The first patent for a ballpoint pen was issued in 1888. Today the ballpoint pen is the world’s most-used writing instrument. Millions are manufactured and sold each day.
Not in play: This was in the thread a few pages back. I know because I put it there. 
In play: The fountain pen as currently designed is not that old. It was invented in 1884.
The first writing pen is believed to be a reed pen developed by the Egyptians circa 2000 B.C., used for writing on papyrus. The pen was made from hollow stems of marsh grasses, most likely bamboo plant. The end was cut into the shape of a point (or nib), and then the reed’s stem was filled with a writing fluid that would flow down to the nib when squeezed.
Paul Fisher designed the Space Pen for the 1968 Apollo mission. Of course, this was not a regular pen – the Space Pen used cartridge ink that worked in zero gravity, underwater, upside-down and could even write on oily surfaces. It also lasted 3 times longer than a regular pen. And not just that – it was able to endure extreme temperatures (from -40°C to 120°C).
Not in play:
7, maybe? I seem to recall the Kansas City Kings moving to Sacramento sometime in the 70s…
A thixotropic fluid is a liquid that becomes less viscous (or thinner, or flows more easily) when shaken, stirred, agitated or otherwise stressed.
Quicksand is a thixotropic fluid in that it is solid when at rest but quickly liquefies when agitated.
The Fisher Space Pen has thixotropic ink in a pressurized ink cartridge. Early NASA use of it was on the Apollo missions and the Skylab missions.
facepalm You are correct. The poor Kings were based in Rochester, Cincinnati, Kansas City, and Omaha, before finally moving to Sacramento.
In play: Skylab was the U.S.'s first manned space station. Conceived as a spin-off from the Apollo moon program, Skylab entered orbit in May, 1973; the station was damaged during launch and deployment, but was sufficiently functional to host three manned missions in 1973 and 1974.
Skylab was only in space for 6 years before it de-orbited. Despite NASA’s efforts, debris did fall on populated areas, one of which was Esperanza, Australia who fined NASA $400 for littering.
The poor Kings were the Royals in Rochester and Cincinnati, but were renamed the Kings when they moved to Kansas City to avoid confusion with the baseball team. The team initially split its home games between KC and Omaha, but eventually played most of its home games in Kansas City.
In play: Every state in the US has laws against littering. Maryland, however, has one of the harshest penalties. For litter that exceeds 500 pounds, the fine can be as high as $30,000, and the jail time can be as much as five years.
Minor correction: Esperance, Australia, not Esperanza. There does not appear to be any place named Esperanza, Australia.
In play —
According to CVC §42001.7 (the California Vehicle Code), for littering in the state the first conviction includes a fine of between $100 and $1,000 with at least eight hours of litter cleanup. For a second conviction the fine is between $500 and $1,000 with at least 16 hours of litter cleanup. For subsequent convictions the fine is between $750 and $1,000 with at least 24 hours of litter cleanup.
In Thailand, it is a legal offense to throw litter in the street, to leave the house if you are not wearing underwear, or to step on a banknote.
In Esperance, West Australia, in 1979 the $400 littering fine on the NASA debris search team for Skylab’s 1979 de-orbit debris was not paid by NASA. It was paid by citizens listening on a radio talk show. The town (pop. approx. 12,000) had hoped to display the NASA check in their local museum.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958, insisted that it be a civilian space agency, contrasting it with the military-run Soviet space program. Eisenhower successfully resisted pressure from the Department of Defense to turn the space program over to the U.S. military, as did his successor, John F. Kennedy.
Ida Elizabeth Stover (1862-1946) was born in Virginia and was raised primarily by her grandparents and aunt and uncle. When told she couldn’t attend high school, she left home and graduated from high school at age 19. She followed two of her brothers to Kansas, where, while a student at Lane University, she met her future husband, David Jacob Eisenhower. Married in 1885, the couple had seven sons, one of which died in infancy. The third son, Dwight, became the 34th president of the United States.
Lane University, in Lecompton, Kansas, was founded in 1865, and operated by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. In 1902, the denomination purchased another small Kansas college, Campbell Normal University, and merged the two schools, forming Campbell College.
Campbell College then merged with Kansas City University in 1913.
Penny Lane is a street in Liverpool made famous by the Beatles.
Penny Lane was a character, played by Kate Hudson, in the 2000 comedy-drama movie Almost Famous, about a rock band that never quite makes the big time.
Kate Hudson is the daughter of actress Goldie Hawn and actor/comedian/musician Bill Hudson. Her parents divorced when she was 18 months old, and she, along with her brother Oliver Hudson, were raised by her mother and Hawn’s longtime boyfriend Kurt Russell. Hudson has stated that she has no relationship with her biological father and considers Russell her father.
Hudson’s father, Bill Hudson, later married actress Cindy Williams of Laverne & Shirley fame.
Over the course of a long career, Kurt Russell has played a boy who kicked Elvis Presley in the leg (It Happened at the World’s Fair, his screen debut), an Olympic hockey coach (Miracle), a badass former soldier (Escape from New York), a firefighter (Backdraft), a superhero dad (Sky High), a villainous stuntman (Grindhouse) and a heroic former mayor of New York (Poseidon), among many other roles.
In the early 1970s, Kurt Russell pursued a career as a professional baseball player. Russell was a second baseman in the California Angels farm system from 1971 until early 1973, when he suffered a torn rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder while turning a double play.
Later in 1973, Russell served as a designated hitter for the Portland Mavericks, an independent minor-league team which was owned by his father, Bing Russell. After the 1973 season, Kurt ended his baseball career, and returned to acting full-time.
A photo of Russell during his time with the Portland Mavericks:
Kurt Russell made a total of twelve movies for Walt Disney Studios over a ten-year period in the 1960s-1970s, mostly family-friendly fare such as Follow Me. Boys! (with Fred MacMurray) and The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (with Cesar Romero and Joe Flynn).
He was also playing in a Disney Studios production, The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band with Goldie Hawn (who was making her big-screen debut); she would later become his real-life leading lady (Wikipedia uses the label ‘partner’) following the death of his wife in 1983.
-“BB”-