the directions," even when those directions result in nonfunctioning items. They blame the nonfunctionality on themselves, rather than on the design.
Hence the notations you'll find on many processed food products these days, "You'll find that this might taste good with a little cheese on it. Or maybe some salt." They have to be told to "think outside the box," as it were. Many people get all weird about the idea of even modifying a published recipe. The published version is the "correct" version in their minds. Perhaps this phemonenon is a good part of why some people get all weird about the idea of open source software. They need to feel that out there, somewhere, is a definatively "correct" version, handed down from the mountain engraved on stone tablets by some programing god or other.
Most people who play classical music play it as if they were some sort of flawed mechanism in a player piano whose function is to reproduce the markings on the paper as closely, and mechanically, as possible.
The musical genius recognizes that the markings on the paper are one genius talking to another genius, saying, "Hey, look at this idea," and interprets the music.
KFG
Re:fascinating (Score:4, Insightful)
I will disagree on one point. The sheep these days never accept blame, and make claim that the designer was an idiot, and it's obviously just junk.
And I do agree with your point about OSS. Many times it would almost take a genious to follow those directions to the letter, but even if you did, it would most likely fail. You have to think on your feet to spot little details for your particular situation (as everyone has their own unique situation) and make adjustments.
The musical genius recognizes that the markings on the paper are one genius talking to another genius, saying, "Hey, look at this idea," and interprets the music.
That reminds me of Mozart's "Ein musikalischer Spass". Only now people are starting to realize the true genious behind it. Ironic that any "bird brain" [whyfiles.org] could have figured it out. ;-)
Naturally, I'm partial to jokes... even subtle ones.
Re:fascinating (Score:5, Interesting)
I fooled kids for many years that way. No one ever confronted me as to why I always had a higher grade than they did.
Served them right.
hmm, (Score:3, Funny)
Re:hmm, (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm glad I'm British, where teachers still read pupils' answers. In my day, we almost always used to have to answer in complete sentences rather than giving an answer from among multiple choices. That taught us to form proper sentences.
Re:hmm, (Score:3)
As I recall teachers were onto that trick. I don't recall how, I think the machine beeped differently after that master page was run though. Even if not though, it only takes a moment to check for that box while coping the score down. At least they all said they were, I never tried it, it is easy for someone to catch if they are looking for it so you have to assume someone who says they are onto it really is.
Re:fascinating (Score:5, Insightful)
Great Chef's also are extremely happy to tell you all about that meal, even the ingredients and enough information that another chef can reproduce it very well, if not exactly.. althoguh the taste will still be different as you cannot recreate the chef's steps exactly... not even the great chef can reproduce his creations exactly.
The Best minds in the world are happy to share with you how it was done... it is the no talent hacks with something to hide that favor hiding everything from view.
Re:fascinating (Score:2)
Re:fascinating (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:fascinating (Score:3, Informative)
This is the program I was thinking of - "Medieval Lives" [hillingdontimes.co.uk]
It's actually a brilliantly watchable series. ;)
Re:fascinating (Score:3, Interesting)
Columbus' success was based on two things: 1) He vastly underestimated the size of the Earth (even compared to other estimates of the time) and 2) got really lucky that the Americas were in the way.
Re:fascinating (Score:5, Insightful)
Stars = shooting stars.
Since Hebrew doesn't have the word "meteor", it would have been difficult to have it any other way.
Your mention of pi equaling three proves that you are just another atheist parroting an oft-repeated fallacy - because it's not God that creates the "sea" (the bowl or tub) but Solomon. Number one, since all the measurements of the bowl are given in round figures, there's no way pi would every pop up exactly. Number two, they were probably measuring the outside circumference of the bowl. Since the rim is described as opening like a "lily blossom", this measurement would have resulted in numbers that were slightly "off".
Re:fascinating (Score:3, Informative)
Turns only to the right? (Score:5, Funny)
To the right? That's of no use! Reprogram that sucker to turn left and send it to NASCAR.
