Gino wrote:

Later I bought a TI programmable scientific calculator.
It cost more then the price of a fully loaded computer does now.
But it got me through college math.
It was so new the professor didn't realize it could be programmed to do
the work for you.

I had one of those as well. Still do, somewhere. I saw something similar
the other day at Wal-Mart for $3.99 or something suitably ludicrous
considering what that thing set my parents back in the '80s. Which was
probably only a quarter or less what you paid for yours.

I remember paying $1200 for a VCR too, and $80 for a blank tape. Or being
aware of it happening around me anyway, mind you.

Wow. That's actually kind of interesting in a way. $1200 for a VCR.
That's a pretty firm memory, and I think that's right. That was a hell of
a lot of money in 1981 or so. We had two channels on TV. Why the hell
did my parents pay $1200 for a VCR? That's probably something close to
$5,000 today, I'm guessing off the top of my head. Hell's bells man.
Short of a house or a car, I can't think of a thing I'd ever spend that
much on. Maybe a metal lathe. If I had $5,000 to spend, which I sure
don't.

I guess with VCRs going for $20 a pop now, which is probably $0.75 in 1981
dollars, it probably explains why the VCR repairman has gone the way of the
dodo. When the thing used to cost as much as a car, it was worth fixing.

So I guess an equivalent VCR in today's money would go for about $18,000.

Now I'm all confused. That calculator let me cheat my way out of learning
math.

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/
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