Haha. This thing blew my mind. A whole FORUM dedicated to writing utensils?Stop using those damn cheap Bics and use a more tactile fountain pen. Your hands will thank you.
http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/
I think our very own patrickgeekhack is a pen aficionado. A few others as well if I recall.
Dude, I'm willing to be there are people here who are proud members of both sites. Someone started a thread a ways back on favorite writing instruments and the participation was rather healthy.
Stab me in the heart will ya?Show Image(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4118/4883436900_e67885d832_z.jpg)
Dude, I'm willing to be there are people here who are proud members of both sites.
Stop using those damn cheap Bics and use a more tactile fountain pen. Your hands will thank you.
I wonder if there are some heavy collectors on there who have so much pens and other writing utensils that they have to store it catalogued on shelves.
erm... *cough*
Haha. This thing blew my mind. A whole FORUM dedicated to writing utensils?
http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/
Ok, that is kinda intresting... So pens could cost more than good keyboard...
Thinking of it current keyboard manufacturers/models seem quite limited compared to pens...
Really? I spend most of my time in the penmanship subforum.
Ah man. I don't think anyone got the joke. Well, it was SUPPOSED to be a sarcastic comment, seeing as this is a forum on writing utensils as well. Anyway, I shouldn't be too disappointed, as this turned out to be a rather lively thread anyways.
Ah man. I don't think anyone got the joke. Well, it was SUPPOSED to be a sarcastic comment, seeing as this is a forum on writing utensils as well. Anyway, I shouldn't be too disappointed, as this turned out to be a rather lively thread anyways.
That's the problem with written communication without body language or tone. Sorry to misinterpret what you wanted to achieve.
3 sheaffer snorkels. (my favs - masterfully engineered and intricate filling system). Two of which I re-built from scratch with snorkel part pens and hunting around manhattan's many pen shops.
1 namiki vanishing point (retractable). probably my most expensive. navy blue :) Great engineering again.
2 Esterbrooks from the '50s (both of which I re-built from part pens. I did find NIB nibs for them). Like them a lot, broad, fat, and historical Americana. Colonel Potter on MASH uses them ;)
2 Parker Rialtos/Place Vendomes. Love the stiff nibs, compact size, and the balance and weight-in-hand is about perfect.
Assorted: Lamy safari, a Cross, a couple of Pilot Customs.
And I recently converted to Noodlers. Never knew ink could make such a difference.
Very nice collection Welly, very nice. I have stopped looking for other pens when I discovered italic nibs.
dip or fill?
which one of your pens do you use most often?
Then there is also: ink and paper.
I didnt get into penmanship/paper so much (probably because of my "atrocious"* handwriting). For accoutrements I veered towards other paraphernalia -- I have a lovely collection of pen stands and ink wells. Some of the older fancier ones are really works of art unto themselves.
*direct quote from my 3rd grade English teacher. She said it so many times I eventually looked the word up in the dictionary. lol. But yea, my handwriting is awful.
Waterman Phileas.
At the end of the day, I am much poorer than I was in January 2009.
Patrick - the Rotring Art Pen should be available at any Art store - pretty common around here. It's great for Calligraphy (1.9 and 2.3 for me are my favorites) and my son uses a EF version for sketching - I haven't gotten around to trying different inks with it since the combo of ink/pen works better than others I've tried.
writing with fountain pens always reminds me of my grandfather. he was one of the more sane members of my family, so its a warm and fuzzy memory for me.
he wrote exclusively with fountain pens (he seemed to think the ball point pen was Satan's plan for ruining young peoples handwriting).
If you think about it, the ball point pen does hurt handwriting a lot. Some people have been telling me that handwriting is a lost art since we have so many electronic gadgets for that now. I usually reply, that this not totally true. Exams are still being handwritten even at university leve. Now, imagine the person correcting the papers, who have been going through really bad handwriting and then stumbled upon a very well written copy. Even if this student made some mistakes, chances are he/she will be able to get away on some of the mistakes. I used to get a few extra marks because of how I presented my math answers.
do you do calligraphy like on greeting cards? I always envied people with good handwriting. I never seemed to have the eye-hand coordination for it, lol.
