The United
States spent over a million dollars to develop a pen that could write in the
zero gravity of space. The Russians
used a pencil.
Our orange, obese
President with little hands and a hair comb-over just called a member of Congress
‘pencil neck.’
Kids in
primary school still may use pencils; but many schools are now using I-pads and
computers to teach reading and writing.
How long has
it been since you bought or used a pencil?
Pencils are
one of those things that are fast receding from our culture – going the way of
the typewriter. I believe at sometime
in the future pencils will be an icon of the past, seen in museums by a
population that dictate correspondence to their computers.
the Ol’Buzzard
Did you know that it was his family's pencil factory that allowed Thoreau to spend that year at Walden Pond? The Thoreau pencil was the best-selling pencil in the country in the 1830's and 1840's. Henry Petroski wrote a great book on The Pencil back in the early '90's.
ReplyDeleteI virtually never use a pencil, but I have to buy some soon because I am taking a "Drawing for Beginners" course in May.
ReplyDeleteWe use a pencil for our shopping list that's on the frig. Sometimes I use a mechanical pencil to do crossword puzzles.
ReplyDeleteAlso use a carpenter's pencil when doing carpenter work.
DeleteI use pencil all the time - for everything except writing a check.
ReplyDeletePencils - graphite - check out this video
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/5YBwDNfOaxU