Recently, I bought a nicely designed, though unbranded, electronic calculator at DollarTree. That got me to thinking about a vintage Casio calculator, occasionally used, sitting in a kitchen drawer.
![[two calculators]](casio.gif)
I honestly had no idea how old it was. I can't remember changing batteries. Two sizey AAs have probably served the low-power-consumption chip and an 8-digit LCD display for decades. I wish I could say the same for some digital cameras.
Curious about the Casio's age, I googled Casio HL-807 electronic calculator. Not only did I confirm its manufacture as from 1979 to 1981, but the Smithsonian has one in a collection of handheld electronic calculators.
The Smithsonian catalog entry says the Casio HL-807 originally sold for $13.95 and toward the end of its manufacturing run sold for $8.88. I paid less. It was free when I decided to finally open a checking account. Possibly as a signup bonus, Wells Fargo gave me the Casio, a welcoming gift that surely goes with balancing a checkbook.
Getting a freebie, growing fond of it, might mean keeping it thirty-five years. Nonetheless, the HL-807 from the Casio Computer Co., Inc. of Japan was built to last. Nothing cheap about the fit and finish of the keys or a nice on/off switch on the side [surely antiquated today]. Other than some vinegar and Q-tips [tm] to clean off the case and the internal contact points of the switch, it's required no maintenance.
The Casio has four basic arithmetical functions and does percentages. It also has a quirky automatic memory register. That is, when one does a calculation and presses =, the result automatically goes into the memory register. Next, one can enter a new number, press an operation key, press MR for memory recall, press = and voila!
How do I compare my new DollarTree calculator to its predecessor? Some advances from the Casio of yore. Separate ON and OFF buttons. A single memory register uses three keys: M+ M- and MRC. Like the Casio, percentages, but also a square-root key.
But impressively the DollarTree calculator uses one cheap LR1130 button battery. [which DollarTree sells eight for a buck] More impressive, a backup power source: a solar cell! I took out the battery, and indoors within a reasonable 8-10 feet from the light source you'll need to see anyway, the calculator works.
But possibly because the new calculator is about half as thick, I don't expect it to best Casio's thirty-five years and counting!
Image credit: Charlie Dickinson
Read Charlie Dickinson's
story collection [and feel free to share with a friend] The Cat
at Light's End, as an ebook in these downloadable
formats:
.mobi
(Kindle)
.epub (most other readers)
.pdf (for PCs)
Also, a flash fiction, "Ylena Thinks Nyet," is at Cigale Literary Magazine.
more posts
8:27:16 My Sanctuary
7:27:16 And the Weak Suffer What They Must?, a book review
7:7:16 Yogurt
6:12:16 The Squinty Prius
5:26:16 The Disconnect of Vote-by-Mail
5:17:16 The Still Pond
5:12:16 Marina and Lee, a book review
4:28:16 A Little Catechism Goes a Long Way
4:15:16 Au Revoir, Cloudburst Recycling
3:11:16 Screen Magnetism
2:4:16 We've Got Algorithms
1:18:16 Forgiving Portland's City Bus Line
12:28:15 The Gluten Lie, a book review
12:12:15 Ten Things I Buy at Dollar Tree
12:11:15 Bio-slime
12:3:15 My Logging Habit
11:11:15 The Internet Is Not the Answer, a book review
10:21:15 How I Write When I Write
10:8:15 Dentists
9:17:15 The Other Portland
8:20:15 Gods Without Men, a book review
8:19:15 Oregon's Most Obscure Traffic Law
7:31:15 A Small Death
7:23:15 China Shakes the World, a book review
7:16:15 Out Damn Spot!
5:31:15 My New Library Card
5:21:15 Let Me Be Frank With You, a book review
5:08:15 Portland's Rabbit Hutches
4:21:15 The Sea Lions at Astoria
3:26:15 Sacrificing for a Lower Water Bill
3:10:15 The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels, a Book Review
2:5:15 Pinhead Books aka e-books
1:15:15 Good Riddance to Old-School Shaving!
