I'm So Old.....

[Revoltingest]

My good slide rule is a Versalog and bamboo. I'm not sure of the number. But it came in a very nice leather case. It was my present for going off to college.

The case came with mine.
But not the belt loop.
No loss there.

 

[exchemist]

I'm so old that I remember when President Truman was still alive--but not JFK.

Winston Churchill was Prime Minister when I was born (just).

 

[Twilight Hue]

This is turning into the Four Yorkshiremen sketch........

I actually used a feather pen in school using a desk with an ink well.

It was a class on calligraphy and its history.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Remember back in the day when the word gay only meant you were happy?

 

[Vinayaka]

We had a "party line" too.

Did you tow it with Mr. van?

 

[Vinayaka]

Correct. I was one such. I still have the slide rule that got me all the way through university.

There was one - one - electronic calculator in the Physical Chemistry Lab and it was screwed down. For procedures for which 3 sig figs were not good enough (FTIR spectroscopy was one), we used mechanical calculating machines on which you wound a handle.

For a short while, an "electric calculator" meant a mains-operated calculating machine, with an electric motor to save you winding the handle!

Division was a pain with those things.

We took slide rules down to the pool hall, and BSed Mike the pool hall guy into thinking we were using trig to solve the shots and angles. In Canuckistan it was snooker. Mike's had 8 fine tables in a row. The town population was 3500 or so. Today in Edmonton population over a million, there are about 7 tables total in halls. Some private ones in clubs.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

....that when I was in elementary school,
desks still had special holders for inkwells.

How old are you?

Old enough to remember when my earlobes were much further away from my shoulders...

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

We took slide rules down to the pool hall, and BSed Mike the pool hall guy into thinking we were using trig to solve the shots and angles. In Canuckistan it was snooker. Mike's had 8 fine tables in a row. The town population was 3500 or so. Today in Edmonton population over a million, there are about 7 tables total in halls. Some private ones in clubs.

My high school (boy's private boarding school) actually had a snooker table. I was terrible then. But later, I discovered it's not slide rules and trig that helps you make the great shots -- it's 2 beers to 5 beers, not fewer, not more.

 

[osgart]

Does anyone remember Amiga computers?

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Does anyone remember Amiga computers?

Yup, indeed I do.
My primary school was very advanced for its time (1980-86) since we had a full computer lab stocked with Commodore 64s, an Amiga, and a TRS-80 (which was the 'serious' computer).

 

[sun rise]

Does anyone remember Amiga computers?

Oh yes. To me they were for those who were not "real" computer geeks but yes.

After the IMSAI 8080, I had an Atari. I don't remember if it was this model or not after all these decades.

 

[sun rise]

Yup, indeed I do.
My primary school was very advanced for its time (1980-86) since we had a full computer lab stocked with Commodore 64s, an Amiga, and a TRS-80 (which was the 'serious' computer).

A "trash 80" a serious computer?

 

[lewisnotmiller]

My high school (boy's private boarding school) actually had a snooker table. I was terrible then. But later, I discovered it's not slide rules and trig that helps you make the great shots -- it's 2 beers to 5 beers, not fewer, not more.

I had a friend who was an absolute weapon at pool. Dominant.
I found the trick to beating him, which I did a couple of times despite my average skills was to have about 3 beers.




Of course, it helped when he'd had 13.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

A "trash 80" a serious computer?

Compared to the C-64s....lol
Mostly because we didn't have many games for it, and it was used mostly for coding.

I used to do a lot of coding when I was a primary school kid.

 

[osgart]

Oh yes. To me they were for those who were not "real" computer geeks but yes.

After the IMSAI 8080, I had an Atari. I don't remember if it was this model or not after all these decades.

Mindshadow and Zork were my favorite games

 

[osgart]

Yup, indeed I do.
My primary school was very advanced for its time (1980-86) since we had a full computer lab stocked with Commodore 64s, an Amiga, and a TRS-80 (which was the 'serious' computer).

I believe you could make .bat files on it with the menuitem command

 

[sun rise]

Mindshadow and Zork were my favorite games

Zork!!!

 

[sun rise]

Northstar computers were great for their time. And the one true operating system: CP/M

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

I had a friend who was an absolute weapon at pool. Dominant.
I found the trick to beating him, which I did a couple of times despite my average skills was to have about 3 beers.




Of course, it helped when he'd had 13.

Fool of a Took! You were supposed to keep that part secret!

 

[Vinayaka]

My high school (boy's private boarding school) actually had a snooker table. I was terrible then. But later, I discovered it's not slide rules and trig that helps you make the great shots -- it's 2 beers to 5 beers, not fewer, not more.

I played sober normally. Booze made it so I missed the balls entirely, other than the cue ball. Snooker is very difficult. I went to a table with my kid last year, after a 45 year break, and God it is really hard. Old eyes don't help. I still beat my son though. Just making a couple of balls in a row was something.