No. 2 Pencils

Episode notes

Alex Schmidt is joined by writer/comedian Dana Gould (The Simpsons, Stan Against Evil, ‘Hanging With Doctor Z’) for a look at why no. 2 pencils are secretly incredibly fascinating.

Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week’s bonus episode.

LINKS FOR THE GUESTS:

• Dana Gould’s website
• Dana Gould’s page on the Simpsons Wiki
• IMDb page for Stan Against Evil
• ‘The Dana Gould Hour’ podcast
• ‘Hanging With Doctor Z’ on YouTube — and please support their Kickstarter, launching August 1st!

RESOURCES USED TO INFORM THE EPISODE’S LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

• native-land.ca
• U.S. Department Of Arts And Culture
• Museum of Durham History

RESEARCH SOURCES:

• The Pencil: A History Of Design And Circumstance by Henry Petroski
• What Makes #2 Pencils So Special? (Mental Floss)
• What is a Scantron: How Scantron Technology Paved the Way for Testing Tools (EdTech Magazine)
• Pencils Down: Scantron Inventor Michael Sokolski Has Died (Mental Floss)
• Why Are Pencils Yellow? (CBS News)
• ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ Puts No. 2 Pencil to the Test (NPR Weekend Edition)
• Paper: Paging Through History by Mark Kurlansky
• How to Turn a Pencil Into a Diamond (The Atlantic)
• Scientist of the Day: Nicolas-Jacques Conté (The Linda Hall Library)
• Encyclopedia Britannica entry for Nicolas-Jacques Conté, French inventor
• Pencils Up (The New Yorker)
• Side note: John Hodgman’s fake facts book The Areas Of My Expertise is where Alex first learned the general “hobo code” concept. As Dana says on the show, the codes were real! Here’s a Popular Mechanics article about some of them.
• Odd last link this week: a WordPress blog by Frank Parsons called “The American Stationer” has this lengthy piece about the Gem Pencil Sharpener, which was one of the first mass-produced U.S. sharpeners. It was made by Gould & Cook, a partnership based in Leominster, Massachsetts. Here’s a picture of co-owner Charles Gould.