My sister was the painter, I was the 'musician'.
These days it's mainly cards but I used to take notes in Chancerey cursive when I got bored in class.
They have the "Clubs, Meetings and Events" section. something that hasn't really been pulled off here yet.
I don't know what style of cursive I write in. It's the kind I learned in school a long time ago. Maybe I'll scan a little bit of it for you all.
Well, I scanned a sample of my writing. Here it is:Show Image(http://geekhack.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=12100&stc=1&d=1281575260)
One thing I think reduces the quality more than a bad pen is crap paper, I really loathe crappy paper because you can never make anything work with it.
I actually never use pens for normal writing. I'm a very big fan of pencils. And they got to be good pencils.
I did this book over the past summer
http://www.amazon.com/Write-Now-Complete-Program-Handwriting/dp/0876781180/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1
...
oddly enough the news story that made me regret how horrible my handwriting is, was lindsay lohan
http://www.popeater.com/2010/07/09/lindsay-lohan-notes/
i was simply floored at how beautiful that block lettering was.
Stab me in the heart will ya?Show Image(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4118/4883436900_e67885d832_z.jpg)
Anyway, Patrick is this you by any chance? Because this youtube channel features videos of kbs you own, and it is similarly named.
http://www.youtube.com/user/patrickgetsontube?feature=chclk#p/u/4/hX125XQPpsQ
Nice Space Pen you have there, I found one at school once, but my friend wanted it so bad he stole my car keys until I gave him the pen.I had a flat black one but I lost it...the finish didn't help me at all when trying to find it
They have letter exchange too :-) Just like the past when teenagers around the world would use IYS (International Youth Services) to find penpals and exchange letters.
So what's the fountain pen equivalent of the Model M? Common, cheap, and classic?
My writing gets a little crooked when I don't have lined paper, but it isn't too bad.
Stop using those damn cheap Bics and use a more tactile fountain pen.Some Bic Pens (http://penhero.com/PenGallery/BIC/BICLE.htm) are not cheap. I've been trying to find another one of these Bic after loosing mine on a train, many Years ago. No one would sell even though the sum offered was quite substantial. Am still searching.....NB. the refills are cheap though. You'll be very surprised by the number of collectors with sentiment for Bic, although calligraphers believe biros destroyed penmanship.
I wonder if there are some heavy collectors out there who......
Haha. This thing blew my mind. A whole FORUM dedicated to writing utensils?
http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/
Some Bic Pens (http://penhero.com/PenGallery/BIC/BICLE.htm) are not cheap. I've been trying to find another one of these Bic after loosing mine on a train, many Years ago. No one would sell even though the sum offered was quite substantial. Am still searching.....NB. the refills are cheap though. You'll be very surprised by the number of collectors with sentiment for Bic, although calligraphers believe biros destroyed penmanship.
........and "yes", you wonder correctly...........
I hate gel pens. I love mechanical pencils, though. The Pentel Techniclick was my all-time favorite.
One thing about keyboards though - they are less expensive to collect.
so true. its kinda funny to think of a single ink pen costing as much or more than the average mechanical keyboard. They're so pricey.
Dude, I'm willing to be there are people here who are proud members of both sites. Someone started a thread a ways back on favorite writing instruments and the participation was rather healthy.
the Lamy Safari is a really good place to start.
I imagine somewhere on the FPN site someone posted a thread saying, look guys, a keyboard fetish site! imagine that! ;)
If someone is registered there could try to search and post here, too bored to register myself... ;D
As to Fonts and wotnots, I find no other peer to Ann Finley, the Master (Mistress) of many Scripts (http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2035).
I think that person is adding far too many rules.
If EVERYONE followed that exactly, writing would be identical. English was a lot better before an attempted standardized reform came along.
In America we encourage diversity.
