Nice People Thread No. 15, a Cyber Summer

GDB2222

PasturesNew wrote: »

Dunno. But he was probably the fella that created the first computers, so calculated everything by hand initially as a test for the computer's competence... and liked it so kept going

Oops, I quoted your DNQ post. Edited it now - is that okay?

zagubov

silvercar wrote: »

I remember log books and slide rules.

I do as well. Calculators were just coming in as I was leaving school. I remember Sinclair made cheap four-function ones that were under £5 and a scientific one that was under £10. Amazing prices.

I remember log books as being little A5 booklets with quite small print. Made them look really serious.

It's probably a mistake to have made the modern exam papers A4 with large print as there's endless moaning about exams being easier now. I've my own opinion of this but I found the smaller exam paper booklets I grew up with, immensely more intimidating than the current versions.

PasturesNew

GDB2222 wrote: »

... is that okay?

Yes.

I'd spotted it, but thought I'd give you the time to spot it ... and you did

PasturesNew

I was all prepared to watch a programme at 7pm and the phone rang!

Luckily it's on a channel that has a +1 channel option, so I'm watching it on there

I wish I had "record the telly" functionality, but it really does go right over my head how one achieves that

silvercar

PasturesNew wrote: »

I was all prepared to watch a programme at 7pm and the phone rang!

Luckily it's on a channel that has a +1 channel option, so I'm watching it on there

I wish I had "record the telly" functionality, but it really does go right over my head how one achieves that

How do you receive your TV channels? sky/ virgin/ freeview?

PasturesNew

silvercar wrote: »

How do you receive your TV channels? sky/ virgin/ freeview?

Telly, run through a freeview box, receiving a signal from an indoor portable aerial

silvercar

PasturesNew wrote: »

There is an aerial in the roof and sockets in the walls of the house - but when I plugged in a telly no picture appeared ... it's possible I just have to take 1-2 hours out one day and do that again with a modern digital TV, which I now have sitting here, but the leads are in a box upstairs so never got round to it.

I use an old portable telly, run through a freeview box, receiving a signal from an indoor portable aerial

You could replace your freeview box with a 'freeview box that records'.

https://www.freeview.co.uk/news-and-blog/take-control-of-your-viewing-our-5-best-tv-recorders.html

vivatifosi

I never learned how to do long division, due go changing schools from Aus to UK at the wrong time. In the years before Excel and pocket calculators, log books were my arithmetic crutch. DH bought me one as a present for a trip down memory lane. Slide rules on the other hand... definitely more his bag.

SingleSue

I learned how to do long division, I just couldn't see the point in it when I could come up with the same answer much much quicker using a shorter version. It just wasn't logical to me to waste so much time and in such long winded way, so I never used it.

It was the same with calculators, I never did get the hang of them especially for percentages, doing it in my head always worked out quicker (for me), than trying to remember which buttons to press to get the right answer.

PasturesNew

I've never used calculators. I don't like the way you press the buttons and have to guarantee that the press registered.. there's no audit trail on a calculator for you to check which buttons you pressed. Just a number in the window.

Excel, on the other hand, lets you see what you put in.

I just prefer to do maths in my head. I'll usually know what the answer will look like roughly before I start to use any method though. e.g. I know that, say, (37 x 45) has to look smaller than (40 x 50 = 2000). So, if using a calculator I'd trust a result that was smaller than 2000.

It is quicker to shop now they print the £/100g on the shelf labels as I used to mentally work them all out before choosing which foods to buy. Although it is annoying that even with this method they still tell you differing values across the shelf. e.g. one pack of sausages will tell you it's £6.94/Kg and the next packet will tell you it's £0.69/100g, with the third packet declaring "14p each".