The Nerd Pride Thread....

[Lugnut56]

I made up inventory lists for built, unbuilt and damaged kits. Also have lists for motors, recovery gear, body tubes, baffles and just recently finished one for spray and bottles paints.

 

[MoreCowbell]

I am a nerd, and darned proud of it!

I had one of these bad boys for longer than I care to admit... Had it continued to function, I'd still have it, today.

TI-59c... with.... a card reader! Snazzy!

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And what kind of cave man uses a sandpaper paddle?

Real nerds carried one of these... I finally stopped using 2mm lead holders, so I no longer carry it now.

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And to this day, I carry 2 pens, Pentels in 0.7mm, 0.5mm & 0.3mm, 12 in metal ruler/scale, et al. in my 20+ yr old aluminum notebook... because it's better to have your drafting basics and not need them, than to need them and not have them!

View attachment 550412

Y'all have a great day!
Bask in all that makes you a nerd!

The sandpaper pointing pads go waaay back. Prior to lead holders and Pentel mechanical pencils, there were specialized pencil sharpeners for drafting rooms. They tapered the wood part of the pencil, but left the inner graphite unsharpened--the draftsman then used the pointing pad to sharpen the graphite as needed. We also used them for putting a chisel point on pencils so that when lettering on a drawing, the downstrokes were thin and the horizontal strokes were broad.

And, a WELL-EQUIPPED nerd carried one of these for on-the-go sharpening needs.

I have no idea why I still have this stuff laying around.

 

[bjphoenix]

And, a WELL-EQUIPPED nerd carried one of these for on-the-go sharpening needs.

I have no idea why I still have this stuff laying around.
View attachment 554259

I still have a lead holder and one of those sharpeners. I never owned one but serious drafters had the metal sharpener that sat on the desk with a rotating part on top- put the pencil in a hole in the top of the sharpener and spin it around almost like dialing an old rotary phone.
I've never seen anyone using a Pentel for professional drafting but I'm just experienced in a couple of different engineering offices. At my second company drawings were done with ink on mylar for the linework and the lettering was done with leadholders and "plastic lead". We had the electric erasers and I did own one of those at one time.
I've been involved with AutoCAD for most of my professional career and still do some work in AutoCAD including rocket drawings.
In my first drafting class one of the other supplies I bought was a "drafting set" which included a couple of different sizes of compass and one or two dividers. My first wife was in architecture and she kept that set since I didn't think I would ever need it again. However now I wish I had a small compass to use for creating custom centering rings and for laying out tapered transitions. I'll have to buy one on ebay.

 

[cerving]

Found these two in the workshop when cleaning up today:
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The PC1350 was purchased in 1985 when I started my engineering degree. I only retired it earlier this year. It was always on my desk at work, and always getting used. Nowadays I use a scientific calculator on my phone, and have one less item on my desk.

Is it sufficiently geeky to say I also have the machine-language programming manual for that?

Was that the one that had a tiny Basic in it? I think Radio Shack rebadged it... I remember selling those around 1981 in my very brief career with them before I got a real job.

 

[MoreCowbell]

I still have a lead holder and one of those sharpeners. I never owned one but serious drafters had the metal sharpener that sat on the desk with a rotating part on top- put the pencil in a hole in the top of the sharpener and spin it around almost like dialing an old rotary phone.
I've never seen anyone using a Pentel for professional drafting but I'm just experienced in a couple of different engineering offices. At my second company drawings were done with ink on mylar for the linework and the lettering was done with leadholders and "plastic lead". We had the electric erasers and I did own one of those at one time.
I've been involved with AutoCAD for most of my professional career and still do some work in AutoCAD including rocket drawings.
In my first drafting class one of the other supplies I bought was a "drafting set" which included a couple of different sizes of compass and one or two dividers. My first wife was in architecture and she kept that set since I didn't think I would ever need it again. However now I wish I had a small compass to use for creating custom centering rings and for laying out tapered transitions. I'll have to buy one on ebay.

Yep, the sharpener you are referring to was much more common, and was usually mounted to the table top with a clamp.

You should be able to find a nice set of instruments on ebay. Kueffel & Esser, aka K&E, was one of the better brands for compasses. Dietzgen was also a good brand.

 

[OverTheTop]

Was that the one that had a tiny Basic in it? I think Radio Shack rebadged it... I remember selling those around 1981 in my very brief career with them before I got a real job.

There was a smaller single-line version that came out in 1980 I think, maybe a shade earlier. It was smaller than the PC1500 in the picture. I had that for a while before I upgraded too. That's what my memory is saying anyway.

 

[Blast it Tom!]

