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If it didn’t already exist, it would have to be invented ―
It is always operational, simple to use and needs no electricity. It never needs to be washed and has no side effects. It comes in every colour and in all forms. Women use it, men too and kids anyway. It can be found in Oslo and Cape Town, in desert tents and in spacecrafts, in the tropics and in the Arctic. At home, it lies next to the telephone, in the office next to the laptop. It can be found in wornout handbags and the finest sport jackets. People doodle with it, write their names in guest books and cheque books, sign contracts, write poems and love letters. The ballpoint pen. As universal as the people who use it.