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Peacetrain

(24,264 posts)
Wed Aug 13, 2025, 10:06 AM Aug 2025

So I got a hard time from a younger relative about how to use a computer when we first got one.. [View all]

I stood there and listened to them make fun of me and basically my whole generation because we were slower on
the pick up with the computer.. As they finished up getting me set up on dial up (this was the 90's)for what ever God forsaken reason they asked for a calculator.

I walked into our bedroom and went into the closet and pulled out a beat up cardboard box that held a bunch of my stuff from high school.. Reached in and pulled out a slide rule and went back into the living room and handed it to them..

The look of confusion on their faces was priceless.

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Hahaha! SheltieLover Aug 2025 #1
Back in those days I loved my slide rules. Tried a few varieties including circular. erronis Aug 2025 #2
I still have a few, including a circular one. The advantage is that the outer scale is 3 times longer than the diameter Bernardo de La Paz Aug 2025 #16
Yeah, I had one in H.S. that came with a cheap vinyl pocket protector Conjuay Aug 2025 #33
Wow, I didn't know that. My dad had one. electric_blue68 Aug 2025 #17
Love the reports of young people meeting up with a slide rule! Attilatheblond Aug 2025 #3
Better yet, ask them to rebuild the carburetor. indusurb Aug 2025 #4
Timing belt? Is that what holds pants up, but only for a certain amount of time? Attilatheblond Aug 2025 #6
Germans can tell time on analog clocks Old Crank Aug 2025 #41
80's computers were more fun. usonian Aug 2025 #5
Boy, anything with 5+ bands really fires up my geek juices. erronis Aug 2025 #39
I presume you mean scales on the slide-rule for "bands" usonian Aug 2025 #46
Yep - scales. I knew there used to be a term in the brain but it didn't bubble up soon enough. erronis Aug 2025 #47
Glad that you survived. usonian Aug 2025 #48
Oh hell, they can't even read cursive! Totally Tunsie Aug 2025 #7
WW2 :( fernlady Aug 2025 #8
And many professions had their own slide rules sorcrow Aug 2025 #36
Glad I saved my abacus. Sneederbunk Aug 2025 #9
I remember seeing "Apollo 13" in the theater . . . hatrack Aug 2025 #10
I love that movie. Scientists were the heroes! yardwork Aug 2025 #14
This is one of my favorite scenes from that movie. WinstonSmith4740 Aug 2025 #20
It's the same thing that made The Martian so appealing - a movie about people solving problems . . . hatrack Aug 2025 #27
Yeah, the audience can laugh all they want.... sdfernando Aug 2025 #30
I took about 50 of my fellow NASA employees to a matinee showing of Apollo 13 lapfog_1 Aug 2025 #52
I designed and built my first microprocessor based computer in high school. hunter Aug 2025 #11
All of those computers and other technology were invented by and developed by Boomers. MineralMan Aug 2025 #12
On a Teletype Model 33? LiberalArkie Aug 2025 #29
IBM 1620. MineralMan Aug 2025 #49
Thank you! usonian Aug 2025 #37
My first encounter with a "computer" was a tabulator, sorter, printer programmed with plug boards. erronis Aug 2025 #40
I'm so old I know people who refused to surrender their use of slide rules. NNadir Aug 2025 #13
Proverbs 16:18 littlemissmartypants Aug 2025 #15
Had to Rebl2 Aug 2025 #19
For the followers of Eastern religion: usonian Aug 2025 #38
What makes you think that this is of interest here? ... littlemissmartypants Aug 2025 #44
I had a circular slide ruler LogDog75 Aug 2025 #18
Spock Celerity Aug 2025 #21
Slippery Stick Liberal In Texas Aug 2025 #22
I've seen videos of the millennials trying to use a dial phone....it's hilarious! PortTack Aug 2025 #23
No kidding. I showed my dial telephone to a young colleague. FuzzyRabbit Aug 2025 #25
I wonder if engg undergrads still are taught how to use Vernier Calipers jfz9580m Aug 2025 #24
I was a whiz with the slide rule and loved logarithm tables. LiberalArkie Aug 2025 #26
I learned ot use a slide rule in High School, and in my very first engineering class in college. Happy Hoosier Aug 2025 #28
We went to the Moon with slide rules. Turbineguy Aug 2025 #31
And built Little Boy/Fat Man, the Golden Gate Bridge, Hoover Dam, the Model T . . . hatrack Aug 2025 #42
Put a man on the moon using them. paulrevere2018 Aug 2025 #32
Move! mdbl Aug 2025 #34
Great story! You should put it all in handwriting and the young 'uns would never be able to read it FakeNoose Aug 2025 #35
Similar Story ProfessorGAC Aug 2025 #43
They'd be lost if you gave them a manual typewriter, a stack of blank papers, and an ink ribbon. Talitha Aug 2025 #45
I monitored multiple mainframe systems 12 hours a night Skittles Aug 2025 #50
I've never used a slide rule. sakabatou Aug 2025 #51
LOL...I think at one time or another, we ALL had a TI-83. Totally Tunsie Aug 2025 #54
Newest of the new. Modern technology. Early adopters. The Tandy 5000 Norrrm Aug 2025 #53
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