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I had a tiny Gerber Dime multi-tool in the bottom of my backpack -- it had been there for 6 months and at least a dozen flights (including 2 international flights) until finally a screener in Las Vegas found it. It's truly a tiny tool, the blade must be no longer than 3 or 4 cm, so I was surprised that they wanted to confiscate it. I asked him if I could use the larger Leatherman I saw in his discard bin and use it to break off the blade on my tool (the scissors, which were just as long and almost as sharp as the blade were fine, only the blade was a "hazard"), he said "No, that is confiscated contraband, no one is allowed to touch it, and even if you did, you'd have to go all the way back through security"... and wasting another 30 - 40 minutes didn't seem worth it for a $15 tool, so he confiscated it (or took it home and sold it on eBay, who knows, since they don't give receipts for confiscated goods so there's no accountability)

But really, if I were going to kill (or threaten to kill) someone on the plane, I'd use my metal shafted Cross Pen which is much more sturdy than any tiny fold out blade and I think I'd have a better chance of causing injury with it.

I also think you picked a rather ironic day to make that statement, the anniversary of an attack that killed 3,000 people and did $100,000,000,000 damage to the US economy.

Every year, ten times more have their lives abruptly cut off from car accidents alone. That means, as of this anniversary, the deaths from the greatest terrorist attack on American soil cost 1% of the lives as the outcome of something people happily (and not-so-happily) do every day, with little or no concern for their safety. If each of these people had $100,000 insurance, we would be about a third of the way to the same economic cost as the terrorist attack, assuming the only burden their death brought was the insurance payout.

Face it. There are only two reasons you care about this event. First, it's an affront to your (false) sense of security. To assuage that, you do other things to improve your sense of security. The evidence indicates they only return you to that false sense of security. Second, they all died in one small area over a short period of time. Kill each of them, with 9 of their friends each, over the span of a year, and it's just a somewhat upsetting fact of modern living. That's an emotional response with no logical basis on the safety of the average citizen. And yes, that means that a vehicle safety improvement that reduces risk of death by 10% will save more lives than those lost in the Twin towers. Each year. So, which one seems a better use of our resources, and yields a better quality of life?

Contrary to the myopic view of some people, the point isn't to spread fear, or to get people to live in fear, but rather to take reasonable precautions. Keeping hand grenades off planes is a reasonable precaution.

Well, I can hardly disagree. So that explains about 70 confiscations per year that the TSA has performed. Now, please explain to my why this applies to nail clippers, but not a nice pen with a reasonably sharp tip and a nice long metal body? Or 3 ounces of fluid? Even breast milk in a baby bottle, accompanied by said baby?

I'm not saying 9/11 wasn't a tragedy. It certainly was. All the daily activities in my life stopped for about 2 hours, as it did for everyone else in the office where I was working. And I was half a continent and a different country away. And I'm not saying reasonable precautions shouldn't be taken. It's the myriad unreasonable ones I'm frustrated with, and the attitude that there is no such thing as too much intrusion in order to stop the next really big terrorist attack, even though it took about 40 years of hostage takings on planes to get one of this significance. I swear, people won't be happy until airplanes look like they did in The Fifth Element (which was actually a spaceship, but the form factor and purpose was identical).

• Apple 17" PowerBook G4
  
• Apple PowerBook Charger
  
• Unversity textbooks
  
• Pens and pencils from Cross
  

If this does pass and the VCR is held accountable for copyright infringement, then it sets some interesting precedent: Who's to say then that gun manufacturers couldn't be held liable for shooting deaths - They know their products, which some contend have "legitmate uses", are also used to conduct violent crimes. Auto manufacturers know their products are used as getaway vehicles, cell phone manufacturers know that drug dealers and pimps use their products to conduct "business", etc, etc, etc...Heck, even Dixon Ticonderoga and Cross could be held liable - people write down shady things, bad checks, commit plagerism, and stab people in the neck with their products, and where's the public outcry? Where's the massive multicorporate lobbyist pressure to outlaw these sticks of doom?

