A Conversation for Ask h2g2
The 7 Wonders of the Twentieth Century.
Jack-oh, back on dry land for three whole weeks... Posted Jul 4, 2002
Oh come on....
I vote for Simon the Silly Sausage's bird table!
Jack-ho 
The 7 Wonders of the Twentieth Century.
Simon the Silly Sausage (Gone AWOL from h2g2) Posted Jul 4, 2002
Woohoo! 
I feel all special now.
Simon the 
The 7 Wonders of the Twentieth Century.
Xanatic Posted Jul 4, 2002
I have to say I do know how he feels with that bird table. 
The 7 Wonders of the Twentieth Century.
Woodpigeon Posted Jul 4, 2002
Xan, you might know - what about that big bridge / tunnel thingy they built between Denmark and Sweden? It looked darn impressive when I was there a few years ago...
The 7 Wonders of the Twentieth Century.
Woodpigeon Posted Jul 4, 2002
Oh yes, and the Hubble Space Telescope deserves a mention...
The 7 Wonders of the Twentieth Century.
Jim Lynn Posted Jul 4, 2002
I'd put in a vote for the integrated circuit, which basically covers the whole gamut of modern microcomputing. You *could* argue that the transistor is as (or more) important, and the IC was just a useful packaging method, but the IC was the thing that suddenly made the kind of micro-miniaturisation we're now taking for granted.
Without the integrated circuit, we wouldn't have the Internet, mobile phones, ultrasound and MRI scanners, DVD players, CD players, in fact virtually all consumer electronics made in the last 40 years.
I've been watching some old editions of the BBC's 'Micro Live' and being amused by the awed tones with which they describe the latest new IBM PC with a huge 10 Megabyte hard drive, when I have almost 5000 times that amount of storage on my laptop. So I'm well aware of the pace of technology. Arthur C. Clarke said that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, and looking at the average PC these days, it's clear that he's right - it still seems like magic to me, and I know how they work.
I'd also agree that the footsteps on the moon is another that the human race should be proud of. I still can't watch Apollo 13 without getting all choked up at the end.
The 7 Wonders of the Twentieth Century.
Blues Shark - For people who like this sort of thing, then this is just the sort of thing they'll like Posted Jul 4, 2002
Can we settle for the US and USSR space programmes as a whole?
I prefer The Right Stuff to Apollo 13. 
The 7 Wonders of the Twentieth Century.
Andy Posted Jul 4, 2002
The moon shot was great, but seemed to be a/ a vanity project; b/ designed to p**s off the Russians; and c/ incredibly dangerous. Personally I'd go for Voyager 2. The technology and planets came together at such a perfect time that if I were a God botherer I'd suggest it was divine (as I'm not I'll settle for good maths and luck).
Also nobody's mentioned the theory of relativity yet, or the Human Genome project, that mouse with an ear on its back, tomatoes with fish genes in, Process (CMYK) colour printing and PVA glue.
The 7 Wonders of the Twentieth Century.
Xanatic Posted Jul 5, 2002
Well, the pyramids probably qualified for A) and C) but I don't know how the russians felt about them.
I think mice with an ear on the back will be a wonder of the 21st century. When we start being able to clone spare parts.
The 7 Wonders of the Twentieth Century.
a girl called Ben Posted Jul 5, 2002
Re: The Right Stuff and Apollo 13 - go for the books.
The Right Stuff is a better read, but that is because Tom Wolfe is an exceptionally fine writer. It is interesting to pick up the lives of the same people about 8 or so years on if you then go on to read Apollo 13.
If anyone else knows of any other good books about (any of the teams in) the space race could they let me know?
B
The 7 Wonders of the Twentieth Century.
Xanatic Posted Jul 5, 2002
Anyone knows a place with pics and info on wonders of modern architecture? I tried to find pics of Falling Water but it's quite hard.
The 7 Wonders of the Twentieth Century.
