25-Cent Soda And Electric Calculators
Oct. 27th, 2010 01:57 pmLike most kids (in Canada, at any rate) I got a weekly allowance. Initially it was a couple of bucks a week but at some point Mom decided to just give my brother and I the monthly Child Benefit from the Federal government, which I believe was $20 per child at that time, on the condition that we were henceforth responsible for purchasing our own school supplies.
In those days fifty cents could buy you a soda and candy bar so 20 bucks was a significant chunk of change for a kid and I ended up saving a lot of mine. At some point my savings passed the magical $100 mark - which seemed like a small fortune to me - and I began to dream of what I would buy with all that money.
Those dreams took on more solid form with the release of that year's Sears Christmas Catalog. As usual I pored over the toy section of the catalog first and while many delights leapt to my eyes, none exhibited a strong enough pull to extract my hard-won savings from the bank vault in which they sat. Besides, for a mere toy there was always a good chance that I could wind up getting it for free, as a Christmas present.
It was in the business section of the catalog, while looking at typewriters, that my dreams became desire. There I saw a wondrous marvel of modern technology: an electric calculator. On the off chance that there is anyone under the age of 30 reading this, I should be specific here. I'm talking about an electro-mechanical calculator. A device which uses electric power to drive motors and gears to make mathematical calculations and print the result on a roll of paper tape.
To be sure, electric adding machines and cash registers had been around for as long as I could remember, but this sleek little beauty could do multiplication and division, too! And unlike those previous behemoths she could be had for the low, low price of just $179.99 (taxes not included).
Of course $179.99 was greater than $100, so I had more saving to do. In the meantime I'd take the catalog into my bedroom and gaze longingly at the calculator's full-colour picture, in much the same way that I imagine other boys were gazing at the lingerie models. Which is not to say that I didn't take a peek at the lingerie section, too, but come on, how can that compare to a machine which does multiplication and division?
I don't recall that I ever went to the Sears store and fondled the object of my affection. Indeed, I don't ever recall that it even occurred to me to do so. It's probably just as well, though, as I might have been arrested for public indecency.
At some point my bank account reached the long-awaited $179.99 (plus taxes). At last the calculator could be mine! But I hesitated. I still lusted after her, but did I really want to blow my entire wad on her? What was I really going to do with her? Oh sure, she would be a great help with arithmetic, but arithmetic was easy. We were already into basic algebra in school and what good would she be with that? What if I used her to calculate a few sums and then got bored with her?
So I waited and pondered and slowly the dream faded away, to be replaced by new ones.
Today I sit at a desk, surrounded by computers. 18 processor cores, each more than a billion times as powerful as that old calculator, await my bidding.
But I still remember that first boyhood crush fondly.
In those days fifty cents could buy you a soda and candy bar so 20 bucks was a significant chunk of change for a kid and I ended up saving a lot of mine. At some point my savings passed the magical $100 mark - which seemed like a small fortune to me - and I began to dream of what I would buy with all that money.
Those dreams took on more solid form with the release of that year's Sears Christmas Catalog. As usual I pored over the toy section of the catalog first and while many delights leapt to my eyes, none exhibited a strong enough pull to extract my hard-won savings from the bank vault in which they sat. Besides, for a mere toy there was always a good chance that I could wind up getting it for free, as a Christmas present.
It was in the business section of the catalog, while looking at typewriters, that my dreams became desire. There I saw a wondrous marvel of modern technology: an electric calculator. On the off chance that there is anyone under the age of 30 reading this, I should be specific here. I'm talking about an electro-mechanical calculator. A device which uses electric power to drive motors and gears to make mathematical calculations and print the result on a roll of paper tape.
To be sure, electric adding machines and cash registers had been around for as long as I could remember, but this sleek little beauty could do multiplication and division, too! And unlike those previous behemoths she could be had for the low, low price of just $179.99 (taxes not included).
Of course $179.99 was greater than $100, so I had more saving to do. In the meantime I'd take the catalog into my bedroom and gaze longingly at the calculator's full-colour picture, in much the same way that I imagine other boys were gazing at the lingerie models. Which is not to say that I didn't take a peek at the lingerie section, too, but come on, how can that compare to a machine which does multiplication and division?
I don't recall that I ever went to the Sears store and fondled the object of my affection. Indeed, I don't ever recall that it even occurred to me to do so. It's probably just as well, though, as I might have been arrested for public indecency.
At some point my bank account reached the long-awaited $179.99 (plus taxes). At last the calculator could be mine! But I hesitated. I still lusted after her, but did I really want to blow my entire wad on her? What was I really going to do with her? Oh sure, she would be a great help with arithmetic, but arithmetic was easy. We were already into basic algebra in school and what good would she be with that? What if I used her to calculate a few sums and then got bored with her?
So I waited and pondered and slowly the dream faded away, to be replaced by new ones.
Today I sit at a desk, surrounded by computers. 18 processor cores, each more than a billion times as powerful as that old calculator, await my bidding.
But I still remember that first boyhood crush fondly.