Cracked is blocked at work.
Please tell me Nikola Tesla is on the damn list.
Also, please tell me it mentions the fact that Thomas Edison was a patent-thieving hack.

Al Gore not even given an honorable mention?

schattenteufel: Cracked is blocked at work.
Please tell me Nikola Tesla is on the damn list.
Also, please tell me it mentions the fact that Thomas Edison was a patent-thieving hack.

I think their standards for "changing the world" are slightly less lofty than you were hoping.

Sliceablekitty: I think their standards for "changing the world" are slightly less lofty than you were hoping.

Yeah. I was expecting Jenner or Fleming or someone like that too. Instead, we get a list of copyright violations.

Harvey Ball was a thieving opportunist who never gave fair credit to Forrest Gump anyway.

No mention of god?

/long live Hexic

The AK-47 turned out to be one of the most awesome things ever to shoot bullets.

Largely because it's a simplified, gas operated version of a John Browning design:



Remington Model 8 Police, as used to Swiss-Cheesify Bonnie and Clyde back in 1934, back when Gospodin Kalashnikov was 15 years old, and first patented by John Moses Browning (in fixed, 5 round magazine form) back in 1900, almost 20 years before Kalashnikov was born.

The AK-47 is essentially a Remington Model 8 that is converted from long recoil to gas operation, and for a smaller, intermediate power cartridge.

It all goes back to Browning: He invented gas operation using a piston, which the AK series uses.

Kalashnikov is like the AC/DC of weapons designers: He's a derivative, one trick pony. Granted, his one trick is a really good one, but that doesn't make him a genius.

Browning, on the other hand, invented guns that have outlasted the Kalashnikov. The M-2 heavy machine gun was first invented in 1919, and is still in use by the military today. The 1911 style handgun, and the short recoil system it uses, is still one of the most popular handguns. The Winchester 94, probably the most iconic American firearm, was designed by Browning.

Tetris is the #1 game for the most illegal clones. The problem is that the game is so damn easy to program. The basic design is beautiful in its simplicity, but it's a cakewalk to reverse engineer.

dittybopper: Largely because it's a simplified, gas operated version of a John Browning design:

Isn't part of the ubiquity of the AK-47 the fact that it's engineered to very low tolerances? It is built "loosely" if you will, so that replacement parts aren't that difficult to manufacture because you don't have to have exact specifications?

/or something like that
//saw it on a history channel show

Pretty sure my life would be just the same without Tetris, Karaoke or smiley faces. Stupid story is stupid.

fatimcgee: SurfaceTension: Al Gore not even given an honorable mention?

Well, he (and the rest of us) did end up with a wonderful pr0n delivery system...

he never claimed to have been involved in the invention of the internet.

he claimed (very accurately as he wrote the farking bill) to be involved in

ah fark it.. lemme get the quote

"During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be impotrant to our country's economci growth and environemtnal protection, improvements in our education system"

and while his statement may be slightly aggrandizing his role - he didn't mean that in a "I created the technology sense". He did author the bill that allowed it to be used for comercial purposes.

Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn do credit him with being instrumental in the success of the internet.

so yeah..

shut the fark up

SurfaceTension: dittybopper: Largely because it's a simplified, gas operated version of a John Browning design:

Isn't part of the ubiquity of the AK-47 the fact that it's engineered to very low tolerances? It is built "loosely" if you will, so that replacement parts aren't that difficult to manufacture because you don't have to have exact specifications?

/or something like that
//saw it on a history channel show

It was built that way on purpose, in order to make the gun as reliable as possible, at the sacrifice of some accuracy.

I didn't want to sound *TOO* strident: Kalashnikov invented a very good gun, it's just that it was based on some prior art, and it wasn't anything *THAT* unique in form or in function.

Also, it's ubiquitousness is largely due to the fact that the Soviets and Chinese used to give them out like candy on Halloween to any piss-ant slightly left of center group that would ask for them.

Flying Undead Sheep: WHERE IS TESLA?!

Underground.

dittybopper: The AK-47 is essentially a Remington Model 8 that is converted from long recoil to gas operation, and for a smaller, intermediate power cartridge.

Are you f*cking kidding me?

"Converting from long recoil to gas operation" isn't the sort of thing you just swap out. It's more something you design the gun around. It isn't like we're talking about dropping a Power Stroke diesel in a F-250 in place of a gas engine. More the difference between a F-250 and a Peterbilt medium duty chassis; there's a lot of difference there. The long recoil action has a moving barrel; the only thing the AK has in common is a rotating bolt instead of a tilting one.

There were several other designs that had features that Kalashnikov appropriated to his rifle. Even the Germans had already come up with the assault rifle design in the MP44, utilizing a protruding pistol grip, intermediate cartridge, and so on. The AK-47 actually borrowed more from Simonov's SKS, but even then it was quite different- same basic gas system, but with one piston instead of a piston and op rod, and the design of the trigger group and receiver was completely different.

Did Mikhail Kalashnikov come up with all that himself? No. In that sense John Browning was a superior firearm designer- he did just come up with shiat, and it worked. JMB was amazing; I doubt we'll ever see his likes again in small arms design. But Kalashnikov put all the right features together in one rifle, and the same basic design is still going strong over 60 years later, and still has design features taken from it for very up to date designs (see the SIG 551/556 series; basically a VERY updated AK action married to some innovations from the AR family).

