MurphOnMillerAve wrote:...Like ballpoint pens abruptly replacing mostly using pencils and using metal-tipped, wood-handled "quills" or "Dip Pens" we used to dip into little bottles of black ink that sat in their own holes in our wooden school desks, when I was a boy. I can still recall the very day a classmate brought the first one we ever saw onto the playground. When he held his new Papermate up and clicked its special feature, we laughed at him, calling him an idiot and a baby, thinking he was holding up a toy rocketship. He then said to us, "No, you are the idiots. This is a pen!" And he showed us how it could extend its ballpoint out its bottom and write. (Forgive me if my telling this story is a repeat for any of you.)The reaction was immediate. We all, in one unanimous voice, yelled out, "WWWAAAAHHHOOOO" and rushedas a group to the local candystore where he had bought his pen and wiped out every one they had in-stock. Even Sister Agnes didn't know what hit her at first when we went back to the classrooms and clicked away, Click, click , click,, write write write...Smile smile smile. The bottles are gone; the ballpoints (and other versions) are here. Fountain pens have held their own, though. What's next?
Independent thought seems on the decline....
