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Love me, love my calculator
Jan. 13th, 2006 12:57 amI hear it all the time at work. "Where's my calculator? Damn, somebody stole my calculator again...". They buy scientific calculators by the case at my lab. The things not only grow legs and walk, they get dropped and get all manner of organic solvents spilled on them (ever see what happens when you spill acetonitrile on plastic?). I'm very nice. I always offer to let them use my calculator. I brought it from home. I rescued it from my last job. I don't believe they were actually going to throw it away! A graphing calculator -- the thing was $200+ new! I took it home and put new batteries in. Good as new.
95% of people turn their nose up at my lovely calculator, though. It never gets stolen, either. Not in the 6 years I have worked at my place of employ. It's a true geek-o-meter: an HP28C. The body is made of lexan -- bulletproof. It opens like a notebook to reveal a full alphanumeric keyboard. You can do statistics and calculus on it. But, best of all, it functions in reverse polish. Open this puppy up, and any true geek within a mile will hone in on the scent an lay drooling at your feet until you let them use it.
RPN is an acquired taste. It's like Dvorak keyboarding, once you've tasted the sweet ambrosia of it's increased functionality, you're spoiled for algebraic (okay -- I only know about Dvorak second hand -- I'm a hunt and peck typist). Number, enter, number, operation.... You don't lose anything if you mess up. It's all right there on the stack. It makes so much more sense.
*sigh* My batteries went dead today. I had to go most of the day using an algebraic calculator. My head hurts. I'm going to the store tomorrow.... Maybe I'll dig out my slipstick from high school just in case this ever happens again (50 geek points to anyone who defines the term "slipstick" -- no fair Googling).
95% of people turn their nose up at my lovely calculator, though. It never gets stolen, either. Not in the 6 years I have worked at my place of employ. It's a true geek-o-meter: an HP28C. The body is made of lexan -- bulletproof. It opens like a notebook to reveal a full alphanumeric keyboard. You can do statistics and calculus on it. But, best of all, it functions in reverse polish. Open this puppy up, and any true geek within a mile will hone in on the scent an lay drooling at your feet until you let them use it.
RPN is an acquired taste. It's like Dvorak keyboarding, once you've tasted the sweet ambrosia of it's increased functionality, you're spoiled for algebraic (okay -- I only know about Dvorak second hand -- I'm a hunt and peck typist). Number, enter, number, operation.... You don't lose anything if you mess up. It's all right there on the stack. It makes so much more sense.
*sigh* My batteries went dead today. I had to go most of the day using an algebraic calculator. My head hurts. I'm going to the store tomorrow.... Maybe I'll dig out my slipstick from high school just in case this ever happens again (50 geek points to anyone who defines the term "slipstick" -- no fair Googling).
