And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Sunday, June 2, 2024
Isaac Asimov, Radio Shack and 169 dollar calculators are now a thing of the past.
Same here, 1983. Traash-80's was what we called them. Wrote a basic program that alphabetized names. Played that stupid little game with the worm that kept getting bigger until you eventually doubled back on yourself. Wrote another program that added numbers, I think. That was my one semester of computer programming.
When I graduated from the University of Denver in Dec of '71 and got my first "real" job ... "handheld" portable battery-powered Texas Instruments basic calculators were going for $99. And at my $14,000 per year salary, I could not afford one.
In Sept of 1971 I was starting college and met a guy who had just spent $100 on a calculator that would not only add, subtract, multiply & divide but it could do square roots at the tap of a button! I couldn't afford one... At the time I was paying 24.9 cents for a gallon of gas (the cheap gas) at the Gulf station at Petaluma Hill Rd & Hwy 101 in Sonoma county Calif. That makes that calculator worth 400 gallons of gas..
$14,000 1971 dollars is the equivalent of $108,000 today.
In 1971 a house in Denver was around $24,000 (shy of 2 years of income).
Today college graduates in Denver on average earn just north of $70,000 (30% less buying power than you had in 1971). Today the average house in Denver is $678K (Almost 10 years of income) and most students are saddled with thousands in student loans.
When young people can't afford housing they postpone starting families. Fewer families lead to all sort of societal problems.
As you can see it is not the extra avocado toast, the Netflix subscription or the purple hair that drives younger generation's frustration with the system we built for them...
A frat brother got one for Xmas 1973. $119.95. We both majored in Finance, and he was not allowed to bring it to classes. Of course, his father owned one of the two banks in Starkvegas.
The engineering students during my early University time had HP's and they proudly wore them about the campus on their belt, like a holster. A few years later, they were doing the same thing with their new cell phones. Nerds, man. Why put it in your backpack, when you can wear it and practice your quick-draw.
Fantastic product those Heath Kits. Surely taught a lot of youngin's some excellent skills and knowledge. And you ended up with a first rate device when done.
In 1968 I entered the Navy's Nuclear Power Program at Bainbridge MD. We took a 4 week prep class before the school started. Math and such but 2 hours a day, plus lots of homework, devoted to learning how to use a slide rule.
You would not believe how much math it takes to run a nuclear reactor. All done pencil and paper and slide rule. In 68.
I still have the slide rule though I've forgotten how to use it. I tried to give it to my daughter when she started Chem Eng school in 94. NO WAY!!!!! She had to have a fancy-schmancy TI graphing calculator. Cost me a couple hundred bucks.
I tried to give it to my granddaughter 2 years ago when she started Chem Eng school. That was more interesting. She had no idea what it was and what it did. I had to explain it to her before she told me NO WAY!!! She had to have a top of the line, $600 I-Pad.
If I ever need any chemicals engineered, they had better not even think about charging me.
I really, really, miss Radio Shack. Not so much for the gadgets, though they had some cool ones. I miss being able to run down and buy bits and pieces to build and fix gadgets.
Now that y'all mention it, I remember two professors who allowed slide rules in class but not electronic calculators. The only exemption is if the calculators did not had log functions. I felt vindicated because I couldn't afford a scientific calculator. I really enjoyed slide rules. Even today I have about twenty of different types.
I have a Sharp brand calculator that looks very much like the TRS unit. Mine would allow you save algebraic equations, run them and input the variables while saving the equation. Think it had the ability to save 5 different equations. Still works.
First PC I touched was a TRaSh 80 at my high school… I believe it was 1982ish? Perhaps slightly earlier…
ReplyDeleteWe had the TRS Model III at that time too
DeleteSame here, 1983. Traash-80's was what we called them. Wrote a basic program that alphabetized names. Played that stupid little game with the worm that kept getting bigger until you eventually doubled back on yourself. Wrote another program that added numbers, I think. That was my one semester of computer programming.
