A brief history of the pencil, by Chris Buckley

Interestingly it is not only the good people of "Project 2008" who noticed the day of celebration of the humble pencil. As I sat down to peruse the Sunday papers yesterday I noticed a column by the literary tour de force that is Sandy Toksvig, in which she discussed the history, cultural impact and dark side of the graphite and lead based writing instrument. Anyway, I digress:

Hymen L. Lipman is credited with registering the first patent for a pencil with an attached eraser on March 30th, 1858. (US Patent 19783)

In 1862 Lipman sold his patent to a Jospeph Reckendorfer for $100,000, who went to sue the pencil manufacturer Faber for infringement ^[1]. In 1875 the Supreme Court of the United States ruled against Reckendorfer declaring the patent invalid because his invention was actually a combination of two already known things with no new use^[2].

1. Petroski, Henry (1990). The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-394-57422-2; ISBN 0-679-73415-5, page 171

2. ^ http://supreme.justia.com/us/92/347/case.html Reckendorfer v. Faber 92 U.S. 347 (1875)

Pencil Day 2008

These Carbon 3-leaf marking essay feedback sheets don't like pencils at all.

Odd Socks Day 2008

I've been a bit rubbish lately. I completely forgot to wear odd socks today. Fortunately, I had packed a spare pair and taken them to work. Unfortunately, they were running socks and smelt a bit. Adds to the office environment.

Not my feet, but in case you wanted to know what odd socks look like:

Today is also Kite Flying Day. I'm afraid, despite the windy weather of late, it simply isn't windy enough for kites today. Top excuse.

STATA Day

Happy STATA Day everybody!

World Meterological Day

What funny weather we're having.
Actually, I thought Weather Day was yesterday. Told everybody about it during the heavy snow interspersed with gorgeous sunshine. Then I was amazed to see The Day After Tomorrow on telly - not many weather-based action thrillers about. But even that was a day out (both ways). I'm confused.

Still, the weather was proper daft today. I celebrated it by staying indoors. Though I did go for a walk over the snow covered hills.

Also: it's EASTER SUNDAY which means LENT ENDS. Congratulations all ZERO people who managed it properly. You all disgust me.

World Water Day

To celebrate World Water Day I loaded up my car with kayaks and headed up Weardale in search of hidden becks and waterfalls in the hope that the recent chossy weather would have filled them up suitably to enjoy some kayaking on them.

This was not the case, there was a distinct emptiness in the various tribs we scouted out and so there was to be no paddling. And then it started to snow. To round the day off in style we had a snickers from a shop in Wolsingham and then came home.

Hamsterly forest car park, wrong kind of water for kayaking

Happy Easter everyone

True Confessions Day

It had been playing on my mind for a while so I took the opportunity to come clean and share my secret. I admitted to James that whilst at home (in our food devoid house) a couple of weeks ago, I gave in to temptation and consumed a small handful of wheetos - those chocolaty little morsels that James eats for breakfast every morning!! It is debatable whether they even contain chocolate but I feel like I have cheated lent and broken my chocolate abstinence. But unlike many others who have fallen by the wayside, I have come back from this breakdown in will-power stronger and still survive without chocolate and crisps in my diet - replaced by cereal bars and bread sticks! Please forgive my confession!

Pi Day

Two events dominated Pi Day. James seems to have challenged his class to memorise Pi to as many decimal places as possible (winner gets a pie). Here, we aimed to draw the perfect circle. Mine were universally appalling. I don't make crop circles, but if I did, they would pobably be the worst crop circles in the world. Emma's attempts were pretty rubbish; but she numbered them and circled her numbers - one of these cirvles was as perfect as any I saw all day.

Sad.

Commonwealth Day

Basically, I drank tea. And lots of it.

National Doodle Day/ Middle Name Pride day

Some very strange doodles appeared on paper today. A giant flamingo climbing a mountain? A lion reflected in a matrix? Some very abstract shapes, and I think Dave was channeling god. I still intend to scan them.

Anyway, just as amusing was Emma's middle name - Pearl. Like it. After today, I now think middle names are great.

Will

Frozen Food Day

This day was perfectly timed for a day when our house contained no fresh food at all! As such, I set about cooking a delicious meal made almost entirely out of frozen food. This included - frozen sausages left over from last summers bbq season, veggie bean burgers (which kind of acted as our carbs), frozen peas, sweetcorn and soya beans which I turned into a delicious salsa with some tinned toms, garlic and a variety of herbs and spices!

And the fun didn't end here. For pudding, James opted for the frozen Maltesar bake (thanks mummy) which we heated to a gooey loveliness with ice cream, whilst I went for the frozen raspberries which I turned into a sumptuous coulis with some maple syrup. I served this over the ice cream!

What a wonderful and fairly healthy/nutritious meal to come from our freezer!

Learn What Your Name Means Day 2008

Mark - Familiar form of Marcus: Roman, probably derived from the name of the Roman god MARS. Mars is possibly related to Latin mas "male" (genitive maris).

Smith is the most common family name in the United Kingdom and the United States representing more than 1 out of every 100 persons in each of these countries. The name originally derives from smitan, the Anglo-Saxon term meaning to smite or strike.

Well that explains "Rhino" at least.

Apparently a dedicated schoolgirl collected the meanings of all the names in the class. Ah. Although the teacher did try to tell one kid that his name means "Homosexual".

Grammar Day 2008

Rubbish day. Even the schoolkids boycotted this one. I thought about correcting the grammar of some graffiti I saw in the toilets - has it really come to this?

Mothering Sunday/Namesake Day

Disaster.

All I can say is: I got cocky. So early was I with Mother's Day this year, that I posted the card on wednesday with a second class stamp. It didn't arrive on time. I'm not in the best books.

This being Namesake Day too, I researched my mum's namesakes. Angela Smith is an MP for Basildon.

I am a man of many namesakes. I must have one of the single most popular names in the UK. There is even a Wikipaedia page devoted to listing famous Mark Smith's. There is of course Mark E. Smith of The Fall, but more randomly, Mark Smith was the real name of Rhino from Gladiators. It's remarkable that we should share the same name, as we are so remarkably similar in appearance too.

Worshie, my research suggests that you don't have a single namesake.

St. David's Day/Beer Day

This day boiled down to beer, leeks, daffodils and (I suppose) sheep. In fact the leeks themselves boiled down into soup. Roll on the stereotypes.

I didn't actually buy any doffodils, but I admired some - until some chavs went and picked them (Mother's Day tomorrow so we'll let them off).

I got involved with the beer though.