From: Michael Lorrey (retroman@together.net)
Date: Wed Dec 17 1997 - 06:05:28 MST
Shawn Kendall wrote:
>
> On Sat, 13 Dec 1997, Steve Witham wrote:
>
> > Lee:
> >
> > >> What's the opposite of a dribble glass? A simple, effective piece
> > >> of technology that does its job so well and so naturally that we don't
> > >> have to think about it? The ballpoint pen?
> >
> > Mike Butler:
> >
> > >I'd say the #2 redwood pencil. Or pencil & paper considered as a system.
> >
> > I had a wonderful poster on my wall for a couple years.
> > But brace yourselves, it came from the U.S. Census Bureau.
> >
> > Okay, it said, "The only tool you need," then there was the great
> > picture, a toolbox with a pencil--as big as the toolbox--coming out
> > of it. Then, "to fill out the census."
> >
> > So I cut off the last line.
>
> You're forgeting the hidden costs and wastes as usual.
> Like the fact that you have to sharpen the pencil, so you need a sharpener
> and a way to dispose of the waste.
> Also, the learning curve for using a pencil and paper system is enormous.
> Years of schooling.
> It's the embeddedness of the 'pencil and paper system' that make it seem
> so 'simple and effective'. But it's not.
>
> Seriously though, I haven't owned a pencil since high school.
> And my handwriting sucks.
>
> TTFN
>
Well, it may take some technology, and I may br wrong, but I recall that
Henry David Thoreau made his living while on Walden Pond by making and
selling pencils.
-- TANSTAAFL!!! Michael Lorrey ------------------------------------------------------------ mailto:retroman@together.net Inventor of the Lorrey Drive MikeySoft: Graphic Design/Animation/Publishing/Engineering ------------------------------------------------------------ How many fnords did you see before breakfast today?
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