Alan, you make a very valid and cogent point. A nice inexpensive solar powered that'll operate on just about any source of light is always a good thing to have around.
But a slide rule can be fun if only due to its being arcane. They a fun to tinker with when you get bored, taking out a copy of "101 Problems for Celestial Navigation" and working them long hand and checking them on the rule.
But consider this: NASA had great mechanical computers to call upon when Wernher von Braun designed, tested and flew the Apollo crafts, but in the end, and I am referring here to the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission, what did the engineers and the geeks at mission control rely on for those quickly need on the spot and reliable answers? The Pickett N600-ES check out
http://airandspace.si.edu/collections/artifact.cfm?id=A19840160000, it appears that Jack Swigert, the engineer and pilot of Apollo 13's CM pulled his N600-ES out to verify the findings of mission control. Not from the movie, but an historical fact.
and if a slide can save three men virtually stranded in space, it is good enough for me and my mundane earthly equations. Of course, I am an idiot for the versatile Math CAD program called Mathematica now in version 9.0 too, so I am not completely a Luddite, I just play one on TV. And speaking in nautical terms I am a relative Luddite. Now, can anyone tell me an inexpensive source for relative bearing grease?
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