Deleteit was the lambchops that convinced me.
ReplyDeleteWhen I graduated from the University of Denver in Dec of '71 and got my first "real" job ... "handheld" portable battery-powered Texas Instruments basic calculators were going for $99. And at my $14,000 per year salary, I could not afford one.
ReplyDeleteIn Sept of 1971 I was starting college and met a guy who had just spent $100 on a calculator that would not only add, subtract, multiply & divide but it could do square roots at the tap of a button! I couldn't afford one...
DeleteAt the time I was paying 24.9 cents for a gallon of gas (the cheap gas) at the Gulf station at Petaluma Hill Rd & Hwy 101 in Sonoma county Calif. That makes that calculator worth 400 gallons of gas..
Times have changed...
$14,000 1971 dollars is the equivalent of $108,000 today.
DeleteIn 1971 a house in Denver was around $24,000 (shy of 2 years of income).
Today college graduates in Denver on average earn just north of $70,000 (30% less buying power than you had in 1971). Today the average house in Denver is $678K (Almost 10 years of income) and most students are saddled with thousands in student loans.
When young people can't afford housing they postpone starting families. Fewer families lead to all sort of societal problems.
As you can see it is not the extra avocado toast, the Netflix subscription or the purple hair that drives younger generation's frustration with the system we built for them...
A frat brother got one for Xmas 1973. $119.95. We both majored in Finance, and he was not allowed to bring it to classes. Of course, his father owned one of the two banks in Starkvegas.
ReplyDeleteThe engineering students during my early University time had HP's and they proudly wore them about the campus on their belt, like a holster. A few years later, they were doing the same thing with their new cell phones. Nerds, man. Why put it in your backpack, when you can wear it and practice your quick-draw.
ReplyDeleteWe bought one for my pop for Father’s Day back then. For some reason I think it was a Casio.
ReplyDeleteCIII
My dad built a HeathKit 4 function calculator for $80 in 1972. Quickly replaced by HPs 35,45,65 for $300-$400 apiece
ReplyDeleteFantastic product those Heath Kits. Surely taught a lot of youngin's some excellent skills and knowledge. And you ended up with a first rate device when done.
DeleteIn 1968 I entered the Navy's Nuclear Power Program at Bainbridge MD. We took a 4 week prep class before the school started. Math and such but 2 hours a day, plus lots of homework, devoted to learning how to use a slide rule.
ReplyDeleteYou would not believe how much math it takes to run a nuclear reactor. All done pencil and paper and slide rule. In 68.
I still have the slide rule though I've forgotten how to use it. I tried to give it to my daughter when she started Chem Eng school in 94. NO WAY!!!!! She had to have a fancy-schmancy TI graphing calculator. Cost me a couple hundred bucks.
I tried to give it to my granddaughter 2 years ago when she started Chem Eng school. That was more interesting. She had no idea what it was and what it did. I had to explain it to her before she told me NO WAY!!! She had to have a top of the line, $600 I-Pad.
If I ever need any chemicals engineered, they had better not even think about charging me.
I really, really, miss Radio Shack. Not so much for the gadgets, though they had some cool ones. I miss being able to run down and buy bits and pieces to build and fix gadgets.
ReplyDeleteNow that y'all mention it, I remember two professors who allowed slide rules in class but not electronic calculators. The only exemption is if the calculators did not had log functions.
ReplyDeleteI felt vindicated because I couldn't afford a scientific calculator. I really enjoyed slide rules. Even today I have about twenty of different types.
1976 our science teacher had a calculator. All it could do was Add, subtract, multiply and divide.
ReplyDeleteHe said he paid about $100 for it
I was saddened a few days ago to learn that Asimov died of AIDS contracted from a blood transfusion after undergoing coronary bypass surgery in 1983.
ReplyDeleteI have a Sharp brand calculator that looks very much like the TRS unit. Mine would allow you save algebraic equations, run them and input the variables while saving the equation. Think it had the ability to save 5 different equations. Still works.
ReplyDelete