This might be the only 'fashion' post I ever do, but here it goes. So, way way back there were these guys in my High School, perhaps in every High School, who drove to school in BMWs and their parents had crazy money and they sounded like they were from California (even though they were from Cape Ann). And they were, as the current term goes, complete and utter douche bags, making the AV Club and Theater people and Geeks lives generally miserable. And there was one thing common about them, one thing distinctive that marked them. The popped collar. Now, looking around the streets I see it returning, quite earnestly returning. And I'm just here to tell you, in case your collar on your pastel colored knit shirt is 'popped' that you are most certainly still a douche bag. Please stop.

Damn I've wanted one of these for a long time. I keep an eye out on e-Bay every now and then, but my e-Bay-fu is weak. Before the days of Texas Instruments calculators, how would you do a relatively complex calculation? In your head or on paper, sure, but do you really trust your head that well? It might be wrong. The calculation might be important, we need to check it here and now and quickly. Before portable electronic calculators. You could, of course, probably use your slide rule. I still occasionally break out my POST 1446 and try and do something useful with it. But there's something so, well, 17th century about the slide rule despite it going along with men to the moon. The Curta has that particular retro-gadget whizz-bang, like a handheld difference engine. It's from the past, it's from the future. Curta demo, Curta deconstructed, Curta Algorithms, Curta brochure, Curta simulator.