A New Old Thing

(from the Washington Post)

Some of you may have seen an article recently in The Washington Post about the old-fashioned Skilcraft US Government pen. I stumbled on the article by chance, but had recently seen one of these pens in person a few months ago. The style took me back to my childhood - my dad used torpedo-shaped clicker pens all the time. The now-ubiquitous Bic Clic Stick either hadn't come on the scene, or hadn't gained traction. These, and Bic Crystal stick pens, were the pens of my childhood.

So, anyone who knows me, knows what happened next.

I spent some time trying to find a way to buy them online. I found a place that sells them $8 for a dozen with free shipping (email me if you want to know where.) I bought a box.

I also spent way too much time learning about the pens. Here's some stuff I didn't know before I looked into these pens:

(from blog.epromos.com)

Here's another thing I found out: AbilityOne is a non-profit program run by the National Industries for the Blind (NIB) designed to employ people who are blind or near blind. AbilityOne makes a lot of stuff, they make it in America, and they make it for a reasonable sum (Bic Clic Stics are $7 a dozen at Office Depot.) I get to indulge my inner (outer? raging?) cheapskate AND my writing implement fetish AND my "do good with consumer power" inclination, all at the same time.

And the pens writes pretty decently, too.