Fact of the Day

[CRX-YEM]

When NASA first started sending up astronauts, they quickly discovered that ball-point pens would not work in zero gravity.

To combat this problem, NASA scientists spent a decade and $12 billion developing a pen that writes in zero gravity, upside-down, on almost any surface - including glass at temperatures ranging from below freezing to over 300 Celsius.

The Russians used a pencil.

Your U.S. taxes are due again in seven months -- enjoy paying them.

 

[xj0hnx]

Holy tip of the proverbial ice berg.

 

[Battle Pope]

Will do, Skippy.

/beats head against a wall/

 

[reckedracing]

The Russians used a pencil.

hmmmm <_<

damn communists...
making the capitalists look bad yet AGAIN...

 

[jamesA]

YEah... that's what you would call a :repostred:

 

[dveit]

new to me...

but, 12 billion dollars? that's fuckin ridiculous.

 

[hcivic.com]

ever heard of a wax pencil or felt pen go communists

 

[Loco Honkey]

I have one of those space pens. It's cool as hell.

 

[cxjon]

pencil, and you can erase your mistakes

 

[micah]

its all bullshit, just like the pentagon spends 5 billion a year on toilet seats.

yeah fucking right, thats just how they make there budget to account for embezzlement, black ops, and secret research programs.

 

[Speedracer228]

Originally posted by Loco Honkey@Oct 18 2004, 06:43 PM
I have one of those space pens. It's cool as hell.

[post=404369]Quoted post[/post]​

i got one, its cool, wrights up-side-down, but i never really need to write up-side-down????

 

[phunky.buddha]

Originally posted by micah@Oct 18 2004, 08:54 PM
its all bullshit, just like the pentagon spends 5 billion a year on toilet seats.

yeah fucking right, thats just how they make there budget to account for embezzlement, black ops, and secret research programs.

[post=404435]Quoted post[/post]​

Damn straight. They have to cover black hat spending in the budget using other items every now and then.

I would still say that a pen is safer to use in space than a pencil though. You don't have nearly as many particulates coming off the pen and writing surface as you would with a pencil, and you don't have to deal with sharpening it and having little wood and graphite fragments going everywhere either.

 

[Battle Pope]

25 million for 3-ring binders? I mean, they should at least think up a better way to disguise all the senators' and house members' viagra prescriptions and porn site subscriptions...

 

[civicious]

damn...its a good thing we didnt use pencils in space.

otherwise we'd be poor, hungry, and naked...










and the RDM would be in m4d full swing y0!