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Demon Infested Technology [message #45462]

Mon, 10 October 2011 21:20

Black Bear
Messages: 3216
Registered: September 2008
Location: Indianapolis, IN USA

Senior Member
[Moderator]

Infestation.

_{"The time is always right to do what's right."--MLK Jr.}

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Re: Demon Infested Technology [message #45463 is a reply to message #45462 ]

Mon, 10 October 2011 21:41

Catlady
Messages: 230
Registered: December 2008
Location: Aurora, Colorado

Senior Member

While I have not read Alex's Adventures , I must say that I'm glad such a book exists. I had a great fondness for math (my own adventures in algebra include once asking a teacher a question so forcefully [that is, refusing to be put off by the standard, "If I explain it to you I will confuse the rest of the class, please stop asking,"] that he broke the overhead projector.) and find that it is soothing when all the rest of the world has spun away into chaos. I sponsor my office's annual Pi Day celebration (March 14 - 3.14, you see -- though that only works if you do month/day in an American fashion). Which is to say I bring in a lot of pie. This particular holiday seems to have gained quite a bit of popularity since I started working there...

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Re: Demon Infested Technology [message #45470 is a reply to message #45462 ]

Tue, 11 October 2011 01:29

Diane in MN
Messages: 2730
Registered: October 2008
Location: Twin Cities, MN, USA

Senior Member

Or how about logarithms? Take something mind-breakingly complicated—something you have to have a calculator to figure out in the first place; pre-calculator there were log tables [. . .]

And there were slide rules. VERY cool. Not that I ever got much beyond using mine for multiplication and, if I remember correctly, square roots (high school was a long time ago), but I was immensely pleased with it. It wasn't pocket protectors that identified the potential engineers and such, it was slide rules. Smile

Good luck with the Audible download. I live in the primitive world of audiobooks on CD, so once I have the thing in my hand, it's all there. Just recently ordered The Last Chronicle of Barset for my trip to Massachusetts--two lovely fat boxes which will probably last for the whole drive. But it was expensive even with a coupon from the publisher; an Audible subscription would be a LOT cheaper.

_{"The point of books is to have way too many but to always feel you never have enough . . . " Louise Erdrich}

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Re: Demon Infested Technology [message #45476 is a reply to message #45462 ]

Tue, 11 October 2011 08:49

Graycat
Messages: 1
Registered: October 2008

Junior Member

Have you tried the Audible app for iPhone? I use that a lot for listening on my iPod touch because it has an extra sleep timer I can use and an easy go back button which can be set for between 10 and 90 seconds to catch what you just missed.

It does get picky about having to download all the parts of the book at the same time though,

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Re: Demon Infested Technology [message #45479 is a reply to message #45462 ]

Tue, 11 October 2011 11:20

BurgandyIce
Messages: 73
Registered: May 2010
Location: Damascus

Member

Oh yea.

So. I did something, too... transferred audible book to son's mp3 so he could read a book that was "cool" and above his current reading level (encouraging sons to read things they're interested in while avoiding burying them in 'Too hard!' is a knife-edged balance especially w/ the interesting array of teachers he has, speaking of your two Algebra experiences.)

He couldn't find it, of course. Listening on the computer didn't work too well. I decided to cancel my audible subscription (which is really good, as you said, for price-wise, should audio books be listen-able.)

This window popped up, one of those "Are you sure you really mean to cancel? Do you mind telling us why first?" I totally should have guessed right then that I wasn't even close to cancelling, but... it's really hard not to vent when given the option.

The first (ok, maybe second) option was "Won't play on my device". And the whole point of this longish story is that they know it might not be working on the device... ANY device. They make it easy to complain about the way it doesn't work on the device. What is up with that?!

Fortunately, they offered me HALF PRICE for the next three months while I figure out how to get it working. I'm totally thrilled, of course, since it was a good price before. It's difficult being angry and thrilled simultaneously, but I'm getting practice at knife-edged sorts of balancing. Sort of like... what you said. Yea... THAT.

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Re: Demon Infested Technology [message #45480 is a reply to message #45479 ]

Tue, 11 October 2011 13:45

Jacky
Messages: 34
Registered: October 2011

Member

If you don't get some books going in just a few more tries, tell them they need to hire you as a beta tester.

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Re: Demon Infested Technology [message #45482 is a reply to message #45470 ]

Tue, 11 October 2011 15:32

Aaron
Messages: 319
Registered: June 2009
Location: California

Senior Member

Diane in MN wrote on Mon, 10 October 2011 22:29

My ugly yellow Pickett got me through physics in high school and still lives in a drawer at home. It could be carried on your belt like a young sword but only the more militant did so. I am saddened to have been too young to call them "Napier's Bones" but just as happy not to have had to use tables.

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Re: Demon Infested Technology [message #45492 is a reply to message #45482 ]

Wed, 12 October 2011 02:27

Diane in MN
Messages: 2730
Registered: October 2008
Location: Twin Cities, MN, USA

Senior Member

Aaron wrote on Tue, 11 October 2011 14:32

Mine was an ugly yellow Pickett too. My husband, who was a math major for some time, had a handsome bigger and fancier one with more functions on it and a leather case. I don't know where mine got to; his is in his top dresser drawer. But it's there from inertia, not nostalgia; the device he cares about is his fancy HP calculator.

_{"The point of books is to have way too many but to always feel you never have enough . . . " Louise Erdrich}

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Re: Demon Infested Technology [message #45496 is a reply to message #45492 ]

Wed, 12 October 2011 13:30

Aaron
Messages: 319
Registered: June 2009
Location: California

Senior Member

Diane in MN wrote on Tue, 11 October 2011 23:27

Aaron wrote on Tue, 11 October 2011 14:32

I actually got my degree in Mathematics but I don't recall the slide rule as being very useful on that side of campus. I am grateful for your evidence to justify blaming the mathematics for my retention of my last HP (41CX).

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Re: Demon Infested Technology [message #45499 is a reply to message #45462 ]

Wed, 12 October 2011 16:49

PamAdams
Messages: 248
Registered: May 2010

Senior Member

I enjoy reading the science books aimed at a general audience. I can highly recommend both The Calculus Diaries and, even better, How to Teach Physics to Your Dog, http://dogphysics.com/.

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Re: Demon Infested Technology [message #45531 is a reply to message #45499 ]

Fri, 14 October 2011 03:18

CathyR
Messages: 575
Registered: July 2009
Location: NW England

Senior Member

PamAdams wrote on Wed, 12 October 2011 21:49

I enjoy reading the science books aimed at a general audience. I can highly recommend both The Calculus Diaries and, even better, How to Teach Physics to Your Dog, http://dogphysics.com/.

I very much enjoy these sort of books as well (haven't seen these two, so I'll look them up) - but I just wish I could retain what I read!! Smile

Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.

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Re: Demon Infested Technology [message #45602 is a reply to message #45462 ]

Mon, 17 October 2011 16:44

oldoakforest
Messages: 21
Registered: January 2010
Location: UK

Junior Member

This is only relevant in that it involves a book about numbers, but I grew up absolutely LOVING Hans Magnus Enzensberger's The Number Devil. My English-language translation had a bright yellow cover, and I actually took it with me as a reference for a few mathematics classes. Vroom numbers! Imaginative numbers! Hopping!

What an amazing book. Very Happy

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