Re: [KULUA] Re: Lovin' Ubuntu

[Leo Mauler]

--- On Thu, 6/4/09, Daniel Matthis <daniel....@gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Daniel Matthis <daniel....@gmail.com>
> Subject: [KULUA] Re: Lovin' Ubuntu
> To: kul...@googlegroups.com
> Date: Thursday, June 4, 2009, 5:56 PM
> Ok so anyone who can pull out "I
> helped capture the enigma" will win the oldest computer
> contest, and more than likely the oldest person on this list
> contest ;-p

Or "I helped build the original Difference Engine", though in that case it would more likely be "my granddad helped...".

[Rezty Felty]

On my last trip to B.C.E. times, I fabricated the Antikythera device ;P
Rezty Felty, MCSE
SysAdmin
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Googletalk Re...@KC-Felty.Net

[Steve Nordquist]

I think you objected too much in 'Nam-Shub of Niggurath Considered
Harmful' and 'Antipodean Mineral Gasses Set To Replce Alkaloids'
around the release of RFC -16484. Maybe you can help fill in the gaps
in the history around 1330, about which I have some questions....
Also looking for actionable knowledge about environmental CO2 and
conditions before 10 Million BC.

RF> On my last trip to B.C.E. times, I fabricated the Antikythera device ;P

[Leo Mauler]

While you certainly score points, is a non-programmable calculator really anything more than a frilly abacus?

--- On Mon, 6/22/09, Rezty Felty <rfe...@kc-felty.net> wrote:

> From: Rezty Felty <rfe...@kc-felty.net>
> Subject: [KULUA] Re: Lovin' Ubuntu
> To: kul...@googlegroups.com

> Date: Monday, June 22, 2009, 11:43 AM
> On my last trip to B.C.E. times, I
> fabricated the Antikythera device ;P

[Aaron Brown]

Leo Mauler wrote:
>
> While you certainly score points, is a non-programmable calculator really anything more than a frilly abacus?
>

If you turn it upside-down, you can type hELL0 on it. Try *that* with
your schmancy-pants abacus.

- Aaron

--
Aaron Brown :: aa...@thebrownproject.com :: www.thebrownproject.com

[johnnyorion]

Have to jump in to share a completely obvious realization that is core
to the human condition...

The abacus thing kicked off this thought...

'Our' mathematics is based on 10 numeric 'digits' -- I love words.
Very big on etymology and semantics and such...

I would wager, though not a betting man, that a hypothesis that the 10
number (0-9) system is directly drawn from the fact that we have ten
fingers... Stupid, I know. So insanely obvious but still, how many
people are completely oblivious to the connection between the two?

5138008

turn that upside down... >;-P>

l8r,
Chris

[johnnyorion]

sorry, I meant...

5318008

l8r,
Chris

[Kendric Beachey]

On that note: http://www.schoolhouserock.tv/Little.html

Not sure I ever saw this one broadcast as a kid, but it's on the DVD
that my kids have watched a thousand times. :-)

Kendric Beachey

[Rezty Felty]

There is some evidence for the base 10 numerics derives from 10 fingers hypothesis, as the Mayans had 6 fingers as a very common mutation, and used a base 12 system.

Rezty Felty, MCSE
SysAdmin
Sourcecorp

9133697789 Home Re...@KC-Felty.net
8168089969 Personal Cell fel...@sprintpcs.com
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YIM HiRez_L
AIM HiRezL
ICQ 1932818
Googletalk Re...@KC-Felty.Net

[Bill Baldwin]

It is interesting to note that, while there is an obvious connection
between ten fingers and the base ten number system, some ancients would
disagree. That is, it is only an historical accident that we ended up
with a base ten system based on ten fingers. For example, ancient
Babylonians counted on a base twelve system, since there are twelve
bones in the four fingers of one hand. This is why there are twenty
four hours in a day. Since base 60 was also used (Note sure why) we
have sixty minutes in an hour, etc.

Bill Baldwin

[Steve Nordquist]

GPS signals and antennas, sodium I-lines, MEMS oscillators,
trigonometry, figure composition and constructive geometry; if only
they fit in the first-grade curiculum, much better schedule design.
Nontrivial mappings (where arabesques are trivial in most cases) with
canniness for the age-5 set are perhaps an open problem?
As long as the game doesn't have stats and modifiers for artificial
light spectrum, specific cross-sections (or mapwise proximity to)
government...number of Dwarves taken by a Fey Mood, etc.

This fits awesomely of course with the agricultural epicyclical
awareness implicit in (attribution anon. I think):
Babies are born with a spot-on sensibility for garden landscaping, but
lose it within the first few months.

[Leo Mauler]

The most likely progression was that the first numeral system was base-10, because we all have ten fingers. When mathematicians came up with the concept of base-12, and discovered it was easier to "do math" in base-12 (it is, actually), they quickly adopted base-12.

The reason why this was the logical progression is that base-60 comes about when you merge base-10 and base-12. With both number systems in use, eventually some mathematician is going to try and combine the two during his coffee break.

--- On Wed, 6/24/09, Bill Baldwin <li...@baldwincs.com> wrote:

> From: Bill Baldwin <li...@baldwincs.com>
> Subject: [KULUA] Re: Lovin' Ubuntu
> To: kul...@googlegroups.com

[Hudson Luce]

check it out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_numerals and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexagesimal and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Mesopotamian_units_of_measurement --- On Wed, 6/24/09, Leo Mauler <webg...@yahoo.com> wrote:

[Leo Mauler]

Luce, thou hast answered him well. ;-)

If we're all in agreement that Wikipedia is a good reference source, check this out as well:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numeral_system#Sixty

"Base-60 systems are believed to have originated through the merging of base-10 and base-12 systems."

--- On Wed, 6/24/09, Hudson Luce <hhl...@yahoo.com> wrote: