(1) THE CIA TURNS 60
Whether or not this is a reason to celebrate probably depends on who you are, how old you are, and where in the world you live. But it’s nice to know that, in honour of the anniversary of their creation, the Iranian government has thoughtfully declared the organization to be (along with the US Army) a “terrorist organization”.
Those wacky Iranians! I don’t know whether to laught because it’s twisted, hypberbolic politics at work…or twisted, bizzare logic at work. I’ll accept differing opinions in the mail, written with invisible ink…
The project took 18 months of development.
The first prototype calculator could add, subtract, multiply, and divide.
The answers were burned into a roll of paper similar to what is used today for many grocery store receipts.
It’s surprising how little has changed. Yes, you can point to all the extra scientific functions…the wider screens, the graphic abilities, the advent of solar power, the shrinking of the machines to microscopic size…
…but we still use them to add, subtract, mulitply and divide…because 90% of us are too damn lazy to do it ourselves, and in any event I’m sure we’ve all completely forgotten how to carry one’s and write out long division problems. Just try asking a store cashier under the age of 50 to make change without the read-out on the register — their brains will explode!
Modern technology: it hasn’t made us stupid people. It has made us really really really stupid people. 
