Will never forget the great Christmas Day battle between digital machine and the age-old abacus.
Before Texas Instruments invented a hand-held, battery powered calculating machine, ancients invented the abacus.
Internationalists should know that in 1995 an abacus was still used to double-check that newly arrived, old fashion cash register. Saw a Russian in a food store doing just that calculation. His fingers moved those beads on a wire faster than the machine.
I got my Abacus comeuppance much earlier. My brother-in-law, back from the Korean War, had learned how to use the abacus. Glenn served as an enlisted man–later a Colonel who flew for the Air National Guard–working in a supply depot.
My Christmas present was the Texas Instrument calculator. Glenn still had an abacus in his coat pocket. The family dared us to battle our machines and see who could solve a large mathematical problem sooner.
Outcome: I was still punching number keys when Glenn announced the correct answer.
