M&D to 360 (spoilers)

[davemarc]

----------
> From: Steven L. Bender <Steven_L._Bender at dalton.org>
> 
> so...
> 
> 
> *
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *
> 
ducky matters ahead!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *
> *
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *
> 
[quack]
> 
> since the cheese really existed, i can't help but wonder if anyone is
aware of
> a historical precedent for the amorous mechanical duck? (not to mention
the
> learned english dog).
> 
Vaucanson, Jacques de...(1709-82) Engineeer and inventor, born in Grenoble,
France.  He went to Paris to study mechanics, and became adept at
constructing automata such as a duck which swam, quacked, flapped its
wings, and swallowed its food, developing for this delicate machine tools
of lasting importance.  Appointed an inspector of silk factories (1741), he
devised various improvements to the machines for weaving and dressing the
silk, and suceeded in making the first fully automated loom (1745),
controlled through a system of perforated cards.  It was cumbersome and not
wholly reliable, however, and it was not until the turn of the century,
when it was further improved by Jacquard, that it came into widespread use.

davemarc duck