Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for March 05, 2015

Ah,1995, before the internet had hit warp drive.

@Calvin

Actually, there are Software Apps out there where it takes down and does dictations as you speak and the work should go a lot more faster…

There’s also a lot of anti-plagiarism software available now – and even without that, I’m sure that teachers of small children are very well able to tell whether the homework is the kid’s work or not (be it net or misguided parent providing the words)

I used one for years, but to be honest, I would never go back. Love my laptop too much.

I loved the IBM Selectric, too. Now there was a typewriter with balls! ;)

I remember some later comics where they did have a computer, and Calvin wanted them to get an “on line” account, or some other old phrasing that didn’t use the word “Internet”. Remember using computers just as word processors? Calvin’s Dad shot down the idea because “it’s bad enough we have to have a phone.” He also grumbled how the new faster communication meant that everyone wanted instant answers, where before they would have been willing to wait a few days, or a week.I miss being hard to get in touch with. On the other hand, I kind of like getting my morning comics on a computer.

Doctoral dissertation. No computer, no word processor. Just an electric typewriter. 300+ pages. Footnoted, bibliography, the whole thing. You were allowed 5 spelling mistakes for the whole thing and no grammar mistakes. Each spelling mistake took points away. I DO NOT miss those days.

Unti Miss Wormwood gives a test.

Classic!

On-line, internet, wiki-anything, or not: That’s a little kid’s idea of how having a computer is supposed to make life easier.

By 1995, computer prices had come down a bit. My first Mac was the SE, purchased in the late ’80s. 20 Meg hard drive, 1MB memory standard, upgradeable to 4 MB. Also had a floppy disk drive. $3000. Processing speed was 8 MHz. By ’95, prices were below $2K, heading for $1K, and becoming in reach for more families. The cheapest smart phone on the market today has far more computing power than the SE did.

Who had a Osborne 1?

Did all of my university papers on a Kenwood portable that I bought at a yard sale for less than 20 bucks. Test of patience. I did have the good sense to learn to touch type in high school, on an old electric setup they had.

Keep an open mind Calvin. I love my excel worksheets. It is like a having extra help in the office. They don’t talk down to you, they are fast, accurate and awesome. Don’t know what I do without it.

My Mom (legal secretary) could type 120 wpm on that thing! She loved it so much, she bought one. I just recently donated it (and a case of ribbons) because no one wanted it.

They don’t even make old-school, non-electric typewriters in the USA anymore…they’re collector’s items now.

As a college professor, I’d get stuff that alternated between grade-school and graduate school writing. Pretty easy to tell. The thing is, even plagiarized, it was still lousy. I’d have been delighted to get someone who could cheat intelligently.

Computers are my life!

xxx

Exactly Calvin; exactly!

And all as we so dutifully read the comics and do only God knows what with these instruments of the devil…

I bet computer voices like Microsoft Sam and Microsoft Mary couldn’t tell answers unless you type them in.

Kind of reminds me of when I was teaching at the local community college. A young man came in to “get my GED.” When I told him he’d have to be tested so that I could determine which classes he needed to take, he was shocked. “You mean I have to come to school?” Apparently he misunderstood when someone told him that he could get his GED at the community college.

Or when the children of an older cousin offered to get her a computer, she told them, “I’m too old to learn how to use a computer. Just get me an iPad.”

’94, picked up for $50 a DEC Rainbow100, it was a tossed-out smart-terminal.. no hdd, 5" floppies provided both ram & storage.. dial-uped a local free 28k access, waited forever of course to handshake..

I used to bang out term papers on a big old Remington that was twenty years older than I was.

You can tell how old this strip is. Nowadays, they’d try to fling him in jail for “child abuse” over not getting his kid a computer! :-P

Cliff’s notes, Calvin.. Cliff’s notes.

i wonder if calvin would be as lazy as he is, if he was in this present moment, xD 2015

I’m still trying to figure this one out, Calvin!