12:20:14 Three Whys I Quit Reading a Book
12.12.14 the life-changing magic of tidying up, a book review
11.12.14 Oil Changes
10.29:14 Grapefruit
10.17:14 Doomsday Preppers, a TV series review
9.30:14 The Trigger, a book review
9:10:14 Clipboard People
8:23:14 Ukraine Diaries, a book review
8:21:14 My Home Darkroom on a Shoestring
7:29:14 Right Speech
6:28:14 Pacific Power's Wily Ways
6:20:14 My New Clarks Sandals
5:31:14 Portland's Water Woes, Again
5:10:14 Faster Dial-Up
4:11:14 Update on Stockpiling Light Bulbs
4:10:14 The Next 100 Years, a book review
3:15:14 A Cruel and Shocking Act, a book review
3:8:14 Ukraine: Another Revolution Gone Awry
2:9:14 The Flight (and Fight) of the Hummingbird
1:25:14 My Frugal Byways
1:20:14 Walden on Wheels, a book review
1:2:14 Growing Up Amish: A Memoir, a book review
12:27:13 Micro-Apartments
11:28:13 The Moneyless Man, a book review
11:23:13 The Lost Art of Walking, a book review
11:10:13 The Cultural Revolution Cookbook, a book review
10:23:13 The Biker Angel
10:11:13 No Self-Serve Gas in Oregon
9:28:13 A Street Cat Named Bob, a book review
9:23:13 The Life & Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin, a book review
9:18:13 Autumn Leaves
8:19:13 The Worst Car Driver & Why
8:12:13 The Gardener from Ochakov, a book review
7:25:13 Le Havre by Kaurismaki
7:20:13 This Ain't California
6:27:13 The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking, a book review
5:29:13 My Linux (Mis)Adventures
5:25:13 Southern Cross the Dog, a book review
5:5:13 Russian Tumbleweed
4:16:13 "The Machine Stops" by E. M.
Forster
3:26:13 Camera-rama
3:25:13 Moore's Law
3:13:13 Grocery Shopping
2:28:13 Razor Blade in Moonlight
1:27:13 Made in Russia: Unsung
Icons of Soviet Design, a book review
1:6:13 Alleys
12:9:12 White Bread, a book
review
12:4:12 Update on Old-School Shaving
11:12:12 Ten Great Buys at Dollar Tree
11:6:12 My New Russian Camera
10:29:12 Leaf Day
10:2:12 The Russian Navy in New York?
9:21:12 The Righteous Mind, a
book review
9:14:12 Revolution, 1989, a book review
8:23:12 Train Whistles in the Night
8:2:12 Why I've Stockpiled Light Bulbs
7:22:12 Old-School Shaving
7:16:12 Злектроника МК-52, computer de minimus
7:4:12 Ivan's Childhood by Tarkovsky
6:21:12 The Unabomber, a modern Thoreau?
6:12:12 Do the gods exist?
6:7:12 My "Retail Therapy"
5:28:12 On Taxes, We Should Go Green
5:17:12 Portland's Trash
5:6:12 The Toaster Project, a
book review
4:24:12 No Seconds
4:12:12 Portland's Runaway Utility Bill
4:8:12 The Repossession, a book review
3:30:12 How I Got Published in Mississippi Review
3:18:12 Rothko
3:9:12 The End of Money, a
book review
3:1:12 gutenberg.org
2:18:12 Beauty Plus Pity, a
book review
2:5:12 Kirk's Castile Soap
1:29:12 Confessions of a Fallen
Standard-Bearer, a book review
1:22:12 Thirst, a book review
1:17:12 My IBM ThinkPad 1999-2012
1:11:12 String Beans
12:22:11 Spiritual TMJ
12:16:11 1Q84, a book review
12:11:11 How Portland Became Portlandia
12:1:11 The Fixie
11:20:11 Camus' Insight
11:13:11 Old & Worthy
11:7:11 Life Is Tragic
10:31:11 A Matter of Death and Life,
a book review
10:25:11 Dead Letter, Email Fatigue
10:18:11 Reinventing Collapse,
a book review
10:11:11 Rereading Pirsig
10:1:11 The Sisters Brothers, a book review
9:26:11 The Great Stagnation, a book review
9:16:11 Coffee, The Affordable Luxury
9:12:11 The Genius of Value
9:5:11 Death
and the Penguin, a book review