Ah, all the memories from the pre-technology boom days.
I still get a kick out of telling today’s kids how, when I was young, I actually had to get up and walk across the room to change the channel – and I only got three channels plus PBS via the old rabbit ears (yes, I’m even old enough to remember when cable television didn’t exist yet, much less personal computers, cell phones, voice mail, and the Internet.)
The funny thing is that today’s technology is so commonplace that even I wonder how I managed to survive without it all those years!
legaleagle48, I remember those things. I also remember the first time “pay TV” was promoted. The idea of paying for television had people outraged, but at that time it was broadcast only, the cables weren’t part of it yet. Remember when cable first started? The whole idea was if you paid for TV you didn’t get commercials. That changed quickly, didn’t it?
The only remote we had was my dad telling my brothers or me to change the channel.
My grandfather, however, did create his own mute button. It was hard wired to the back of the tv speaker and had a simple switch on it. When the commercials came on, he would turn off the sound. He called it a “blab off”.
Rx71Wm29, annamargaret1866: I am still using my slide rule, which is nearly forty years old and has never required a change of batteries. I have another one that belonged to my father-in-law; it dates (according to its serial number) to late 1941/early 1942. He supposedly used it when he worked at Oak Ridge during the Manhattan Project. It also is still working just fine despite never having a battery change…
I was teaching high school physics the last few weeks, and found my antique slide rule could do the calculations more quickly (and more accurately) than the fancy calculators the kids are required to buy. The kids were quite impressed until they learned the slide rule can’t play video games… which seems to be the major use for the programmable “scientific” calculators…
@puddleglum1066, and the abacus does addition and subtraction faster and more accurately than calculators. Entering the digits reveals the answer: no + or Enter key to press. I still use a Chinese abacus (which has 2 beads on top and 5 on the bottom of each column traditionally used for bookkeeping on multiplication and division) to add and subtract hexadecimal when doing low level debugging on the computer.
As soon as you need to do sales tax (which can be looked up in a table for retail, however), discounts, or other multiplication, a modern calculator becomes much more attractive.
serenasakitty almost 14 years ago
Logical question.
pouncingtiger almost 14 years ago
Kids these days. Sheesh!
WebSpider almost 14 years ago
Cool, but you should see what Grandma got us this week…
gobblingup Premium Member almost 14 years ago
In your head.
BuzzDog almost 14 years ago
It’s rechargeable, Michael.
William Bednar Premium Member almost 14 years ago
I wonder what Michael would say if his mother showed him a slide rule?
annamargaret1866 almost 14 years ago
Anybody else remember the tables of logs in the math books?
I remember learning to use a slide rule, thought is was the best thing ever.
legaleagle48 almost 14 years ago
Ah, all the memories from the pre-technology boom days.
I still get a kick out of telling today’s kids how, when I was young, I actually had to get up and walk across the room to change the channel – and I only got three channels plus PBS via the old rabbit ears (yes, I’m even old enough to remember when cable television didn’t exist yet, much less personal computers, cell phones, voice mail, and the Internet.)
The funny thing is that today’s technology is so commonplace that even I wonder how I managed to survive without it all those years!
JanLC almost 14 years ago
legaleagle48, I remember those things. I also remember the first time “pay TV” was promoted. The idea of paying for television had people outraged, but at that time it was broadcast only, the cables weren’t part of it yet. Remember when cable first started? The whole idea was if you paid for TV you didn’t get commercials. That changed quickly, didn’t it? The only remote we had was my dad telling my brothers or me to change the channel. My grandfather, however, did create his own mute button. It was hard wired to the back of the tv speaker and had a simple switch on it. When the commercials came on, he would turn off the sound. He called it a “blab off”.
ponytail56 almost 14 years ago
what would Micheal think of an abbucus
puddleglum1066 almost 14 years ago
Rx71Wm29, annamargaret1866: I am still using my slide rule, which is nearly forty years old and has never required a change of batteries. I have another one that belonged to my father-in-law; it dates (according to its serial number) to late 1941/early 1942. He supposedly used it when he worked at Oak Ridge during the Manhattan Project. It also is still working just fine despite never having a battery change…
I was teaching high school physics the last few weeks, and found my antique slide rule could do the calculations more quickly (and more accurately) than the fancy calculators the kids are required to buy. The kids were quite impressed until they learned the slide rule can’t play video games… which seems to be the major use for the programmable “scientific” calculators…
mroberts88 almost 14 years ago
I used to have something in the neighborhood of 50 seashells.
stuart almost 14 years ago
@puddleglum1066, and the abacus does addition and subtraction faster and more accurately than calculators. Entering the digits reveals the answer: no + or Enter key to press. I still use a Chinese abacus (which has 2 beads on top and 5 on the bottom of each column traditionally used for bookkeeping on multiplication and division) to add and subtract hexadecimal when doing low level debugging on the computer.
As soon as you need to do sales tax (which can be looked up in a table for retail, however), discounts, or other multiplication, a modern calculator becomes much more attractive.