Fountain Pen Esoterica: Regular Ink, Sheening Ink, Shimmering Ink, Oh My!

Unless you're in the fountain pen community, you would not know there are certain... "fancy fountain pen ink" and new ones developed all the time. Most people expect black ink and blue ink, but there are actually dozens of fountain pen companies all over the world, and they launch new color lines all the time. Some of them can get really fancy, such as sheening ink (shows different colors depending on how much ink you use), and shimmering ink (includes sparkles!)

Photo by David Pennington on Unsplash

SIDENOTE: Fountain pen ink are dye-based, not carbon-based (aka "India ink") If you use carbon-based ink in a fountain pen you'll clog it. Same with "calligraphic ink" unless it is specifically labelled as "fountain pen safe". Calligraphic ink are often not dye-based, but pigment-based, and if they dry inside a fountain pen, the pen is ruined as those will NOT wash out. The pen will be permanently clogged by paint pigments. Calligraphic dip pens, with no feed mechanism, are not affected this way. TL;DR-- ONLY use "fountain pen ink" in fountain pens. 

There are other types of fountain pen ink, but they are more about ink's resistance to environmental challenges, like archival ink (no-fade), water resistant ink, quick-dry ink, and so on. How well they work also depends on what paper they are paired with. And that's another topic altogether. 

Sheening Ink

Sheening ink with its unique dye formulation, forms different colors depending on its concentration. This type of ink is typically slow to dry, and requires a thick pen stroke (made by special fountain pens with stub nib or wider, a cotton swab, or a brush) to see the multitude of colors from a single ink. Sometimes, it's just different shades of the same color, but sometimes, it's distinct colors or mixes thereof. You usually need a fountain pen of at least a broad nib, if not wider, to see the sheening colors, but it is beautiful. Also, you need paper that's NOT that absorbent, because the ink cannot "pool" to create the sheen if it gets absorbed into the paper!

Shimmering Ink

Shimmering ink contains shimmer particles that reflect light, so once they get on paper the inked area will "sparkle" if you shift the paper a bit under the light. However, the particles are known to clog some pens, and requires shaking before use as those particles can "settle" to the bottom of the ink bottle. It is sometimes added to sheening ink so you have an ink that both sheens and shimmers. Similar to sheening ink, they do not dry quickly. And thus, they require paper that are not very absorbent.

Watch Brian Goulet of Goulet Pen show off his "top 10 sheening inks"...  Keep in mind more than a few of these inks are also shimmering inks.  

Conclusion

There are a lot of developments in fountain pen ink, and the best known ones, sheening and shimmering inks, can produce some stunning visuals with the right paper and pen. And they are relatively cheap compared to cost of a new pen, esp. high-end pens, and can add to your enjoyment. 

Stationery Pal: Chinese Stationery for Less, Until You See the Shipping Costs

Stationery Pal is a stationery store based in New Territories, which is next to Hong Kong, but not quite in China yet (that's Shenzhen). Therefore, it is able to take advantage of the price differential between China and other continents. Unfortunately, it is a small company and does not have fulfillment power like Temu or Alibaba (Aliexpress), and therefore, the shipping costs are... shocking when you try to check out, no matter how many discount codes you were able to stack on. 

It's probably easier to show you my shopping cart as an example. There aren't that many items, really. 

• 2 stacks of loose leaf paper, A5 (100 sheets and 50 sheets, resp)
• 2 notebooks (A5, at least 100 sheets)
• 4 small fold-flat storage boxes (more like totes)
• 1 brush rest
• 3 small ink bottles
• 1 pen holder (for tying around notebooks)
• 1 micro tip gel pen
• 2 Sanrio "blind box" items

and the June Mystery Set (which is a random mix of stationeries, but will have many pens, pencils, highlighters, markers, erasers, correction tape, stickers, notebooks, and so on). 

The price may seem low, but with 2 discount codes, I was able to drop the total EVEN FURTHER From $38.xx to $32.49. 

However, here's the shipping cost shock: The shipping cost estimate for my order is $24.90.  

One becomes so used to "free shipping" offered by Amazon in the US and Temu from China, the actual shipping costs are just truly "shocking". They almost doubled the price of each item. Which means for the "fungible" items like spiral notebook, Stationery Pal does not **feel** competitive, unless you specifically want those Chinese Kokuyo Campus notebooks (which are NOT the same as the Japanese Kokuyo Campus notebooks!)

