[Professional Engineer]

Some geezer dude.

The video of the engine in operation is cool.

[Vigilantcitizen]

At first, I thought it was my old TRS-80.

[6SJ7]

Cool video. The machine even had a built in printer.

[edh]

This is all lies perpetrated by the West.

(Book of Obama 15:12) The Divine Government of the United Soviet Socialst States of America created the computer. So it was said during the Third Imperial Debate with war criminal McCain, so it is truth.

[SunkenCiv]

Babbage Patch Kids ping.

[PUGACHEV]

The model Babbage Engine reminded me of the old mechanical telephone switching stations. I was inside one in the late ‘70s, a building about a quarter acre square packed with tens upon tens of thousands of contacts stacked about an inch apart on vertical rods reaching to the ceiling. Each contact opened and shut as some rotary phone dial clicked out each digit dialed. The sound was like a constant avalanche of leaves falling from a forest of trees in a string wind.

[Covenantor]

Great post!

Viewing the page and video brought to mind to very good books using Babbages concepts.

The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson

[Jack of all Trades]

Mark for later

My Son was just reading about Babbage last night.

[dayglored]

"Wow, can you imagine a Beowulf Cluster of these things...???"

(Obligatory Slashdot reference)

[Yardstick]

Wow! Really beautiful machine.

[AFreeBird]

B4L8r

[brityank]

Quite a story; thanks for the link.

[Babbage] was a prolific inventor, mathematician, scientist, reforming critic of the scientific establishment and political economist. He pioneered lighthouse signalling, invented the ophthalmoscope, proposed 'black box' recorders for monitoring the conditions preceding railway catastrophes, advocated decimal currency, proposed the use of tidal power once coal reserves were exhausted, designed a cow-catcher for the front end of railway locomotives, failsafe quick release couplings for railway carriages, multi-colored theatre lighting, an altimeter, a seismic detector, a tugboat for winching vessels upstream, a 'hydrofoil' and an arcade game for members of the public to challenge in a game of tic-tac-toe. His interests included lock picking, ciphers, chess, submarine propulsion, armaments, and diving bells.

Seems he has more credit than just computing.