By the time I was taking undergrad chemistry, most students had a TI-30 or one of those screwy HP calculators with the "reverse-Polish notation". On a final exam, my calculator battery died, leaving only a faint blinking red dot slowly walking across the LED. Fortunately I had brought a Johns-Manville circular slide rule (a printed plastic circle riveted to a printed plastic panel) given to me by my dad. It was more a lucky charm than anything else, but I did know how to use it. I signaled the professor, showed him the dead calculator, and asked about the slide rule. He said "If you can use it, then you can use it." So I used it. I aced the exam. I don't think he ever knew about the two slide-out pages of chemistry and physics charts and tables inside the main panel of the slide rule. ;-)
-----Original Message----- From: framers-bounces+jsgammato=imprivata....@lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-bounces+jsgammato=imprivata.com at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Joe Malin Sent: Thursday, March 30, 2006 2:51 PM To: Gillian Flato; framers at FrameUsers.com Subject: RE: Funny What really *bugs* me (and I'm *much* older than 30) is how good science students in college got it now. I majored in Chemistry in undergrad. I had to type science papers on a portable typewriter, make photocopies of instrument outputs or data plots and then do a massive paste-up job. We had primitive calculators, but also relied on slide rules. Need something from an instrument or a test? Get up at 2 am and *walk to the source*. Ugh. Did computer science in grad school. On a mainframe (double ugh). No dial-up; had ride downtown to the computer lab to get on a terminal, then hang around until 2 AM so turnaround on jobs was less than 20 minutes. Had to wait until *3 AM* to get access to the computer graphics equipment. I wouldn't wish any of it on a blind dog. I'm not "better" for having done it the hard way, just probably more burned out and less educated. What frustrates *me* is that a modern CS student gets to have an ultra-powerful computer *plus* the Internet, and do so many *fun things*!!! :( Boo-hoo. I wanna be a student again! Boy, if Doom 2 had been around when I was a college student, I'd still be in school. Joe Malin Technical Writer (408)625-1623 jmalin at tuvox.com www.tuvox.com The views expressed in this document are those of the sender, and do not necessarily reflect those of TuVox, Inc. -----Original Message----- From: framers-bounces+jmalin=tuvox....@lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-bounces+jmalin=tuvox.com at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Gillian Flato Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2006 11:22 AM To: framers at FrameUsers.com Subject: OT: Funny Just thought you guys might enjoy this... Hard Times related by a 30 year old. When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning... uphill BOTH ways... through year 'round blizzards. Carrying their younger siblings on their backs... to their one-room schoolhouse, where they maintained a straight-A average, despite their full-time, after-school job at the local textile mill... where they worked for 35 cents an hour just to help keep their family from starving to death! _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to Framers as jsgammato at imprivata.com. Send list messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/jsgammato%40imprivat a.com Send administrative questions to lisa at frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.