A couple days ago, I was working toward one of my hardest goals—throwing away things collected during my career. I mean, I’ve been retired for almost four years, I think I can safely assume that if I haven’t used the stuff I brought home, I never will. But, like most humans, I pick something up and say, “Awwww, I remember…” Of course, what I remember isn’t the thing I kept, it’s the people or the project associated with the thing. OK, that’s 81 words that have almost nothing to do with Linda’s prompt.
I emptied a box into three piles. 1) Stuff to throw away, 2) Stuff to keep and 3) Stuff that I really didn’t want to look at because it was a crummy (cold rainy) day. As I was preparing to consolidate the stuff I wanted to keep into a different box, I found two old books buried at the bottom of the box I hoped to discard. I suspect my wife had bought these for me at a library book sale. In any case, I sat down, started reading and my day became less crummy. 189 words and we’re getting closer. At least we’re on the right path.
Analytical Geometry seemed a little bit too dreary for the day, although I was oddly pleased when I saw y = mx + b. Ah, that takes me back. Sorry, Mary.
The self-help book on using a slide rule held my attention for several chapters, and, when I get around to it, supplied me with today’s one-liner (it’s only been 255 words). I loved the candor included in this small textbook. The excerpt is on the subject of Linear Scales – these are scales unrelated to normal use, added for convenience. The one-liner is the second paragraph of the quote.
We would say a word concerning the linear scales which are often fitted to slide rules. These have no connection ith the rule as a calculating device. They add to the appearance of a rule, but we think they are entirely superfluous.
The Slide Rule – Burns Snodgrass
A slide rule should always be handled carefully, and it is one of the minor annoyances in life to see it used for ruling lines or to take measurements when a wooden office ruler or a steel rule should be used.
Aside from the fact that technology changes so fast today that by the time anyone could write a book about using it – “it” would be obsolete, we don’t talk like this today. This book was written with air of authority. It was written by someone who could have said (and perhaps did, I didn’t read the entire book), “Look kid, I know what I’m talking about, and you should pay attention to what I’m saying.” I don’t think teachers are allowed to talk to students like that today—they might offend the little buggers.
My dad would have loved that one-liner. He was a stickler for using tools and devices for their intended purpose ONLY. He used to say, “You’ll never break a tool while using it correctly.” He first said that to me when I broke the handle of a garden hoe. I don’t remember how I broke it.
As for the title: — The slide rule, also known colloquially as a slip stick, which is a mechanical analog computer. The slide rule is used primarily for multiplication and division, and also for scientific functions such as roots, logarithms and trigonometry, but is not normally used for addition or subtraction.
https://etc.usf.edu/
This post is part of Linda G. Hill’s fun weekly series One-Liner Wednesday. If you have a one-liner, and would like to join in on the fun, you can follow this link to participate and to see the one-liners from the other participants.
All five of my current books are now available in audio book form thanks to Amazon KDP’s Virtual Voice process. The voice is AI generated, but I can honestly say, it’s pretty darn good. The audio books are reasonably priced (all below $7 US) and, if you already own the Kindle version and want to add an audio version, you can do that for $1.99. There is a five-minute sample on the book page for each book. If you’re interested, click on any of the Dreamer’s Alliance book links below the image or on the link below for my latest book.
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