There’s a lot going on in the world of real estate and some good news for housing; but, since this is my blog, I am taking a day off from stats, first-time home buyers, tax credits, the latest S&P/Case-Shiller report, Ben Bernanke, the economy and the like.  Today I am on overload and seem to have a need to write about something silly. This is even the first post I have uploaded from my BlackBerry® instead of writing on my computer.

Speaking of writing, school is starting soon and every student will no doubt have a pencil, make that a No.2 pencil, in their school supplies.  Have you ever wondered why a pencil is yellow?  Or who in fact invented what we use on an almost daily basis without much thought?

From Pencils.com comes this information:

• The pencil has been mass produced for more than 400 years.
• The first pencils were created in Germany from graphite wrapped in string.
• American cabinetmaker William Monroe helped create the first machine-cut pencils in the 1800s.
• John Steinbeck used 300 pencils to write “East of Eden”.
• Unpainted pencils were stylish in the 1800s, showing off fancy wood casings.
• What does the No. 2 mean on a pencil?  It refers to the lead’s softness.
• Why are pencils yellow?  China, which produces superb graphite, associates yellow with respect.  Thus, to honor the Chinese, pencils were shaded in yellow.

Now you know probably more than you wanted to know about pencils.  We’ve come a long way since the 1800s but we are still using the No. 2 in spite of computers, BlackBerry®’s and all the other gadgets available to us.

Thanks for indulging me today, as it’s already been a very long week.  Enjoy your last dog days of summer.  Back to real estate tomorrow…..

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