Now I'm not sure if this is nerd or geek. But my son, desperately trying to give me some new material, bought me one of those page-a-day joke calendars. I sent him back this from the first day of the year. I hope it is readable, there wasn't much space...

 

[K'Tesh]

 

[tsmith1315]

And even my computer & phone calculators are RPN

 

[Blast it Tom!]

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That's a nice emulator! I'm using RealCalc on my phone; I have my HP-15c for my computer and also Xcalc, both very old.

But how's this bad boy for a computer (as I mentioned above)?


For you younger folks, it's showing 2*pi at the index of the C scale on the D scale, and also on the DF scale at the top of the slide; pi^2 on the CF scale at the top of the slide; the square root of 2 on the top side of the square root scale at the bottom (or 200, 20,000 etc), the square root of 20 on the bottom side of the sqaure root scale (and again, 2000, 200,000 etc) and your homework is to figure out what it says on the cube root scales at the top. It was fun tracking your decimal point through calculations! And I'm stale on this bad boy. And there's a whole flip side to it!

 

[K'Tesh]

 

[K'Tesh]

 

[jqavins]

And even my computer & phone calculators are RPN.

Of course they are! Why wouldn't they be? Once you've acclimated to RPN there is no going back. Ever. (Seriously, I've known a few HP users who had to use TIs for a while and went right back when they had the chance; I've never known anyone who used an HP for a while and wanted to go back to TI.)

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Yep, that's the one on my personal desktop (which is pretty much dead), and my personal phone, and my work phone, and formerly on my dead tablet. On my work laptop I have the upgraded version, Plus42, which I will also place on my new tablet (it's on the way) and my new desktop (whenever I get one). Second best calculator I've ever used, and the best was a PalmOS app that's defunct. (I never migrated to the 48 series; I have an emulator on my phone, and maybe I'll learn it one of these years.)

 

[Joekeyo]

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Dirty deeds. Thunder sheep.

 

[John Kemker]

Of course they are! Why wouldn't they be? Once you've acclimated to RPN there is no going back. Ever. (Seriously, I've known a few HP users who had to use TIs for a while and went right back when they had the chance; I've never known anyone who used an HP for a while and wanted to go back to TI.)


Yep, that's the one on my personal desktop (which is pretty much dead), and my personal phone, and my work phone, and formerly on my dead tablet. On my work laptop I have the upgraded version, Plus42, which I will also place on my new tablet (it's on the way) and my new desktop (whenever I get one). Second best calculator I've ever used, and the best was a PalmOS app that's defunct. (I never migrated to the 48 series; I have an emulator on my phone, and maybe I'll learn it one of these years.)

Dang FORTH programmers.

 

[Joekeyo]

https://www.rocketryforum.com/attachments/550412/
We used these for field work. It gave you a little edge over inclement weather. I suppose they were eventually "updated" to something made of plastic.

 

[boatgeek]

https://www.rocketryforum.com/attachments/550412/
We used these for field work. It gave you a little edge over inclement weather. I suppose they were eventually "updated" to something made of plastic.

I have a similar one for field work that I call my nerd box.

 

[SolarYellow]

https://www.rocketryforum.com/attachments/550412/
We used these for field work. It gave you a little edge over inclement weather. I suppose they were eventually "updated" to something made of plastic.

The one that travels with me is made of plastic. It has round edges, doesn't gouge furniture and vehicle interiors, and doesn't get dented or bent. I also have an aluminum clip board that was customized to fit inside it.

 

[bjphoenix]

Of course they are! Why wouldn't they be? Once you've acclimated to RPN there is no going back. Ever.

I've used RPN from the beginning- the first calculator I owned was an HP35. I have a couple setting on my home desk for work from home, one in my desk at the office for the occasions when I'm there, and a couple of spares in drawers somewhere. I've used Excalibur on my computers for a long time. It doesn't look like an hp but it is RPN.

I almost never need to do calculations with my phone. One time I was on a trip and needed to do some calculations so after that I did install an RPN calculator on my phone, but also I make it a point to put a real calculator in my laptop bag when I travel.

I do own some simple type calculators. I have one simple solar one in my toolbox in the garage in case I need to do some calculations out there.

 

[Blast it Tom!]

I've used RPN from the beginning- the first calculator I owned was an HP35. I have a couple setting on my home desk for work from home, one in my desk at the office for the occasions when I'm there, and a couple of spares in drawers somewhere. I've used Excalibur on my computers for a long time. It doesn't look like an hp but it is RPN.

I almost never need to do calculations with my phone. One time I was on a trip and needed to do some calculations so after that I did install an RPN calculator on my phone, but also I make it a point to put a real calculator in my laptop bag when I travel.

I do own some simple type calculators. I have one simple solar one in my toolbox in the garage in case I need to do some calculations out there.

