I feel like I’ve just been through a nerd rite of passage. Earlier today, between classes, I was working on some physics homework, using the HP48 calculator on my iPod. I had gotten warnings that the battery was at 20%, but I figured, I don’t have too much more, that should be enough. It wasn’t: It finally decided that it’d had enough, and went to deep sleep on its own.
Well, the homework was due today, and I had to get it done, so I did what any sensible person would do: I reached into my backpack, and got out my emergency backup, which doesn’t need batteries. Not because it’s solar, mind you-- It’s actually powered by muscle power, sliding pieces of wood against each other.
That’s right: Today I actually used a slide rule, for a real purpose, for the first time. Not just playing around with it to learn the principles behind it: I actually had a calculation that I needed done, and used a real, honest-to-Og slipstick to solve it. When I packed it, I thought I was just joking with myself… But I really used it!
Calculator on your iPod? Doesn’t that actually mean your iPod battery died? A real calculator wouldn’t have battery issues; I have a TI-30X IIS that still runs off of its battery after 9 years, not that I didn’t use it a lot (high school and college), although it also has a solar cell. I have no idea how you would use a slide rule though (and many people would have no idea what a slide rule even was).
Not true. Plenty (possibly all?) graphing calculators (TI-83, 84, 85, et al.) only run off of batteries (or maybe an AC adapter.) But no salar, not enough juice…and the batteries will last less than a month with regular usage.
And they still cost over $100, despite being the same fucking technology they were fifteen years ago!
Fuck you, TI, for being able to maintain your fucking monopoly on textbooks, courses, and the AP exams. Yeah, $100 for a TI-83 in 1996 was appropriate, it probably cost you close to $80 to make back then…I’d be surprised if there were more than $10 worth of parts in it now.
Actually, I do, but I don’t keep that in my backpack (and I don’t know how to use it, either… Need to learn one of these times).
And yes, the battery for the whole iPod died. Since I’ve started carrying the iPod, I haven’t found it necessary to carry a separate calculator, which frees up the pocket space. The net effect was the same.