The World's Largest Computer in 1951

[hitssquad]

 

[zoobyshoe]

Yes. Its name is alliterate.

Two or more words beginning with the letter "M".


What is puzzling me the most is the initial clue: "Beggar the least." I have no idea what to make of it.

 

[hitssquad]

Two or more

Two. Eminem's name is Marshall Mathers, not Marshall Mathers Muthers or Marshall Mathers Muthers Mithers (in which cases his name more appropriately might have been Emineminem or Eminemineminem, respectively).

words beginning with the letter "M".

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Are those paintings of the winter of 1708 and 1709?

 

[hitssquad]

Are those paintings of the winter of 1708 and 1709?

No, they are not. Those four paintings are all by the same painter, and he died before 1708.

 

[hitssquad]

Here is one by another painter who also died before 1708:

 

[zoobyshoe]

The Moment Magnitude Scale?

 

[hitssquad]

No.

Those three graphs are all graphs of (roughly; as you can see they do not match exactly) the same data set.

 

[hitssquad]

Look at this. Someone wrote a book about this thing and put the name of it right in the title:

 

[honestrosewater]

Amazon is the greatest.

Maunder Minimum

 

[hitssquad]

How did you find it?

 

[hitssquad]

Beggar the least. Maunder = "archaic : BEGGAR." Minimum = "2 : the least quantity assignable, admissible, or possible in a given case."

 

[hitssquad]

Who painted the first four paintings above?

 

[zoobyshoe]

Beggar the least. Maunder = "archaic : BEGGAR." Minimum = "2 : the least quantity assignable, admissible, or possible in a given case."

Link me to something that shows I could have gotten from "beggar" to "maunder".

 

[hitssquad]

google.com/search?q=beggar+dictionary+maunder

Also, my Merriam Webster Unabridged Dictionary software allows me to search the definition fields. Searching the def fields for "beggar" turns up only five words beginning with the letter M. I recommend that students of science consider purchasing unabridged dictionary software. Not everything can be googled.

 

[zoobyshoe]

google.com/search?q=beggar+dictionary+maunder

How could I enter "maunder" in a search unless I already knew it was an archaic synonym for "beggar"? And if I already knew, why would I search?

 

[hitssquad]

if I already knew, why would I search?

The other clues might lead you to the answer first. The first clue can then be checked for your reassurance to see if it matches, or you might take it as an article of faith that the clue has something to do with the answer you found.

 

[honestrosewater]

How did you find it?

I searched Amazon for books with 'minimum' in the title. Luckily, the book was on the fourth or so page (out of 2500+ results!).
Before that, I did find the 'mendicant minstrels'. Minstrels perhaps being considered 'the least' in social rank. 'Moocher' didn't turn up anything.

I didn't get maunder either. And I tried tons of sources.

 

[hitssquad]

James Marusek and his Maunder Minimum theory

I searched Amazon for books with 'minimum' in the title.

Ah ha. I had been thinking that maybe you had found it with wildcards. After you posted with news of your success, I had a "how could I be so stupid" moment and checked on Amazon for easy ways to search for the book. I found the Power Search at the bottom of the Advanced Search page and saw that it accepts wildcards. I tried <title: "M* M*"> and <keyword: "M* M*">, though, and it turned up no results.

I didn't get maunder either. And I tried tons of sources.

I didn't expect most people to get it. That's why I posted other clues. BTW, the fourth painting has a Dutch windmill in it. An educated guesser looking for the name of the painter might try searching for <van> since that is commonly a part of Dutch names:
google.com/search?q=%22maunder+minimum%22+van

That search turns up the web pages discussing the Maunder Minimum and the connection it has with the paintings of Aert van der Neer. This NASA sight was where I got the idea to post his golf-on-frozen-rivers/canals paintings in connection with the phenomenon:
http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/20011207iceage.html


BTW, I first heard about the Maunder Minimum here:
http://personals.galaxyinternet.net/tunga/

Marusek's (not very popular) theory is that sunspot activity corresponds positively with solar magnetic flux. This magnetic flux, in turn, keeps Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCR's) away from the earth. The GCR's "interact with the lower atmosphere to spawn cloud creation. A burst of GCRs produces a period of intense low cloud cover, which blocks sunlight, reflects solar radiation back out into deep space producing depressed temperatures globally."
http://personals.galaxyinternet.net/tunga/IceAgeCometh.pdf

 

[honestrosewater]

I was going to guess Aert van der Neer and Brueghel the Elder, but I wasn't able to find any of the paintings you posted! Where are they?
I found http://www.cora.nwra.com/~werne/eos/text/maunder.html but Brueghel in many places, like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Ice_Age

 

[honestrosewater]

Oh, I guess I should think of a clue... I'm running out of ideas.

Some see a similarity between these three famous faces.

 

[honestrosewater]

They even have a reason for why the faces seem similar.

 

[wolram]

They even have a reason for why the faces seem similar.

http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/tutwatch/secrets.html

Tuts new and old face.

 

[honestrosewater]

http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/tutwatch/secrets.html

Tuts new and old face.

Nope, and it's three faces.

 

[hitssquad]

Aert van der Neer, unwary solar-minima-effects documenter

I was going to guess Aert van der Neer and Brueghel the Elder, but I wasn't able to find any of the paintings you posted! Where are they?

