On Wed, 31 Dec 2008 17:12:06 +0200, Eero Ahonen
<aer### [at] removethiszbxtnetinvalid> wrote:

>Stephen wrote:
>> On Wed, 31 Dec 2008 09:20:32 +0100, "Thomas de Groot"
>> <tDOTdegroot@interDOTnlANOTHERDOTnet> wrote:
>> 
>>> I have the hunch that the average age of these groups is higher than you 
>>> imagine.... :-)
>>>
>> 

>
>...radiosity settings
>

LOL Hamlet :)
 
>>> And geeks come indeed at any age... but we take our hobby veeeerrrryyyy 
>>> seriously!
>> 
>> Indeed we do ;)
>
>Though I wouldn't consider raytracing as geeky hobby. I think it's more
>mathematical hobby.
>

Artistic perchance?

With a litle bit of hard sums thrown in ;)
-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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Eero Ahonen wrote:
> Larry Hudson wrote:
> 
>>I was born in '37 so I'm also a grumbling old man (more of a curmudgeon
>>actually).   ;-)   So my childhood was also pre-plastics.  My equivalent
>>nostalgia is for (all metal) Erector Sets.
> 
> 
> I have a strange feeling that that name would be considered somewhat
> weird and/or unsuitable for children's set.
> 
LOL

Nevertheless, "Erector Sets" as they were called, were very well known 
and popular toy construction sets at that time (late 40's, early 50's or 
so).  I had great fun with mine -- a mid-range set.  Always dreamed of 
having their biggest set, but could never afford it -- or rather, my 
parents couldn't.  ;-)  Of course, earlier than this were the all-wood 
Tinker Toys, also very well-known and popular at the time.

Tinker Toys consisted of a bunch of wooden wheels and rods (dowels) of 
various lengths.  I don't remember any other shapes, but there might 
have been.  The wheels had a hole in their center and eight more around 
the rim where the rods could be inserted to connect them.  The ends of 
the rods had a slight taper and a narrow slit.  This slit gave tnem a 
slight springiness, and could also take other things like strings as 
additional ways of connecting them.

Going by my very imperfect memory, they looked somewhat like the 
attached picture.

Tinkey Toys were more for toddlers and Erector Sets more for "budding 
engineers"  ;-)  Of course, sadly, these days something like an original 
Erector Set could never make it to market -- too dangerous.  Lots of 
nuts and bolts and stuff that could be swallowed, and the pieces were 
thin sheet metal which could cut or poke an eye.  I really pity the 
current younger generation for being so coddled and overprotected.  "In 
my day", sure we got hurt, but that was just a normal part of growing 
up.  And we learned a lot on the way.

      -=- Larry -=-

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Attachments:
Download 'ttoy.png' (18 KB)

Preview of image 'ttoy.png'

Eero Ahonen wrote:
> Though I wouldn't consider raytracing as geeky hobby. I think it's more
> mathematical hobby.

I would say that math as a hobby is pretty geeky.    ;-)

      -=- Larry -=-

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Larry Hudson <org### [at] yahoocom> wrote:
> Eero Ahonen wrote:
> > Larry Hudson wrote:
> >
> >>I was born in '37 so I'm also a grumbling old man (more of a curmudgeon
> >>actually).   ;-)   So my childhood was also pre-plastics.  My equivalent
> >>nostalgia is for (all metal) Erector Sets.
> >
> >
> > I have a strange feeling that that name would be considered somewhat
> > weird and/or unsuitable for children's set.
> >
> LOL
>
> Nevertheless, "Erector Sets" as they were called, were very well known
> and popular toy construction sets at that time (late 40's, early 50's or
> so).  I had great fun with mine -- a mid-range set.  Always dreamed of
> having their biggest set, but could never afford it -- or rather, my
> parents couldn't.  ;-)  Of course, earlier than this were the all-wood
> Tinker Toys, also very well-known and popular at the time.
>
> Tinker Toys consisted of a bunch of wooden wheels and rods (dowels) of
> various lengths.  I don't remember any other shapes, but there might
> have been.  The wheels had a hole in their center and eight more around
> the rim where the rods could be inserted to connect them.  The ends of
> the rods had a slight taper and a narrow slit.  This slit gave tnem a
> slight springiness, and could also take other things like strings as
> additional ways of connecting them.
>
> Going by my very imperfect memory, they looked somewhat like the
> attached picture.
>
> Tinkey Toys were more for toddlers and Erector Sets more for "budding
> engineers"  ;-)  Of course, sadly, these days something like an original
> Erector Set could never make it to market -- too dangerous.  Lots of
> nuts and bolts and stuff that could be swallowed, and the pieces were
> thin sheet metal which could cut or poke an eye.  I really pity the
> current younger generation for being so coddled and overprotected.  "In
> my day", sure we got hurt, but that was just a normal part of growing
> up.  And we learned a lot on the way.
>
>       -=- Larry -=-

Yah must have got cut or hurt on the erector set a few times.
Lincoln Logs would be easy CSG for a log cabin.

Airy new age can't compare to Nostalgia Factor. Everything was so right, once
upon a time ...

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"stbenge" <^@hotmail.com> schreef in bericht 
news:495be481@news.povray.org...
>
> What you describe sounds like the ones we had. My dad swears to the name I 
> mentioned, though the last word might be Blocks and not Bricks.
>

Well, the name American Building Blocks (or Bricks) does not ring a name, 
but it might have been the same product, under another one. After all, in 
those days there were not dozens of different identical products. 
Interesting phraseology: different identical....  :-)

What I still own, is a wooden building blocks set I inherited from my uncle. 
It dates from before the first world war. It is probably german. The libel 
is gone for as long as I remember so I am not sure. It is beautifully made 
of plain, very fine-grained wood.

