In some parts of the US, students have already returned to the classroom, while others are frantically squeezing the last drops of freedom from summer break as they prepare to start a new school year. One school supply that unites most students is the classic, yellow-coated, No. 2 pencil. For centuries, the pencil was a tool so vital that many would use theirs until only a tiny stub remained. An entire market for various pencil accoutrements existed in the 18th and 19th centuries, including a pencil grip called an ‘extender’ that allowed you to use the last bit of a pencil so as not to waste what was, at the time, a precious commodity. Think of it in terms of all the things you buy to enhance your mobile phone or tablet, and then imagine that the pencil once held equal value as a communication device. (In our hearts, it still does.)
Class, please take out a No. 2 pencil…
Today in History
More Desktop Wallpapers:
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Satla marshland in Bangladesh
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Gray seal pup, Norfolk, England
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World Reef Awareness Day
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Memorial Day
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The lemurs of Madagascar
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St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland
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World Olive Tree Day
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King of the dinosaurs
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Summer’s in home stretch
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Uncommon clouds are gathering
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National Hug Day
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Museum Mile Festival
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State funeral of Queen Elizabeth II
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Today is World Refugee Day
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Penguins can t fly!
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In celebration of cats
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Norway s Kjeragbolten boulder
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Oh, to sleep under the northern lights
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A silent witness to history
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Big Bend National Parks birthday
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Hemakuta Hill, Hampi, India
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Atop the Needle of Chamonix
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Space is for everyone
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Don’t get lost in there
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There was gold in them there hills…
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Legacy mural in Philadelphia
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The Guggenheim turns 60
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Porto Cathedral, Portugal
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Tennis in the park
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Gem State views