Notorious B.I.G., Ready To Die
TRANSLATION by Oakland High School Student
As a general rule, I perform deviant sexual acts with women of all kinds, including but not limited to those with limited intellect, nude magazine models, and prostitutes. I particularly enjoy sexual encounters with the latter group as they are generally disappointed in the fact that they only receive penile intercourse and nothing more, unless of course, they douche on a consistent basis. Although I am extremely unattractive, I am able to engage in these types of sexual acts with some regularity. Perhaps my sexuality is somehow related to my fancy and expensive jewelry.
thats the kind of question that could spawn 20 pages at the fpn site. ;)
what do you think, patrick? FP world is a bit different from KB world maybe. So many models, not sure there is a "go to" standard-setter the way the M is. And usually not cheap! I think there are probably short lists of widely acclaimed favorites though.
parker jotters are fairly collectible (apparently they come in something like 50 different (and hard to find) colors around the world). The nice thing about parker ballpoints is the refill lasts forever (and is available worldwide) and the click mechanism is so solid and reliable. The barrel is too thin for my tastes though.Show Image(http://img.ffffound.com/static-data/assets/6/4f85146289daec077d8ee7eb9dc836ca63fe990e_m.jpg)
speaking of M candidates, I'd say in the Ballpoint world, the parker jotter is the M of ballpoints though.
maybe the lamy safari is the M of fp's.
Yep, kinda strange how much pen can cost, on other hand how keyboard can cost less, even with over hundred indivual parts and so on. Also likely pens sell more than most mechanical keyboards...
There's video on YouTube which talked about a Russion millionairess who commissioned a pen from Mont Blanc. The pen was more than $100,000 (can't remember the exact amount). Because she could not decide between two colours, she bought two pens. I cannot see a Topre keyboard getting close to such an amount.
So one of the hi-price is Optimus Maximus, which isn't the writer's tool exactly...
List:
http://thehottestgadgets.com/2008/11/top-10-most-expensive-keyboards-001833
Hmm, I have been thinking about keyboard made "entirely" from metal steel/aluminium likely some sort of mangesium based(like Think Pads) would be good too, hand made ofc...
In America we encourage diversity.
Notorious B.I.G., Ready To Die
TRANSLATION by Oakland High School Student
As a general rule, I perform deviant sexual acts with women of all kinds, including but not limited to those with limited intellect, nude magazine models, and prostitutes. I particularly enjoy sexual encounters with the latter group as they are generally disappointed in the fact that they only receive penile intercourse and nothing more, unless of course, they douche on a consistent basis. Although I am extremely unattractive, I am able to engage in these types of sexual acts with some regularity. Perhaps my sexuality is somehow related to my fancy and expensive jewelry.
i think i'm gonna try trolling this over on the fountain pen forum and see what happens........
It's a very nice forum where I have not seen any trolling. I admit I have not read every single thread there, but on the ones I've read, I've not seen any trolling.
speaking of which, I wonder how FPN is administered. Do they have strict moderators? I have to imagine that every site, even one as gentlemanly as FPN, must gets its share of hairy bridge-dwelling visitors from time to time. But you're right, I too have not seen trolls at FPN. I wonder how they managed that.
Think of all those many years I wasted in my childhood, practicing the now lost art of writing on paper.
So, when most of the members have experience these switches, they probably start to look at the posts from a different perspective. In a way, members move from No Knowledge>Some knowledge>Contribute>"Bored"
In the pen world, it seems that the sky is the limit when it comes to pen.
And because everyone sticks to the topic (easier to do on such forums), things generally don't get out of hands.
I often hear that the art of writing is a lost art. I don't think this is entirely true. This may be true for some people but not for everyone. For example, many exams are still being handwritten at university level, aren't they? The technology is not there yet to allow people to type their answers in the exam hall. I am a firm believer that writing and presenting my answer well is a sure way of "bribing" whoever is correcting my answers. Having a nice handwriting gives me an edge because of those who don't care about their handwriting.
I've had a few older co-workers of my fiance say to us (cuz we're like 30 and the youngest ppl they know) that thier kids stop learning how to write at 5th/6th grade and almost exclusively use laptops.
