“When you're using a slide rule you have to be engaged.”

“When you're using a slide rule you have to be engaged.”  That's a quote from a decent article about slide rules just published by NPR, of all folks.  The article reprises a broadcast segment of All Things Considered that's also quite good (you can listen to it from that link).  That quote is from a piece of both the article and the broadcast that talks about one of my favorite things about using a slide rule: that you have to think about the math as you're using it (as opposed to a calculator, which just hands you the answer on a silver platter).