Anybody who is interested in Babbage's engines should check out Doron Swade's book on Babbage's life and the 1986-1991 modern rebuild of the difference engine, if they haven't done so already. It's definitely a "gee whiz" can't-help-but-blab-about-it-to-everyone-in-earshot book. http://www.librarything.com/work/46023 ---Ryan --- On Tue 04/22, Benjamin Kleber < benjamin.kleber@xxxxxxxxx > wrote: From: Benjamin Kleber [mailto: benjamin.kleber@xxxxxxxxx] To: something@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:32:29 -0400 Subject: [Something] Charles Babbage's Difference Engine gets built http://www.news.com/8301-13772_3-9915667-52.htmlVery cool - some folks went about building Babbage's DifferenceEngine, a mechanical hand-cranked computer capable of solvingpolynomial functions.Benjamin_______________________________________________Something mailing listSomething@lists.looneylabs.comhttp://lists.looneylabs.com/mailman/listinfo/something _______________________________________________ Join Excite! - http://www.excite.com The most personalized portal on the Web!