What did you get for Christmas?

  • Thread starter BobG
  • Start date
  • Tags
    Christmas
In summary, Bob received a Pickett N4-ES Vector Hyperbolic Dual Base Slide Rule, two shirts, a $30 gift card, an illness, and electronic drumsticks with authentic sounds.
  • #1
BobG
Science Advisor
Homework Helper
352
86
I normally don't care what I get for Christmas, but this year's was a very unexpected surprise.

I got a Pickett N4-ES Vector Hyperbolic Dual Base Slide Rule.

This is listed as having 34 scales, but that's a little deceiving. It has a 30 inch cube root scale (that's 3 scales), a 20 inch square root scale (2 scales), and an 80 inch log-log scale and the log base 10 scale. It has a 20" hyperbolic sine and tangent scales, plus the normal 20" tangent, sine, and small angle sine scales, C (one each side), D (one each side), CF, DF, CF/M, and DF/M scales, plus the reciprical CI, CIF and DI scales. It's aluminum with a plastic lined leather case in Pickett's famous eye-saver yellow.

Mine's a little unusual in that it only has 33 scales. It's missing the Ln scale from 0 to 2.3 and it's also missing the 1959 copyright notice. I think this one was a very early version.

One of the most sophisticated slide rules ever made and my wife picked it up at a thrift store for $16. The only restoration it needed was cleaning off the glue from a price tag that had been stuck directly on the slide rule. :rofl:
 
Physics news on Phys.org
  • #2
I got my Book from the UPS lady for my winter-term class (Machine Design), I got a nice sweat shirt, which I'm wearing right now (Funny how I used to hate getting clothes, now I WANT to get clothes), and I got my grades in which were all good with one exception which was REALLY BAD. ;-)
 
Last edited:
  • #3
Tickets to a physics conference in subtropical Florida! And yet another season of The Simpsons on DVD. Also a book on manifolds.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #4
all I got was laid
 
  • #5
I did get a book about time travel but then I traveled back into time and explained to them time travel is impossible.
 
  • #6
tribdog said:
all I got was laid

I get that all year round. :tongue2:
 
  • #7
tribdog said:
all I got was laid
Wow, Santa's getting more creative. :yuck:
 
  • #8
a box of chocolates, 2 shirts, a $30 gift card. And oh, a couple of kisses...
 
  • #9
Some Dewalt self starting drill bits, two pairs of gold earings, a M&M 1/38 die cast car and some fancies from Victoria Secrets.
 
  • #10
I got an illness, woo!
I spent half the day sleeping, ate hardly any xmas dinner, and missed my friends birthday party.

I did get an owl pellet disection kit though. How cool is that? :biggrin:
 
  • #11
Like matthyizzaouw, I also got an illness. I think it was self-inflicted, I don't really remember.

Other than the obligatory poisoning, I got "Is it just me, or is everything ****e?", some stuff to make me smell less bad, and some electronic drumsticks with authentic sounds. Lovely.
 
  • #13
brewnog said:
Like matthyizzaouw, I also got an illness. I think it was self-inflicted, I don't really remember.
Other than the obligatory poisoning, I got "Is it just me, or is everything ****e?", some stuff to make me smell less bad, and some electronic drumsticks with authentic sounds. Lovely.

I've had my eye on those drum stick things for a while. Are they any good?
 
  • #14
matthyaouw said:
I've had my eye on those drum stick things for a while. Are they any good?


As musical instruments, no, they're rubbish!

As tools for making noise and pissing off the family, they're fantastic.
 
  • #15
Bob,
Have you ever seen this guy?

http://www.slideruleguy.com/

I was given an old Pratt & Whitney turbine slide rule bought from him. I talked to him for a bit. Very nice and has a lot of stuff. The new Pickett you got, is it that great green color? I love those for some reason.
 
  • #16
I got the flannel sheets I asked for, and a 3 1/2 qt pot (I really wanted the 2 qt one, but this will do), and a cashmere, sleeveless, turtleneck sweater. :confused: Only my sister could find something like that. What season am I supposed to wear it in? It's very soft, but really, when do you wear a sleeveless, turtleneck, cashmere sweater? I got a big container of espresso beans too. Oh, and "snowman soup" from my nephew :biggrin: (it's a packet of hot chocolate mix, two marshmallows and a candy cane to stir it with :rofl:).
 
  • #17
cyrusabdollahi said:
I got my Book from the UPS lady for my winter-term class (Machine Design)
I'm taking that in the spring too :biggrin:
 
  • #18
I got socks, shirts, and underwear. My birthday is coming up in about a week and a half, I wonder if I'll get more.
I still have packages of socks from last year that I haven't opened lol.
And they're always white socks. I can't wear white socks five days out of the week because of work lol.
 
  • #19
FredGarvin said:
Bob,
Have you ever seen this guy?

http://www.slideruleguy.com/ [Broken]

I was given an old Pratt & Whitney turbine slide rule bought from him. I talked to him for a bit. Very nice and has a lot of stuff. The new Pickett you got, is it that great green color? I love those for some reason.
I've probably run across him in Yahoo's International Slide Rule Group (but I haven't posted there in a while). I think I've probably bid against him on E-Bay, as well.

