Wright Brothers: Brothers of Innovation & Invention
-
Ok: can you recommend a good starter novel? Seems like I may have been missing out.
You can start with any, if you want a recomendation though mine would be Mort or maybe gaurds guards
You cant outrun the world, but there is no harm in getting a head start Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.
-
It's interesting as an engineering feat. Nothing else. Just consider what the Wright Brothers did. The author isn't out to prove that no one else did it first. Nor were the Wright Brothers. Why would you focus on such a thing? I think it reveals something. But I don't know or care what. :D Smile and the world smiles with you.
Some folks find it easier to criticize than admire. I don't know the full story, but I'd be willing to beat what they accomplished was nothing short of miraculous.
Jeremy Falcon
-
Some folks find it easier to criticize than admire. I don't know the full story, but I'd be willing to beat what they accomplished was nothing short of miraculous.
Jeremy Falcon
Jeremy Falcon wrote:
Some folks find it easier to criticize than admire.
I agree. I keep running into people like that without even trying, but they are ignore-worthy anyways, I guess. Thanks for chiming in. Again, the engineering feat and the pure tenacity and give-it-everything-you've-got attitude in the Wright Brothers was really great. And the book reveals how that before all the work with the plane that Wilbur felt quite useless and thought he might fail in business. Over all they come off as quite humble and focused on the work.
-
Maybe... but the OP didn't say anything about the Wright brothers being first or not using ideas from others - yet you guys immediately jumped to that conclusion. One of you even went so far as to claim that lying about inventions was an American trait. It gets a little old... :|
Contrary to popular belief, nobody owes you anything.
Mike Mullikin wrote:
One of you even went so far as to claim that lying about inventions was an American trait.
Haters gonna hate man.
Jeremy Falcon
-
Ok: can you recommend a good starter novel? Seems like I may have been missing out.
I'm also a Pratchett newcomer, but I found this guide to be invaluable to get the general gist of what the series is about. I plan to read "Mort" first (after I finish my current reading). http://io9.com/the-io9-guide-to-discworld-1698768077[^]
-
Oh yawn: do smileys not mean anything any more??? Nobody know who the first people to set foot on North America were but likely to have come across the land bridge connecting Russia with Alaska 40000 odd years ago and then migrated southwards. Just as peoples from Asia were likely to have begun the population of South America. There are also remains of Viking settlements and extremely old Chinese artifacts get found all the time - well, every other third Sunday in March.
Ye. What never ceases to amaze me is that they walked all the way down to the mountains of Mexican and the Andes and never seem to notice what is today the USA & Canada in between. To make it even more curious, any of them that didn't make south remained as Eskimos in the very north of Canada. What is even more amazing is that somehow large quantities of copper was mined around Michigan as long ago as 1500BC by people that seemed to disappear into thin air? (see link below). After the Spanish were finished massacring the natives of South America there is unto 60% of the population of countries like Peru still native today. Only for the English prevented them getting near the tiny population of USA & Canada we would probably have less natives there than we have today? http://www.philipcoppens.com/copper.html[^]
-
I'm reading the fantastic (albeit quite long) new biography of The Wright Brothers by David McCullough - amazon link[^] I couldn't wait to get to their first flight. It's such an amazing tale of two brothers who set out to do something, who stayed strong through the failures and implemented the scientific method and home-made engineering skills to overcome a problem that people thought might be impossible. McCullough is a true historian and although the book is long it really provides a great story and makes you feel like you are with the brothers as they fight to solve this problem. Inspiring I found it very inspiring in my work as a software developer. Have any of you read it?
You should visit the USAF Museum in Dayton Ohio, last time I was there they had a full size replica of the Wright Flyer on display.
-
I'm reading the fantastic (albeit quite long) new biography of The Wright Brothers by David McCullough - amazon link[^] I couldn't wait to get to their first flight. It's such an amazing tale of two brothers who set out to do something, who stayed strong through the failures and implemented the scientific method and home-made engineering skills to overcome a problem that people thought might be impossible. McCullough is a true historian and although the book is long it really provides a great story and makes you feel like you are with the brothers as they fight to solve this problem. Inspiring I found it very inspiring in my work as a software developer. Have any of you read it?
There is evidence that the Wright Brothers were not the first to fly or even invent the first powered flying machine. In 1896 Dr. Samuel Langley developed his famous "aeroplane". Though worthy of powered flight, he used a complicated catapult mechanism from a large house-boat that on both attempts caught the landing skid throwing the craft head-first into the water. The famous aviator, Glen Curtis, rebuilt the machine to Langley's specifications while strengthening a few structure in 1914. He successfully flew the craft under power for a quarter mile. Gustav Whitehead's estate has shown that Whitehead was actually the first to fly a powered machine in the summer of 1903, six months prior to the famous Wright flight. When the Wrights received a patent for their work in later years, Whitehead challenged them demonstrating that they could not receive a patent on something that he had already accomplished. By then then however, the Wrights had become quite nasty in the defense of their work and destroyed Whitehead's reputation in the ensuing lawsuits.
Steve Naidamast Sr. Software Engineer blackfalconsoftware@outlook.com
-
You should visit the USAF Museum in Dayton Ohio, last time I was there they had a full size replica of the Wright Flyer on display.
Very cool. Have to plan a trip and go.
-
There is evidence that the Wright Brothers were not the first to fly or even invent the first powered flying machine. In 1896 Dr. Samuel Langley developed his famous "aeroplane". Though worthy of powered flight, he used a complicated catapult mechanism from a large house-boat that on both attempts caught the landing skid throwing the craft head-first into the water. The famous aviator, Glen Curtis, rebuilt the machine to Langley's specifications while strengthening a few structure in 1914. He successfully flew the craft under power for a quarter mile. Gustav Whitehead's estate has shown that Whitehead was actually the first to fly a powered machine in the summer of 1903, six months prior to the famous Wright flight. When the Wrights received a patent for their work in later years, Whitehead challenged them demonstrating that they could not receive a patent on something that he had already accomplished. By then then however, the Wrights had become quite nasty in the defense of their work and destroyed Whitehead's reputation in the ensuing lawsuits.
Steve Naidamast Sr. Software Engineer blackfalconsoftware@outlook.com
Steve Naidamast wrote:
There is evidence that the Wright Brothers were not the first to fly
I think I stated it most clearly when I said, no one cares. However, allow me to elucidate upon that answer. Not a single person who actually knows the history of powered flight cares at all. The rest are uninformed bumpkins. Allow me to reiterate what has already been iterated with various recursions of repeatedness: No one cares who was first. Have you found this funny? Might I suggest you upvote it prodigiously? Yes, I shall suggest it. Upvote, upvote, upvote. You are in my power. Upvote now!!! Please take note: I've marked this message JOKE.