If You Don't Wear a Belt...

No, this is not poo. It's dark graphite, similar to the kind used in No. 2 pencils

In furtherance our continuing coverage into the competetive and often deadly world of pencils, the following report on the inventor of the No.2 pencil was recently published by "Graphite Monthly"

By: jazzwalk

Simon Adirondack (S.A.) Caraballo hasn't always lived in a mansion on Lake Tahoe; Indeed, the man once known to his friends and "Light Writing Lou" was voted by his high school class 'most likely not to succeed." However, in a remarkable turn of events, Mr. Caraballo went from being a nobody to being one of the wealthiest men in the Graphite industry.

"I remember it well" Mr. Caraballo recalled. "It was 1984 and I...I mean we, Mike [referreing to Michael Scantron, See Vol.2 Issue 9] and I were on a graphite intensive backapacking trip when we stumbled upon some really dark looking graphite. At first I thought it was lead" he laughed, "can you even imagine?"

That is where the joy for one began and the horror for another was only starting to commence. Mr. Caraballo knew the power of being able to write dark, or rather, the horror of not and immeidately claimed the grahite for he and mike. "I told mike, this is the big one, this is the one that's going to make that facacta machine of yours a million dollar idea. But mike wouldn't listen. he told me that people don't want to write dark, it's too hard to erase and the machine could get confused. I told mike, look, i didn't get the name "Light Writing Lou" for nothing. I think I know a little bit about the subject. He wouldn't listen, he just told me he wished he could erase me from the earth and stormed off. that's the last time we spoke. "

Since S.A. Caraballo's graphite discovery came after mr. scantron's he decided to name his pencil, the no. 2.

... your pencil fall down