NASA wanted to find a writing implement that could be used in space.
It took 200 engineers and they spent over $2 billion to finally invent a space pen. This pen could write in zero gravity and the ink would still flow.
NASA proudly announced their success and congratulations flowed in from all over the world.
In a short note to the Americans, the Soviet engineers congratulated them, but said that they too had found a solution at a fraction of the cost.
They remarked, "We use a pencil."
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"the memories of a man in his old age,
are deeds of a man in his prime"