MARY BRASWELL: Looking back at back to school

Each week Albany Herald researcher Mary Braswell looks for interesting events, places and people from the past. You can contact her at (229) 888-9371 or [email protected]. Follow @ABH_MBraswell on Twitter.

Ready or not, a new school year is upon us. Here is a look at some education-related issues.

PENCILS

— An average of 2,500-3,000 pencils are made from one tree.

— The word “pencil” comes from the old French word “pincel” meaning a small paintbrush.

— John Steinbeck used as many as 60 pencils a day writing his novels.

— A limited-edition of the Graf von Faber-Castell Perfect Pencil was made from 240-year-old olive wood and 18-carat gold. Its asking price was $12,800.

— Before the invention of erasers, writers and artists used bread to erase mistakes.

— Faber-Castell is the world’s largest pencil manufacturer. Ray Bradbury named a character in “Fahrenheit 451” after them.

— Many sources say the average pencil holds enough graphite to draw a line about 35 miles long or to write roughly 45,000 words. I could find, however, no reference of this being tried and true.

— Pencils can write in zero gravity and so were used on early American and Russian space missions, even though NASA engineers worried about the flammability of wood pencils in a pure-oxygen atmosphere.

— Plant growers use a pencil to mark labels because it is the only marking that doesn’t fade in sunlight.

PENS

— In 95 percent of all cases, if a person is given a new ink pen, the first word written is his or her own name.

— The first lot of ballpoint pens went on sale in New York City in 1945. There was such a long line of customers that several hundred police officers were used to maintain order. The first day, 10,000 pens were sold. The cost was $12 each, about the same wages an 8-hour work day brought for industrial employees.

— Every second, 125 ballpoint pens are sold.

— The main design of a ballpoint pen originated from an 1888 patent for a pen that could write on leather, by leather tanner John Loud, an American, but the design was unsuitable for writing on paper.

— The Bic ballpoint pen was invented by Frenchman Marcel Bich in 1950.He dropped the “h” from Bich because he was afraid people would mispronounce the name. Technically, it’s name is the BIC CRISTAL.

— In the early 1960s, an aggressive television advertising campaign boasted that BIC pens would write “First Time, Every Time.” To prove that a 29-cent BIC pen would perform as well as pens costing much more, the commercials showed BIC pens still working after being drilled through wallboard, shot from guns, fire-blasted, and strapped to the feet of ice skaters.

— An average person in the United States uses 4.3 pens annually.

— Pen caps cause over 100 deaths a year by people playing with the cap in their mouth and choking.

ELMER’S GLUE

— Borden’s introduced its first glue in 1947.

— The dairy company made its adhesive from casein, a protein in milk. (Today, no animal products are used to make Elmer’s Glue.)

— Borden’s called the glue Cascorez Glue and it came in a glass bottle with a wooden stick attached to the bottle with a rubber band.

— Borden’s was one of the first dairies to pasteurize all its milk, a defense against tuberculosis and other diseases. As part of its ad campaign, Elsie the Cow was created. In 1940, Elsie got a husband, Elmer.

— By 1951, the Cascorez Glue was repackaged in a white squeeze bottle with the familar orange twist top and renamed Elmer’s Glue-All.

— In 1980, Elmer’s Glue Stick was introduced.

Other than the classroom…

—Dip shoelace tips in Elmer’s to prevent fraying.

— An emergency room once used Elmer’s Glue to remove around 600 spines stuck in a child’s arm when a potted cactus fell on her. The glue was poured on the arm and dried with a surgical lamp. When carefully peeled away, the cactus needles came out with the dried glue. This also works to remove a splinter.

— Use Elmer’s to form a seal where a limb or branch has been pruned. It will protect the plant from insects, as well as water loss.

— Rub Elmer’s all over the face, staying away from the eyes. Allow the glue to completely dry then peel away the mask, taking with it dead skin, blackheads and other gunk. Skin will be super soft!

NO DIPLOMAS

The following successful people never finished high school:

— Marilyn Monroe (Norma Jean Baker) was tired of moving from foster home to foster home, quit school at age 16 and married her boyfriend.

— Whoopi Goldberg dropped out of high school because it was too hard. As it turned out, she was an undiagnosed dyslexic.

— Walt Disney dropped out at age 16 to join the Army. He was too young so he joined the Red Cross and drove an ambulance.

— Princess Diana was a poor student and dropped out at age 16. She married Prince Charles when she was 19.

— Jim Carrey was a straight “A” student, but dropped out to go to work to help the family make ends meet.

— Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s, dropped out at age 15.

— Andrew Carnegie, industrialist and philanthropist (and billionaire), dropped out of school during his elementary days.

HIGHER ED

This list of successful people played it cool and stayed in school:

—Musician Art Garfunkel holds a master’s in mathematics.

— Comedian Jay Leno holds a B.A. in Speech Therapy.

— Brian May, guitarist for Queen, completed his Ph.D. in astrophysics 30 years after he stated work on it.

— Actor Robert Vaughn holds a Ph.D. in communications.

— Basketball icon Shaquille O’Neal earned his Ph.D. in education.

— Talk show host Jerry Springer holds a B.A. in political science.

— Country music star Kenny Chesney holds a B.A. in advertising.

Gene Simmons (KISS) has this to say:

“The only jobs kids have are to do well in school, to be charming and polite, and be thankful. That’s it. I’ll house you, protect you, I’ll even give my life for you, and in return, you will behave.”

QUIK QUIZ ANSWER:(d) Stick an unpainted pencil in the soil.