Re:Turns only to the right? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Turns only to the right? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Turns only to the right? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Turns only to the right? (Score:2)
If they turned right they'd slam into the wall, no matter what kind of downforce they lost. If the race was set up to go clockwise turning right would be exactly the same as turning left does currently.
Turning left is supposedly a trait carried over from horse races.
Re:Turns only to the right? (Score:4, Funny)
Here is an official explanation (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Turns only to the right? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Turns only to the right? (Score:5, Informative)
Clockwork Car? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Clockwork Car? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Clockwork Car? (Score:3, Funny)
Alex: "IT'S A SIN! IT'S A SIN!"
Dr: "Sin? What's all this about sin?"
Alex Points to the car... "THAT!"
Impressive.... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Impressive.... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Impressive.... (Score:2)
Re:Impressive.... (Score:2)
The other Leonardo's car (Score:2, Funny)
Is it just me... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Is it just me... (Score:2)
maybe it coasts?
still, you've a good point. THEY'RE HIDING SOMETHING!!
Re:Is it just me... (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, yes it can. As a matter of fact, it can go arbitrarily far with arbitrary impulse, depending on the mechanism inside it that stores the energy. (There are, of course, technological limitations and some limitations of physical law on the extreme end)
You don't know how much energy it takes to wind this thing back a few meters. It could easily be tend times the energy required to move it forward a few meters. Think of a cross bow. You only "wind" the bow back a fraction of a meter at most. Does in any way limit the distance the bolt will fly to just a fraction of a meter?
Re:Is it just me... (Score:2)
For a minute there, I was worried that I only imagined those spring-powered cars from my childhood, the ones that shot across the room after being pulled back a foot or two ;)
Re:Is it just me... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Is it just me... (Score:2)
Can't go any further than you wind it...
You never owned a spring-loaded toy car? You back it up a few inches, and it drives forward more than a yard, until it disappears under your refrigerator. The spring stores the energy of your ARM, not the potential INCHES which you rolled it backward.
Re:Is it just me... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Is it just me... (Score:5, Funny)
"Ok, guys, just keep pulling it back, yeah, keep going, keep going, keep..."
*FWOING*
"Oh, Jesus, he's got an arm off!"
That can't be good for the university's insurace rates.
It can only turn right... (Score:5, Funny)
Not on the road? (Score:5, Funny)
And the SUV that nearly killed me this morning isn't?
The real reason it isn't on the road is government regulation. There needs to be a 10-year rigorous testing project to make sure it meets federal emmission standards.
Re:Not on the road? (Score:3, Informative)
I can't wait... (Score:5, Funny)
that's nothing... (Score:5, Funny)
Helicopter (Score:2, Interesting)
Helicopter [artist-biography.info]
A clockwork... (Score:4, Funny)
Clockwork Door Hinge (Score:2)
Re:A clockwork... (Score:2, Interesting)
There once was a poet. (Score:2)
Who looked for a word to rhyme orange on.
He searched every dictionary,
including ones fictionary,
and he absolutely failed to find one.
Got to quaote witchy-poo (Score:3, Funny)
Unless you are a rap star. In that case the proper rhyme for 'Oranges' is 'booty'.
The secret has been revieled (Score:5, Funny)
2) Don't document, allow other to figure it out
3)Profit!
wait, that would be management.
Yeah (Score:2)
Interesting feature... (Score:5, Insightful)
(Emphasis mine)
Not to pick nits, but shouldn't it have infinite miles per gallon? Zero miles per gallon implies that, no matter how much gas you put in it, it'll never go anywhere.
Re:Interesting feature... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Interesting feature... (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, seeing as it doesn't run on gas, this would be correct. When it's wound down, I can pour gas on and into it all day, and it won't go any farther than the burning embers can fly.
Re:Interesting feature... (Score:2)
:-P
Re:Interesting feature... (Score:2)
Re:Interesting feature... (Score:3, Insightful)
As others have stated, dividing by zero is undefined.
When people talk about X/0 equalling infinity, what they mean is that the limit as the denominator approaches zero from the appropriate direction is infinity. This is not the same as X/0 being equal to infinity, and is not true in all cases of division by zero.
