One of my employers had a whiteboard where you’d just press a button and out comes a sheet of thermal paper with your drawings. This was in 1995. I’m sure they do all sorts of things now.
P.S. If I had to use emacs for any purpose at all, I’d feel a lot less creative too. 
I guess that’s what most people think of, yeah… Okay maybe I’ll be displaying my true inner geekness here but I have this pen/pencil case in my pocket just about every single day: http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/172125444908?lpid=82&chn=ps&ul_ref=http%253A%252F%252Frover.ebay.com%252Frover%252F1%252F711-117182-37290-0%252F2%253Fmtid%253D1588%2526kwid%253D1%2526crlp%253D53601919689_324272%2526itemid%253D172125444908%2526targetid%253D173528680329%2526rpc%253D0.23%2526rpc_upld_id%253D67355%2526device%253Dt%2526mpre%253Dhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.ebay.com%25252Fulk%25252Fitm%25252Flike%25252F172125444908%25253Flpid%25253D82%252526chn%25253Dps%2526adtype%253Dpla%2526googleloc%253D9031935%2526poi%253D9032135%2526campaignid%253D239125209%2526adgroupid%253D14978428809%2526rlsatarget%253Dpla-173528680329%2526gclid%253DCj0KEQjw2_23BRDb_qbvzK3X8M8BEiQAg87AFzyHpSfRZz3nk6wSUa3jB2cw8AE_xh6Movv26dOnrywaAtbW8P8HAQ%2526srcrot%253D711-117182-37290-0%2526rvr_id%253D1008623317089&ul_noapp=true
Not that exact one but something very close. Is it pricey? Heck yeah. But it keeps the pens from wearing out my pockets (holes and wear spots), and if a pen leaks it’ll help contain that leak. But three instruments together in that case also help to keep the pens from bending, thereby minimizing the chance for a leak.
I also like that mine is of very supple cowhide, nice to the touch. When I first got it I put a plastic pen cap in one of the sleeves, to help protect my mech pencil’s point. The pencil point goes into the cheap pen cap, easy peasy. Over years the leather has gotten broken in and loose. I now carry five (count 'em, 5!) items in the case:
► a Rotring 600 retractable pen. Why Rottring? Because they take Parker refills which write extremely well and aren’t too expensive. A good value, those refills. The pen was a little expensive but I’ve had the very same pen now for over 10 years. The pen case too, over 10 years. I tend to not lose things.
► the matching Rotring 600 0.5 mech pencil. Both pen and pencil fit into one sleeve now, since the leather has been broken in, with the pencil tip into the plastic disposable pen cap. The pen sticks out a little, it’s not bad.
► a yes, as posted above, a Staedtler Mars plastic eraser. I told you I carry it around with me. I rarely use it, though. That’s in the middle sleeve along with a…
► a Sharpie. You never know when you’ll be asking for someone’s autograph. I once ran into A’s pitcher Dave Stewart on a plane, STL-SFO, and he obliged me. Yes I asked him, even though he destroyed my beloved Giants in the 1989 World Series. He signed a dollar bill with, Dave Stewart #34, 1989 World Series MVP. I loved that! Truly funny. But he was kind and genteel, saying sorry that his A’s swept my Giants 25 years ago. The Sharpie and eraser fit together in the middle sleeve of that pouch. Sharpies come in handy but yeah, I look like a true geek when I say here you go, I have one with me. People look at me sideways funny.
► a ‘tactical’ pen-like flashlight. It is similar to this one: http://www.securitydefenseweapons.com/blog/tactical-pen-for-self-defense/. The reason is because it can be taken on flights (TSA allowable), the hard point could come in handy (imagine, if you will, you’re in a car that goes into a river and sinks. You may need to break open a window like right NOW! to get out). Just one use case for that tactical hard point, and a flashlight is handy although many phones have them now. But if you’re under water your phone may not work but that tac light will. And yes, people also look at me sideways funny when I say, yes I have a flashliht with me, here you go.
In a pinch, the Rotring 600 can also serve as a tactical hard point. It’s pretty sturdy.
Okay, that’s way more information than you needed or wanted but so be it, I walk around each and every day with a pencil case that holds those things. Truly geeky, I admit.
And the zippered fabric pencil case? That holds highlighters, spare batteries and different color pens and is tossed into my backpack which is my attaché case for work (laptop and such). SW engineer, Silicon Valley, I am usually in the office in shorts and sandals and a nice shirt. That’s how I usually travel too. The casual look, business casual. The slacks and shoes and ties come out whem I’m at my destination.
Whew! Sorry for the long post.
Used to have one of those too. Downside is expense - you don’t get one on every office wall, and lack of resolution. They were essentially Fax machines with a wide scanner. Couldn’t resolve fine detail, and didn’t have colour. Nor was the output automatically collated into my notebook. Photographing a whiteboard allows you to put the pictures directly into your workflow system. There should be whiteboards that do that by now, but if they are restricted to meeting rooms, they still don’t cover the needs.
