Job Hunting: How Should You Tailor a Resume to the Job?

Frankly, most people write their resume wrong. They don't tailor a resume specifically for the job. 

Consider how a hiring manager approaches the culling process. They get 100+ resumes at a time, even for a pretty plain job. And they can't just get the "most qualified". They actually have to consider "best fit" into an existing team, as well as other factors that don't go into a job description. They only have seconds to evaluate each resume... If it's "meh" it'll likely be passed over. 

Photo by Resume Genius on Unsplash

In other words, the top 1/4 of your resume, which is the portion hiring manager sees first, is the most important. EVERYTHING there should be telling a story... that you are the ideal candidate for their needs. 

(Yes, this means the stock photo I used above is NOT a good example, except maybe for digital marketers. The multi-column layout is bad for ATS. The top bar just for the name is wasted space. The cute clipart is superfluous. At least it looks pretty neat.)

"I don't know what they need!" 

Not a problem... because you can ask AI LLMs, such as ChatGPT or Claude. Use a prompt like "Take on the role of a hiring manager in the industry of (insert industry) similar to the company (company name). What are the (insert number) most important employee traits-and-skills you are looking for?"

Now that you know the answer(s), make sure your objective/exec summary portrays you as an ideal candidate having those traits and skills. 

Then go through the job description and pick out the keywords that they were looking for, and incorporate those into the objective /summary. Do NOT use ChatGPT (or similar tools) for this as it would come across as very "AI-ish". Obviously, only incorporate those skills and traits you actually have. 

Don't make the summary too long, as you don't want a "wall of text" in front of the hiring manager. Keep the formatting of a resume intact, and keep the resume visually appealing. 

"Okay, what about the rest of the resume?"  

Now that you've caught their attention, you have to make the rest of the resume support your story. 

Go through every job in your employment history, and adjust the description so it incorporates one or more relevant keywords and/or trait/skill that you used in the summary. 

Tweak the job title if the title does not accurately reflect your duties. Don't reinvent the whole thing though. Don't claim to be "Team leader" when you work alone, for example. 

For details of the job, try to use the STAR method: Situation, Task, Action, Result. Each bullet point should contain all 4... starting situation, what solution did you develop, how you implemented it, and what results did you get (in numbers or percentages if possible, like increased accuracy to virtually 100%, double throughput in 90 days, improved customer satisfaction by 250%, etc.). 

If you spent a long time at one particular job (more than 3 years), break it up into multiple job titles that subsequent titles reflect some sort of growth. If you are training others in your department, you're definitely "senior _____" rather than just the plain version, for example. This makes you look like you're growing rather than staying stagnant.  

Conversely, if you end up taking a lot of short contracts and temp work at different companies, but they are usually the same type of job, you may want to group them together as "Freelance _____" rather than list them individually as it makes you less like a "job hopper". 

Your resume can go over a single page. 2 pages are fine. If you're really senior, you can probably go 3 pages, but generally 2 pages max. 

"But this is so much work!"

Job searching is a job in itself, is it not?  Besides, most requirements stay the same for jobs in the same industry, so any rewrites for similar jobs should be minimal. 

"How would I know if all this tweaking helped?"

You need feedback, but since employers won't give you feedback, you need to get them from a different source... Fellow jobseekers, or those already employed, i.e. former job seekers.

Join fellow jobseekers in Facebook groups or Reddit subreddits and put your resume out for critique. 

Make connections on LinkedIn and make friends with those that have the positions you wanted, then when relevant (weeks later, as you want to learn more about the job), ask for their honest opinion on "do you think this resume may be good enough to get me into your company?" You did not ask for a referral, but if they want to refer you, even better.. 

SIDENOTE: Some people with no shame ask for referrals from brand new employees. "Get me in!" was all they sent. Frankly, that's so rude and immature it should be rejected as spam. New employees have no referral powers, as they are still in probationary period! 

Track your submission to interview ratio, compare with fellow jobseekers. 

As you tweak your resume to improve your "story", see if the ratio improves. 

Good luck. 

