Monday, November 2, 2009

Tuesday November 3rd

The comic:


But that would require book larnin', wouldn't it?

Slide rules aren't that old - in one of my Bloom County books, a slide rule asks Oliver why he doesn't use him any more, and Oliver can't be more than ten. So... people younger than my mom used slide rules. Or could have. She's never mentioned them. Of course, Oliver is a special case.

Slide rules - the abacus heaved a sigh of relief when it was replaced as the go to "Old stuff good! New stuff bad!" punchline in "jokes."

2 comments:

William Foss said...

Was that around the same time that Oliver had his Banana jr. 3000?

Marion Delgado said...

As a child I HAD a (circular) slide rule. But it was a possession along these lines:

CHRIS: And tell me why my...why did my mother dress me in white shirts, hush puppies and a briefcase, guaranteeing that a girl would never talk to me? -- Real Genius

Since I actually had all that, too.

I think in the 50s it was probably cool in certain circles to have a slide rule. If calculators at an inflation adjusted price of less than a dollar had been available in the 50s, 60s and early 70s then I think slide rules would have been extinct immediately.

All this is a long-winded way of exclaiming in angst "GOOD GOD! I'M, A PLUGGER! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

And then moving to Antarctica and donating my body to medical science and stuff.

Disclaimer

The comic is reproduced here for purposes of review only, and all rights remain with the creator, Gary Brookins.