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The ultimate in modeling occurs when a simulation of physical events is so real that reality pales in comparision.
Consider, for example, the case of the University of Iowa Farm Music Machine, as described in a recent e-mail making the rounds:
This incredible machine was built as a collaborative effort between the Robert M. Trammell Music Conservatory and the Sharon Wick School of Engineering at the University of Iowa.
Amazingly, 97% of the machines Components came from John Deere Industries and Irrigation Equipment of Bancroft Iowa, yes farm equipment! It took the team a combined 13,029 hours of set-up, alignment, calibration, and tuning before filming this video but as you can see it was WELL worth the effort.
It is now on display in the Matthew Gerhard Alumni Hall at the University and is already slated to be donated to the Smithsonian.
If you haven't seen/heard this device, check out the video. (Note - this is a wmv file. If your media player can't play it, try viewing the film at any one of hundreds of websites, e.g. digg)
While this is an amazing video, the Farm Music Machine is obviously not true - it is a brilliant computer animation produced by Animusic titled Pipe Dream. The e-mail describing the FMM may just be the most benign, and popular urban legend listed on Snopes.
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