That RPN saved my hide on many a Thermodynamics exam back when you did such stuff with paper and pencil and interpolating from tables. (Do they still do that, or is it all electronic lookup?) But man, you can interpolate in RPN considerably faster than conventional calculators, in my experience.

 

[prfesser]

Do I qualify as a nerd? From years gone by:

Read older brother's 6th grade science book when I was in grade school. It led to annoyed parents because I'd make "flashlights" from batteries---taken out of working flashlights---plus wire and another bulb. Burned out a few bulbs as I learned about the difference between current and voltage. Later on I made some of the electric motors described in the book. (So very different from today's "science" books!)

During junior high I made alcohol lamps, a simple scale, flasks from old light bulbs, an electrolysis apparatus, a carbon-arc "furnace" (I'm surprised I survived childhood!) and other sciencey stuff from "700 Science Experiments for Everyone". Great book! Really wanted to make the ammonium dichromate+magnesium volcano(!!!) described in the book but couldn't get the chemicals...undoubtedly a good thing. They took that experiment and the carbon-arc-furnace out of the newer edition that I now have. Also probably a good thing.

In 6th grade we voted on the general topic for a term paper. I don't recall what topic was actually selected but I was the only one who nominated and voted for "Model Rocketry". Oh well, at least I got to write about it a few decades later...

 

[DRAGON64]

 

[tsmith1315]

Do I qualify as a nerd?

This would be an indicator!

Really wanted to make the ammonium dichromate+magnesium volcano(!!!) described in the book but couldn't get the chemicals...

That sounds cool!

(edit: hoping I haven’t told this one before…)

For our 8th grade volcano project, my partner and I used mortar over a chicken wire form on plywood. Painted nicely, little trees at the bottom.

We used potassium permanganate and glycerin for the eruption. It looked really cool, bubbling deep red.

But we couldn’t quite get the energetic eruption we hoped for, even when helping the reaction along with matches. So, in a last minute change the morning of class, I decided to add a healthy dose of black powder mixed airplane glue for drama.

It was big and heavy enough that my partner’s father had to bring it with his little pickup truck, and I mixed it all up right there and lit it with a match outside the classroom on his tailgate.

The eruption was fantastic! A three-inch column of fire with a huge mushroom cloud followed by a bubbling crater of deep red lava glowing and crackling! We got a full round of oohs and aahs and an A+.

 

[4regt4]

Do I qualify as a nerd? From years gone by:

Read older brother's 6th grade science book when I was in grade school. It led to annoyed parents because I'd make "flashlights" from batteries---taken out of working flashlights---plus wire and another bulb. Burned out a few bulbs as I learned about the difference between current and voltage. Later on I made some of the electric motors described in the book. (So very different from today's "science" books!)

During junior high I made alcohol lamps, a simple scale, flasks from old light bulbs, an electrolysis apparatus, a carbon-arc "furnace" (I'm surprised I survived childhood!) and other sciencey stuff from "700 Science Experiments for Everyone". Great book! Really wanted to make the ammonium dichromate+magnesium volcano(!!!) described in the book but couldn't get the chemicals...undoubtedly a good thing. They took that experiment and the carbon-arc-furnace out of the newer edition that I now have. Also probably a good thing.

In 6th grade we voted on the general topic for a term paper. I don't recall what topic was actually selected but I was the only one who nominated and voted for "Model Rocketry". Oh well, at least I got to write about it a few decades later...

Our junior high library had a paper back book, obviously aimed at juniors with illustrations and all, on making fireworks. Included all the recipes for propellants and explosives, with the various chemicals needed to get different colors and sparkly effects. I mean, there was some seriously dangerous stuff in there. Even back then (50 years ago), I couldn't believe they had this in the library. Probably for the better, I couldn't find sources for the chemicals.

Hans,

 

[K'Tesh]

 

[K'Tesh]

 

[K'Tesh]

 

[Pickles McRocketPants]

I was electrocuted twice, badly, as a child, once requiring an ER visit cause I tried to "fix" a 16" b&w magnavox crt. I still have my two graphing TIs along with my slide rule from grade school. I was obsessed with Star Trek by the age of 6 and met Shatner when I was 10 at some event my grampa took me to (he worked for the MPAA for 23yrs), Bill signed a paper souvenir visor for me, that my dog later destroyed. I have the original Star Wars on 7 diffrrent formats. I wear tshirts that i find wildly amusing that no one else gets. I know im probably not posting that hssn't already been lulzed at. anyhoo....

 

[Pickles McRocketPants]

 

[K'Tesh]

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Depends on the era... TNG Command is red, Science is (still) blue, and Engineering is yellow.