SIDENOTE: Kokuyo is a Japanese brand, but they have a branch in China licensed to locals, who has their own domain, kokuyo.cn. And they have a different product line than Kokuyo Japan... and because its priced to compete with Chinese domestic products, the prices are also MUCH cheaper than Japanese Kokuyo. Either it comes in a much larger pack, or the prices are much lower than the ones "made in Japan". 

What you need to do is search for the same items on Temu, and if it's available on Temu, order them on Temu instead, as Temu was often able to offer the same items for "almost" the same price, with free shipping to the US. 

I found the fold-flat storage boxes on Temu for just a few dimes more ($1.77 vs $1.40 here, which is more like $2.50 when you count shipping). 

As for the small ink bottles, generic cylindrical bottles with metal caps are like 10 for $3 (10 ml each) on Temu with free shipping. They don't look as good as the square ones, but they are also a SMALL fraction of the price. 

And only order those you can't find on Temu on Stationery Pal, AFTER factoring in shipping costs (rule of thumb: add 80%) to make sure it is still worth ordering there. You *may* find that your continental store (Amazon, Jetpens, etc.) actually have the item for competitive prices without waiting 8-12 days shipping. 

I Have Been Guilty of Spreading Wrong Info... Here is the True Legacy of Abraham Wald

Ever heard of the story that mathematician Abraham Wald and the Statistical Research Group at Columbia University was asked by USAAF in WW2 to "optimize" the location armor in the B-17 bomber, due to heavy losses of B-17s over the skies of Germany in 1943. Wald allegedly told all the generals "you are doing it all wrong", because they only concentrated on armoring where the survivors (that made it back to base) got hit, and presumably, he did it right, and the bombers started surviving... Nerd triumphs over dumb military. Great story. Right? 

I just learned that was a lie, an urban myth. 

Photo by Gary Wann on Unsplash

But they story is far more nuanced than that. So... let me start from the beginning. My current citing is mostly coming from this blogpost by Bill Sweetman for Hush-Kit, and a feature column by Mathematician Bill Casselman for American Mathematical Society. 

First, did US suffer tremendous bomber losses in 1943? Yes, but the PRIMARY reason Americans were suffering tremendous losses was because Americans insisted on conducting day-time bombing raids. Both British and German air forces have switched to night-time raids against each other as they can't sustain such losses with day-time raids. 

Second, did Wald wrote a study on survivability? Well... the SRG *did* help write *something* in 1943, and we based this on the autobiographical memoir by W. Allen Wallis, who was with Wald in the Statistical Research Group at Columbia University. But the memoir was really two short and vague mentions and mostly about his own work on aircraft vulnerability calculations. And we did find actual memoranda written by Wald. That's it, that's all the evidence.

As for Wald's own memos, it's a series of very dry equations on how to more accurately calculate the vulnerability of an aircraft based on variety of factors, It's NOT about how to redesign the armor.

Indeed, B-17 actually entered service back in 1938. B-24 entered service in 1941. By 1943, both designs have been long finalized. There were NO evidence that armor were shifted in bombers manufactured after 1943. Indeed, NO version of the Wald story can actually point out WHAT EXACTLY was changed in B-17 or B-24 post-1943. 

Unfortunately, Wald died in 1950 in a plane crash, so we can't ask him about it. We have to rely on whatever paper or recollections left behind. And the memos left behind by Wald was collected by Wallis when SRG shutdown in 1946, but was not rediscovered until 1980, when it was edited by Phil DePoy and published under Wald's name posthumously in 1981 by Center of Naval Analyses, along with an explainer article on what it meant by Marc Mangel and Francisco Samaniego. 

In the late 1990s, statistician Howard Wainer started using that story in his lectures and and books. This is when the "chicken pox bomber" diagram got attached to the story, but the diagram is usually of a 2-engine plane with a bunch of red dots all over it. (B-17 and B-24 are FOUR-engine bombers!)

Sometime in 2010s, writer / mathematician Jordan Ellenberg included a section about Wald's work in his book "How Not to Be Wrong", where he used as non-technical explanation as possible. However, he wrote it in a way that could have been misinterpreted:

 “The officers saw an opportunity for efficiency; you can get the same protection with less armor if you concentrate the armor on the places with the greatest need, where the planes are getting hit the most. But exactly how much more armor belonged on those parts of the plane? That was the answer they came to Wald for. It wasn’t the answer they got.”

Presumably, someone read this and concluded that Wald had told the Generals how to redesign the bomber's armor allocation. We have no evidence that Wald ever said such thing. Indeed, in Wallis' memoir, he stated that SRG only do math, and reallocating armor is not what they do and it wasn't what the USAAF asked for any way. 