JetPens: the full-selection US-based Stationery and Miscellaneous Store

JetPens.com, based on San Jose, California, is a full-service online stationery and related item stores. They stock pens (rollerball, gel, etc.), pencils, multi-pens, dip pens, fountain pens, brush pens, paintbrushes, and all the accessories such as replacement parts, nibs, ink, and so on. They also stock paper, notebook, diary, planner, all sorts of covers, all sorts of refill pages. They have stamps, stickers, washi tapes, pen holders, pen bags... Basically, if it's related to something writing, they probably have it. Yes, they have wax seal stuff too. They have school / backpacks too, plus other things. 

The prices are quite reasonable, and if you order $35 USD of stuff it's free shipping within the US. 

I originally only saw them as a fountain pen and supplies vendor, but they sell a LOT more than that. This is their Pens menu:

Jetpens' Pens menu... It's that big and detailed!

As the menus indicated, they have full buying guides (linking to their own stuff, of course) on what is best for what purpose. They periodically update old ones and create new ones, as inventory refreshes every year. 

They also have an extensive presence on Youtube. 

If you are in the US, and interested in getting stationery related stuff (not just pens), check out Jetpens.com. 

Fountain Pen Esoterica: What Other Special Fountain Pen Inks Are There?

Previously, we mentioned sheening and shimmering fountain pen inks. But what other types of "special" inks are there? Noodler makes the most of these special inks, so I'll mention a bunch of them here:

Anti-feather ink -- ink designed specifically NOT to feather, even on horrible paper such as newsprint, very opposite of fast-drying. Noodler's version is called "X-feather".  

Anti-freeze ink -- Noodler's makes a series of inks that will not freeze until -20 F that they call "Polar" series. Yes, the pen will still write with temperature below zero! However, it also feathers very heavily. 

Photo by Leo Okuyama on Unsplash

Colorfast ink -- ink that will not wash out, and highly resistant to solvents. These go by various names depending on the vendor. Noodler calls theirs "bulletproof". These inks are hated by forgers and check-washers, who relies on solvents that can dissolve the ink... So they can write in a different amount. Colorfast ink makes that very difficult if not impossible. 

Fast-drying ink -- made to help left-handed writers in a left-to-right writing world, these inks are dry to touch after maybe 10 seconds, even on super-slow paper such as Rhodia paper. 

Highlighter ink -- technically they are made to refill highlighters, but some of them are fountain pen compatible, such as Noodler's Electric Color, Dragon Catfish, or Year of the Golden Pig. 

Invisible Ink -- these are only visible under UV light. Some can be mixed with regular ink, or use alone to send secret messages. 

Iron-gall ink -- some of the earliest ink are iron-gall inks. They use a mixture of iron salts and tannic acid to create a purple-black or brown-black ink. However, these inks are acidic and not suitable for fountain pens. "Modern" iron-gall inks that are marked "safe for fountain pen use" are available, and they make marks that are extremely difficult to erase, as the ink penetrates into the paper deeply. Iron gall ink should NOT be left in a pen that's only infrequently used, even "modern" iron-gall ink. Also see "pigment-based ink".  

Lubricated ink -- some fountain pens are known to be "dry"... they don't feed much ink to the paper, making writing a bit difficult. A lubricated ink can help these pens perform properly. Keep in mind that a "wet" pen (one that already feeds a lot of ink) will likely leak badly with lubricated ink. Also, some older pens with piston type fillers or converters can benefit from lubricated ink. 

Pigment-based ink -- similar to colorfast ink, and iron-gall ink, pigment ink is almost impossible to erase. However, pigment-based ink uses carbon-based pigments, and has a similar drying/clogging problem like iron-gall ink. Either use the pen frequently, or use a different ink. Wash the pen out thoroughly first before loading new ink. 

Security Ink -- another Noodler special, their "Warden" series ink is not only colorfast, it is laser resistant, and they are mixed with a slightly different formula PER BOTTLE, so they cannot be replicated. A forger cannot replicate your signature unless they also stole your specific bottle of Warden ink. Else a forensics expert can tell the difference between the ink used in the signatures even if they are the same brand and color. 

So now you've heard about a couple of the special inks available on the market, esp. those from Noodler. I hope they sound interesting to you, and stay tuned for more fountain pen esoterica!

Job Hunting: Another SCAM?! Fake job posting!

Anyone can clone someone else's profile on LinkedIn, then change it a little. 

