Seeing that reminds me of an old story from back in the days of the space race. US astronauts were having trouble making notes while in space because ordinary ball-point pens would not always work in the weightless conditions found in orbital space. NASA then spent several million dollars (back when a million dollars was still serious money) and finally developed a pen that not only would work in zero-G but would also write underwater, upside down, and in all extremes of heat and cold.
The Russian cosmonauts experienced similar problems. The Russian space agency issued them pencils……
Yes I like my Fisher Space Pen. It’s marvellous for writing on all these wall charts that cover the office walls – things called Obeya [because that's trendy at present]. Don’t you love American corporations?
This is a useful allegory but is in fact a myth. Both NASA and the Russians used pencils in the early days of space exploration. Fisher developed, on its own dime, a pressurized “space pen” and eventually both astronauts and cosmonauts used the Fisher Space Pen.
Dammit. That was one of my favorite stories. Now my conscience will keep me from telling it anymore. In fact, I feel almost compelled to contact everyone I told that story to recant it.
I heard it first from a Ukrainian friend when I was living there, so I figured it was just one of those national pride kind of things and it seemed so plausible I never questioned it. Boy is my bubble now bursted…
The pencils were a poor choice, sharpening them and bits of broken leads resulted in semi conductive graphite and shavings floating around the cabin, possibly into instrument panel switches, or lungs. The Fisher Pen is the current standard.
The pencils were a poor choice, sharpening them and bits of broken leads resulted in semi conductive graphite and shavings floating around the cabin, possibly into instrument panel switches, or lungs. The Fisher Pen is the current standard.
The pencils were a poor choice, sharpening them and bits of broken leads resulted in semi conductive graphite and shavings floating around the cabin, possibly into instrument panel switches, or lungs. The Fisher Pen is the current standard.
Also known as “Portable Erasable Nib Cryptic Intercommunication Language Styli”. And these will interface quite well with the Bio-Optical Organized Knowledge device!!!
Yeah – I have one in my back pocket. With Short-term-memory-loss, I need some way to recall stuff.
Now I just need to remember:
1. a pen(cil).
2. To use it! I forget to most of the time – The main problem…
@ Tencon – sounds like you have accumulated a few years. It’s well known that as you get older, there are three things that start to go wrong. The first one is your memory, and, er, I can’t just bring the other two to mind just now….
I carried a wheelbook throughout my 20 years in the Navy….within weeks of my retirement I bought a 3×5 Moleskin and have been through a half dozen since. its not that technology isn’t good but I can create useful drawings in my Moleskin in addition to the grocery list and my calender
And I though I was primitive still sticking withy my Palm Zire 30. The day I find an app to replace it, I’ll finally start messing with one of the tablet/smart phone OS’s.
I didn’t want an iphone because of the whole clone thing and how everyone’s got one… Hubby needed a new phone and against my silent prayers he did pick that thing. I was due for my upgrade and with the way the iphones work it was clearly what I needed to choose so we’re in sync with our devices. Now we have a tablet too. I’m impressed. I like. But I still can’t just jot down notes because the tablet’s response is just a little too slow. I got a boogie board with save function from ThinkGeek and with that I can jot down notes as much as I like, then copy over to my computer for later sorting, reference, etc., and no piles of scribbled paper to store for “maybe I’ll look at it again” which I never actually do.
Yolanda, you need the Note Taker app. Pop it open and just write with your finger, or diagram, or whatever. I use it all the time; you can even email yourself the note.
I love it.
I hate fuss. All these devices do is create a lot of fuss to do something we already knew how to do very simply. I’m not a luddite, I respect technology. However, it should be measured by what it gives to the human condition vs. what it takes away. (No, I’m not Amish or shaker
If it takes more effort to maintain than it returns, it should be rejected.
… But I agree with Xander! Like my mother used to say “Something else to break” – and I’ll add “Something else to recharge, then run out of juice at a critical moment”.
Just saying that any Android phone would have done the same thing — and there are far more Android devices available out there, at many different price points, and on many more carriers than just ATT, VZW, or Sprint.
I will give Apple credit for their marketing, though. How many other companies have people willing to stand in line for something that come in only a single model, has a unique OS, is not user-serviceable (you are aware that you cannot replace a battery or add a larger micro SD card to increase the memory in an iPhone, and it is still not capable of operating at 4G speed, right?), and is completely unavailable to you if you are not a customer of the three carriers mentioned above?
Opus, I am a CSR (customer service rep) for VZW, and I can absolutely gar-an-tee you that the iPhone is not a 4G device — on ANYBODY’S network. What confused you and a lot of other people was the name “iPhone 4″; but that merely meant it was the 4th version of the iPhone, not that it runs on a 4G network. Apple has not released an iPhone that is 4G capable, although the rumors are that the iPhone 5 will be.
Now, the new iPad, scheduled to be released this coming Friday, is going to be a 4G LTE device…but it’s a tablet, not a telephone.
Old School! Suprised that he’s not using chalk. ;)
That’s because he’s got charcoal in that pencil, and the notepad is made of papyrus leaves.
Seeing that reminds me of an old story from back in the days of the space race. US astronauts were having trouble making notes while in space because ordinary ball-point pens would not always work in the weightless conditions found in orbital space. NASA then spent several million dollars (back when a million dollars was still serious money) and finally developed a pen that not only would work in zero-G but would also write underwater, upside down, and in all extremes of heat and cold.
The Russian cosmonauts experienced similar problems. The Russian space agency issued them pencils……
Yes I like my Fisher Space Pen. It’s marvellous for writing on all these wall charts that cover the office walls – things called Obeya [because that's trendy at present]. Don’t you love American corporations?
