Is that an iron lung? And isn’t Cray an anachronism? Or am I missing something?
This is a totally unforeseen turn and a departure from the sort of scene we are used to. To see science racing the forces unleashed by “Kartophilos”, Munoz, et. al. is to open a major new mode of action.
And how can Bunny be so effective if she is so physically constrained?
Looks like the future of computer projects – lots of laymen looking over the shoulders of just one programmer as he is trying to save all their asses. Couldn’t they just outsource it like they do nowdays?
What sort of technology are those computers anyway? I don’t see the glow of vacuum tubes. Are they cyber-punk diference engines?
Seymour Cray, inventor of the Cray computer, was born in 1925 so would have been a bit young to contribute to this project, given the action of Lovecraft is Missing seems to take place in late September of 1926. Perhaps his father or a relative.
And we are all forgetting the first panel – the cat’s not getting the brains! Or at least not yet. Now if some of that slop fell into the computer ….. ?
Definitely those are Hollerith analysers (ancestors of the IBM computer mainframes), with punchcard racks, ferrite-core memory, combination relay and vacuum tube processor core, and one guy using a combination punch card and paper tape keypunch to enter data. This appears to precede the Telefunken invention of magnetic recording tape, but both Baird/Nipkow and Farnsworth-Zworykin video formats should be available for use as video displays. Output should appear in either printed form (from those foreground racks?) or possibly audio if they’re using the von Kempelen apparatus.
January 4th, 2013 at 3:00 am
Is that an iron lung? And isn’t Cray an anachronism? Or am I missing something?
This is a totally unforeseen turn and a departure from the sort of scene we are used to. To see science racing the forces unleashed by “Kartophilos”, Munoz, et. al. is to open a major new mode of action.
And how can Bunny be so effective if she is so physically constrained?
January 4th, 2013 at 7:30 am
Looks like the future of computer projects – lots of laymen looking over the shoulders of just one programmer as he is trying to save all their asses. Couldn’t they just outsource it like they do nowdays?
What sort of technology are those computers anyway? I don’t see the glow of vacuum tubes. Are they cyber-punk diference engines?
January 4th, 2013 at 8:42 am
Cray is her brother, whom you will meet soon.
January 4th, 2013 at 8:43 am
They’re just punch card computers…with a few modifications. I remember when these were used in offices.
January 4th, 2013 at 11:33 am
Oh wow. What an unexpected yet delightfull turn of events.
January 4th, 2013 at 1:57 pm
Seymour Cray, inventor of the Cray computer, was born in 1925 so would have been a bit young to contribute to this project, given the action of Lovecraft is Missing seems to take place in late September of 1926. Perhaps his father or a relative.
January 4th, 2013 at 3:34 pm
@lovecraf: They do look a bit like Jacquard looms (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacquard_loom)
January 4th, 2013 at 10:38 pm
And we are all forgetting the first panel – the cat’s not getting the brains! Or at least not yet. Now if some of that slop fell into the computer ….. ?
January 5th, 2013 at 1:12 pm
Hollerith tabulating machines. First used for 1890 census.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Hollerith
January 5th, 2013 at 3:02 pm
Martin, Richard Cranium: so that would imply a looming disaster is in the cards.
January 5th, 2013 at 4:46 pm
Dude’s got strange skin coloration going on in the third panel,
January 6th, 2013 at 1:09 pm
Definitely those are Hollerith analysers (ancestors of the IBM computer mainframes), with punchcard racks, ferrite-core memory, combination relay and vacuum tube processor core, and one guy using a combination punch card and paper tape keypunch to enter data. This appears to precede the Telefunken invention of magnetic recording tape, but both Baird/Nipkow and Farnsworth-Zworykin video formats should be available for use as video displays. Output should appear in either printed form (from those foreground racks?) or possibly audio if they’re using the von Kempelen apparatus.