Why this Japanese chalk is being hoarded by mathematicians

Fuck. Hoisted by my own autocorrect…

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Erasers at you.

Nun-propelled chalk at me.

To each his own.

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I use them, but I don’t care much for the plastic waste associated with them.

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It also has that shellac(?) coating on the handle.

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Nun chucks?

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All the things I thought I would do today reading the closing statement from a Japanese chalk making president was definitely never even conceived of but it was an interesting read

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There’s a lot of discussion of this chalk at my (mostly highly rated) MathOverflow question here.

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What’s fun is to cast fake ones out of plaster (complete with angles on the end) and leave them on the chalkboard lip. The screech they make when used is fabulous (from the other end of the building).

I’m just joking; I’ve never done this. But I’m working with plaster now, and this prank occurred to me. As something NOT to do.

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People get really attached to the tools of their trade. A bit like how some small minority of fiction writers are fanatically devoted to WordStar.

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There’s nothing quite like using good chalk on a slate board.

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Does it squeak?

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What, nuns?
Weird…

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Teacher in my high school did this. You always knew the kid that was goofing around in his class…he was the one walking the halls with the chalk eraser shape on his chest.

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Waiting until they find out that chalk dust causes cancer like how they thought asbestos was harmless and used it as snow in The original Wizard of Oz or putting talcum powder on every part of your body, whoops that causes cancer too. Also who wants that nasty chalk dust on your hands, why not just use a white board?

Wait till they confirm the whiteboard pens’ fumes also cause cancer.

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Also, whiteboards have a tendency to stain, depending on what colors you use. If a teacher leaves stuff up on the board for next week’s lecture, removing it is kind of a pain. Whereas chalk is always cleanable.

Chalk is mostly made of tiny shells; it’s been used worldwide for centuries, so I’d think if chalkdust caused cancer, we’d have definitely seen a trend of mathematics professors dropping dead by now.

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When’s the promised second book coming out!!!

There is a special place in hell for people who put non-functional pens back where they found them INSTEAD OF EFFING THROWING THEM AWAY!

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I never knew there was a shortage, but they ARE damn good pencils to draw with.

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