Man, I’d hate to have to listen to you in an art museum…
“WTF is this “Mona Lisa”!?! There’s no practical purpose to have some hundreds of years old painting hanging in a space that could better be used for a power plant or nutrient algae tanks. Why waste resources providing security and space for something that obviously has no “real” purpose!”.
If you’re going to have a pencil sharpening knife (and yes, the Japanese have a large variety of VERY specialized blades), why not give it an amusing and whimsical appearance that doesn’t interfere with function?
Also, did anyone else note that the pencil knives appear to be forge welded laminated steel? (Drool!)
Ha! I have made many a fence in the day. I am a metal fabricator, Fitter/Welder Steel/Aluminum. Have a boat load of scars now at close too 50 yrs. Some of them my own doing.
Edit: in keeping with the topic,
As a kid I would see the “Old Man” ALWAYS cut his pencils with a knife. Audio/Technical Engineer. Drove the “Old Lady”, Social Justice Consular, up the wall seeing her knifes with pencil lines on the blade. “Use your OWN knives.” she would shriek. A-Yup.
There’s evidence to suggest that although wearing a bicycle helmet can (in quite limited scenarios) help when falling off a bike, it can actually make both the cyclist and motorists around them less safety conscious.
Apparently being a (visually obvious) woman provides far more safety when cycling than wearing a helmet. Unless you’re already a woman of course.
So it should probably be a mandatory cycling wig law.
Your analogy is incredibly flawed on a number of levels.
Firstly, the Mona Lisa is a piece of art, not a dangerous bladed tool. Secondly, the Mona Lisa is a unique historical artifact, not a ubiquitous modern consumer product. Thirdly, the Mona Lisa is kept in a museum, not placed in the hands of children. Fourthly, the Mona Lisa serves a unique function that cannot be served by any other object, rather than being a simple tool whose function is filled by countless other tools similar to it.
But more to the point, none of that is even relevent. You don’t seem to be paying any attention to what I’m actually saying. I do not decry art, nor even mere whimsy. What I decry is when whimsy is used to justify or excuse other significant concerns regarding design, usage, and safety.
You do not give a child candy flavored medicine because they will treat it like candy instead of medicine, which is dangerous. Likewise, you should not give a child a destructive tool that looks like a toy, because they will treat it like a toy instead of a destructive tool, which is dangerous. And you do not justify doing either of these things by citing mere “whimsy”.
The 'lil Maureen cap-o-cauterizer (with ginseng, corn starch and triple-power-capable soldering iron with special tip, available in verglas, felt or polyweave) is an ideal adjunct. Wait. What kind of sore is big now?
Whereas the ‘Shut up and take my money!’ crowd will carve such a future for themselves that the known universe will ring with the sound of their swashbuckling derring-do? Being a mug is being a mug. Not knowing the value of work is no recommendation of a person’s character, much as some may try to frame it that way.
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the part about the rock was good satire. A non sharpening common object sold at ludicrous prices for an purpose it is unsuited for. A modest suggestion made swiftly, to be sure.
The part about the pencil just seemed douchey though. My opinion.
If I want a fancy pencil, and it’s an actual working pencil, could you ever forgive me my own preferences? Or do you have to throw me a sharpening stone for it, from your own transparent domicile?
I need to make some sort of certificate that today I managed to miff someone poking fun at their use of expensive pencils.
I am simply marketing to the proper audience. Someone who spends over $5 on a sharpener is not the one buying the 72 count bulk pack at Walmart for $9.
ETA - “working pencil” - as opposed to what - “for display only”?