P.S. If I had to use emacs for any purpose at all, I’d feel a lot less creative too.
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Ha! Text editors as a “rather fight than switch” beast. Given the choice between emacs plus LaTeX, versus Word, there is no contest. Word is simply not suitable for purpose for almost any serious task. The trouble with most computer based tools is that it is very hard to capture the information flow properly - without forcing your thought patterns into the mould of the software. Probably the most destructive of all software has been Powerpoint. Never has one product do utterly damaged the thing it was supposed to help more than this one tool. I have had a play with an Apple iPad with their magic Pencil. This could develop into something worthwhile. The nuances possible with the hardware plus the resolution of the display make it close to usable.
My newest toy–disposable fountain pens. (Haven’t exhausted any yet–and there are ways to refill them.) Good for notes at work–yes, I use cursive. (I write some notes on documents at work, where those dull waterproof ballpoint are required.)
Visiting pen shops is apparently one of the highlights of Tokyo tourism. This online source is even called Tokyo Pen Shop. Yes, they have pencils & erasers, too…
RE: “There should be whiteboards that do that by now, but if they are restricted to meeting rooms, they still don’t cover the needs.”
“Smart Boards” are used a lot in schools (I believe our middle school has one in every classroom)
Here’s the ‘brand name’
I think there are others that don’t have to mount projectors/cameras to the ceiling.
No Eraserhead jokes yet? The Dope is slacking…
I may have to sell the house before this thread is over. The Amazon link to disposable fountain pens linked it to a whole lot of books on penmanship. I am really really keen to try that too. I’ve just joined a calligraphy society.
And a trip to Tokyo. Oh dear.
Unless some fancy Greek, every English-language Hyman you see was born with the common name Chaim (the throat clear begins the word), “Life,” in Hebrew.
Now back to reading this thread…
Cursive script was originally developed to preserve quill pens. :eek: Apparently, the act of lifting and replacing them on the paper increases the chance of damaging them. So cursive was technically obsolete before any of us learned it.
In college, I quit using cursive for note-taking completely; I could write as fast, and with higher legibility, by using block letters.
For the grocery lists mentioned, I usually recopy a list my wife writes (in cursive) so I can read it dependably. 
In my Office, where pencils and erasing are still important, I prefer the Staedtler ones with attached erasers, because they run down quickly enough not to get hard, and it’s quick. But we also have normal block erasers for rubbing out longer text.
Most pencils don’t run down to the stub, but disappear when they’re half-length (I think Douglas Adams speculated where pens disappear to? Pencils must have a similar reason…)
A local shop specializing in hand-made and rare things offers erasers to put on naked pencils - http://www.manufactum.de/aufsteckradiergummi-p752319/?c=172213 - but they suffer from hardness and smearing graphite.
Link please? I searched and there are different pencils.
Looks like the OP’s question remains unanswered. There’s absolutely no reason not to have a pencil equipped with a built-in eraser. It’s convenient, even if it has a tendency to smudge or wear off quickly, and the cost difference is negligible.
Cool, and Frixion is on that list too.
I think the answer is close to what Henry Petroski described in his book. It is historical. The idea and patent was in the US, and manufacture was US based. Patent was voided after two years, and more competition started to add erasers. But Europe had its own manufacturers and there was little to no importation of US made pencils. So Europe remained happy with eraserless pencils. Furthermore, in the US the ferrule for the eraser became a component of the cosmetic branding of the pencil, whereas in Europe, the painted end (with a rang of colours and stripes created by dipping the end in paint) created a rounded end that was the vehicle for cosmetic branding. Both markets cheerfully did their own thing. There was never enough of a fundamental advantage of having an eraser on the end for the idea to gain much traction in Europe, and so it didn’t happen. A ready supply of very high quality stand alone erasers in Europe probably made the eraser on the end of the pencil even less useful.
Market expectations drive the supply. If your market expects an eraser on the end, you had better have one. If your market doesn’t expect one, it is probably not a good idea to add one.
People called Kaplan.
No, that was Hyman Kaplan. Not quite as bad as Hymen but pretty close.
It’s not even completely cosmetic: Staedtler’s pencils have different ends depending on hardness, so if you have a bunch of pencils in a jar you can pick the right one by looking at the tail.
Please provide a cite for that claim.
When you do, please note that what method you are referring to when you say “cursive.” Copperplate (like the Declaration of Independence) is drawn by an entirely different method than Palmer (what your granny used when writing a check). Copperplate requires lifting the pen with every stroke, by the way. Palmer doesn’t.
I don’t think I’ve ever even used a pencil, with or without an eraser. I know what they are but why? Kind of like using a quill pen. 