Kazan:
Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn do credit him with being instrumental in the success of the internet.


Being instrumental in the success of something isn't the same as creating it.

It's like saying the person who markets a film created it: He may have been instrumental in the success of the film, but in no sense did he actually create it.

Antimatter: the AK was brilliant because it was cheep, damn near every nation can make it, and it's idiot proof. One can be taught everything to know about the weapon, it's user, maintenance, etc, in like, 10 minutes.

The funny thing is, the Russians don't even use it anymore. They switched to the AK 74, then the AN 94. But the rest of the world never really followed the same path.

The manual of arms for the AK platform is dirt simple. It's designed for illiterate peasants to operate with a minimum of training. If you can change the oil in your car, you're grossly overqualified to play gunsmith on an AK. It is brilliant in its simplicity.

I'm not sure, though, just how much the Russians are using of the AN94; while they went to the AK74 a while back, that's not much more than a small caliber barrel on the AK47 platform. They have so many of the things (and they last forever) that the added expense of the AN94 is hard to justify in a cash poor nation. Others still use the AK47/AKM because it works and there isn't much real need to upgrade unless you just really want to carry a shiatload of ammo on your person.

I read that a Spetsnaz trooper was asked about which he preferred in Afghanistan- the AK-47 or -74. His answer said that if he could get ready resupply of ammo, the -47 (since the ammo is heavier, you can't carry as much). If he had to hump a large amount of ammo on his person, then the -74.

rmz: mantidor: Oh also, I really can't feel bad for anyone who invented a weapon that kills millions.

The knife?

No, dumbass, he's talking about cars. Or swimming pools. Or electricity. One of those things, anyway...

akula: dittybopper: The AK-47 is essentially a Remington Model 8 that is converted from long recoil to gas operation, and for a smaller, intermediate power cartridge.

Are you f*cking kidding me?

No.

"Converting from long recoil to gas operation" isn't the sort of thing you just swap out. It's more something you design the gun around. It isn't like we're talking about dropping a Power Stroke diesel in a F-250 in place of a gas engine. More the difference between a F-250 and a Peterbilt medium duty chassis; there's a lot of difference there. The long recoil action has a moving barrel; the only thing the AK has in common is a rotating bolt instead of a tilting one.

False: The bolt carrier is also similar (except that one is designed for gas operation and has an integral piston), and the recoil spring is also similar.

Also note the obviously glaring similarity, the safety.

The magazine is also nearly identical to an AK, with the exception that the release is on the magazine itself instead of on the gun.

Also, remember that John Browning invented the gas operation principle, so even if you posit that you have to completely redesign the gun around it (which is true enough), he was still using something originally invented by Browning.


There were several other designs that had features that Kalashnikov appropriated to his rifle. Even the Germans had already come up with the assault rifle design in the MP44, utilizing a protruding pistol grip, intermediate cartridge, and so on. The AK-47 actually borrowed more from Simonov's SKS, but even then it was quite different- same basic gas system, but with one piston instead of a piston and op rod, and the design of the trigger group and receiver was completely different.

The *ONLY* thing similar between an SKS and an AK (besides caliber), is the gas tube/piston on the top of the barrel, and the fact that the upper receiver covers on both come off easily.

What Kalashnikov appears to have done is to borrowed the basic rotating bolt, bolt carrier, safety, trigger mechanism, receiver, and kind-of magazine of the Remington Model 8 and married them to a simplified version of the Simonov above-the-barrel gas system. Pistol grips and crap like that don't count: They are add-ons that don't effect the basic operation, and in any event, pistol grip stocks long predate both the AK and the StG.

We won't even get into the cartridge, it was one he was required to use, so he gets no points for that, and it *WAS* based on the German 7.92mm Kurz.


Did Mikhail Kalashnikov come up with all that himself? No. In that sense John Browning was a superior firearm designer- he did just come up with shiat, and it worked. JMB was amazing; I doubt we'll ever see his likes again in small arms design. But Kalashnikov put all the right features together in one rifle, and the same basic design is still going strong over 60 years later, and still has design features taken from it for very up to date designs (see the SIG 551/556 series; basically a VERY updated AK action married to some innovations from the AR family).

I'm not saying he didn't make a decent gun (see my post above). I'm just saying it wasn't really all that original in the first place.

Remember, I compared him to AC/DC, and I *LIKE* AC/DC, I just acknowledge their limitations.

/Have owned both an SKS and an AK, and my father owns a Remington Model 81 in .30 Remington and the older FN produced version in .35 Remington.
//I've seen all 4 'naked', so I know what I'm talking about.

dittybopper: Kazan:
Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn do credit him with being instrumental in the success of the internet.


Being instrumental in the success of something isn't the same as creating it.

It's like saying the person who markets a film created it: He may have been instrumental in the success of the film, but in no sense did he actually create it.

he didn't say he invented it. he said he took the initiative in creating it.

which, while slightly self-aggrandizing wording, is strictly speaking accurate: he authored the legislation that provided for the creation of the modern internet.

i don't like al gore, but i do like accuracy in criticism.

Billy Ligue: dittybopper:

Dude, just don't argue firearms with dittybopper.

I do like readign his posts. Thanks dittybopper.

Hey, I was born with a gun in my hand:



Unfortunately for my Mom, it was a flintlock longrifle.