Other hobby

[RC3]

Well that was weird.

I'm a 9%er motorcycler ('96 Goldwing). Garden all summer. Am a fan of legos, fast cars, and a big music lover, but the one post that I stopped and read the most about was the slide rules. Funny ain't it.  Sorry, I'm at work so I don't have any pictures here to post.

I have never seen those before. Have no idea what they are for. They look neat tho. 

[Guest PapaB]

My favorite things to collect are... my thoughts. :pleased:

[Hershmeister]

[quote name="Lester Weevils" post="1137332" timestamp="1397246685"]My collections tend to be self-limiting, because I usually have goals and once the goals are met, can quit the addiction. Even the gun collection is "near complete" because there isn't much else am that much interested in. Have a small collection of slide rules. Condition doesn't matter as long as they are functional, and I don't care about acquiring every color or model variation. Just certain high points in the history. There are only two additional Picketts I might like, the N300 pocket model and there is a huge N3/N4 sized electronic model (ie, vector scales customized for electronics) but apparently they were rare and haven't seen a good price on one. OTOH there was also a neat aviation-navigation pocket rule, some artillery oriented models, and a pocket model for aerial photograph calculations that would be kewl maybe, at the right price. Then again, there were several other slide rule manufacturers who made iconic rules, but tend to be more expensive than Picketts. I keep meaning to make a wall display case, with a little brass hammer on a chain and a sign, "In case of power failure, break glass." :) From top: K&E 4054, Pickett N515 Electronic, N3 Power Log Exponential, N4 Vector Log Log, N531 Electronic, N902 Simplex Trig, N600 Log Log, Simple Circular Rule.[/quote] You should get into collecting CURTA calculators next ;)

[enfield]

My collections tend to be self-limiting, because I usually have goals and once the goals are met, can quit the addiction. Even the gun collection is "near complete" because there isn't much else am that much interested in.

 

Have a small collection of slide rules. Condition doesn't matter as long as they are functional, and I don't care about acquiring every color or model variation. Just certain high points in the history. There are only two additional Picketts I might like, the N300 pocket model and there is a huge N3/N4 sized electronic model (ie, vector scales customized for electronics) but apparently they were rare and haven't seen a good price on one. OTOH there was also a neat aviation-navigation pocket rule, some artillery oriented models, and a pocket model for aerial photograph calculations that would be kewl maybe, at the right price. Then again, there were several other slide rule manufacturers who made iconic rules, but tend to be more expensive than Picketts.

 

I keep meaning to make a wall display case, with a little brass hammer on a chain and a sign, "In case of power failure, break glass." :)

 

 

From top: K&E 4054, Pickett N515 Electronic, N3 Power Log Exponential, N4 Vector Log Log, N531 Electronic, N902 Simplex Trig, N600 Log Log, Simple Circular Rule.

 

I have a couple of Picketts myself.  All of my calculators died, but the cursor slides on!

[Guest Lester Weevils]

I have never seen those before. Have no idea what they are for. They look neat tho. 

 

Did you know that Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings? (sorry, geezer joke :) )

 

Slide rules didn't add and subtract, but with a little practice did the other operations faster than a scientific handheld calculator, assuming you could get along with three significant digits. In the pre-calculator era, seems most stuff managed to get along just fine with three significant digits. Close enough for rock'n'roll. :)

 

The little pocket N600 at the bottom of my picture accompanied astronauts on moon missions. Not the one in my picture, but that model of pickett slide rule.

 

The gadgets were a mainstay for hundreds of years and then experienced the quickest product crash in history that I can think of. With the advent of the handheld calculator in the early 1970's, use of the slide rule almost completely died out within a couple of years. Investing in a slide rule company in 1969 would have been more disasterous than investing in a wagon wheel company in 1905.

 

You should get into collecting CURTA calculators next ;)

 

Those look neat. Have also seen pictures of very fancy circular rules, and high precision rules that used vernier displays on threaded mechanisms.

 

I have a couple of Picketts myself.  All of my calculators died, but the cursor slides on!

 

Kinda wish I'd saved all my handheld calculators. Would have a neat little collection by now, but it would only be a collection of dead plastic husks, because usually calculators only got replaced after they broke.

[mav]

I need to add another hobby to my list, yard work/landscaping.  While it can be back-breaking at times, I really enjoy making something look really nice that previously looked like s***.

[tnguy]

Did you know that Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings? (sorry, geezer joke :) )

 

Slide rules didn't add and subtract, but with a little practice did the other operations faster than a scientific handheld calculator, assuming you could get along with three significant digits. In the pre-calculator era, seems most stuff managed to get along just fine with three significant digits. Close enough for rock'n'roll. :)

 

The little pocket N600 at the bottom of my picture accompanied astronauts on moon missions. Not the one in my picture, but that model of pickett slide rule.