Unfortunately, Jordan Ellenberg went on to include this whopper:

“Wald’s recommendations were quickly put into effect, and were still being used by the navy and the air force through the wars in Korea and Vietnam.”

There was no evidence that Wald ever made any recommendations (for aircraft redesign or otherwise). Perhaps Ellenberg meant that Wald's equation to estimate survivability was still in use in subsequent wars? Given that the book this passage appeared in was "How not to be Wrong", it is extremely ironic. 

And now you know everything I know about this. 

Conflict in Storytelling -- The Three Pillars: Plot, Setting, Character

NOTE: The following is a personal interpretation of a lecture given by Brandon Sanderson, which is available on Youtube. 

A story well told usually has conflict, and conflict involves at least one of the three pillars: plot, setting, and character, often all three. And even within each pillar, there are variations.

Photo by Robert Stemler on Unsplash

However, it basically boils down to: what does the main character want? (and) Why can't s/he have it? 

Plot vs Character -- the plot push the character one way, while character wants to go a different way. The struggle is conflict. 

EX: In Star Wars (Ep 4) Luke wanted to stay and help uncle Owen, but when uncle and aunt are killed by stormtroopers looking for the two droids, Luke was forced to go with Ben Kenobi. 

EX: Bilbo Baggins in the Hobbit. Bilbo wants to stay home, but the plot needs him to go on an adventure...

Setting vs Character -- setting, i.e. societal norms, forces character to behave one way, while character really want to behave a different way. 

Character vs Character -- either protagonist vs antagonist, or main character vs him/herself (or against his/her own limiting beliefs). 

• Protagonist vs antagonist -- Luke vs Vader, of course
• Character vs him/herself
  
  Original Godfather, Michael Corleone tried to distance himself from the criminal activities of his family, at least early on, as he struggles to balance his loyalty to his family vs. his reluctance to join a criminal enterprise.
  
  Lion King, Simba was happy to live in exile, and avoid the trauma and bloodshed. But when Nala stumbled into him and realized he wasn't dead, she told him what had happened since Scars' rule, and now Simba is torn between going back and resume his rightful place as the head of the pride, or stay out there and leave them to their fate while he can live happy and "free". 

Best conflict layers on multiple conflicts, as each of them affects other conflicts as well, and amplify the negative effects and/or raises the stakes. 

While You Were Sleeping, Lucy has a one-way crush on a handsome commuter Peter Callaghan. When Peter was robbed and pushed onto the tracks, Lucy saved him, and ended up in the hospital, where he was comatose, and she was mistaken for Peter's fiancee, and was readily adopted by the big Callaghan family. And it was there, Lucy met Peter's brother, Jack, and they fell for each other. But how can they become a happy couple when the entire family was expecting she and Peter to be together? And what happens when Ashley (Peter's real GF) shows up? 

NOTE: Lucy has a self-limiting belief, a lie, even, that she's in love with Peter, which prevents her from falling for Jack completely, This ties in with the ("it made sense at the time") necessity of maintaining the lie toward the rest of the Callaghans, with a lot of post hoc justification (and rom-com / sit-com excuses, like "mom has a heart condition, don't upset her with more bad news"). That is multiple levels of conflict, internal AND external, as she had to maintain different levels of lie against different people. 

One more level: Lucy had a broken home, and she really wanted to belong to a big family, so when the Callaghans adopted her, she did not want to tell them the truth. 

Even Jack has an internal conflict: he wants to make his own furniture, not to take over the family business, but he can't make himself speak up against the family patriarch. 

Both Lucy and Jack needed to work on getting rid of their own lies to themselves, to achieve HEA (happily ever after). 

 

 

 

Fountain Pen Esoterica: Used Vintage Pen Update

Back on June 8th, I mentioned that I had placed an order for a used Sheaffer fountain pen on Mercari. 

It never came. I was forced to cancel the order on the 12th, even though I had given the guy 2 weeks to ship the darn pen. Original order was placed on 2024/05/29. Took him 3 days to create the tracking number, and it NEVER came off "label created" status, which means the pen never got to the post office to be mailed/shipped. 

He could have cancelled my order, if he can't find the pen. But he didn't. I have no choice but to get Mercari customer buyer support involved, and I got my refund, plus $5 credit for my troubles. Eh... okay, thanks. My first order EVER on Mercari, and it was a dud. 

Probably should have ordered on eBay or Etsy instead. 

