[drc]

At home, I have dial up. Many laugh when finding this out, but there are safety advantages. My abacus doesn't get any spware and works in the rain.

One of my favorite 'old school' calculating systems is the ancient Chinese rod system. The system used several identical length rods, and the mathematician formed the rods in different formations on the ground to depict the numbers and make calculations. Black rods were used for positive numbers and red rods for negative numbers. When done, the mathematician simply dusted off the rods and put them back in the bag. Someone today can fashion their own black and red rods and learned the system.