I've had a few older co-workers of my fiance say to us (cuz we're like 30 and the youngest ppl they know) that thier kids stop learning how to write at 5th/6th grade and almost exclusively use laptops.
I've had a few older co-workers of my fiance say to us (cuz we're like 30 and the youngest ppl they know) that thier kids stop learning how to write at 5th/6th grade and almost exclusively use laptops.
I wonder what this would look like: Imagine a penmanship forum (or subforum), where every post is required to be handwritten and scanned in as jpg. (or, inked on tablet maybe). No typing allowed at all in any post.
WELL now.....
That's too early in my opinion too. I've heard more and more students taking laptops to classes in high school. If they also have access to a wireless network, I wonder how many of them are spending their time on IM rather than listening to what is going on in class.
when in an office environment it becomes easier/fast/better to leave a text than a real physical sticky,
Handwriting is largely dying out as a necessity in the modern world. It's easy to get bogged down in the romanticism of it all, but the reality is that there's a serious problem with people coming out of schools with poor grasps of mathematics, sciences, and foreign languages - all of which are desperately needed by the all-consuming economic monster. Instead, when children go into school, when they're at the peak of their ability to learn, they're being bombarded with useless things like handwriting, religious brainwashing, and over here - dead languages that no one speaks. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_language)
Besides, isn't there a problem with people not knowing one end of a computer from another? Teach useful things with computers - sounds like a way to kill two birds with one stone.
when in an office environment it becomes easier/fast/better to leave a text than a real physical sticky, then we'll know that the pen is finally dead and corporations start to turn a profit.(cuz they no longer have to buy 2tons of pens a year, only for 99% of them to be stolen)
and attention spans drop, and linear thinking never develops...
hand-writing an essay, versus putting it together in word processor -- very different mental techniques are used, IMHO. Linear thought (and requiring longer attention spans) vs random access (and requiring shorter attention spans).
Sometimes i honestly believe the loss of Linear Thought Skills is going to be the downfall of our species. Then I realize I sound like an old man. But really, I wonder about that.
Bring back the pen! Save the species! :)
well we can sort of do that now by sending an SMS (made even easier with a smartphone). In our office SMS messages outnumber even emails like 4 to 1 if not more. Even things like 'out to lunch back at 2' which formerly would go on a postit.
Writing is the same as speaking, it'll never truly vanish. One interesting thing though, since so many people are using technology to communicate, there will be a huge gap of history missing... whereas all the letters of people from the past were all kept preserved.
lol, i would actually like that bic :)You have a good eye.
Work which requires extensive use of the right brain usually does not get shipped overseas. A good chef's work cannot be shipped overseas nor can the work of a good teacher. Writing lines of code however can be shipped overseas.
Current market value of that BIC is US $2000, and no sellers.
Photo of item is a bit tarnished, with a bit of "spit n polish", it's a sight to behold.
Writing does help remembering though. In one of my courses, the prof allowed us to bring a cheat sheet. After having written down information, I found myself not need the sheet at all.
Writing does help remembering though. In one of my courses, the prof allowed us to bring a cheat sheet. After having written down information, I found myself not need the sheet at all.
I think this has to do w/ the type of learner you, for instance I am a visual-spatial leaner, i learn by interacting and engaging, while others can learn by straight reading. This why i've taken to painfullly writing down my projects in folders rather than using excel on them. It just makes it more relatable to me.
I think this has to do w/ the type of learner you, for instance I am a visual-spatial leaner, i learn by interacting and engaging, while others can learn by straight reading. This why i've taken to painfullly writing down my projects in folders rather than using excel on them. It just makes it more relatable to me.
thats an interesting way of looking at it! I never thought of it in terms of concrete economic advantages. But yea, "artistic" skills usually arent commodities the way manufactured/systematized products are.
^--- lol i wonder if grade schoolers even have pen pals anymore? i know i did back in 2nd grade? now they prolly just email their new buddies!
