R&D Costs

Ballpoint Pen
When NASA first started sending up astronauts, they quickly discovered
that ballpoint pens would not work in zero gravity. To combat the problem,
NASA scientists spent a decade and $12 Billion to develop a pen that
writes in zero gravity, upside down, underwater, on almost any surface
including glass and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to 300C.
The Russians used a pencil.

-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------
Axel Hoffmann - IRC: axel_f - WWW: http://www.schwabing.org/~axel/
Tel.: 089 / 361 80 12 - Fax: 089 / 361 80 23
Email: axel@schwabing.org
-----------------------------------------------------------------