The American Way

[aunt betty]

Heard this a while ago. It's old but tells a story.

Back in the space-race the USA had to have something to write with. (In space)
So they designed a zero-gravity pen that'd write upside down on earth. MAYBE you seen the ads back in the 70's for that pen. When it got to the Papermate company the price was much less but the originals were $300.

The Russians used a pencil. Their solution to the zero-gravity writing problem was FAR superior and costed much, much less...AND you could erase.

It was also important that NASA had to borrow money from a bank to buy these pens. (and everything else they bought)
See why we needed a $300-pen?

[Tomkat]

Truthfully Acorn, NASA could learn a lot from the jackass crew