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Pencils!

pencils

The Sanford Corporation (a Newell Rubbermaid Company) is the world’s largest manufacturer of writing instruments, mostly by way of corporate om-nom-nomination of familiar brands: uni-ball, Sharpie, PaperMate, Waterman, Parker, Prismacolor, Eberhard faber, Turquoise, Col-erase, Empire-Berol and more…more than you ever dreamed.

Doug of the Pencil Pages toured the Sanford pencil factory in Lewisburg, Tennessee in 2004 — in June, when a young man’s fancy turn to thoughts of pencil — and brought back this excellent photo essay.

Because having nothing to say for myself doesn’t even slow me down.

Comments


Comment from Jill
Time: January 1, 2009, 9:23 pm

Ahhh…Eberhard-Faber pencils…

The movie ‘Animal House’ was set at the fictional Faber College, named after its founder, Emil Faber, their football team being the Faber Mongols. The back story was that Emil Faber built his college on the site of great and beautiful pencil-wood forests somewhere in Pennsylvania…

(I just found this link: http://www.acmewebpages.com/animal/locales.htm )


Comment from Mrs. Peel
Time: January 2, 2009, 11:10 am

I love a good writing instrument. And good paper. Staedtler 937 811E Engineer’s Computation Pad is the best engineering paper around. But only Staples carries it – Office Depot stopped carrying engineering paper entirely, and Office Max carries only Tops, which is a crap brand. Mitt Romney, you magnificent bastard!

(Mitt Romney was the venture capitalist who took a chance on Staples back when he was working at Bain. Without him, there would be no Staples.)

Does anyone know where the “So-and-so, you magnificent bastard!” formulation comes from? I use it all the time, but I actually don’t know the original source.


Comment from Steamboat McGoo
Time: January 2, 2009, 11:33 am

That would be by George Patton – with regard to Erwin Rommel, after kicking his butt at El Guitar(?) in Africa. I believe it was “Rommel, you magnificent bastard! I read your book!”


Comment from dfbaskwill
Time: January 2, 2009, 11:56 am

Emil Faber’s school motto: “Knowledge is good”. Animal House was Kevin Bacon’s first movie. We will see him a lot more again, now that Madoff took all his money.


Comment from Dawn
Time: January 2, 2009, 12:02 pm

My husband’s grandmother has a habit of making fun of you when you are overly whiney by saying, “It’s just like the horrors of war.” I love that lady. She has lived through the depression and World War II. Must really put things into perspective.

Patton – they just don’t make them like him anymore do they? My dad served in the Second Armored Division “Hell on Wheels” in Germany and Texas. We were stationed on the same base as the 1st Calvary Division, which is better known, but I always loved that my dad’s patch said hell.


Comment from Jill
Time: January 2, 2009, 12:12 pm

Dawn, I’ve seen the Hell On Wheels patch.
I bought an exact replica of it for a friend. It’s a terrific patch.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/army/images/2ad.gif


Comment from Enas Yorl
Time: January 2, 2009, 1:15 pm

Can you imagine Patton & Rommel today? “Rommel, you l33t asshat! I read your blog!” 😀


Comment from Mrs. Peel
Time: January 2, 2009, 3:50 pm

That’s right. I actually did know that – I’d just forgotten. During An American Carol, I was the only person in the theater who laughed when Kelsey Grammer slapped the Michael Moore character because “it’s my trademark.” I guess no one else got it.

Enas, heh.


Comment from porknbean
Time: January 2, 2009, 3:54 pm

Has there been a good book written about Patton? Seems you have to ask that these days since there has been so much revisionism going on.


Comment from Steamboat McGoo
Time: January 2, 2009, 7:55 pm

PnB – The only book I’ve read about Patton was … wait for it … Patten & Rommel, by I-don’t-know-its-packed-but-I’ll-look-it-up-for-you.

It’s about Patton and Rommel, oddly enough. But it’s a good read in spite of that.

– Dennis Showalter –


Comment from porknbean
Time: January 3, 2009, 1:07 am

It’s about Patton and Rommel, oddly enough.

Heh. Thank you muchly, McGoo.


Comment from iamfelix
Time: January 3, 2009, 2:46 am

…in June, when a young man’s fancy turn to thoughts of pencil

“It’s just like the horrors of war.”

Can you imagine Patton & Rommel today? “Rommel, you l33t asshat! I read your blog!”

It’s about Patton and Rommel, oddly enough.

I give this post 4 LOLs! And I’m still laughing. 🙂

I have a sort-of pencil & paper fetish. I get all hyped up when they start putting out school supplies. Nice pens! Fancy notebooks!! Sketchpads!!! My mom (who drew beautifully in pencil) had a huge set of colored pencils (Prismacolor, I think) that I coveted all through my childhood.

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