Fabio ManganielloJul 30, 2023

The engineers who designed the #Voyager probes half a century ago even thought of the possibility that a wrong sequence of commands may point the antenna dish away from earth (like someone did a couple of days ago).

And they implemented a self-adjusting mechanism that a few times a year scans the positions of a few known stars to infer the position of the earth, and point back the antenna in the right direction.

50 years later, these wonderful machines are still working, tens of billions of km away from earth, with only 69 KB of RAM, and even a wrong sequence of commands won't put them out of use, while nowadays 4 GB of RAM aren't even enough to start VsCode or IntelliJ.

The more I understand how they were designed, the more I feel like an early Medieval engineer looking at the Pantheon or other marvels of Roman architecture. Some amazing skills, knowledge and attention to details have been lost from that generation to ours.

Show threadThreadbane
@blacklight
Great toot! The Voyager was truly an amazing feat!
And not to be picky, but the Pantheon is Ancient Greek. 8^)
Jul 30, 2023 at 11:47amWeb
Show threadjustpeachyJul 30, 2023
@Threadbane @blacklight the Parthenon is Greek, the Pantheon is Roman
Show threadThreadbaneJul 30, 2023
@justpeachy @blacklight
My god, I'm MORTIFIED! 8^) You are absolutely correct. I was blinded by the Greek! (I've read the Odyssey and the Iliad in the original, so...running on inertia.)
Show threadjustpeachyJul 30, 2023
@Threadbane @blacklight nothing to be too embarrassed about! I had to search it up myself. I’d never heard of a building called the Pantheon, only the word referring to religions with many gods.
Show threadokanogen VerminEnemyFromWithinJul 31, 2023
@justpeachy @Threadbane @blacklight
So where is the Malaproprion?
Show threadThreadbaneJul 31, 2023
@justpeachy @blacklight
The Parthenon is a temple to Athena Parthenos, the guardian goddess of Athens. Parthenos means virgin in Homeric Greek. I looked it up, but I actually knew that when I was about 17, when I was taking Homeric Greek.
Show threadDan CiruliJul 31, 2023

@Threadbane @justpeachy @blacklight I'm sorry, this is the Internet. We don't admit we were wrong and apologize here.

(In all seriousness: the world would be a FAR better place if more people could do what you did here! Instant follow)

Show threadJorge StolfiJul 30, 2023

@justpeachy @Threadbane @blacklight

And the Pantone is American.

Show threadAngry CentristJul 30, 2023
@Threadbane @blacklight The Parthenon (Athens) vs the Pantheon (Rome.) While the facade of the Pantheon does exhibit the usual Roman thievery of Greek visual elements, its engineering and construction is distinctly Roman with a domed concrete(!) roof the ancient Greeks lacked the technology to produce.
Show threadFirehorseart Lives!Oct 5, 2023

@dkbgeek @Threadbane @blacklight

I'm glad I visited the Parthenon while I had the chance. That was a large part of what I wanted to see on my one and only visit to Greece.

Having read about the temples on the Acropolis in my art history classes, it was good to see the site in real life. That also helped me understand why the Greeks want the Elgin Marbles back. The site has a museum ready to display them in.

Show threadThreadbaneOct 5, 2023
@srfirehorseart @dkbgeek @blacklight
I lived in Italy for a year when I was 13 and saw all the "standard" Roman ruins in Rome, lived in Naples and saw Pompeii and Herculaneum, but never made it to Greece. I'm envious! Would have liked to see the Acropolis.
Show threadFirehorseart Lives!Oct 5, 2023

@Threadbane @dkbgeek @blacklight

Italy was next on my list to visit, partly to see classical Roman art and architecture (also in my art history studies).

Mainly, I was hoping to visit the Venice Biennale for contemporary art, but I was also hoping to see some museums and galleries.

You're still one country ahead of me and I have never lived in continental Europe, only the UK. Starting to wish I had now, but Brexit and COVID has put the brakes on that.

Show threadOrión MontoyaJul 31, 2023
@Threadbane are you confusing the Pantheon with the Parthenon?
Show threadThreadbaneJul 31, 2023
@mdcclv
Absolutely!