Bloom County by Berkeley Breathed for August 05, 2011

Strange, I have a slide rule right here under my flat screen monitor next to my turn table.

Really

Sitting here at a desk, I have but to open a drawer to get my slide rule. Records? I still have a bunch, but haven’t tried to play them in years—maybe even decades….

Hey, I miss my slide rule! I also miss having a record player … I’ve got a heap of albums that’ve been gathering dust for a decade, damn it.

Still have my records and a new turntable with amp required to match my new receiver’s inputs. They get played but not like before….but still………………ahhh….

Oh yeah, the slide rule is not as fortunate….it’s stuck in the box under the steps next to my Loran.

I’m glad I only ever saw my father’s slide rule – and that was gathering dust when this strip was new.

Let’s see …. 3 X 3 = 8.999997

Love that slide rule!

Compact audio discs? Are those similar to an iPod?

The concept of significant digits is not about certain fingers on your hand, grandson.

Ah, my sliderule with its leather scabbard hanging from my belt while walking between classes. She and I spent many a late hour solving problems in the dorm room. I also still have my hand tooled pocket protector given to my by my WWII vet uncle. I was about as nerdy as one could get. Turnoff to women, but we didn’t care.

@Neo Blakkrstal – if you went to the effort to keep your vinyl collection and getting or maintaining a decent turntable, why would you want to ruin all that by digitizing the music, especially as MP3s? Convenience isn’t everything… (And by the way: truly high end turntables don’t come with USB ports…)

heck ,,,,i’ve still got some of the original dvd’s…….lazer disc the size of a lp record.

One thing I love about records is watching that big black disc go ‘round and ’round while the music plays. It’s almost hypnotic. However, most of my music is now on CDs, simply because I can’t mount a turntable in my car.

I competed in the UIL slide rule competitions in High School (as well as lettering in athletics), but entered college in ‘73 with a HP-35.300 bucks (roughly 3 weekly paychecks), only ran 3 hours before needing to be charged, but a real item of envy at Rice.Still have it in a box in the back closet.Today, you can buy a better one that’s solar powered with battery backup for 10 bucks.

I miss records. Back then they only compressed the dynamics to keep the vinyl from getting cut to ribbons. Nowadays studios jocks demand 64 bits per sample and wind up using about 2 come master time.

I still have some music on vinyl. Tsandl, you bring up an excellent point. CDs and mp3s may not have any noise, but they also don’t have the dynamics of vinyl.