New use for a slide rule

[Timothy MaxwellParticipant @timothymaxwell68628]

My first such line was in watches, it was very convenient. This watch was given to me by my father when I was young. Mark Carson, the author of the slide rule in watches, said: “I grew up without computers. My father, as an engineer, used slide rulers and taught me how to use them when I was 12 years old. The round slide rule was my favorite because it had no beginning or end. Sometimes people ask me how I guess the exact value, for example, 1.1? My father taught me to keep the answer in my head. The slide rule only clarifies the value. If your $ 20 restaurant bill requires a 15% tip, the amount you need will not be 23 cents or $ 230. The invoice with a tip will amount to $ 23 ".

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Your post intrigued me, Timothy … so I went a-googling, and found this: **LINK**

How To Use A Watch Bezel Slide Rule

MichaelG.

[Peter G. ShawParticipant @peterg-shaw75338]

I too have three slide rules: Faber Castell 57/92 (10", Boots Ringplan Standard (10", and a Helix A50S (5". Of these, the Boots suffers from a rather slack slide which makes life difficult whilst the Helix despite it's short length, has the most scales.

But my Casio HS-5D 8 digit 4 function solar powered calculator gets the most use!

I've also got a vague recollection of being taught how to use the slide rule in C&G Maths 'A' – I can't really see it being taught in 'B' & 'C'. If so, that was in 1959/60 academic year at Bradford Technical College.

Peter G. Shaw

Edited By Peter G. Shaw on 24/05/2021 17:12:40

Yet another Edit. I've got the blasted Smileys! They are NOT part of the original – it should be a double quote in each instance, eg ".

 

Edited By Peter G. Shaw on 24/05/2021 17:14:31

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Peter G. Shaw on 24/05/2021 17:01:00:

I too have three slide rules: Faber Castell 57/92 (10", Boots Ringplan Standard (10", and a Helix A50S (5".

[…]

Edited By Peter G. Shaw on 24/05/2021 17:12:40

Yet another Edit. I've got the blasted Smileys! They are NOT part of the original – it should be a double quote in each instance, eg ".

Edited By Peter G. Shaw on 24/05/2021 17:14:31

.

It’s all part of a cunning plot by the Metricators, Peter

Every time you use Inches they insert a stupid smiley

… I presume it’s an attempt at Pavlovian conditioning.

MichaelG.

[mark costello 1Participant @markcostello1]

Curses foiled again.

[Peter G. ShawParticipant @peterg-shaw75338]

Thanks Michael, I thought it would be something stupid like that.

Pater G. Shaw

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

More seriously, Peter

Basically, the forum software has a look-up table of substitutions for certain keystroke sequences

This ‘feature’ could have been switched off, but apparently “the powers that be” decided we should have it.

.

Have a look at this thread from 2014 : **LINK**

https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=99158&p=1

and particularly the third post … where I wrote:

I think this is a reaonably comprehensive list of the Micro$oft keyboard shortcuts for the dreaded emoticons.

____

MichaelG.

[Peter G. ShawParticipant @peterg-shaw75338]

Emoticons.

Here's what I think about them.

Utter, utter, rubbish.

It seems to me that this is (these are?) another silly idea from someone , possibly a so-called programmer, simply showing off and saying, in effect, "Look how clever I am!". What these people forget is that other mere mortals then have to learn these darned things, firstly what they mean, and secondly how to use them. Frankly I don't want to know, and I don't care about them.

This episode reminds me of a time some eight or so years ago when I was attempting to find a Linux distribution which I could reasonably easily use. Now a few years prior to then, I had tried Suse 9 along with KDE 2 and found it quite palatable so naturally I tried again only to find that Suse was now using KDE4. Unfortunately, when attempting to create a better looking desktop, better looking for me that is, I got myself well and truly screwed up. Why? Because the so-called programmer had seen fit to use a tiny device known as an almond which sat in the very corners of the screen looking for all the world like a screen aberration. I, of course knew nothing of this and so Suse was abandoned in favour, eventually, of Mint with the Mate desktop.

Over the years I have, unfortunately, come across a large number of what can only be described as poor, if not bad, programming where the programmer has quite obviously not thought about the end users, eg, the questionaire where I was asked my occupation (retired) – two questions further on, what does my employer do! Another one, a list of options which was in any old random order rather than the obvious alphabetic order: that same list didn't even contain the obvious "None of these".

I apologise for the rant, and before anyone says anything, I am well aware that there is a cost involved. But if poor programming results in the users going elsewhere, then what then does the cost matter?

Gosh, I feel better for that.

Peter G. Shaw

[Timothy MaxwellParticipant @timothymaxwell68628]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 24/05/2021 13:05:37:

Your post intrigued me, Timothy … so I went a-googling, and found this: **LINK**

How To Use A Watch Bezel Slide Rule

MichaelG.

Michael, I am so glad that my words can intrigue someone.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Peter G. Shaw on 25/05/2021 09:28:10:

Emoticons.

Here's what I think about them.

Utter, utter, rubbish.

It seems to me that this is (these are?) another silly idea from someone , possibly a so-called programmer, simply showing off and saying, in effect, "Look how clever I am!". What these people forget is that other mere mortals then have to learn these darned things, firstly what they mean, and secondly how to use them. Frankly I don't want to know, and I don't care about them.

…

Peter G. Shaw

Peter's got it all wrong – 'so-called programmers' are harmless. No, he's been done over by a 'Real Programmer': “If it was hard to write”, says the Real Programmer, “it should be hard to understand.”

[Author]

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