Thomas

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"alphaQuad" <alp### [at] earthlinknet> schreef in bericht 
news:web.495c4aa8877dfbf3722e572a0@news.povray.org...
>
> Yah must have got cut or hurt on the erector set a few times.
> Lincoln Logs would be easy CSG for a log cabin.
>
> Airy new age can't compare to Nostalgia Factor. Everything was so right, 
> once
> upon a time ...
>

...and with each day passing the nostalgia grows    :-)

Don't forget Meat Loaf's undying words: "Don't worry about the future, soon 
it will be the past" (or something like that)

Thomas

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"Thomas de Groot" <tDOTdegroot@interDOTnlANOTHERDOTnet> wrote:
> "alphaQuad" <alp### [at] earthlinknet> schreef in bericht
> news:web.495c4aa8877dfbf3722e572a0@news.povray.org...
> >
> > Yah must have got cut or hurt on the erector set a few times.
> > Lincoln Logs would be easy CSG for a log cabin.
> >
> > Airy new age can't compare to Nostalgia Factor. Everything was so right,
> > once
> > upon a time ...
> >
>
> ...and with each day passing the nostalgia grows    :-)
>
> Don't forget Meat Loaf's undying words: "Don't worry about the future, soon
> it will be the past" (or something like that)
>
> Thomas

Here's my important MOTD. Not only do you need a copy of mIRC to run my scripts,
but on undernet there is #mp3download. mIRC gives you DCC communication and file
resume. If you every get one tune in your life this would be it:


Coldplay-TheStringQuartetTributetoColdplay-07-Everything'sNotLost.mp3

Forget about joint stereo low bit rates under 192. This one seems to be an
exception on the bit rate for being real harmony:

Artist = Coldplay
Album = TheStringQuartetTributetoColdplay
Track = 07
Title = Everything'sNotLost
Length = 5m21s
Bitrate = 128
Mode = Stereo
Version = MPEG 1.0 Layer 3
Sample = 44100
FileSize = 5150720

Gonna have to buy the CD now.

aQ

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On 31-Dec-08 22:39, stbenge wrote:
> The loop is the engine, sin/cos are two parts of a gear, 
> and pi is the number of teeth. 

I wanna see that wheel with pi teeth. Can you render one?

Post a reply to this message

Larry Hudson nous illumina en ce 2008-12-31 21:44 -->
> Eero Ahonen wrote:
>> Larry Hudson wrote:
>>
>>> I was born in '37 so I'm also a grumbling old man (more of a curmudgeon
>>> actually).   ;-)   So my childhood was also pre-plastics.  My equivalent
>>> nostalgia is for (all metal) Erector Sets.
>>
>>
>> I have a strange feeling that that name would be considered somewhat
>> weird and/or unsuitable for children's set.
>>
> LOL
> 
> Nevertheless, "Erector Sets" as they were called, were very well known 
> and popular toy construction sets at that time (late 40's, early 50's or 
> so).  I had great fun with mine -- a mid-range set.  Always dreamed of 
> having their biggest set, but could never afford it -- or rather, my 
> parents couldn't.  ;-)  Of course, earlier than this were the all-wood 
> Tinker Toys, also very well-known and popular at the time.
> 
> Tinker Toys consisted of a bunch of wooden wheels and rods (dowels) of 
> various lengths.  I don't remember any other shapes, but there might 
> have been.  The wheels had a hole in their center and eight more around 
> the rim where the rods could be inserted to connect them.  The ends of 
> the rods had a slight taper and a narrow slit.  This slit gave tnem a 
> slight springiness, and could also take other things like strings as 
> additional ways of connecting them.
> 
> Going by my very imperfect memory, they looked somewhat like the 
> attached picture.
> 
> Tinkey Toys were more for toddlers and Erector Sets more for "budding 
> engineers"  ;-)  Of course, sadly, these days something like an original 
> Erector Set could never make it to market -- too dangerous.  Lots of 
> nuts and bolts and stuff that could be swallowed, and the pieces were 
> thin sheet metal which could cut or poke an eye.  I really pity the 
> current younger generation for being so coddled and overprotected.  "In 
> my day", sure we got hurt, but that was just a normal part of growing 
> up.  And we learned a lot on the way.
> 
>      -=- Larry -=-
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
Let see those that I played with...

Lego (still have)
Meccano (still have)
Milibricks (somewhat rubbery red, and only red, bricks)
Northern Log (100% wood)
Thinker Toy (still have some pieces...)
One with some very large blocks made out of granular styro foam. Don't remember 
the name. Prety fragil.
A building set, with a pump, pipes and several transparent thanks. Not sure of 
the name. The pieces looked like red steel columns and beams, there where 
translucent, printed "plates" looking like industrial walls.

-- 
Alain
-------------------------------------------------
Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every
opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if
there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of
blindfolded fear.
Thomas Jefferson

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andrel <a_l### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
> On 31-Dec-08 22:39, stbenge wrote:
> > The loop is the engine, sin/cos are two parts of a gear,
> > and pi is the number of teeth.
>
> I wanna see that wheel with pi teeth. Can you render one?

Should be a piece of pie... erm, I mean, piece of cake :)

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