Something I found interesting in comparing the use of a keyboard and the use of a pen is the notion of importance of speed. When typing, most of us would like to increase our WPM. A keyboard which slows us down will not get used much.
On the other hand, in the pen world like on the FPN, "slowing down" or "taking time" are things that are explicitly or implicitly implied.
^--- lol i wonder if grade schoolers even have pen pals anymore? i know i did back in 2nd grade? now they prolly just email their new buddies!
Well, talk about random other forums, here's a lighting forum:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/
Hey, they've got wayyyy more members than us, so they must be doing something right...
Candlepower is a very enLIGHTening forum.
I used them extensively researching battery chargers for photo equipment. Got this awesome charger using their info.Show Image(http://www.thomasdistributing.com/shop/images/mh-c9000-lg-sq.jpg)
Plus if you like dinking around by supercharging green lasers. My son has one of those.
Flashlights I find pretty boring though.
thats fascinating. I confess I apparently have a thing for flashlights. I mean, in the sense that, i have pretty specific likes and dislikes in terms of features and looks, and apparently i've actually put some thought into it.
i've also thought a lot about umbrellas. I bet there is an umbrella forum.
seriously. For a while i was on a quest to find an unbreakable umbrella (gust buster ftw. built in flaps that open up if the wind blows it the wrong way, prevents it from turning inside out). They also have umbrellas with 'unbreakable' kevlar skeletons, for instance.
and the neat-o mechanisms for auto-open and auto-close (the latter is more rare as a feature, and is very neat if you ask me). I had an auto-close one for a while and funnily i got a lot of comments on it whenever i closed it with the push of a button while others were struggling to close theirs before going inside. It was popular :) The mechanism didnt last long tho (about 6 months) before breaking.
Damn, how did the auto-close work? Seems like it would be a difficult mechanism to put into practice. Probably why it broke so soon lol
I've never taken a laptop to school. I have to write all my notes by hand, if not out of preference then out of sheer force of habit.
Candlepower is a very enLIGHTening forum.
I used them extensively researching battery chargers for photo equipment. Got this awesome charger using their info.Show Image(http://www.thomasdistributing.com/shop/images/mh-c9000-lg-sq.jpg)
Plus if you like dinking around by supercharging green lasers. My son has one of those.
Flashlights I find pretty boring though.
I hate gel pens. I love mechanical pencils, though. The Pentel Techniclick was my all-time favorite.
Actually, I even have trouble adapting to the latest paper technology known as loose-leaf. Everybody I know just takes a binder full of loose-leaf to school, takes down notes and then sorts the day's notes at home (into a pile for math, a pile for English, etc.). That means that all you need to take to school is a single binder with a little bit of paper in it. What I do is lug around individual notebooks for each class.
I might try the loose-leaf thing though.
On this subject, my mom was in Lebanon for the last month and I only had one request: Rotring Tikky 1.0 mechanical pencils. Best things evar. 0.5s are scratchy and 0.7s are weak - 1.0s are amazing, and I could never find them in Canada. I'd been using the same one from Dubai for like 5 years and now I have 3 more. Yay. I've never been able to use wooden pencils.
This is what my old one looks like:Show Image(http://mono-tomo.up.seesaa.net/image/DSCF1782.JPG)
This is what the new ones look like:Show Image(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_AfrPaG3Klqo/SuNBSrjMsrI/AAAAAAAAEXI/HqVEm7_oYzI/s640/Photo+003.jpg)
http://davesmechanicalpencils.blogspot.com/2009/10/rotring-tikky-mechanical-pencil-review.html
On this subject, my mom was in Lebanon for the last month and I only had one request: Rotring Tikky 1.0 mechanical pencils. Best things evar. 0.5s are scratchy and 0.7s are weak - 1.0s are amazing, and I could never find them in Canada. I'd been using the same one from Dubai for like 5 years and now I have 3 more. Yay. I've never been able to use wooden pencils.
Stab me in the heart will ya?Show Image(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4118/4883436900_e67885d832_z.jpg)