If No.2 pencils are so popular, why are they still No.2???
111649
I don't have an answer for you except that it has something to do with the softness of the lead, I think.  But that made me laugh, so thanks for that, and thanks for the 2  :-)
604823
There is a little plastic tool that you can get from any pen/pencil supply, ie staples, office max that is in the shape of a triangle. it fits down the length of the pen/pencil and your fingers will naturally hold the pencil/pen correctly.  I had the same problem in the 2nd grade and I write correctly now.  You might also ask a teacher, you trust to give you a suggestion. The triangles are about an inch long and come in huge amount of colors.  they cost about a dime a piece I believe.  Good luck. Hope this helped!
22056
There's a chamber filled with several pencil leads, along with a little funnel with a hole at the end. What ends up happening is that a lead gets into the hole and falls through (Graphite is a very good lubricant). Whenever you click the eraser, or a button on the side, it hits a spring that pushes the lead forward just a little bit. Another type of mechanical pencil allows you to spin the tip to get more lead out, but that one simply works like a screw.
1032008
Because the number is about the hardness of the lead, not about popularity.  As I imagine you know.
179488
Standard computer keyboards have the @ above the 2 and the " above the '.\n\nThat's the way all keyboards are designed. I don't think there's a way to switch them around.\n\nI haven't seen the " above the 2 since the old mechanical typewriters.\n\nThis is the way it is now.  Every keyboard made is this way. I would really recommend getting used to it. It's not going to change.
469789
Yes, there are all different numbers of pencils.  #1 is very hard.  ranges from 1-10 10 being the softest!
654102
Pencils in the United States and Canada tend to be painted yellow on the outside. According to Henry Petroski, this tradition now extends to a majority of pencils worldwide, and began in 1890 when the L. & C. Hardtmuth Company of Austria-Hungary introduced their Koh-I-Noor brand, named after the famous diamond. It was intended to be the world's best and most expensive pencil, and at a time when most pencils were either painted in dark colors or not at all, the Koh-I-Noor was yellow. As well as simply being distinctive, the color may have been inspired by the Austro-Hungarian flag; it was also suggestive of the Orient, at a time when the best-quality graphite came from Siberia. Other companies then copied the yellow color so that their pencils would be associated with this high-quality brand, and chose brand names with explicit Oriental references, such as Mikado and Mongol. Not all countries however use yellow pencils; German pencils, for example, are often green, based on the trademark colors of Faber-Castell, a major German stationery company.
648515
Not with a pen and not with a pencil either (because pencils are actually graphite).  Besides even if they were lead it would take more than that to poison someone.
829625
Not sure why now.....but years ago when my kids were learning to write   all the specialists said if you think they are tending towards left-handed..........hand them everything in their right hand   pencil, fork, etc.   Seems they used to think left-handed was not a good thing, and it was better to teach them to be righty's.
1027303
I have pencils with white eraser. So not all are pink!
648068
It's probably due to the way the blade is cut and the way the blade spins while sharpening said pencil. The shape of the pencil probably has something to do with it too. I'm not sure, but I think that round pencils don't have the zig zag after sharpening.
748993
Well i have written in pen for most of my life. Up until my last years in high school it's mostly been pen. I feels like a step into adulthood with a pen. It's kinda symbolic. I relate pencils with childhood and pens with adulthood. How, you ask? as a kid, most problems could be fixed and changed with ease. No worries, with a pencil just erase the mistakes. But as an adult, problems seem like you're in hell and can't be removed as easily. as with a pen, the mistakes are much more difficult to erase or get rid of. But yeah,  i like writing with a pen more. :)
950538
You're right - for some reason most people favor blue over the other colors. The second favorite color people have is green I've noticed, btw. And when it comes to blue, it's baby blue that the majority like the most. Although I'm not certain as to why that is, I think it may be because so many good things are associated with the color blue - sky, ocean, eyes...and blue jeans =)
688725
I own two HP48GX calculators.  One is used for general math, and the other one has a survey card.  Why can't HP keep the same design and make it better.  I don't like their new one.
672380
only if you're planning a diabolical plot to steal all the pens in the world and send them back to pen island so we alll have to use pencils agian like the 1400s BCE\nactually. the pen came first. so you'd actually be modernizing us. :)
111521
Not bad, but I am geekishly keen on good pens & I recommend "uniball eye micro" (manufactured by a subsiduary of mitsubishi pencil co). They're a lot cheaper in the US than here in the UK, but I think they are branded "sanford" or similar.
362575
because mathematically speaking +2 is a larger value than \n-2 and people like things with positive value better than things with a negative value.  so thanks for the points