Blues Shark - For people who like this sort of thing, then this is just the sort of thing they'll like Posted Jul 5, 2002
Chaiykins book-'Man on the Moon'<?> is quite superb ad covers the whole of the Apollo missions, from the tragedy of 1 to the sad demise at 17. It is a brilliant book. I'll try and remember to look the proper title tonight when I get home.
Yes, the book of the Right Stuff is better, but I still think the film is wonderful, and very under-rated, on the whole.
Yeager's autobiography is pretty good as well-just called 'Yeager'.
The 7 Wonders of the Twentieth Century.
a girl called Ben Posted Jul 5, 2002
Got it! I LOVE Amazon.
Thanks
B
The 7 Wonders of the Twentieth Century.
a girl called Ben Posted Jul 5, 2002
Got it! I LOVE Amazon.
Thanks
B
The 7 Wonders of the Twentieth Century.
Blues Shark - For people who like this sort of thing, then this is just the sort of thing they'll like Posted Jul 5, 2002
My biggest regret of recent years (in book terms, anyway ) is that I passed up the opportunity to purchase a deluxe, 2 volume edition of that book, fully illustrated and the like.
Only ever seen it once, couldn't 'really' afford it, and have never seen it again. 
The 7 Wonders of the Twentieth Century.
a girl called Ben Posted Jul 5, 2002
My biggest 'I wish I'd'ha bought that' was a copy of the Sunday Express dated the 31st August 1997, but printed late on the previous evening. It was slagging off Princess Diana and Dodi Feyed something rotten. I would have liked to have been able to compare it with the later edition of the same newspaper.
Never has anyone from whore to madonna so quickly or so decisively before or since.
And it would only have cost (what?) 40p?
B
The 7 Wonders of the Twentieth Century.
Blues Shark - For people who like this sort of thing, then this is just the sort of thing they'll like Posted Jul 5, 2002
True historical context always falls between the cracks.
The 7 Wonders of the Twentieth Century.
Mr. Legion Posted Jul 5, 2002
The Victor Emmanuel Monument on Capitoline Hill in Rome. Built as an 'Altar of the Nation', to comemmorate the Risorgimento. Begun in 1885, but only finished in 1911, so it squeezes in. All the neo-classical pillars and statues are a bit overdone, but I defy you not to stand at the bottom, looking up at it, and not go 
The 7 Wonders of the Twentieth Century.
Marjin, After a long time of procrastination back lurking Posted Jul 5, 2002
Since my daughter came back from Rome, we all call that the 'sugar palace'
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The 7 Wonders of the Twentieth Century.
- 61: Jack-oh, back on dry land for three whole weeks... (Jul 4, 2002)
- 62: friendlywithteeth (Jul 4, 2002)
- 63: Simon the Silly Sausage (Gone AWOL from h2g2) (Jul 4, 2002)
- 64: Xanatic (Jul 4, 2002)
- 65: Woodpigeon (Jul 4, 2002)
- 66: Woodpigeon (Jul 4, 2002)
- 67: Jim Lynn (Jul 4, 2002)
- 68: Blues Shark - For people who like this sort of thing, then this is just the sort of thing they'll like (Jul 4, 2002)
- 69: Andy (Jul 4, 2002)
- 70: Xanatic (Jul 5, 2002)
- 71: a girl called Ben (Jul 5, 2002)
- 72: Xanatic (Jul 5, 2002)
- 73: Blues Shark - For people who like this sort of thing, then this is just the sort of thing they'll like (Jul 5, 2002)
- 74: a girl called Ben (Jul 5, 2002)
- 75: a girl called Ben (Jul 5, 2002)
- 76: Blues Shark - For people who like this sort of thing, then this is just the sort of thing they'll like (Jul 5, 2002)
- 77: a girl called Ben (Jul 5, 2002)
- 78: Blues Shark - For people who like this sort of thing, then this is just the sort of thing they'll like (Jul 5, 2002)
- 79: Mr. Legion (Jul 5, 2002)
- 80: Marjin, After a long time of procrastination back lurking (Jul 5, 2002)
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