For those who might not have heard the (probably untrue) story, in the 1960's space race, it was discovered that the pens of that time would not write in weightless conditions. The NASA approach was to spend $250,000 in 1960's bucks to develop the "space pen." The Russian approach was decided by a General who said "F*** it, use a pencil!"

There actually is a survival lesson in this, resulting in my signature line, attributed to Soviet Admiral Gorshkov, but he probably heard it from somewhere himself...