I'm sure that all you technologically aware people had heard this one years ago, but it only got to me yesterday, so just in case...

The Difference Between Focus on Problems, and Focus on Solutions

When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that
the pens wouldn't work at zero gravity as the ink wouldn't flow down to the
writing surface. In order to solve this problem, they hired Andersen
Consulting (Accenture today). It took them one decade and 12 million
dollars. They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down,
under water, in practically any surface including crystal and in a
temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C.
The Russians used a pencil...

Heard it before but it's still funny No idea if it's true though as it sounds very urban mythish.

- Trevor

Well, urban myth or not, it did spawn an interesting product line.

It's an Urban Myth, but funny nonetheless.

Yeah, but still...

Fischer developed the pen at a cost of over $1M, and then sold NASA 400 of them at $2.95. Hardly a good business plan