Anyone can register a domain that "sounds like" an existing domain, or as we've highlighted before, claim to be a company that hadn't existed for 10+ years with a website contain false information. 

Armed with both, they can then post fake jobs on LinkedIn. 

Why? I have no idea. What would they do with all those resumes? Offer them fake opportunities? Like someone tried on me?  

But it's clear I ran into another scam, this time on LinkedIn. But let me start from the beginning. 

I was browsing for jobs when LinkedIn found this "Customer Service Representative" remote job listing. 

Screenshot of the fake job listing, did you spot the red flags? 

I have 6 out of 10 skills, yeah! But something nagged at me in the back of my brain... Something is "off" about this job listing. And I don't mean "cara jacobsen". Yes, that's how it's written... all lower case.

What's the first thing that caught your attention with the job listing itself? 

The post has horrible grammar ("a upbeat"), capitalization ("Customer service Rep"), and missing punctuation marks ("customers concerns"). And that's within the first sentence! 

But that wasn't what caught my eye. It's the mismatching company name. Did you see that the job listing was for the company "Empowered Build Inc", but "cara" works at Empowered build LLC"? (bad capitalization AGAIN?)

This job supposedly pays from $20-$43 per hour, just for customer service work! That's way too high. 

So what sort of profile does Ms "cara jacobsen" have? More red flags. 

Screenshot of potentially fake profile (from video)

The logo looks like it's done in MS Paint by a kindergartener. And she ONLY has 2 connections and 7 followers (probably from those 100+ people who applied). She had NO activity on LinkedIn. She allegedly lives in Shingle Springs, which is Central California, 100+ miles east-northeast of San Francisco. 

What can we find about "Empowered build LLC"? There's a website at www.empoweredbuild.net that matches, that claimed to be founded in 2012 "delivering top notch construction solutions". Yet if you go to the website, and scroll to the very bottom... it's based in CANADA?!

Empowered Build LLC gave a 579 area code, which is Quebec, Canada. 

Given the job listing mentioned construction equipment rental customers, does it even MAKE SENSE for anyone in the US to be renting equipment from a Canadian company? 

But there's more... When we explore the "team" at this Empoweredbuild.net, we found "Cara Jacobsen"... with a completely different photo. 

So who's the "real" Cara Jacobsen? Left is LinkedIn, and right is website. 
Screenshot of video expose

As I explore this "website", I came across the "team" page, giving 6 different people, supposedly employees of the company. Except this Cara Jacobsen (capitalized correctly) is clearly NOT the "cara jacobsen" on LinkedIn, despite same name (sorta) and same employer. Hmmm...

Google Reverse Image Search found no match for the left Cara, but it did find a match for the right Cara... on LinkedIn. 

This Cara has 149 connections and 170+ followers. 
The other "cara jacobsen" is very likely a clone of this one. 

But let's compare the two Cara's employment history, as given to LinkedIn... 

Exactly the same period of employment, hmmm...
then "cara" learned NO skills in HR and Insurance fields? 

When you combine this with the fact that "Cara J" has well over 100 connections and followers, and "cara jacobsen" has only a handful, it's pretty conclusive that "cara jacobsen" is a cloned profile. Which means the company is fake, and the job listing is fake as well. 

And let's just say of the 5 remaining photos on the "team", one of them is practically a stock photo. (Try Google Reverse Image search the bottom right, the African-American girl)

So I reported this job listing. 

Within 90 minutes, LinkedIn deleted the job listing. By the time I finished the video, the job listing no longer exists. 

Here's the video if you prefer to watch that: 

Don't get scammed out there, unlike the 100+ people who applied to this fake job. 

Writing and Storytelling: Are You a Cook, or a Chef?

Brandon Sanderson, famous novelist, had taught some writing classes at BYU (Brigham Young University) many years ago. In the following video, he challenged his students to be chefs, not cooks. 

The video is an hour long, so I'll try to summarize that challenge for you... 

What is the difference between a cook, and a chef? 

A cook is an individual who follows established recipes to prepare food. 

A chef is an individual trained to understand flavors and cooking techniques, and can create new recipes with available ingredients. 

Let's take the metaphor to writing. 

If you write like a cook, you are following a formula. On page X you must have introduce character A, on page Y you must have plot element B, and so on and so forth. 