This is a useful allegory but is in fact a myth. Both NASA and the Russians used pencils in the early days of space exploration. Fisher developed, on its own dime, a pressurized “space pen” and eventually both astronauts and cosmonauts used the Fisher Space Pen.
http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp
Dammit. That was one of my favorite stories. Now my conscience will keep me from telling it anymore. In fact, I feel almost compelled to contact everyone I told that story to recant it.
I heard it first from a Ukrainian friend when I was living there, so I figured it was just one of those national pride kind of things and it seemed so plausible I never questioned it. Boy is my bubble now bursted…
The pencils were a poor choice, sharpening them and bits of broken leads resulted in semi conductive graphite and shavings floating around the cabin, possibly into instrument panel switches, or lungs. The Fisher Pen is the current standard.
The pencils were a poor choice, sharpening them and bits of broken leads resulted in semi conductive graphite and shavings floating around the cabin, possibly into instrument panel switches, or lungs. The Fisher Pen is the current standard.
The pencils were a poor choice, sharpening them and bits of broken leads resulted in semi conductive graphite and shavings floating around the cabin, possibly into instrument panel switches, or lungs. The Fisher Pen is the current standard.
We got it the first time.
Patience folks when posting… the Post doesn’t upload as fast as the pencil can write, eh Yehuda???
Only hit Post once
I love my universal ambidextrous communication device (utilizing a solid carbon compound for thought transferrance to a pulped plant material).
Also known as “Portable Erasable Nib Cryptic Intercommunication Language Styli”. And these will interface quite well with the Bio-Optical Organized Knowledge device!!!
http://www.bestteachersinstitute.org/id91.html
I forwarded that to my prof.
The best mobile device we ever need!
Yeah – I have one in my back pocket. With Short-term-memory-loss, I need some way to recall stuff.
Now I just need to remember:
1. a pen(cil).
2. To use it! I forget to most of the time – The main problem…
@ Tencon – sounds like you have accumulated a few years. It’s well known that as you get older, there are three things that start to go wrong. The first one is your memory, and, er, I can’t just bring the other two to mind just now….
I carried a wheelbook throughout my 20 years in the Navy….within weeks of my retirement I bought a 3×5 Moleskin and have been through a half dozen since. its not that technology isn’t good but I can create useful drawings in my Moleskin in addition to the grocery list and my calender
And I though I was primitive still sticking withy my Palm Zire 30. The day I find an app to replace it, I’ll finally start messing with one of the tablet/smart phone OS’s.
Palm? Ugh…
Agreed. Sometimes, if I’ve nothing else, the back of my hand, but it rubs off easily if I write on my palm
Yup. My Palm Trio 800w smart phone was a POS. Replaced with an HTC Android phone and I couldn’t be happier.
I didn’t want an iphone because of the whole clone thing and how everyone’s got one… Hubby needed a new phone and against my silent prayers he did pick that thing. I was due for my upgrade and with the way the iphones work it was clearly what I needed to choose so we’re in sync with our devices. Now we have a tablet too. I’m impressed. I like. But I still can’t just jot down notes because the tablet’s response is just a little too slow. I got a boogie board with save function from ThinkGeek and with that I can jot down notes as much as I like, then copy over to my computer for later sorting, reference, etc., and no piles of scribbled paper to store for “maybe I’ll look at it again” which I never actually do.
Yolanda, you need the Note Taker app. Pop it open and just write with your finger, or diagram, or whatever. I use it all the time; you can even email yourself the note.
Is Thistle sad in the last frame because she’s jealous of the simplicity???
I’m surprised Yehuda has an eraser…
I believe that the technical term is “nonplussed.”
|I think she just realized there just isn’t going to be an easy or efficient way to keep Yehuda in the loop.
Does not require batteries.
No.. it’s solar powered….
With just a bit of water necessary on the front end…
I really love the taste of lead…
I love it.
I hate fuss. All these devices do is create a lot of fuss to do something we already knew how to do very simply. I’m not a luddite, I respect technology. However, it should be measured by what it gives to the human condition vs. what it takes away. (No, I’m not Amish or shaker
If it takes more effort to maintain than it returns, it should be rejected.
Sometimes the effort is the fun and totally worth it – riding vs driving for example!
The Google login isn’t working again…
… But I agree with Xander! Like my mother used to say “Something else to break” – and I’ll add “Something else to recharge, then run out of juice at a critical moment”.
Solar chargers
Yeah, yeah … but the iPhone saved my rear when I was lost at the end of a 200km ride, with an hour wasted on a mechnical, just confused … yeah maps.
Just saying that any Android phone would have done the same thing — and there are far more Android devices available out there, at many different price points, and on many more carriers than just ATT, VZW, or Sprint.
I will give Apple credit for their marketing, though. How many other companies have people willing to stand in line for something that come in only a single model, has a unique OS, is not user-serviceable (you are aware that you cannot replace a battery or add a larger micro SD card to increase the memory in an iPhone, and it is still not capable of operating at 4G speed, right?), and is completely unavailable to you if you are not a customer of the three carriers mentioned above?
The Sprint iPhone is on their 4G network, ditto the VZW version.
Opus, I am a CSR (customer service rep) for VZW, and I can absolutely gar-an-tee you that the iPhone is not a 4G device — on ANYBODY’S network. What confused you and a lot of other people was the name “iPhone 4″; but that merely meant it was the 4th version of the iPhone, not that it runs on a 4G network. Apple has not released an iPhone that is 4G capable, although the rumors are that the iPhone 5 will be.
Now, the new iPad, scheduled to be released this coming Friday, is going to be a 4G LTE device…but it’s a tablet, not a telephone.
Though serving a life sentence as a technocrat I’d love going back to pencil and paper just as soon as someone makes it easily searchable.
Pendaflex folders seems to work for me… I just needs lots of em.