Friday, November 10, 2017

No Riding

It’s been a hectic week. And the Ural is still tucked in the back of the garage though now it is no longer surrounded with 540 lbs of gravel. All of that is not in the bed of the truck for snowplow ballast. Plus the truck handles much better on the slippery roads. When I tried to pull the tarp off of the plow, it was held down by a large block of ice formed from rain dripping off the roof and pooling on the tarp. The plow was moved into the garage to allow the block to thaw a bit. After a little prompting with an ice chisel, it broke loose.

The weather is less than ideal for riding. Many of the side roads have a layer of ice which is now covered with snow. Not as slick as it was while we were out of town but still bumpy with lots of ruts frozen into the ice.

This first picture was taken from the Butrovich Building at the university. I had stopped by my office to look for my old HP 32S calculator. You are not allowed to use the iPhone calculator during the amateur radio test and there are a number of questions where you need trig functions, log functions, exponents, and square roots. Much easier with a calculator and, in my case, easier if the calculator uses RPN (reverse polish notation). I haven’t used the calculator for over ten years. But the batteries are surprisingly still good!

10 comments:

  1. Definitely looks cold out there.

    I didn't understand half of what you said about the calculator, but good luck on your test.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not very cold, just snowing. Maybe 15°F. This calculator is from the late 1980s so maybe 29 years old and still works great. I put new batteries in about five years ago.

      Delete
  2. What!? Not going to use your slide rule?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Now there’s an idea… it didn’t occur to me. Maybe...

      Delete
  3. Ah yes, the old reverse polish notation, wax on, wax off. Oh wait, Polish, not polish.

    Had to look it up, but I think I got it. Stacks and trees though, makes me want to go for a hike in the woods.
    https://youtu.be/TrfcJCulsF4

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. RPN, back then there were arguments between the HP camp and the TI (Texas Instruments) users.

      Delete
  4. Urgh, guess a Ham Radio license isn't in my future....math and I are not good companions.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Most of the questions on the practice test I can look at and guess approximate value that are close enough for the multiple choice test format.

      Delete
  5. I haven't used such a vintage calculator in ages. What an odd sight. Reminds me of school days and... math... we were never friends.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Vintage?! This isn’t even the one I used in school. That was less capable and much more costly. That one even had a magnetic card reader to store your programs.

      Delete