Ode to the Slip Stick AKA Slide Rule

Calculating rule. 1989.0325.07.

Calculating rule. 1989.0325.07. (Click to enlarge)

Reading John Walker’s post made me think of my high school physics class. We were Manly Men then. We didn’t have no sissy electronic calculators. We used our Manly Men yellow plastic slide rules. The Manly Men are the ones without the pocket protectors.

The slide rule was an ingenious invention. Instead of looking up things in tables and then adding up the two numbers and getting the answer you used a sliding stick to do the same thing. You could easily multiply and divide this way.

(Mike, there is no cheerleader in the video. You better skip it. )

I wonder what happened to my old slide rule.

For those who want to try here is a simulator. Only Manly Men please. No whiners.

http://www.antiquark.com/sliderule/sim/n525es/virtual-n525-es.html

Oatmeal

Okay, with a title like that no one is even going to read this post. Well, what should I call it gruel? BTW, what really is in porridge. Is it just a nice way to say eat the thing because it is good for you.

When I was young, oatmeal was terrible. It became like this thing that was impervious to milk if it wasn’t eaten right away. It was just oatmeal, milk, and the kid who didn’t want to eat it at that time. Now I even like the stuff. Of course I make it differently.

I bet Brent is a gruel guy.

 

 

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I found this book interesting.

The End of Stress: A revolutionary new approach to a happier, healthier life   Andrew J Bernstein

stress

I have a friend that recommend these types of books. I grudgingly read them and I am surprised that they have value in them.

The main thesis of the book is that the problem of stress is not object things you are facing in life but how you are interpreting those things. An example in the book is of a traffic jam. Some people are waiting in the standstill and listening to music or audio books and others are steaming and angry. From the same situation there are two … Continue reading

Manly Men

Let’s face it. The Members of BDB which don’t have XX chromosomes are manly men. We stand apart. For us the Greek alphabet only has the one letter. The first one.

It was the International Day of Women on the 8th of March. Should not we celebrate on the 9th of March as Manly Man Day?