[TheForge] OT slide rules

[Andrew Vida]

dann at wctatel.net wrote:
> Using a slide rule requires that the mind be able to do a quick double
> check to see if the answer is -ball park- correct.
> 
> Too many people are clueless if the calculator spits out a number that is
> hundreds or thousands of units off.
> 
> Three significant units of a correct answer win hands down over 9
> significant digits that are flat out wrong.

	Well said.  The slide rule required a mindfulness and sense of 
responsibility that is at least partway absent in these times of easy 
calculations by computer.  We can obtain amazing results unheard of 30 
years ago, but there is something of art that is lost in the exchange. 
Perhaps all that really matters is the end result, but for me there is 
something of real value represented in the personal skills of people 
executing nuts and bolts calculations that come together in complex ways 
and actually do what they are intended to do.