Grand Avenue by Mike Thompson for April 17, 2012

I’ve been meaning to make a little display for my slipstick and my abacus, to be marked, “In case of computer crash, break glass,”

Then there’s the old networking system consisting of paper cups and strings – known as a DixieLAN.

Calculator, calculator… That’s an app for iPhones isn’t it?

The important thing to remember about a slide rule is that it only has 2-1/2 digits of accuracy. Every operation makes the accuracy of that last digit fuzzier. After a few operations, the solution becomes a general direction.I just took courses from 2 math instructors that refused to acknowledge that they knew how to operate one.

A Sliderule class was mandatory for Civil Engineering at Iowa State University in 1970-1974

I have two slipsticks. One is WWII era, the other 1960’s.

I have my Dad’s from college and 30 years as a chemical engineer. We keep it in our ‘family history’ display cabinet. I should have had him teach me how to use it.

He told a story of his college days as a Lab Instructor. He used to call out calculations as he showed problems and everyone would race on thier sliderules to get the answer first. He called out ’what’s 2+2’ and everyone was using a sliderule to come up with the answer. That’s when he decided all his future kids would do math in thier heads. We all hit first grade doing 3 digit addition in our heads.

That may not happen.

I still have slide rules. I even have a small one that I carry in a flight bag when I’m taking flight lessons. I have a couple of the 12" log log decitrig duplex rules which I’m saving for my grandchildren. I figure they ought to know how things were done in the stone age.

Stone age – when my first calculator (no cord!) Cost an arm & a leg and weighed just as much!

I was quite quick and proficient with a sliderule. Have no clue how to to use it anymore.

Oh, I still don’t own an ipod or cell, and I’m still alive.

I’m too young to have ever dealt with sliderules, but I have seen the video where the guy with the sliderule beats the kid with the calculator speedwise in calculating a certain problem.

Since GPS units have gotten so prevalent, the U.S. Navy is no longer teaching the use of sextants in navigation. I can’t wait for an EMP to hit a carrier.

Haven’t touched my sextant in years