Still, I kept looking. This time I set my bar a little lower, and I found a Sheaffer No Nonsense vintage (probably from the 1970s?). With the $5 credit, I'm paying less than $15 including shipping. It's not worth more than that, but those old pens are supposedly smooth. This one was listed as in good condition with an italic broad nib. 

Sheaffer No Nonsense Fountain Pens, photo courtesy of
https://www.peytonstreetpens.com/sheaffer-no-nonsense-fountain-pens-original-version-various-series-new-old-stock.html 

Label's created, but that's easy. We'll see if it gets shipped on Monday. THAT will tell me if this seller is serious. 

EDIT: USPS tracking says it'll be here by Friday 21-JUN-2024. 

And that is one old pen, almost as old as I am. But you can find even older fountain pens for under $100 USD. With some proper maintenance and some parts, these fountain pens, unless they were loaded with corrosive ink and left to dry and clog, should last almost forever until they are physically damaged beyond repair. I've seen some fountain pens from the turn of 20th century (early 1900s) that can still be bought for about 100 - 200 USD. Rare, yes. They are probably worth a bit more than that if they survived this long and is in a decent condition. Could be over over 1000 if the right model or right provenance. 

But remember, the Sheaffer No Nonsense, already a cheap pen, is pushing 50 years old, and can be had for under $15 shipped. 

There are some Esterbrooks from WW2 years (1940s) complete with a desk holder that can be bought now for $25 or so. Look on eBay. 

As long as you hunt for it, you don't need to spend a lot of money collecting fountain pens, even ones that are older than you. 

P.S. Pen is here ahead of schedule (on Jun 20th, 2024). I'll post an update in a day or two complete with writing samples. 

PC Macroboard Update: I Bought One! Epomaker EK21 VIA

Sometimes, somethings are just too good of a bargain you can't pass it up. And when I saw a macroboard available for sale, it took me several minutes to decide to take advantage of it. 

I am buying this: Epomaker EK21 VIA

Epomaker EK21 VIA, courtesy of Epomaker.com

You may be asking: so what? It's a numpad. 

Ah, but it's a triple mode numpad: wired, Bluetooth, and dongle-wireless. 

Okay, so? 

It's also VIA firmware customizable. No proprietary software needed. Use the nearly universal VIA website to map everything, from macros to layers. And it has a knob in the upper left corner. It's RGB, hot swappable switches, And it has 4 layers (0 through 3), and can be paired to up to 3 devices under Bluetooth. No more struggling with proprietary macro software. 

And the best thing is the price. It's on sale for $33.99, and there's a $5 off coupon you get if you do the spinner game on their website. Shipping from China is free. Final out the door price: $28.99. No tax either. 

I can easily program the RGB lights to indicate the layer mode, which means I have 20 keys and 1 knob to program * 4 layers to map. Even if we take away 1 key as layer switch, that's still 19 keys + 1 knob x 4 I can map actions to. 

The only thing that could be better would be it has a display, like Stream Dock or XenceLabs macropad. And those are $100. Maybe discounted to $80 if I find it REALLY on sale. And they don't have nearly as many keys as this. For saving $50+ dollars, I can live with the limitations, esp. if I find my "relegendable" keycaps I stashed away somewhere. 

App Discovery: Ninite -- Install or Update MANY Programs at Once

Ninite, available at Ninite.com, is a tremendous timesaver for people who need to keep PCs up to date or standardized on certain number of free or freemium programs, and it has a wide selection and is extremely easy to use. 

Basically, go to Ninite.com, and select which of the programs you want the installer to download and install by ticking its checkmark. 

Ninite Installer Config (as of 2024/06/16), bottom's cut off... Ninite.com

As you can see, it will install or update ANY of the programs on this list, from security tools to web browsers, from messaging and email apps to compression utilities, from media players (video, audio, etc.) to developer / programming tools, from image editor/viewer to system utilities, PDF viewers, and other commonly installed toolsand apps. Once you chose all you wanted, click on the Ninite button to download the installer. 

Then you can run this installer on any Windows computer, and it will download and install EVERY program you chose from the list, WITHOUT ASKING you to confirm anything. EVERYTHING will be done automatically, no user prompting, no confirmation, completely automated install like systeadmin magic powers... And it's all free. 

So if you need to keep 10 computers on the latest version of various apps, just make 1 Ninite installer, and run it on all 10 computers (probably with some sort of USB drive). Run it, and walk away to do something else. It'll be done when it's done. You'll probably still have to run each app to config it, but that's easy enough, right? 

For individual users, this is easier than running X programs one at a time to engage the auto-update for each one. 

So give it a try, eh?