OT: Sci-fi (was RE: Ultra-portable terminals)

[Jay R. Ashworth]

On Fri, Jul 28, 2006 at 01:20:33PM -0400, GCC Consulting wrote:
> I remember a science fiction story about a rocket ship where the nav
> computer failed.  One of the crew knew how to use an abacus. He had brought
> the "ancient calculator" with him.  With the nav system out, no one knew how
> to manually calculate the values necessary for their return.  He taught them
> how to use the abacus and they made one for each crew member.  And there
> they sat, running all of the formulas on an abacus.
> 
> Kids today would be totally lost.  They don't for the most part, as you
> pointed out, have the basic skills to do math manually.  The shore as hell
> couldn't use a slide rule. 

I was actually permitted by the teacher to use a slipstick in 9th or
10th grade algebra.  The other students got all cranky about "how come
*we* can't use calculators?".  The teacher explained to them that in
order to know *how* to push a slipstick, I had to understand math they
weren't going to get until *late* next year, and if any of them learned
how to use one, they'd be permitted to use it in class as well.

Gooooooaaaaaaaallllllllllll!

Cheers,
-- jra
-- 
Jay R. Ashworth                                                jra at baylink.com
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