4 ms·

That pen thing would be a great anecdote....if it were true.

• lmm 9y ago
  It's substantially true. The pen was developed by a private company rather than the government, but "the US spent" is fair if we consider it to refer to the country as a whole. Using pencils in space did cause genuine issues, but the Russian space programme did live with those issues until the space pen was developed.
  • EpicEng 9y ago
    >but "the US spent" is fair if we consider it to refer to the country as a whole. Of course, that's not what anyone means when they repeat this nonsense, and the entire point of the story is to create a narrative that the US government is bloated, wasteful, and stupid.
    • lmm 9y ago
      I've seen it more used to create a narrative about US culture as being overly technology-focused and lacking a sense of making do / good-enough. Shrug.
      • EpicEng 9y ago
        Regardless, using a BS story to push such a narrative is a bad idea.