Yesterday Google commemorated Ada Lovelace...

Raffaele the Amigan · December 10, 2012, 03:19:44 PM

With a doodle...

Chocofreak13 · December 10, 2012, 06:12:35 PM

yesterday for you, dude. it's still going on here.

Bella · December 10, 2012, 08:23:55 PM

I saw that. ^^ Very cool.

Chocofreak13 · December 10, 2012, 09:47:03 PM

seems she turns 197 today. :3

stewartsage · December 10, 2012, 10:19:24 PM

She's out there somewhere, watching the modern computing community with scorn.

Chocofreak13 · December 11, 2012, 12:27:04 AM

or shame. probably shaking her head like, "where did we go wrong...."

Bella · December 11, 2012, 09:27:38 PM

Quote from: Chocofreak13 on December 11, 2012, 12:27:04 AM
or shame. probably shaking her head like, "where did we go wrong...."

I'd say sometime between 1950 and 1970, about the time women stopped, you know, being involved in the computer industry in any large numbers. :s

NejinOniwa · December 11, 2012, 10:05:29 PM

We went wrong when we stopped being magpies.

Seriously, nothing can beat the simple fabulousness of this bird. NOT EVEN Ada Lovelace.

Besides, they could probably give us a run for our money if we gave them a course in computer engineering or two...

Chocofreak13 · December 12, 2012, 12:17:58 AM

Spoiler: Show

NejinOniwa · December 12, 2012, 08:37:06 AM

Actually, the magpies are the smartest out of all corvids (crow family birds), so not really...

Chocofreak13 · December 12, 2012, 11:10:15 AM

i wasn't aware they were part of the same family. but i've heard crows listed as the 4th smartest animal on the planet, after Humans, Orangutans, and Dolphins.

NejinOniwa · December 12, 2012, 02:04:55 PM

Weeeell. Crows are basically a generalization in that case - ALL corvids are extremely intelligent, and share the top spot among avians with certain species of parrot. Certain species have local edges over others, and different corvids have different ways of demostrating tool use - most are very comfortable with it. However, the magpie is special in that it demostrates self-awareness in Mirror Tests without any sort of training. Alongside the Jackdaw they also have the highest body-to-brain ratio (or more exactly size of a certain part of the brain responsible for higher forms of thought) of all avians, the same as humans and chimpanzees, and HIGHER than all other primates.

They're even smart enough to hijack threads...

Chocofreak13 · December 12, 2012, 08:58:57 PM

*traps nej in birdcage* LOOK I CAUGHT ONE!!

(i think this thread is done. perhaps we should not derail it further.)