Editing The Pen Addict 154/transcript (section)

== Morse Code ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' So, I was away this weekend and I stayed in a hotel and it reminded me of something from way back in the show's history. Like, I don't know where it was, but it's way back in the history of this show. I stayed in a Marriott hotel and they had one of the Marriott pens on the desk. Now, the Marriott pens have these dashes on them and I took a picture of it and sent it to you because I can't remember. I think somebody wrote in and asked us where are these from.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yes, someone sent it to us and said, does this mean anything? Because it looks like Morse code, but just the dash portion of Morse code. It's a non-sequential pattern of dashes on the Marriott pen. And we spent a long time on that. That had to be... That was in the early days of the show. And I don't think we ever got a clear answer. I don't think we ever got anything beyond that's just the design of it. And they did some, like, pinstripes on the side of the pen. It doesn't necessarily mean anything. But it was funny when you sent me that. I couldn't believe when you did that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, because there is no... There is a reason, but we don't know what the reason is. Because this pattern was specifically chosen. It must have been because it's not random.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's not random, yes.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's like a dot and then a small dash and then a bigger dash and a bigger dash and a bigger dash. It means something. We just don't know what it means. So now, I mean, the show's audience is larger. There will be new people that didn't hear the first episode. If you know what this means, we want to know. It's not Morse code. Yeah, it'll be in the show notes. Relay.fm slash penaddict slash 154.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I really still want to know.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, I guess they are progressively evenly longer. I don't know. It drives me crazy.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Either you or somebody contacted Marriott, right? Mm-hmm.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I'll have to dig through my email because we got something in the email. I don't know if I ever brought it back up on the show after that. I'll have to see if I have something that can bring us to closure. But it's just one of those things that drives me crazy.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yep.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And it kind of ties in with this next link I have, Myke. Have you seen this picture I put in the show notes? Let me send it to the chat room. So Apple on their jobs page has a picture of, you know, it looks like a team looking at the Apple Watch. They all have sketchbooks, pencils, and pens out on the page. And someone tweeted this picture to me, said, hey, do I know what these pens are? They said the pencils in the cup are the Muji colored pencils. But they said I can't make out the pen. And I'm wondering if it's a Muji pen, too. But the first thing I thought of was the Pilot Razor 2, which is one of the really, really old school pens that I love. It's been around since the 70s, I think, at least the 80s, if not before. And, you know, I sent them that link. And it really looks like it, especially the one with the guy on the right holding it in his hand. But it looks more like a rollerball tip instead of like a drawing tip pen. But the barrel looks really like it. And the cap looks like it. But then you flip over to the one laying in the middle of the book, in the middle of the picture. And it's got some markings on the cap, which the Razor 2 does not have. And then the woman holding it on the left, the end of the barrel has a recessed bit, like for your cap to rest on when you post the pen. Which is another non-feature of the Razor 2. So I came up with the Razor 2 just in looks because that cap looks dead on. But there's lots of other things that don't make it add up. So we have two research items for our listeners. The Marriott pen and the Apple Jobs page. What pen are they using? They even snuck another pen. It looks like the same model pen, but in orange in the pencil cup. Which makes me wonder if they're from Muji as well. And it's just not one we've seen before.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So I may be blowing this wide open here. Good. But do you know they're Muji? Because I know that Apple have for sale in their company store coloring pencils. Okay. That are Apple branded. That look just like that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, I'm not sure. I'm not 100% sure.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Because I've seen them in a presentation box of an Apple logo on the front. So they may actually be just white label goods with Apple logos on.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But they don't publish their store online. You have to physically go there, right? No. Like you can't see what they sell. No.