National Pencil Day

0:00Today, we're celebrating the tool that builds every great idea and debunking a space-age myth that's been floating around for decades. Welcome to the National Day Spotlight for March 30th. We've all heard the story NASA spent millions developing a space pen while the Soviets just use a pencil. It's a great tale, but it's actually a myth. In the early days of the space race, both sides use pencils, but they quickly realize the danger. In zero gravity, tiny bits of graphite break off and float around, where they can be inhaled by astronauts or, worse, cause an electrical shortening the equipment. The space pen was actually developed by a private company to solve the floating graphite problem. National pencil day marks the anniversary of the first patent for a pencil with an attached eraser. Today, we celebrate the humble number two and the simple genius of a tool that never needs a charging cable. You know, before that patent, you had to carry a pencil and a separate eraser.

1:03I didn't know that. Before he put them together, yeah. I guess that makes sense. And you can still buy, at least I remember in school, I've had separate erasers too. Oh, yes. You can still buy separate erasers. For those of us who made a lot of mistakes with our yellow number two pencils. Yeah, you had the big eraser, didn't you? We're also celebrating National Doctors Day and National Take a Walk in the Park Day. I'm Alice Anderson. And I'm Marlow Anderson with National Day Calendar reminding you to celebrate every day.