First I googled...
images.google.com/images?q=%22Aert%20van%20der%20Neer%22%20frozen

...and that led me to:
http://www.bestpriceart.com/search/?cri=artists&ust=Aert%20van%20der%20Neer

(Click, and then click again, on the paintings and they become quite large.)

The fifth painting is by Abraham Hondius (December 1676):
cora.nwra.com/~werne/eos/text/maunder.html

 

[honestrosewater]

First I googled...
images.google.com/images?q=%22Aert%20van%20der%20Neer%22%20frozen

...and that led me to:
http://www.bestpriceart.com/search/?cri=artists&ust=Aert%20van%20der%20Neer

(Click, and then click again, on the paintings and they become quite large.)

The fifth painting is by Abraham Hondius (December 1676):
cora.nwra.com/~werne/eos/text/maunder.html

O, that's so horrible! I was going to google frozen river- it looked like a river to me- but since when do rivers freeze? So I searched for titles with frozen pond, frozen lake, winter landscape, ice skaters, etc. I can't believe it was a frozen river. Does that happen a lot?

 

[hypatia]

the Moirae?

 

[hitssquad]

The Little Ice Age and its discontents

since when do rivers freeze?

The Maunder Minimum, ~1645 to ~1715 AD, a period of nearly zero sunspot activity, coincided with the coldest part of the Little Ice Age, which in turn extended from the "mid-14th to the mid-19th centuries."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Ice_Age

We currently are experiencing a period of abnormally high sunspot activity, and we are also experiencing abnormally high global temperatures.

Some rivers in certain extreme-latitude climates freeze regularly. The rivers depicted in the paintings I posted normally never freeze. The fifth painting shows the frozen Thames in London, a river that never freezes during periods of sunspot maxima.

Another, but shorter, period of low solar spot activity took place circa 1780:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Ice_Age#Northern_Hemisphere

--
In the winter of 1780, New York Harbor froze, allowing people to walk from Manhattan to Staten Island.
--


Apparently, high sunspot activity, and hence high solar magnetic flux, plus the lack of a recent very nearby supernova event, plus sufficient terrestrial magnetic flux, are protecting us from colder conditions. Or at least that is what James Marusek thinks.
http://personals.galaxyinternet.net/tunga/IceAgeCometh.pdf

--
The Little Ice Age correlates well with a newly discovered type II shell-like supernova remnant (SNR) referred to as RX J0852.0-4622 (also called GRO J0852-4642). This supernova event occurred approximately 685 years ago (the time that the visible spectrum would have reached Earth) and the SNR was located approximately 200pc (650 light years) from Earth. This is the nearest supernova experienced during modern times...

Overlaying RX J0852.0-4622 SNR over Earth’s history beginning in the 14th century, GCRs with energies in the TeVs would arrive simultaneously with the visible spectrum; whereas, 10 GeV GCRs would reach Earth approximately 3 years later. GCRs in the range of 10Gev and above caused the strong downturn in temperature and the beginning of the Little Ice Age. The effects from this initial GCR surge produced the famine of 1315-1322AD. As the years passed, the energy levels of the GCRs began to decline. The cosmic ray flux rate is modulated by variations in the magnetic field of the Earth and Sun. Around 1600AD, the level fell to approximately 400 MeV. At this point, the sun’s magnetic shield became effective at deflecting significant quantities of incoming particles. But then from 1645-1715 AD, a very rare event occurred; the suns magnetic field essentially went dormant, the Maunder Minimum. The GCR flux rate shot up dramatically and global temperatures reached their coldest point. The maximum glacial stage occurred in the 1750’s. Glaciers became more widespread than at any time since the beginning of the Holocene...

In my opinion, the Earth’s magnetic field even though it has substantially weakened, presently remains with sufficient strength to constrain the long-term effects from the next Global Cooling Event.
--

 

[honestrosewater]

the Moirae?

No, but you're a little closer time-wise than King Tut.
Two of the faces are in the same city. The other one is in another country and was just recently built a new home.

 

[honestrosewater]

Hello? Has everyone abandoned me? One face is in Paris. In a museum in Paris. A famous museum in Paris. And was recently moved from a cramped wall to a huge enclosure all to itself. The face is in a painting. A famous face on a famous painting in a famous museum in Paris.

 

[wolram]

Hello? Has everyone abandoned me? One face is in Paris. In a museum in Paris. A famous museum in Paris. And was recently moved from a cramped wall to a huge enclosure all to itself. The face is in a painting. A famous face on a famous painting in a famous museum in Paris.

How could anyone abandon you HRW , i am clueless, my brain won't work, art
is not one of specialities.

 

[wolram]

Mona lisa?

 

[honestrosewater]

Mona lisa?

Correct. Now the other two faces are in the same city... in Italy.

 

[wolram]

Correct. Now the other two faces are in the same city... in Italy.

Forgive me if this clue is not good.
it is a blood sucker, not, the middle sounds like dentistry, the last is hellish.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

The Maunder Minimum, ~1645 to ~1715 AD, a period of nearly zero sunspot activity, coincided with the coldest part of the Little Ice Age, which in turn extended from the "mid-14th to the mid-19th centuries."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Ice_Age

No fair! That little ice age is the answer that I had in mind when I asked about the artwork. The coldest winter was the winter of 1708 and 1709.