Armed Polite Society

Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Perd Hapley on February 06, 2017, 02:22:52 PM

Title: One Nerd Ruler To Rule Them All!
Post by: Perd Hapley on February 06, 2017, 02:22:52 PM
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/digi-key-electronics/PCB-RULER-12INCH/PCB-RULER-ND/5767550

(https://armedpolitesociety.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.digikey.com%2FPhotos%2FDigi-Key%2520Photos%2FPCB-RULER-12INCH.JPG&hash=559929c7bcd4d7c0541c0617c7be939b9ef89bbf)

http://media.digikey.com/pdf/Data%20Sheets/Digi-Key%20PDFs/PCB-RULER-ND_7-DEC-2015.pdf

Digi-Key sent this to me today. I don’t know if I got one because I bought a couple of LED drivers from them, or if it’s just because I was on their contact list. Of course, it’s actually made from FR-4, or some other kind of PCB laminate, with what appears to be copper plating in various places. (Maybe I should cut it up, and make some knife scales out of it.)
Title: Re: One Nerd Ruler To Rule Them All!
Post by: K Frame on February 07, 2017, 06:31:30 AM
Why would the Pakistan Cricket Board hand out rulers made of Polychlorinated Biphenyls?

Was it mandated by the President's Council of Bioethics through a Proposed Committee Bill?

Sounds like a Politically Correct Buzzword to me.
Title: Re: One Nerd Ruler To Rule Them All!
Post by: RevDisk on February 07, 2017, 09:03:01 AM

Seen a similar one at Adafruit. Definitely useful, but not sure how tempted I would be at $5 plus shipping.
Title: Re: One Nerd Ruler To Rule Them All!
Post by: cordex on February 07, 2017, 10:13:47 AM
I like the idea of AvE's version better, even if it costs twice as much.  It uses a more common measurement scale.
Title: Re: One Nerd Ruler To Rule Them All!
Post by: Scout26 on February 10, 2017, 11:57:52 AM
Ultimate Nerd Ruler:

(https://armedpolitesociety.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fsliderulemuseum.com%2FMilitary%2FKE_M4_GraphicalFiringTable_1943_ClarkMcCoy.jpg&hash=20f03f245967f3eba8dbd26bfcf1794ca53b8833)
Title: Re: One Nerd Ruler To Rule Them All!
Post by: K Frame on February 10, 2017, 12:28:11 PM
No.... THIS is the true nerd ruler...

(https://armedpolitesociety.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hpmuseum.org%2Fbig%2Ffullinbx.jpg&hash=33e79e15ca9416be0225073942f11170ec4794a4)

My Father had one of those on his desk until he replaced it with one of the first generation HP programmable calculators in the early 1970s.


He also had one of these bad boys... A Curta mechanical calculator...

(https://armedpolitesociety.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hpmuseum.org%2Fcurta2.jpg&hash=2158132582321d740904c53dd89a533cb1757fb7)


I've got it. I also have my Grandfather's Curta. He and Dad were both engineers.
Title: Re: One Nerd Ruler To Rule Them All!
Post by: cordex on February 10, 2017, 01:19:25 PM
I've got it. I also have my Grandfather's Curta. He and Dad were both engineers.
A Curta is on my short list of "expensive things I have absolutely no use for, but would still love to own for some reason."  Another mechanical calculator on that same list is a Norden bombsight.
Title: Re: One Nerd Ruler To Rule Them All!
Post by: AmbulanceDriver on February 10, 2017, 02:36:18 PM
A Curta is on my short list of "expensive things I have absolutely no use for, but would still love to own for some reason."  Another mechanical calculator on that same list is a Norden bombsight.

This...

On both counts....
Title: Re: One Nerd Ruler To Rule Them All!
Post by: K Frame on February 10, 2017, 05:11:10 PM
A short ton of Curtas on sale on Fleabay right now, with very high reserves and the like.

But I couldn't find a single with with a single bid on it. Lots of lookyloos, but that's about it.
Title: Re: One Nerd Ruler To Rule Them All!
Post by: Perd Hapley on February 10, 2017, 05:56:15 PM
A short ton of Curtas on sale on Fleabay right now, with very high reserves and the like.

But I couldn't find a single with with a single bid on it. Lots of lookyloos, but that's about it.


That's the Catch-22. You want an expensive calculator, to help you compute large numbers, but since you don't have an expensive calculator to help you compute large numbers, you're unable to properly budget for one.
Title: Re: One Nerd Ruler To Rule Them All!
Post by: Hawkmoon on February 10, 2017, 06:34:43 PM

That's the Catch-22. You want an expensive calculator, to help you compute large numbers, but since you don't have an expensive calculator to help you compute large numbers, you're unable to properly budget for one.

The Catch-22 is that a Curta today is a nostalgic paperweight, and you can buy a solar-powered electronic calculator at Wal-Mart for under ten bucks that does far more than the Curta, and faster. I would love to have one, too, "just because," but I can't justify spending big bucks to buy one.
Title: Re: One Nerd Ruler To Rule Them All!
Post by: 230RN on February 10, 2017, 11:01:30 PM
Sure, now.  But the $10 Walmart one won't appear on Antiques Roadshow in 2053.