In this case, taking the limi
Re:Interesting feature... (Score:3, Funny)
Picture of car (Score:5, Interesting)
Enjoy. [cnn.net]
If anybody happens to have a link to a picture of the actual plans, I would be QUITE interested in getting a look at those.
Re:Picture of car (Score:5, Informative)
If Da Vinci had a 386?? (Score:4, Insightful)
Imagine if Da Vinci's genius would have been amplified by the use of computers--CAD simulations; and computation. He could have accomplished even more than his prodigious list of both scientific and artistic accomplishments.
Re:If Da Vinci had a 386?? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:If Da Vinci had a 386?? (Score:2)
Re:If Da Vinci had a 386?? (Score:2)
Kind of like the Gilligans 'tv movie' where they get off the island, and everything the professor comes up with already exists.
Or, perhaps he would be put off . . . (Score:3, Interesting)
I mean, if genius is innate, should we not have like 10 Da Vincis just due to probability and the increase in population?
Maybe an environment that recognizes and protects novel ideas is also required besides just having access to the technology. Unfortunately, it is harder these days to protect one's own ideas and the environments that have the resources to protect ideas (corporations) usually cultivate environ
Re:If Da Vinci had a 386?? (Score:3, Insightful)
Computerized drafting and visualization are awesome once you know how to make the applications do what you mean. Until you get to the top of the learning curve, they're almost worthless, or extremely time consuming at best.
renaissance hazard (Score:5, Funny)
Da Vinci bike (Score:5, Funny)
Found a picture (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Found a picture (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/html/l/leonardo/12engin
You can click on the drawing and get a toolbar that lets you resize it, even past 100%. It's convenient.
Straight to the drawing:
http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/art/l/leonardo/12engine
No toolbar, but if you click the drawing you zoom it to 100% size.
steveha
Your other Left (Score:2)
Or he had sense of humor enough to screw with our heads a few hundred years into the future
Here is a pic of the machine.... (Score:5, Informative)
poor performance (Score:4, Funny)
Only several meters? Not a very quick machine, I imagine. A Supra rear wing and a dozen Type-R stickers would surely help.
How do they know they got it right? (Score:5, Insightful)
So we assume that because DaVinci was such a genius, this failure must be due to people failing to understand his design. Bright people then try to figure out what he could have meant.
It seems to me there is a very real possibility that what we actually have is a new design by those bright people, somewhat inspired by DaVinci's ideas.
Re:How do they know they got it right? (Score:5, Interesting)
(One example is the mechanical lion he built for the king of Spain. If you build it exactly as described in his design, it is impossible for it to move: its gears turn against each other. Yet DaVinci did build it, and it worked.)
If daVinci were alive today he'd say... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:If daVinci were alive today he'd say... (Score:3, Funny)
Car made of wood? (Score:3, Funny)
Skater's dream (Score:3, Funny)
The gas companies... (Score:3, Funny)
Safety concerns? (Score:5, Interesting)
Meme's floating around (Score:3, Interesting)
I mean, its not the leonardo necessarily was the first person to think about these sorts of things, but its more like it takes a genius to synthesize all the little meme's floating out there. The steam engine was employed by the greeks to open temple doors in Socrate's time... How long did it take for someone to combine the idea with the cart meme?
Seems that if you have a genius on hand, they can have a flash of insight and put this sort of stuff together.
Which is probably why science fiction has lead to so many inventions.. it sort of gives you a "pre-patent" description... I have this idea, and here's a plausable description of its operation. Given enough time, some genius will connect it with all the ideas that currently DO exist, and will create the ide ain question. So these geniuses (like Leonardo) might not be creating much of anything, just incredible synthesists. Or, given that many of them were also very talented artists, they are able to create *just* enough themselves to fill in all the "*poof* a miracle occurs" spots in the plan.
Re:damage (Score:3, Funny)
Possibly.. A hummer in a moving vehicle is often prone to cause great amounts of damage.