W. and I were having a discussion about calculators this morning. It had spun off from a conversation as to the appropriateness of a school system dictating the precise numbers and types of supplies a child needs to arrive with for the first day of school. I don't remember any requirements at all in elementary school back in my day, and by the time you were older, it was just common sense - a three ring binder was going to be helpful, and maybe some folders, and yeah, a pen or two. But 50 sharpened pencils and 4 pads of Post-Its and five plastic file folders and a ream of paper and a bottle of Fantastik and a box of Kleenex? There's something just wrong about that. What are my taxes buying, anyway? Mandatory school supplies becomes like some kind of regressive tax.
Anyway. I then offered that requiring a fancy graphing calculator would be appropriate for certain math or science classes, and somehow we got onto the subject of calculators, and the Bowmar Brain (an early calculator, which did almost nothing and cost like $100 in 1971), and the Sharp that lives in my desk drawer. I said I'd had that calculator in high school - W. insisted that it couldn't be that old. So, to get to the point, i.e. why I love the internet, I googled my calculator and found that it's from 1977. And yes, that means I had it in high school. And it still works fine.
I do so love that there are fanatics out there creating on-line museums to vintage electronics. It makes it so much easier to win arguments.
YOu didn't have lists? We did, and it was the highlight of the summer to see what was on the list. Of course, the lists were quite modest: 3 pencils (oh! the excitement! they come in packages of 4, so now I get to have one at home, too!) a box of kleenex, 16 crayons and a pad of paper. And 4th grade, wow, 4th grade was the best, because then you got to add PENS!
ReplyDeleteBut kids now do have, I think, utterly ridiculous lists. If you can't buy it for 10 bucks, it's too much.
Pretty much every get-together with my family ends up with the Consulation of References (like Festivus' Airing of Grievances, but nerdier)-- which is so much easier with the internet. I mean, I don't mind dragging out my Plato, OED, or any other book I have at hand, but it does make dinner at my Dad's place much quicker, since we can avoid the "it's in the third box under the back window in the attic" book search that being an academic's kid inevitably involves.
ReplyDeleteha ha. i have used the internet in the same way - to prove points. I also love it when I go to the movies and recognize on actor but can't place them... I always turn to imdb.com.
ReplyDeleterandom question - I have noticed that you and many other people write internets (i put no s on the end). Am I showing my stupidity by doing something wrong? Are there certain times you use one or the other?
LOL! Love it! Geeks unite. :D My B has a whole collection of his TI calculators that go back to high school and maybe to Jr. High? (the 70's) :D When my BIL is here, he and Brian get them out and do equations. *blush* I heart them both. :D
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who just enrolled her daughter in school in Arizona -- the school still doesn't have lists. They actually provide the school supplies.
ReplyDeleteAnd, yes, love the online museum fanatics. They make my life much easier.
Painted Maypole,
ReplyDeleteI use "internets" or "interwebs" or "intarwebs" just to be cute or snarky. Can't speak for Magpie, but I think the proper noun is still the Internet. : )
Here's the wikipedia link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interwebs
Yes, internets = snark - a dig at Shrub :)
ReplyDeleteInternets
As a former teacher, believe me when I say your tax dollars are not buying jack shit for your teachers. Your teachers need these things to help run the class. If you can afford them, please give them with a smile. Not all students can afford them and most don't bring them and it just makes every day a little harder for everyone in teh clasroom.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the site. The 1950s ads for the latest technology are wonderful in a look-on-my-works-ye-mighty-and-despair kind of way.
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