11th October 2005, 4:00 PM
I used to launch small rockets as a kid. They went pretty far up there, and the blast to take off was enough that one needed to be a good distance from them and fire using a remote. The parachutes... often failed... I suppose in that sense I built up a bit of a collection.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)