Back in college one summer, I had an HP calculator crammed full of programs I had written for various circuit and RF design courses I was taking. I didn't have any way to store them, other than writing them down on paper. On a whim that summer, I went to take the Ham Radio Extra class exam one weekend. The proctor said I needed to erase all the memory from my calculator before using it on the test. I told him no way was I going to do that, but suggested an alternative.

I had been curious how slide rules worked, and had found one after searching high and low for in half a dozen stores before finding probably the last one for sale in Atlanta. The slide rule was in my backpack, so I asked the proctor, could I used the slide rule instead? He chuckled, and said no problem. During the test, one of the proctors tapped me on the shoulder and asked me if he could bring me a bucket of water to cool down my "slip stick". I did pass the test that day, and I used to brag that I got my Extra Class license with a "Slide Rule endorsement".