No, mine is yellow.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #20
I got a 450 euro Brittish Shorthair. Here name is Gioia and you can look at here picture in the member's photo thread

regards
marlon
 
  • #21
I got two boxes of Godiva chocolates. Mmmm! Delicious!
 
  • #22
The cats brought me some dead things.
 
  • #23
I prefer to eat dead things.
 
  • #24
Doesn't everyone.
 
  • #25
I got a TI-89 Titanium from Canada. Graphing calculators are only available at one shop in Brunei, and they only have one (rather inferior) model available! Now I'm the only kid in my town with a programmable calculator... MUAHAHAHA!

Almost everyone at my school uses this model of Casio:
http://paranoffice.com/templates/skin/images/program_basic/product/20040614150915_1.jpg [Broken]
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #26
recon said:
Almost everyone at my school uses this model of Casio

You mean the legendary fx-83WA Casio calculator model. I also have a graphic calculator but choose to use the Casio model, it is very practical, handy to handle at all times and obviously very cheap to buy. The problem with my SHARP EL-9650 graphic calculator is that it's somewhat cumbersome (at least mine is) to handle. But I must confess that I'm rather more preoccupied with handling it and in the process braking it than carrying it with me. I mostly only use it at home.
 
  • #27
brewnog said:
As musical instruments, no, they're rubbish!
As tools for making noise and pissing off the family, they're fantastic.

They sound perfect :biggrin:
 
  • #28
For those of you virtually incapacitated by jealousy over my Pickett N4-ES slide rule, take heart. You can share the experience, even if you don't own the actual slide rule. Try Derek Ross's Virtual Slide Rule. Click on the cursor (the glass with the hairline marker) and drag it where you need it. Click on the slide (the middle section from CF to C) and drag it where you need it.

He has other Picketts modeled as well at Derek's Virtual Slide Rule Gallery. He even has some demo examples and some instructions on how to use a slide rule. (For the Italians at this site, there's an Italian version of this page, as well.)

Edit: Notice the corrosion on Derek's slide rule (he made his virtual slide rule from photograph's of his slide rule). I'm surprised he wasn't able to clean it up better. It's time consuming, but none of my slide rules still have that gunk on the metal. Sometimes I guess they're just too far gone. I have an Albert Nestler 23R that I haven't been able to fully restore, because I'm afraid the fix might destroy the slide rule completely (there's a metal brace to bridge the gap for the slide that has warped, so the body tends to grip the slide very tightly on one side)
 
Last edited:
  • #29
BobG said:
For those of you virtually incapacitated by jealousy over my Pickett N4-ES slide rule, take heart. You can share the experience, even if you don't own the actual slide rule. Try Derek Ross's Virtual Slide Rule. Click on the cursor (the glass with the hairline marker) and drag it where you need it. Click on the slide (the middle section from CF to C) and drag it where you need it.
He has other Picketts modeled as well at Derek's Virtual Slide Rule Gallery.
That is pretty cool. Much better than the little stand alone prog that I have. I'm going to bookmark that one.

Here's a pic of my beauty which has a pristine leather carrying case w/ belt loop:
pickett-n540tback.jpg

pickett-n540tfront.jpg
 
  • #30
You guys are immensely tempting me to purchase a pickett beauty. Are those internationally available? More specifically in Europe? Are they expensive? Would you mind telling me how much your pickett cost, FredGarvin?
 
  • #31
Physics_wiz, what book are you using?
 
  • #32
DM said:
You guys are immensely tempting me to purchase a pickett beauty. Are those internationally available? More specifically in Europe? Are they expensive? Would you mind telling me how much your pickett cost, FredGarvin?
I honestly can not remember how much I paid for it. It was a bit pricey though. It is a collector's item now. Plus it was never used. I think it was about $90. You can buy beginners and less expensive ones though for about $25-50 range. I like this guy's site:

http://www.sphere.bc.ca/test/sruniverse.html
Very nice folks there.

cyrusabdollahi said:
I got my Book from the UPS lady for my winter-term class (Machine Design)
Oooh...good class. One of the better ones. Pay attention. If you get a good prof. you can learn a lot of good stuff in there that you can apply.
 
  • #33
My books is by Shingley-Mischke-Budynas, "Mechanical Engineering Design" its a 3 week course of self inflicting torture.
 
  • #34
cyrusabdollahi said:
My books is by Shingley-Mischke-Budynas, "Mechanical Engineering Design" its a 3 week course of self inflicting torture.
3 weeks? That's it? Hmm...I wonder what the syllabus will include then.
 
  • #35
Yeah, its winter term. 1 day = 1 week.

Topics:
· Stress analysis of machine elements
· Deflection and stiffness of machine elements
· Fits and tolerances
· Materials for machine elements
· Steady loading
· Variable loading
· Fasteners and connections
· Bolts preloading
· Welded joints
· Mechanical springs
· Rolling-contact bearings
· Lubrication, journal bearings
· Bearings design considerations
· Gearing general
· Spurs and gears
· Clutches, brakes
· Couplings, flywheels
· Belts, shafts, axles


I don't know if well actually do all of it or not.
 

Similar threads

  • Math Proof Training and Practice
2
Replies
67
Views
10K
  • Programming and Computer Science
Replies
10
Views
3K
  • Poll
  • Science and Math Textbooks
Replies
2
Views
5K
  • Other Physics Topics
Replies
1
Views
2K
Back
Top