DOcelot1
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He also made the Peacock Clock found in the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. Commissioned for Catherine the Great.
Had the great fortune of visiting there about 11 years ago
Paullovespizza
Solkanarmy
well of course he could make these things if the other guy was called Merlin
Baskaa
Well, if the wings don't move, I don't want it.
LateNightBunnyParty
Here ya go. Lots of moving parts on lots of old robots. https://youtu.be/YMDFRwxCSwA?si=gOzgDHD0vi6UXeBJ
duktayp
Another angle https://youtube.com/watch?v=AOXqCuqDOiI
turbosprouts
It lives in the Bowes museum, in Barnard Castle.
trexskull
https://thebowesmuseum.org.uk/the-silver-swan-story/
it's a great museum as well, loads of interactive stuff for kids and adults alike
razzlephoxx
i got to see this in person, it is truly amazing to see working
LateNightBunnyParty
Here's a whole documentary about automatons like this, including the swan. I've seen this doc probably two dozen times over the years, I love it so much. Carve out 45 minutes of your time and watch this whole thing. Very worth it. https://youtu.be/YMDFRwxCSwA?si=gOzgDHD0vi6UXeBJ
Crozekiel
If I see a real live swan move like that, I'm running tf away.
Yasashii93
This is so cool!
Also, if you like this definitely check out writing automatons. They’ll blow your mind.
deweydeathwish
Ive seen that swan several times in real life when I was an art student, decades ago. It is really impressive!!!! BOWES Museum in n e England is worth going to just to see this!
FreePalestineAndTheWorldFromIsrael
Looks like something that belongs in that movie Return to Oz
InfOracle
https://l.plex.tv/zBKjqKrh. Plex (sorry only source I know) has a free movie called Mechanical Marvels and it talks about all kinds of automata including this one. A good watch for those interested.
idkdjsjsjskj
.
LateNightBunnyParty
Yes! That's the one! Here's a YouTube link too. https://youtu.be/YMDFRwxCSwA?si=gOzgDHD0vi6UXeBJ
gcleff19101
.
peteiridium
The swan is in Bowes museum in north Yorkshire btw. They operate it daily. https://thebowesmuseum.org.uk/collections/not-such-an-ugly-duckling/
Becker37
I mean we make a lot of stuff now days and some of it is cool but the thought, work, and engineering that had to go into something like this is a whole nother level. Humans have just about lost the spark that made us special.
TMCybersnark
There are still geniuses out there, but they're too busy working 12-hour shifts in the job that they had to drop out of school to get.
fumptrucker
I don't think the swan was about to fly to the moon with 3 people on board.
Becker37
Has more to do with what they had to work with, both knowledge and materials
boevis
The wealthy these days are so fucking boring, spending billions on promoting fascism globally, super-yachts, and paying off hookers; when they could be paying people to make cool art
RaynWisp
The swan is still effectively an unpaid commission...
ThisIsYourLifeNow
The Gilded Age is long over unfortunatly.Historically, there were always rich people in history who were very philantrophic. The rich nowadays are robber barons who only watch for themselves to get even richer as quick as possible. I never understood why and never will. At some point, you have enough for a lifetime. But its probably like a drug where it doesnt count anymore what you can do with it. You just want the number go up. Like with drugs you reach a point where you need, just to feel ok.
TMCybersnark
Dragon-sickness, as Tolkien called it.
tavisno
Why be interesting when the media will praise you for how big your made up number is. So much validation!
Nivvi
If i was filthy rich i would have artists on retainer living in my mansion, like in the "good old days" of kings, free to fuck around and make cool shit.
Sticklebrickk
I would like to live in the countryside and make music. Somebody give me a call.
Nivvi
If i get filthy rich you are on the list
thor0486
^This 100% I have said this many times. I would be a patron to a whole slew of my favorite artists and they would literally be paid to just do their thing. I might ask for something once in a while, but mostly I would just let them art at their own free creativity. And Scientists! Oh you've got a team researching some obscure thing but can't get funding because it doesn't have a clear outcome equaling some sort of profit? You've got my funding! Huge breakthroughs can come from stuff like that.
boevis
The only real downside (or upside, depending on your preferences) is that artists these days are WAY better at drawing dicks, so St. George Slaying the Dragon is going to be some r34 shit
MrNobodyWTB
LankyBootyGriswald
I fail to see the problem.
katidragon
I mean, I'm pretty sure there's a group of people out there paying for that sort of thing to be drawn very specifically.
ReallyFastSloth
I feel like at this point they are bored and just fucking with everything they can. And the world is their sandbox.
somerandomusernamebecauseididntlikemyoldone
and they do nothing with it but piss in it
sagejosh0
My theory is that a large portion of the ultra wealthy today never really grew up as children. Kings had to atleast be somewhat decent to the poor and mitigate the damage of their mistakes or they run the risk of the peasants killing them. Modern day politics make it’s so no one can be blamed when a company fails because it got too greedy and needs to be bailed out. They are free from consequences so they never learned to not fuck things up on an off chance they get what they want.
manwithsevenlivers
They have reached the level of SimCity gameplay where you use cheat codes to make tsunamis and drop meteorites all around.
HandoB4Javert
*litter tray
Flobmmando
Same thing really. They just don't know how to build.