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Da Vinci's Purposeful Mistakes

Posted by timothy on from the like-the-cheesegrater-parachute dept.

puppetman writes "According to a story out today, Leonardo Da Vinci deliberately introduced mistakes in his inventions. The series, Leonardo, produced by the BBC, claims that simple mistakes were introduced; mistakes that would not become apparent until after the contraption was built. The series hypothesizes that this was either a form of patent protection, or a way of ensuring his work did not end up being used for military purposes (Da Vinci was a gay, vegetarian pacifist)."

10 of 93 comments (clear)

  1. Da Vinci the programmer by thinkliberty · · Score: 5, Funny

    Da Vinci would have made a great programmer. Just look at his beard!

    1. Re:Da Vinci the programmer by JamesCronus · · Score: 2, Funny

      maybe not a programmer, but definatly a UNIX or Linux guru, his beard is better then stallman's and Alan Cox's put together!

      --
      dybia felly dwi a hampster (i think therefore i am a hampster)
    2. Re:Da Vinci the programmer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      DaVinci would have made a great gay vegetarian pacifist! Just look at the beard!

      Uhh... wait a minute...

  2. Ah! I get it now! by Alethes · · Score: 5, Funny

    That explains why Microsoft puts all those bugs in their software. To protect their intellectual property and prevent their software from being used for military implementations.

    Oh wait... it didn't work.

  3. A lot to learn from Leonardo by Henry+V+.009 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think many programmers have a lot to learn from this tale. We now have two useful phrases:

    "It's not a bug, it's a feature."
    "It's there to protect my intellectual property and keep my program from being exploited by the military."

  4. Thanks for the insight. by moonboy · · Score: 5, Funny



    The fact that Da Vinci was a "...gay, vegetarian..." really helps drive home the point that he was a pacifist. Thanks for the wonderful insight.

    --

    Co-founder and designer at Music Nearby: http://musicnearby.com
    1. Re:Thanks for the insight. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

      Yeah, seemed redundant to me. Aren't all pacifists gay vegetarians?

    2. Re:Thanks for the insight. by McCarrum · · Score: 4, Funny

      Thank you ... I was going to write this up, but you beat me to it :) Leonardo was accused to being gay very early in his life, as it was one of the most effective (and highly used) political tools of the time. Bloody Inquisition!

      Oh, and stop the three thousand replies due to occur ... Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

      --
      Robert Anton Wilson :: Rest in Slack
  5. Re:this is still done... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Sounds like our development department!

  6. Re:Just what I was thinking by bain · · Score: 2, Funny

    When somebody asked me the other day If I am a animal rights supporter as well as a vegan, I realised people don't understand.
    I'm not a vegan because I love animals.
    I'm a vegan because I hate plants.

    --
    Sanity is a majority vote.