My neighbour’s tenth grader just came over to borrow my scientific calculator because she’d left hers at school.
It’s the calculator that took me through high school Physics, Math and Accounting. As she went out the gate I realised the calculator is older than her…by over a decade! I guess I really can’t object any more to young people calling me “oom” (literal translation, “uncle” – in Afrikaans it’s used for non-relatives as well, with “sir” only used in formal settings, or if the person is deliberately difficult.) They should treat my calculator with that level of respect, for crying out loud!
What’s amazing is that these calculators haven’t changed much over the past three decades. It’s kinda refreshing to think that with the pace that technology keeps changing, some just do their job so well that no one feels the need to mess with it. If it ain’t broke, and all that…