Here is one to ponder

[Peter Nevai]

Not CL related, yet a engineering challange none the less.
Design a product, that can convey communications on any available media, with excellent performance charachteristics. It has to be compact, durable, and simple to operate. Be able to function unhindered and equally well in the vacum of space and the extreme pressures underwater in the deepest ocean. The retail cost of the device must be affordable to any average person.

Oh it must have built in redundancy

Ok have at it, this should be revealing.

[Gary James]

A pencil

[Peter Nevai]

A pencil

Give the man a cigar, you would not believe how many engineers Ive run this by, that went into some complicated solutions. Yup, writes underwater, and in space, is lightweight, and compact, it is fully redundant, as if the point breaks, just about all you have to do to get it to work again is chip away some of the wood, and can be had for under a buck. The grease pencil answer would have worked as well.

The pen deserves honerable mention, except a pen has no redundancy.

[PJ Rowland]

During the development of the space program

One Nation Spent Millions of dollars to develop a pen that wrote in Zero gravity - Another Nation used a Pencil.

This is an old (sic) Urban legend.

[rustler]

I don't understand.

"...on any available media," - How does a pencil convey communications on e.g. the internet? Radio/Television? Telephone?

[jim gilmore]

Personally I was gonna suggest just a finger....

[Chris Wilson]

I don't understand.

"...on any available media," - How does a pencil convey communications on e.g. the internet? Radio/Television? Telephone?

Should be  -
"...on any available medium," as defined by "A trade name for printing and writing paper of certain sizes. See Paper."

[Douglas Ames]

A Pet Rock... 

[Brett Buck]

Another Nation used a Pencil.

   No they didn't - too likely to get grit in the works. And the Fisher space pen was developed on company money.

    Brett

[PJ Rowland]

There was no facts to my quote..

I did mention under that it was an Urban Legend. - I have no idea who used what In space.

[Allan Perret]

"convey communications"   ?  

You must be an engineer, I would have just said "communicate"

 

[Larry Cunningham]

I would have just said "write"..

And I AM an engineer. ;->

However, I was thinking of a combination blue tooth/USB/wifi/3G iPencil (tm) tablet, with pull out retracting window shade transparent hi-res display and tear off Post-It note paper roll (in 4 popular colors), clickable select waterproof/erasable pens in black/blue/red/orange/yellow or graphite based pencil in shades 4H through 1B, plus microphone, speaker, camera, toothbrush/shaver/mustache and eyebrow trimmer/comb, awl, can opener, saw, pliers, LED flashlight, scissors, knife blade, ivory toothpick, hypo-allergenic key chain and ring, leather-looking fob with optional NASA/BMW/Porsche/Ford badge.. (can be used as a flotation device) Includes charger: 100/115/240V 50/60/400Hz AC : 2 or 3 phase (Wye or Delta wired) or 1.5/5/6/12/28/100VDC with cigarette light plug-in. (LiPo batteries and 8 TB flash memory chip optional.)

..so you won't forget, order before midnight tonight!

L.

"Either do as your neighbors do, or move away." -Moroccan Proverb

[Rafael Gonzalez]

It is not unhindered. You have to have light to see the pencil writings deep underwater... It is not redundant if the light source breaks either....  

[RC Storick]

Sign Language

[Chris Wilson]

Sign Language

How would human signing work in the 'extreme pressures underwater in the deepest ocean?'