Is a mighty pen. I'm not sure how much more mightier than the sword, though I'm not rough and tough so I will have to pit wit against sword ...

This pen is classic - torpedo shaped with the widest portion of the pen near the clip and hence where the pen rests in the space between thumb and index finger. This is important when writing fast.

Because it is titanium it is extremely light - but this places a premium on the refills. Always buy Cross refills! That's important with a light pen because it's very easy to push down and tire the hand out - easy to do when so much writing is done with a word processor. I use the ballpoint model.

I have the pen and pencil and each retails for about $110.00 - though there are models starting at around &75.00.

This has been my exclusive pen for three years now. The pen seems to stand up to any weight of paper and the refills are of high enough quality it can draw lines without losing ink on the ballpoint. This is great for making quick workflow and functional drawings on paper. Seems to work on a single sheet on the table or in a notebook with no loss of writing quality.

Cross Townsend Ball-Point Pens.

Personally I like the Cross Ion. It's small, easy to carry, quick to use. As long as you don't mind gel ink, it's great. I've used mine for almost a year straight, and loved it. It's also fun to flip open like a switchblade...
Makes for a good pocket pen, and it really confuses your friends when you hand it to them unopened.

I was looking at Mont Blanc pens... and unfortunately I'm a bit stingy. While they ARE a *very* fine writing instrument, I'm currently EXTREMELY happy with the Cross ATX pen. It's only $60, and comes in either a medium or fine nib. It can use both cartridges and inkwells, beacuse it has a built-in inkwell plunger cartridge. Definitely a great pen for the money, but the fine nib is a little hard to keep whetted.

I just don't see the sense in paying more than $150 for a pen, unless I'm signing multi-million dollar contracts every day. ;-)

I tend to be pretty snobby about the pens I buy, which is a shame, because I lose an assload of them. With that in mind:

The Pilot Razor Point is cheap enough to be bought in quantity, and has a hard plastic nib a little like a fountain pen. It has a nice scratchy feel to it.

The Cross Ion is considerably more expensive. It'll run you about $20 for a pen if you buy it at Staples or an equivalent store. It's also not that fun to write with, honestly - too small, hard plastic with edges in the wrong places. However, the pen telescopes shut and has a small ring-clip for attaching it to your keys, or the inside of a 3-ring binder.

I would much rather have a pencil not only because it's eraseable (mentioned already), but because you don't need to worry about getting it on your clothes or it exploding. I would have to vote for the Cross Classic Century Pencil...

It's very comfortable, and lasts a long time. The only disadvantage is that it does NOT work as a small pry-bar...which is why I need to buy a new one ;)

Not directly from my company, but from one I used to work with most days as part of my previous position; a rather nifty Cross ION Pen. Arrived in the post this morning, and actually worked straight out of the box (i.e. no endless scribbling across nine pads of A4 before the ink decides to flow). Also has a smart keyring attachment that clips over the nib, so it's now taken pride of place on my house keys (finally replacing my very old - and quite knackered - micro Swiss Army knife).

Cross pen company makes fantastic pens. But in case you can't write down that URL you see, now you can scan it with one of their pens.

How does this product make sense??

I have been using my Cross IPEN with my laptop for a couple of years now and have achieved the same functionality that this new product will provide (sans actual paper).

It is much more convenient to work with a pen like device when only one hand is available I have found (no, the other hand isn't anywhere near my pants).

Byzandula

I personally would like to see the crosspad crossbred with a Palm Pilot!

Sounds a lot like the Cross Pad.

"Sweet creeping zombie Jesus!"

Cross (makers of pens with three-or-more-digit price tags) makes writing pads that are a step towards smart paper; look here. The technology they use is a few years old, licensed from IBM. I believe they're also priced sub-$200.