I know my local Big Bowl restaurant has a great big black one with red beads up by the hostess podium. They are kind of neat, and seem like a pretty dang easy DIY,.

"Nobody of advanced years who I've spoken with even remembers how to use one of these things for counting"

Wouldn't that be because they are, and have always been, primarily used in Asia?

Uh, I don't think that they're just an "old person" thing.. if you've never been shown how to use an abacus, then you very likely wouldn't know *now* either.

That being said, they're not hard to use; and I'm sure that there's likely lots of information in the interwebz if you're so inclined to learn.

I saw this in the CB2 catalog and started laughing. It's a calculator, not wall decor.

Saw one at the goodwill. Almost bought it for cat toy.

Well I guess its a little cheaper than carving notches in your George Neson Herman Miller bed with a pocket knife.

My mother had one and showed me how to use it. I think it's like playing the piano - practice makes perfect. I was as good at it as I was at using a slide rule. Anyone remember those?

We had one when I was little and we used to roll it around like a multi-wheeled car.

Yes, I remember slide rules - used one often when determining dividend/bond yields etc. - before the calculator came along.

I also did learn how to use an abacus - guess I am someone of "advanced years".

Visual Comfort makes a great Abacus lamp that I purchased recently.

I would do math with it. With enough practice you can create a mental abacus and do huge math problems in your head (answers into the millions) and impress people and save money.

"I would do math with it. With enough practice you can create a mental abacus and do huge math problems in your head (answers into the millions) and impress people and save money."

Maybe this is why people from some other countries tend to be better at math than Americans. I vaguely remember the abacus and sliderule from elementary school. I should learn how to use one.

i'd use it as a design element if i were a math teacher or mathematician of some sort. otherwise, it seems silly. i only use items that have personal significance, or fulfills a function. using an element solely because it's trendy is STUPID.

Well, kahlil19107, a person might use an object as decor simply because they are interesting aesthetically. (Not "trendy".)

I used to have an abacus on the wall in the bathroom, but too many people asked what, exactly, they were supposed to count with it, and the joke got real old real fast!

Hang it next to your Keep Calm Carry on poster.

Abacuses are aesthetically pleasing but I think it'd be one of those things like Magnetic Poetry where visitors to my home would get a little too sucked into it. Like if I had a pair of abacuses hanging over my bed like in that gorgeous photo, I'd have so many dirty, nerdy footprints all over my bedspread :/

i remember learning to use a slide rule for chemistry class but never learned how to use an abacus....like with most things, if you don't use it you lose it...wouldn't know how now to save my life.

Perfect next to the Apple IIe fishtank.

In SF, the Supermath school trains hundreds of kids how to use the Japanese abacus. Just saw a bunch of 5 year olds doing a demonstration at the recent Cherry Blossome Festival - they were doing mental calculations that even the adult audience couldn't solve!