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Post by chew on Oct 20, 2011 23:38:27 GMT -4
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Post by chrlz on Oct 21, 2011 7:36:30 GMT -4
My ill-informed wild guess is that it might be something sorta like this: www.maproomblog.com/2010/03/relief_dynamic_3d_interactive_map.php..only manually 'driven' of course, to allow a crude 3d representation of a segment of trajectory for checking or comparisons. It's hard to tell, but the raised pins do seem to have a definite curve to them...
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Post by echnaton on Oct 21, 2011 10:17:10 GMT -4
As long as we are in the wild guess realm... My thought is that it is a device used to wire programs into the core memory for the computer.
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Post by ka9q on Oct 22, 2011 5:47:08 GMT -4
I think chrisz is probably right; I think it's a manual 3-D plotting device. Not only do the pins have a definite curve to them, but it looks like there are two intersecting trajectories. That looks like some sort of measuring device that the woman is using to pull the pins up. It's probably set to the desired height of the pin.
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Post by chew on Oct 22, 2011 11:28:04 GMT -4
It looks to me she's pulling the pins all the way out, and doing it too quickly, without regard to how high or low they are.
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Post by chrlz on Oct 22, 2011 19:32:47 GMT -4
While it wasn't my first thought and I did think initially it might be some sort of crude programming technique, I still lean to the mapping device now. I agree that it is hard to see any obvious way the height is being controlled/measured, but there are a few reasons why I still think it's a 3d map.. 1. If you freeze frame it, there seems to be noticeable curves to the raised pins, in at least two separate directions (which means it can't be a perspective distortion) 2. If it is some sort of programming technique, why the need to draw the pins up so high? 3. If it is something other than a map, it seems a coincidence that there are quite distinct diagonal tracks at various angles across the rows of pins. 4. The device being used to draw them up seems to be made of some sort of transparent tube, with something inside that tube (perhaps the measuring thingy?). If all they were doing was drawing the pins up, why such a design? 5. The discussion seems to be about mapping appropriate trajectories well in advance of the missions, and I would think a different team might do the programming later.
But it's all pretty circumstantial, I agree!
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Post by Count Zero on Oct 22, 2011 20:54:32 GMT -4
My first thought when looking at it was that it might be a prototype/model for a computer backplane. Raise the specified pins, make connections, lower them, raise the next set... Wild guess on my part, but that was my impression.
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Post by ka9q on Oct 22, 2011 23:05:48 GMT -4
It looks to me she's pulling the pins all the way out, and doing it too quickly, without regard to how high or low they are. Yeah, but this sequence was obviously performed for the camera. I don't think it was any more candid than the forced conversation in the adjacent segments.
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Post by chew on Oct 22, 2011 23:26:40 GMT -4
Hmm. Y'all make good points.
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Post by ka9q on Oct 23, 2011 3:24:14 GMT -4
Isn't it amazing what smart people could do even without modern computers?
That's the problem with the deniers; they have absolutely no imagination.
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Post by JayUtah on Oct 25, 2011 10:37:58 GMT -4
Yep, it's a cartographic pinbox. You use it to visualize 3D surfaces given contour lines. Since a trajectory is basically just a single contour line, this works really well. Ordinarily, yes, you'd pull the pin out past the desired height and then push it back down according to a measurement. The woman behind the operator is apparently reading off pin row/column information and heights, but I agree this was likely staged.
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