"Thomas de Groot" <t.d### [at] internlnet> wrote:
> "PM 2Ring" <nomail@nomail> schreef in bericht
> news:web.42d3bb11100c48091917bb8b0@news.povray.org...
> > Thanks, Thomas, I'll start rendering a stereo version tonight, on my
> little
> > old 500MHz, 256Mb Windows 2000p machine. It may take some time to do high
> > quality, especially if I use area lights, etc.
>
> I am interested to see the result!

Unfortunately, I couldn't open either of the zip files. I was going to try
again today on my XP machine at work, but it was too busy to play.

> > And Kepler played a key role in this increase. [.....] And, with those
> qualities, I reckon
> > he'd be brilliant at POV, too. (Hey, I managed to get back on-topic. :)
> >
> Yes, it is fascinating to read how science was done in those times, but also
> to see that mankind is mankind. Petty things like those Mars observations
> for instance.

Yes, and in the next century or so, the dispute over the inventor of
calculus, between the supporters of Newton & those of Leibniz.

> > And still worth reading, if you don't mind a bit of mathematical mysticism
> > thrown in. Personally, I find it fascinating, to see how various belief
> > systems influence how people think about the world.

> Yes indeed. I am much interested in the philosophy and history of science
> myself, especially to understand (and make understand) how science is done
> and how our own mental and psychological limits dictated by time, belief, or
> place, influence the whole process.

A fascinating field, and one I appreciate more & more as I grow older.
These limits are very powerful. For example, we can learn in highschool
mathematics most of the important results that took the whole human race
thousands of years to achieve.

> And, to keep on topic too ;-)  , POV can help quite a bit to do that!

Yes! A scientific or mathematical diagram is much more engaging when done
with POV compared to a traditional B&W line drawing!

For example, I've attached a nice circle packing a stumbled across a few
years
back. I assume it was discovered in ancient times, but I haven't tried to
do any research about it. I don't think I've ever seen it before I
accidently
discovered it for myself.

The red cylinders have radius 3, the blue radius 2, the gold radius 1.
Notice the hidden 3,4,5 right-triangles? That's how I found this packing.

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