yes, indeed, look you see. the above is no error, or typo, or sign of a new numbering system for these posts. no. for a generation (or two or three) of us, it was so that the above number on a calculator with the display turned upside down made it look like you had written "hello". except a 4 on this internet thing is not the variation which looks like an upside down "h" as you would get on a calculator, so it perhaps was foolish of me to try and recreate it here.
for many people the specific, dedicated, that is all it does calculator is now obsolete. anyone wishing to do any sort of actual calculation would probably do so on the calculator function on their so-called smart phone, or on a computer, or get the result off of an internet. increasingly, though, it is so that we don't really use specific calculations for precise answers, as everyone is far more interested in feelings and opinions being accepted instead of facts. such is the world we made.
it was particularly wonderful, then, when i came to learn that young William had, in his wisdom, elected to persuade his mother, my (presently the last time i looked) (considerably) better half, to purchase him a traditional calculator. but then no, not just any calculator. whereas i cannot say it is the biggest calculator in the world, it is certainly the largest i can recall ever seeing. or encountering, if you will excuse the quasi play on words.
maybe not many, but several of you may well have spotted the familiar, much cherished Sports Direct branding on the calculator. that is indeed the answer to any questions of provenance you may have. but, to go further, i do believe i saw a £7 price sticker on it.
the proprietor of Sports Direct is, but of course, renowned philanthropist and respected humanitarian Mike Ashley. should for some reason (and i cannot think why this would be so) you find yourself looking for the fastest way possible to get your head kicked in, then it would be to go to Newcastle and speak ill of the man. he is known there, with affection, as "wor Mike" or "our Ashley", and the only reason they have not built a statue of him to honour all he has done is because short sighted municipality administrators refuse to let them build one what is bigger than the Angel of the North. that is how much he, and his entire cockney mafia, are treasured.
but we are not here, as tempting as it is to do precisely that, to celebrate the man behind the calculator. rather, we are here to assess the calculator itself. doing so requires some speculative looks at aspects of it, to see if one gets any practical benefit from ownership, as well, indeed as a consideration of whether or not it offers value for money.
many of you will, i suspect, be keen to interject about this. whereas yes, true, that gives this massive calculator a significant edge over the more traditional sized ones, that unit count is an insignificant limitation which one does not need to trouble themselves with if they use a phone or a computer to do whatever calculation it is they are doing what needs such a massive number to be part of it. and indeed you would be correct to make such an interjection. if i am using interject and variations of the word in the correct context here.
hopefully the above "screenshot" thing of the calculator what my phone has on it sates, or settles, the thirst some of you shall have to proclaim that the functionality on a "smart" phone allows for more characters than the massive Sports Direct one. indeed, i could have carried on typing a presumably infinite (or close enough) number of, well, numbers, but the above was the maximum which could be displayed on screen at any given time.
so as to provide some balance, though, as you can see the phone calculator does not have the upside down "h" looking variation of the number 4. in terms of being able to write "hello" or, and this is really going old school i suppose, "shelloil" (71077345) on the calculator display screen, the big massive calculator off of Sports Direct has the triumph.
does the above mean to imply, or overtly state, that i am an advocate of this particular calculator? not really, not really no. i mean, yes, there is a practical market for such an item i suppose, but it is one which is quite niche and limited rather than exclusive. should you wish to have only a basic, rudimentary calculator but be quite taken with the aesthetics and shape of a laptop, well, then, this calculator is ideal for you, both in terms of costs and, thanks (in part) to the bespoke solar panel on it, battery longevity.
in order for you to make a fair and reasonable comparison, for scale, then, above is the calculator sat on top of a quite conventional, rudimentary 17" display laptop. when i speak of it being a big massive calculator, there it is illustrated for you, and i am sure there can be little argument of how it is indeed much larger than a regular calculator.
overall, what are my thoughts and feelings on having such a calculator available and within access in the house? there is a degree of indifference. some mild amusement was drawn at the first sight of it. moving on from that, i showed William how to write the basics on it, being hello, shelloil and lee. now it is my earnest view that any future (or further) touching of the device shall be less centred on solving mathematically dilemmas, more on simply moving it out of the way. the calculator is essentially a refreshing change from them absolutely enormous mugs what Sports Direct sell, and would appear likely to be used just as frequently as one of them.
with the festive season ebbing ever closer, the fee commanded by Sports Direct for this calculator, and once again that is (at time of publication) £7 (i think), a major attraction for this is as a workplace gift idea for anyone who does all that "Secret Santa" business. normally the price cap for such random presents is £10, so you could come in £3 south of budget with this.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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