 

The gadgets were a mainstay for hundreds of years and then experienced the quickest product crash in history that I can think of. With the advent of the handheld calculator in the early 1970's, use of the slide rule almost completely died out within a couple of years. Investing in a slide rule company in 1969 would have been more disasterous than investing in a wagon wheel company in 1905.

 

 

Those look neat. Have also seen pictures of very fancy circular rules, and high precision rules that used vernier displays on threaded mechanisms.

 

 

Kinda wish I'd saved all my handheld calculators. Would have a neat little collection by now, but it would only be a collection of dead plastic husks, because usually calculators only got replaced after they broke.

 

Slide-rules are still being taught in the aviation game. Albeit under a different name

 

 

And since you can get watches with these scales on, they are also slide-rules you can wear...

(don't be fooled at the ones that are just decoration though. The one below is fully functional)

 

Edited April 12, 2014 by tnguy

[runningfree]

Home brewing
Vinyl (lp's)
Sporting clays

Newly acquired auto Knifes

[Tempest455]

Too many! 

 

Classic Musclecars and drag racing. 

Anything old with 4 wheels

Guitars/guitar playing

Cooking

Beer

Kids are into (which means I am) RC planes, model rockets

[Dolomite`s Breezy]

I have a horse.. I guess thats a hobby ( trail riding.. or the occational horseshow)

I also make Tiffany glas things.. ( when I am in the mood, that is)

 

ETA.. I play Arma3, DayzMod and Breaking Point with Dolomite most everyday... FPS with Zombies:)

Edited April 13, 2014 by Sour Kraut

[Will Carry]

Wargames /Boardgames. Been playing since middle school.

I used to play hex board war games. I had one called "Terrible Swift Sword", the Battle of Gettysburg. Those were great games. I still have that game up in the attic. I have dice all over the house from playing those games.

[Monkeyman2500]

I really enjoy working on the yard and house. Anything to do with auto performance, still got to get the 79 Bronco fixed( burnt valve I think). Like vintage audiophile quality equipment but am limited by price. Still break out my RC10 buggy every one in a while to do the things I could not afford when I was a kid. And then there's dog collecting. :)

[No_0ne]

Well that was weird.

I'm a 9%er motorcycler ('96 Goldwing). Garden all summer. Am a fan of legos, fast cars, and a big music lover, but the one post that I stopped and read the most about was the slide rules. Funny ain't it.  Sorry, I'm at work so I don't have any pictures here to post.

 

Some of the ones made with exotic woods and trimmed in brass are works of art.

 

I have never seen those before. Have no idea what they are for. They look neat tho. 

 

Calculations.  Believe it or not, it was entirely possible to do math before the modern electronic calculator was invented.

 

Did you know that Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings? (sorry, geezer joke :) )

 

Slide rules didn't add and subtract, but with a little practice did the other operations faster than a scientific handheld calculator, assuming you could get along with three significant digits. In the pre-calculator era, seems most stuff managed to get along just fine with three significant digits. Close enough for rock'n'roll. :)

 

The little pocket N600 at the bottom of my picture accompanied astronauts on moon missions. Not the one in my picture, but that model of pickett slide rule.

 

The gadgets were a mainstay for hundreds of years and then experienced the quickest product crash in history that I can think of. With the advent of the handheld calculator in the early 1970's, use of the slide rule almost completely died out within a couple of years. Investing in a slide rule company in 1969 would have been more disasterous than investing in a wagon wheel company in 1905.

 

 

Those look neat. Have also seen pictures of very fancy circular rules, and high precision rules that used vernier displays on threaded mechanisms.

 

 

Kinda wish I'd saved all my handheld calculators. Would have a neat little collection by now, but it would only be a collection of dead plastic husks, because usually calculators only got replaced after they broke.

 

I still miss my old TI-55, my favorite calculator of all time.

 

Slide-rules are still being taught in the aviation game. Albeit under a different name

 

 

 

Ah, the E6B.  Spent a few hours learning to use one of these, mainly in preparation for flight exams.  Another sign of the times, they are selling electronic versions now, still seems somewhat ironic to me.

[Grand Torino]

My wife keeps me busy with the honeydew list but when I have the time it's making knives and woodworking.. When I was younger it was motorcycles and muscle cars but I can't afford to do that anymore. :(

[tnguy]

Ah, the E6B.  Spent a few hours learning to use one of these, mainly in preparation for flight exams.  Another sign of the times, they are selling electronic versions now, still seems somewhat ironic to me.

