pencil talk

Be sure to read the engaging essay Why the pencil? over at The Dark Side of the Moon.

The X-Shock 286 is a surprise. It is yet another very well made pencil from a major European manufacturer that seems to be manufactured for southeast Asian markets.
The pencil’s box indicates Stabilo’s address in Germany and distributor in Malaysia, though not the country of origin.
The pencil is triangular, and finished in orange, with Stabilo’s trademark [...]

1. Get The Lead Out! has been made a “sticky” post until we publish the solution on April 7th, 2009. This should keep it on the top of the front page, while still allowing for new posts in the interim. I haven’t tried this technique before, so please tell me if there are any problems.
The [...]

Though many of us might think denim is blue – apparently it is also “green”, when recycled for use as a pencil casing.
A very unusual offering, the SRX hails from Mega Brands, who own the RoseArt pencil facility. RoseArt isn’t mentioned in the packaging, and it isn’t clear if they were somehow involved in the [...]

It seems like general economic news is not too good this year. Just about every day, newspapers report challenging situations that haven’t been experienced for decades. Pencils, like all office and school supplies, will probably react to these changed circumstances.
Has anyone noticed this? Are you personally cutting back? Have you seen any changes from [...]