If you write like a chef, you understand how plot, drama, tension, theme, storyline (or plot line), story structure, character arc, and more combine and interact to create the final result, and you are ready to create new combinations because you understand the basic techniques and the ingredients (characters, words, description of senses, etc). 

At least that's my interpretation of what he said. 

I'll even throw in my interpretation of "anti-cook" (not in the lecture). 

New writers who don't understand story structure and the rest of basic plotting and writing techniques often have a hard time accepting that they need to learn story structure and the rest, because they think it will turn them "formulaic". 

But as Sanderson pointed out, you are formulaic because you're writing like a cook, not a chef. You need to understand the basic techniques, to know how to apply them in different combinations to create new original results. 

At least a cook will produce something edible, if not original. If you are an anti-cook, you may well produce something completely inedible. Or in writing, something people put down and never pick up again. 

So, go learn the basic techniques, and write like a chef. 

Job Hunting: What Are Your Transferable Skills?

 A transferable skill is a skill that an be applied to multiple roles. These may include both hard (technical) and soft (people) skills. Transferable skills are very important if you are applying for a job that was outside your typical employment history, such as a career pivot or (re-)entry into job market. 

Photo by João Ferrão on Unsplash

Here is a list of 88 transferable skills. Obviously this is not an exhaustive list, and many of them sound alike (analytical skills, critical thinking, problem-solving, etc., or flexibility vs adaptability) You need to choose the term that's closest to the ones used in the job description, and either use the same words to describe your prior job, or describe the prior job in sufficient detail to show how that skill is transferable to the job you're seeking. 

Going through this list should give you some ideas on what transferable skills you have. It had to be at work though, and don't embellish. You keeping your bank account from being overdrawn every month does not really entitle you to "budgeting" skill. 

Think of this list as a "basis" for your own list, so you can write a better resume / CV.  

