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Full Name (family, given): Bell, Les
Account Name: Les Bell
Contact: Les Bell
Location: Sydney, Australia
Entered: 22 Oct 2005, 2:07 a.m.

I'm originally from the North of Scotland, but went to university in Reading, England (Cybernetics and Instrument Physics). In 1975 I joined an electronics magazine in London, and subsequently worked for them in Toronto, Canada, and Sydney, where I jumped ship and have remained ever since.

In 1981, I was the founding Editor of "Your Computer" magazine, and wrote many series of tutorial articles. I parlayed that into a career in technical training and consulting - these days I primarily deliver courses on Linux and other open source software, and Information Security.

I have a small collection of calculators. Over the years, I've owned an HP-45, HP-65, HP-67, 41C, 41CV (which died and was replaced with a new model with the same serial number, then died again and was only recently resuscitated), 41CX, 16C and 48GX. Only the last four have survived - the others were variously sold or stolen, or died and neither fixed nor replaced (shame!). I still have the 82104A card reader (probably gummy), 82143A printer, 82240B and a bunch of modules - Aviation, Statistics, Math, Advantage, etc. I still have the 65 and 67 Pac manuals and some cards, too.

Having left the engineering world, I don't really have much need for scientific calculators, but I still retain an interest in maths and science - especially with a teenage son who occasionally needs help with his homework. So lately, I've been trying to reinvigorate my old brain by reading some "heavier" books - most notably, the Feynman Lectures on Physics, which is taking me years to finish, but providing me with a very satisfying workout, as well as the opportunity to do a little calc programming (I cheat and use Perl for some things, though!).

However, even for simple household or business calculations, there's no way I can use an algebraic calculator. I figure they'll be prying an RPN calc from my cold, dead hands some day!

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