Story on NPR this morning about Pens

[WalkOn]

On the way in to work this morning I heard this story on the radio and thought you folks would be interested in it. While it's a bit of a bummer, i.e. folks not using pens like they use to, it was still kind of interesting to hear how this shop owner was trying to hang in there.

No Room For Erasers, As Technology Deletes Pen Businesses : NPR

 

[Rob73]

Technology marches on.. my friends kids do all their homework on laptops. They either access a network to submit or sometimes they bring it in on flash drives. A close friend of mine father was a pipe maker and when he passed he gave me all his exotic woods. I asked one of the kids if they would want a pen made out of their grandfathers wood. The reply was.. What would I use a pen for?

 

[johns486]

I seem to be in the great position that whilst my two daughters do the same they love to draw.
Pencil, ink any medium will do as long as they can draw so I am safe. I do have a graphics tablet for the computer but they are not getting it cause it's mine and I refuse to let them do everything on their computers. Banned the phones from the table that went down well.
Parents should encourage their children to use there brain instead of letting the computer do all the work.

 

[LagniappeRob]

I asked one of the kids if they would want a pen made out of their grandfathers wood. The reply was.. What would I use a pen for?

Make them a stylus...

 

[Rob73]

I do have some mini & full size stylus kits. However, after putting a couple old glued up pen blanks I had lying around and rounding them down I noticed they are turning out of round :frown:

I asked one of the kids if they would want a pen made out of their grandfathers wood. The reply was.. What would I use a pen for?

Make them a stylus...

 

[ashaw]

From he last couple of shows I did the pen business is still fine.

 

[Dan26]

A friend of mine works for a school. One of the teachers there makes her students write with fountain pens. They still do cursive writing. My friend gave me a box of over 100 nibs, but I gave them back because that teacher asked about them and could use them more than I could. It was nice to see some folks still using fountain pens.

 

[WalkOn]

Rob, I'm thinking your comment about technology marching on…. may well be the point NPR was trying to make in the report. Deal is, while pens may not be needed for communicating like they were before, they still reported on people that appreciate them; the craftsmanship, look, feel, etc., so that's the good part of what I saw in the story.

Still, I think I'm going to try and slow down the march…. No E-Book reader for me, I'm sticking with real books.

KB

 

[GasGas]

NPR

I heard the story too. One point that resonated with me and the pens I make was that one of the people interviewed described "the feel" of her MB as one of the most appealing characteristics. Usually the first thing people comment on when I hand them my latest creation is the feel. Of course I wish they went further with the story however, it was better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick...

 

[wouldentu2?]

If one had a pen what would they write on?