 

I believe there's a saying. I can't remember it exactly but it's along the lines of the difficulty of buying batteries at 7000 ft. :)

 

These days, I'm sure there's even an app for that. (Hmm. Several, in fact.)

 

I have to say that I found mine more useful for the wind deviations than the calculations though.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

I still miss my old TI-55, my favorite calculator of all time.

 

Had (if memory serves) one of the early TI sr40 and got good use-

 

Then got a TI 57 or a programmable awful similar. Had a lot of fun writing programs to solve electronic problems. That was after graduation, couldn't use the school mainframe and miniputers, and it was before ordinary people could afford puters, the micro not having quite been invented yet.

 

The various later years TI 30 and 35 models were classic medium duty ergonomics and usability. Then got a palm tungsten pda with a powerone graph third party program, a very fine graphic calc program, easier faster use than classic scientific calculators. That powerone fella still writes nice calculator apps, but no longer sells that full blown excellent graphing calculator, no fullblown app versions for iphone, android or winphone, of my old palm tungsten program.

 

That palm program wasn't strictly programmable but had a great solver feature, successive approximation method where you could enter a system of equations in algebraic notation and then numerically solve for any symbol in the equation, solve for elements that would drive you crazy trying to solve algebraically. Real easy and straightforward.

 

Have tried various matlab-like calc programs for android, but haven't seen anything truly excellent. One would think that somebody could write the most killer scientific calc + matlab features on a modern phone or pad, but haven't seen anything in that niche that is real slick. They all look rather rough, hard to use and potentially buggy.

 

Got a TI nspire cx a couple of years ago that seems pretty nice, but haven't nerded out on it enough to climb the learning curve. Doing much complicated seems rather slow and inconvenient though guess it would improve with practice. Too many functions hidden deep inside menus. If one doesn't use the nspire regularly then it is too easy to forget where to find all the features buried in there. Pick up the calculator and spend too much time trying to remember how to use it, rather than actually getting answers.

Edited April 13, 2014 by Lester Weevils

[R_Bert]

I need to add another hobby to my list, yard work/landscaping.  While it can be back-breaking at times, I really enjoy making something look really nice that previously looked like s***.

Wow, we have similar interest!  I am really good at the reverse!

[bersaguy]

I enjoy making soft plastic fishing baits. Hand pouring. Love experimenting with different color combinations and then going fishing to see if they will catch a bass or two. I have had great success with a lot of them and like I said it's fun experimenting. The whole thing about this is your imagination is unlimited and never ending because the color combinations are endless.......... :rofl: :rofl:

[Troutburger]

Bersa makes some of the best soft baits around. That's a redfish I caught on one of his swim baits.

[bersaguy]

Bersa makes some of the best soft baits around. That's a redfish I caught on one of his swim baits.

show off.............. :rock: :rock:  I was not gonna let folks know I let other folks buy my baits but thanks for the bragging anyway. This is a gun site and  have thought about becoming a Benefactor but didn't think it would be something folks would be interested in. If it was a fishing site then maybe..................... :rofl: :rofl:

[RC3]

Bersa makes some of the best soft baits around. That's a redfish I caught on one of his swim baits.

Never thought to attach a pistol to the end of the line  :rofl:

[Volzfan]

1:24 scale NASCAR diecast but I'm in the process of liquidating them all. Still have about 50 pieces listed on eBay. Haven't added to the collection in quite a while.

[analog_kidd]

My wife says I have too many hobbies. She's probably right. I have so many I can never really focus on one and perfect it. They include: remodeling houses, wine making, photography (really suck at that one), computers, gonna start gardening and raising chickens this year, and backpacking.

 

But my favorite hobby, and the one that really brought me to TN from Florida, is whitewater kayaking. Here's a picture of me running Bald River Falls near the Tellico River. Running it was easy. Hucking my boat up the rocks to get to the launch pint was the dangerous part.

 

Edited April 14, 2014 by analog_kidd

[tnguy]

Looks like something to get the pulse going. I haven't done any of the water stuff when I've been in that area but I'd like to. Even if it's a little more sedate than that.

[Tempest455]

My wife says I have too many hobbies. She's probably right. I have so many I can never really focus on one and perfect it. They include: remodeling houses, wine making, photography (really suck at that one), computers, gonna start gardening and raising chickens this year, and backpacking.

 

But my favorite hobby, and the one that really brought me to TN from Florida, is whitewater kayaking. Here's a picture of me running Bald River Falls near the Tellico River. Running it was easy. Hucking my boat up the rocks to get to the launch pint was the dangerous part.

 

 

I like crazy things but that looks insane.