# This Machine Built Continents



## Kulanu (Sep 28, 2012)

The first technology that redrew the map of the world by magnifying human strength was the Catapult.  Then came the Steam Engine.  Next the Microchip!   Evolution is interesting.

Cheers


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## cgipson1 (Sep 28, 2012)

Kulanu said:


> *The first technology that redrew the map of the world by magnifying human strength* was the Catapult.  Then came the Steam Engine.  Next the Microchip!   Evolution is interesting.
> 
> Cheers



Funny... I would have said the fulcrum and lever! Especially since it  predated all the things you mentioned, and both the catapult and the  steam engine draw on the principles of the fulcrum and lever to work!

Lever - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## Derrel (Sep 28, 2012)

cgipson1 said:


> Kulanu said:
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> > *The first technology that redrew the map of the world by magnifying human strength* was the Catapult.  Then came the Steam Engine.  Next the Microchip!   Evolution is interesting.
> ...



zOMG--I thought of the fulcrum and lever too!!! And then the block and tackle....pretty sure the block and tackle came before the catapult, but I get what yer saying...ANywayyyyy, as far as it goes, (bad pun) the atlatl or "spear-thrower" MIGHT have actually been the first device that redrew the map of the world by magnifying human strength...look at the underlying *principle* that it is based upon! cough,cough

spear-thrower - Google Search

Anyway, yes, locomotives...railways...MOST impressive things on a historical scale, and always fun to photograph. And yes, the microchip has been a biggie!!!!!!!


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## tirediron (Sep 28, 2012)

I'm a huge ferroequinologist, and love almost any locomotive shot, but why this tight crop?  Why not include the motion and some of the more interesting bits and pieces?


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## Kulanu (Sep 28, 2012)

cgipson1 said:


> Kulanu said:
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> > *The first technology that redrew the map of the world by magnifying human strength* was the Catapult.  Then came the Steam Engine.  Next the Microchip!   Evolution is interesting.
> ...



Agree!   The Catapult embodies these technologies into the instrument of war that changed the world.   When I was writing this I was thinking of the cow being hurled at the Castle in _Holy Grail_.  If it were a fulcrum and lever, the cow would have only teetered


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## cgipson1 (Sep 28, 2012)

Derrel said:


> cgipson1 said:
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Atlatl's are fun.... takes a lot of practice to hit anything with one!


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## Kulanu (Sep 28, 2012)

tirediron said:


> I'm a huge ferroequinologist, and love almost any locomotive shot, but why this tight crop?  Why not include the motion and some of the more interesting bits and pieces?



This was the photo out of the camera.  I was using a 18mm prime lens.  Had I zoomed out (backed up) all the potential romance would have been ruined.  You would have seen that this gorgeous locomotive and private pullman car sits ignobly in the back parking of an industrial building in Sylmar, California.  At least the crop allows for some suspension of disbelief


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## cgipson1 (Sep 28, 2012)

Kulanu said:


> cgipson1 said:
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The bow and arrow probably had more effect on the world than the catapult did... and it predates the catapult also. The bow and arrow was the first ranged weapon that almost anyone could use, and was deadly at distances far beyond the spear. It was also capable of penetration on most primitive armor... which is why plate armor was invented.


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## fiziwig (Sep 28, 2012)

Kulanu said:


> tirediron said:
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> 
> > I'm a huge ferroequinologist, and love almost any locomotive shot, but why this tight crop?  Why not include the motion and some of the more interesting bits and pieces?
> ...



That was a wise choice! Such a magnificent machine sitting in a parking lot would not have looked very good at all.


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## unpopular (Sep 28, 2012)

Yes. The lever makes continents, the locomotive stole them.


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## Rick58 (Sep 28, 2012)

tirediron said:


> I'm a huge ferroequinologist, and love almost any locomotive shot, but why this tight crop? Why not include the motion and some of the more interesting bits and pieces?



I love loco's also, but I like the grimmy backwoods loco's used in logging. 
I guess if he includes the whole engine, it gets too busy and it becomes a...wait for it.... snapshot. I don't know, I just heard that somewhere. :taped sh:


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## snowbear (Sep 28, 2012)

Let's not forget the wheel - especially since that baby has a few of them.


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## tirediron (Sep 28, 2012)

Rick58 said:


> tirediron said:
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> > I'm a huge ferroequinologist, and love almost any locomotive shot, but why this tight crop? Why not include the motion and some of the more interesting bits and pieces?
> ...



Makes sense; I was thinking more of a shot low down near the cylinders showing the motion and such as the prime focus, but this works.


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## wsetser (Sep 28, 2012)

Kulanu said:


> cgipson1 said:
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## unpopular (Sep 28, 2012)

cgipson1 said:


> Kulanu said:
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> > *The first technology that redrew the map of the world by magnifying human strength* was the Catapult.  Then came the Steam Engine.  Next the Microchip!   Evolution is interesting.
> ...



Actually, the fulcrum and lever LITERALLY builds continents; you know tectonic plate style.


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## cgipson1 (Sep 28, 2012)

wsetser said:


> Kulanu said:
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## KenC (Sep 28, 2012)

Another vote for the wheel here.  No one was going anywhere with much equipment without it.

Very nice shot, by the way.


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## Fred Berg (Sep 28, 2012)

I think the plough gets my vote as the tool that changed the Earth, and it's a nice analogy thinking of these old locomotives shaping continents as they ploughed along the land.

Good photo.


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## wsetser (Sep 28, 2012)

Supository, it was a joke.


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## GrantH (Sep 28, 2012)

I'm not so sure you can build a land mass such as a continent...You can build the cultures and societies that live upon them...but not so much the continent. Good ol' Mother Earth did that millions ago.


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## unpopular (Sep 29, 2012)

cgipson1 said:


> urethral suppository



oh god.


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