The Almighty Pencil

(Picture by fdecomite)

Hello and welcome to my blog about...penguins. Okay I'm just kidding, it's about pencils.

...I kid you not so wipe that smirk off you face!

Anyways, you're probably thinking "LOL I KNOW WHAT A PENCIL IS". Well read before you type alright? (That rhyme was unintentional).

So pushing that aside, according to Encyclopedia Britannica's definition of the pencil, it describes it as "A slender rod of a solid marking substance, such as graphite, enclosed in a cylinder of wood, metal, or plastic; used as an implement for writing, drawing, or marking". But if you want a less "fancy" term "A piece of wood that can make words". (...yeah don't use that definition unless you want your English marks to drop)

So now, a little history lesson for all you history nuts out there:

Pencils were firs created in the time of Ancient Rome where it was called a "stylus" (and not the little stick for the DS but looks kind of like a pencil). Before 1565 when they started to use graphite, lead was used instead. But in my opinion, after they realized that people were actually dying from using the "stylus" (which is because lead is poisonous) then they switched to using graphite and have been using them up to this day (and probably still will)

So how are pencils helpful?

Well, the most obvious is that they help us write things down. By things, I meant helping us write letters and notes to people. It's also helpful when writing stories or just writing a rough draft if you're the type of person that likes to plan things down (Unless you're me who likes to instantly jump on Microsoft Word and start typing). They are also a big help if you like drawing or drafting because they are easy to erase and start over. They also help with marking things, for example, if you're in a woodshop class (Or anything relating to working with wood) if you need to mark certain measurements, you can use the pencil. They help with planing/drafting. Just like I said with my first point, they are used by a lot of people for different uses. They can be used for planning on how to write a essay or a story, sketching ideas and working on your artistic skills or even just writing down notes for your classes. My last point is somewhat related to pencils but its more of the black dust left after you finished sharpening it. A person has used the black dust from the pencil and smeared it on his sketchbook and drew with the eraser. For more information, click over here to read the post, sothe pencil can also be used as another form of art.

The pencil is a very useful tool used all around the world and used in our modern day society. Pencils helped us write letters and write down new ideas thus creating the computer, which is mostly used nowadays because of the vast connection and how easy someone can e-mail someone else. So in conclusion, if you're thinking, ''Why are pencils still around when we have the internet and computers?'' think about this: before the computer was created, they had to write, and people wrote ideas down for a easier way to communicate with a...wait for it...a pencil.

And that closes this post and I thank you for taking the time to read this very long posts. Have a nice day.
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[LINKS]
Pencil History
Mini article on lead poisoning
More history on the pencil
Definition of the Pencil
Another article

-CITATION-

"Pencil History." (2011): n. page. Web. 15 Nov. 2011. http://www.pencils.com/pencil-history.

"Pencil." "Pencils, paint and pottery can give you lead poisoning". . 1972. Web. 15 Nov 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pencil

"Pencil." Early Office Museum. N.p., 2011. Web. 15 Nov 2011. http://www.officemuseum.com/pencil_history.htm.

"Pencil (Writing Implement)." Pencil. Web. 15 Nov 2011. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/449653/pencil.

"Pencil Dust Finger Painting." Pencil Revolution. N.p., 04/08/11. Web. 15 Nov. 2011. http://www.pencilrevolution.com/.