pencil and paper: n. An archaic information storage and
transmission device that works by depositing smears of graphite on
bleached wood pulp. More recent developments in paper-based
technology include improved `write-once' update devices which use
tiny rolling heads similar to mouse balls to deposit colored
pigment. All these devices require an operator skilled at so-called
`handwriting' technique. These technologies are ubiquitous outside
hackerdom, but nearly forgotten inside it. Most hackers had
terrible handwriting to begin with, and years of keyboarding tend to
have encouraged it to degrade further. Perhaps for this reason,
hackers deprecate pencil-and-paper technology and often resist using
it in any but the most trivial contexts.
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