Heh, "loan" it to me, and I'll tell ya! I think the article said these are rather valuable items to possess now. The article also explains a little how to use them. Tell your friend to check it out, maybe he'll realize what he's got. John > -----Original Message----- > From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org > [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Tom Penney > Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2003 3:39 PM > To: TCLUG Mailing List > Subject: Re: [OT] Calculators (was RE: [TCLUG] Minnesota > Computers For Schools) > > > On Thu, 2003-12-18 at 15:13, John T. Hoffoss wrote: > > Speaking of old calculators, this month's Scientific American has a > > good article on the Curta calculator, a pocket-sized, > > (salt-shaker-sized, > > rather) mechanical (hand-crank!) calculator capable of > +-/*^ and sqrt > > (using some formulas in combination...) > > > > Very interesting, very cool, and apparently very rare. I > think it can > > do something like 15 digits of precision. > > It's really strange that you mentioned that. I have a friend > who owns one of them. He inherited it. It's very cool. We > can't figure out how to run it though, no instructions. Its > full of pins, levers, buttons and knobs. Lots of moving parts. > > -- > Tom Penney <blots at visi.com> > > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota http://www.mn-linux.org tclug-list at mn-linux.org https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota http://www.mn-linux.org tclug-list at mn-linux.org https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list