Mathematicians Are Hoarding a Type of Japanese Chalk

Re:Mathematicians Are Hoarding a Type of Japanese Chalk by hkmurakami on Tuesday June 16, 2015 @01:34AM (#9723984)

I remember news of the demise of the company hitting Japanese media outlets a couple of months ago. Here are some tidbits from that article that weren't covered by the Gizmodo piece:

- A group of American mathematicians reportedly purchased 1 metric ton of the chalk.

- Hagoromo was a technologically pioneering company, with things like (1) innovations in a greener manufacturing process for chalk, (2) chalk that can write on a wet blackboard surface, and (3) colored chalk that could be discerned by people who are color blind.

- The company is shutting down not because of revenue problems, but because of the ailing health of the President and lack of a successor. Iirc the current president is the 3rd head of the company in its history.

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Re:Mathematicians Are Hoarding a Type of Japanese Chalk by MichaelCrawford on Tuesday June 16, 2015 @07:18AM (#9724997)

"Lack of a successor".

This is a very common problem these days; during the winter I bought a sweater at a Portland outdoor gear shop after searching all over creation for real wool clothing as it was a bitterly cold winter.

The owner told me that he could not find someone to buy his store as everyone shops online these days. When he retires he's just going to shut it down.

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Re:Mathematicians Are Hoarding a Type of Japanese Chalk by jotm on Tuesday June 16, 2015 @10:33AM (#9726052)

Can't he hire someone who would go online?

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