[Maceman]

One of the best and most accessible articles ever written about the miraculous nature of capitalism. Send it to all your market-phobic liberal friends, family and colleagues.

[Eala]

Engineers ought to read Henry Petroski's book, "The Pencil." A lot of engineering is involved. And tons of trivia: You'll learn, for example, why the #2 pencil is (almost) always yellow. A fascinating book.

http://www.pencils.com/petroski.htm

[DeSoto]

I just hafta say "Already Posted"

But since it is one of my favorites it is worth a repeat and a

BUMP!

[logician2u]

Ya think there are even some Freepers who might benefit from learning how the real world works, Maceman?

No doubt in my mind.

[genefromjersey]

I am a rectal thermometer .

" Dag Nab it ! ", the doctor shouted. " Some A**hole is walking around with my pencil ! "

[LibKill]

I would like to put in a good word for Josiah Priestly, who invented that indispensble adjunct for the pencil.

The eraser.

[aruanan]

And let me add my

Faber Castell, a 5th Grade #2, Gets Educated

I was long and I was yellow and I could really write
I was the ultimate in technical perfection.
I had a rubberoid eraser and a core of black graphite--
I was more than pleased to be this kid’s selection.

I dreamed of stories and times I would be used to write rhymes.
I dreamed of essays and poems, I dreamed of tests.
I dreamed historical fiction, English grammar and diction
I dreamed of Exeter, Harvard, and the best.

In the end it didn’t matter for a fantasy will shatter
If it’s bent beyond the point of no return.
I was pounded, I was beaten, I was everything but eaten,
I was magnified at recess till I burned.

With semi-pornographic scrawls, I soon festooned the toilet stalls,
Incipient corruption under way.
I even mimicked an erection sans tutorial detection,
Neo-natal prelibido on display.

A stubby first grade scribbler halved my life, shivered me timber
In a recess pencil fight behind the gym.
In the science center hall I stabbed a cockroach to the wall--
“Hey, man, this pencil’s SHARP!”
Yeah, I got the point.

[Billthedrill]

Does anyone wish to challenge my earlier assertion that no single person on the face of this earth knows how to make me?

Certainly. I know. But if you bozos think I'm gonna cut you in for free, you're nuts.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Never seen it before. Kewl. Awesome.

[Willie Green]

Sure demonstrates the devastating ripple effects in our domestic economy when we purchase pencils that were made in China!

[Fester Chugabrew]

"One of the best and most accessible articles ever written about the miraculous nature of capitalism."

How about I, Penis. It could be one of the best and most accessible articles ever written about the fatuous nature of liberalism, featuring one William Jefferson Clinton. Sheez. He could even be the author.