• Active Listening: understanding, responding, and remembering what was said
• Adaptability: Adjusting to new conditions and environments.
• Analytical Skills: Examining information to understand it better and make decisions.
• Anticipating Possible Obstacles: Predicting potential challenges and preparing for them.
• Assertiveness: Expressing oneself confidently without being aggressive.
• Attention to Detail: Noticing and addressing small details in tasks.
• Budgeting: Planning and controlling the financial resources.
• Collaboration: Working jointly with others to achieve a common goal.
• Complaint Handling: Addressing and resolving customer complaints effectively.
• Conflict Resolution: Settling disputes and finding mutually acceptable solutions.
• Contract Negotiation: Reaching agreements on the terms of contracts.
• Creativity: Thinking of new and original ideas.
• Crisis Management: Handling emergencies effectively.
• Critical Thinking: Analyzing facts to form a judgment.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Working with different departments to achieve a common goal
• Customer Engagement: Interacting positively and meaningfully with customers.
• Customer Relationship Management: Managing interactions with current and potential customers
• Customer Service: Assisting and supporting customers to meet their needs.
• Data Analysis: Examining data to draw conclusions and inform decisions.
• Decision-Making: Making choices by identifying options and assessing consequences.
• Detail-Oriented Work: Paying close attention to all aspects of a task or job.
• Diplomacy: Managing sensitive situations and relationships tactfully.
• Document Management: Organizing and controlling documents.
• Editing and Proofreading Documents: Reviewing text to correct errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, and style
• Effectively Explaining Complex Concepts for Non-Experts: Simplifying complicated ideas to be understandable by normal people
• Emotional Intelligence: Recognizing and managing your own and others' emotions.
• Empathy: Understanding and sharing the feelings of others.
• Event Planning: Organizing and coordinating events.
• Expressing Ideas Verbally: Clearly and confidently sharing thoughts through spoken words
• Flexibility: Adjusting to changes and new challenges.
• Giving and Receiving Constructive Feedback: Providing helpful feedback and being open to receiving feedback
• Goal Setting: Establishing objectives and devising plans to achieve them.
• Goal-Oriented Mindset: Focusing on achieving specific aims.
• Honesty: Being truthful and transparent.
• Initiative: Taking action without being prompted.
• Innovation: Introducing new ideas or methods.
• Integrity and Ethics: Adhering to moral principles and professional standards.
• Interpersonal Communication: Interacting effectively with others.
• Leadership: Guiding and motivating a team towards achieving goals.
• Learning Agility: Quickly learning and applying new skills or knowledge.
• Market Research: Gathering and analyzing information about market conditions.
• Meeting Deadlines: Completing tasks on time.
• Meeting Etiquette: Conducting oneself appropriately and professionally during meetings
• Mentoring: Guiding and supporting others in their professional development.
• Motivational Skills: Inspiring and encouraging others to achieve their best.
• Multilingual Abilities: Communicating in more than one language.
• Multitasking: Handling more than one task at the same time.
• Negotiation: Discussing to reach an agreement or compromise.
• Networking: Building and maintaining professional relationships.
• Organization: Keeping tasks and materials orderly and systematic.
• Ownership of Work: Taking responsibility for your tasks and results.
• Performance Monitoring: Tracking and evaluating performance.
• Persuasion: Convincing others to agree with your ideas or to take a specific action.
• Phone Skills: Communicating effectively and professionally over the phone.
• Policy Implementation: Putting policies into practice.
• Presentation Design: Creating visually appealing and effective presentations.
• Presentation Skills: Effectively conveying information to an audience through speech, visuals, and gestures
• Priority Management: Determining the order in which tasks should be completed based on importance
• Problem Solving: Finding solutions to difficult or complex issues.
• Procedure Development: Creating and improving processes.
• Process Improvement: Identifying and implementing ways to make processes more efficient.
• Product Knowledge: Understanding the features and benefits of products.
• Project Management: Planning, executing, and closing projects.
• Public Speaking: Speaking to an audience effectively.
• Punctuality: Being on time for appointments and deadlines.
• Quality Assurance: Ensuring that products or services meet certain standards.
• Rapport-Building: Creating a connection and trust with others.
• Relating to Diverse Populations: Understanding and interacting well with people from various backgrounds
• Resourcefulness: Finding quick and clever ways to overcome difficulties.
• Respectfulness: Showing consideration and appreciation for others.
• Responsiveness: Reacting quickly and positively to needs, inquiries, or feedback.
• Results-Driven Attitude: Focusing on achieving specific outcomes and goals.
• Sales Techniques: Effectively selling products or services.
• Scheduling: Planning and organizing time and resources.
• Social Media Skills: Using social media platforms effectively for communication, marketing, and networking
• Spelling and Grammar Proficiency: Using correct spelling and grammar in writing.
• Stakeholder Management: Managing relationships with those who have an interest in a project or organization
• Statistical Analysis: Using statistics to analyze data and draw conclusions.
• Strategic Planning: Defining strategies and making decisions to achieve long-term goals.
• Teamwork: Working effectively and harmoniously with others.
• Technical Support: Assisting others with technical problems or questions.
• Technical Writing: Writing clear and precise documents related to technical information
• Time Management: Using time effectively and efficiently.
• Training and Development: Enhancing the skills and knowledge of others through teaching and support
• Troubleshooting: Diagnosing and solving issues.
• Vendor Management: Handling relationships with suppliers.
• Workplace Safety Knowledge: Understanding and applying safety practices.
• Written Communication: Conveying information clearly and effectively in writing.

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? 

Nickel and Dimed to Death! $18000 Gap Insurance Claim Denied due to 60 cent error?!

Arizona man Manny Munoz bought a $60k BMW X5 in 2020, and because he knew his vehicle depreciates quickly, he bought GAP insurance in addition to his regular car insurance, to make sure even if his vehicle got totaled, he would not have to pay out of pocket even if he was "upside-down" in the loan (i.e. the vehicle was worth less than what was owed on financing). 

Photo by krakenimages on Unsplash

GAP actually stands for "guaranteed asset protection", so it's an acronym / backronym, and it is a type of insurance you can buy. Manny bought his from Safe-Guard. 

In Late 2023, Manny had an accident, and vehicle was totaled. His regular insurance payout was about $26K. But he actually owed $45K on the vehicle, so the GAP should cover the remaining 19K, right? 

As it turns out, his GAP insurance carrier found a 60 cent error in the original loan paperwork. He financed 60 cents MORE than the actual loan amount. Safe-Guard used that 60-cent discrepancy to deny his claim. After 7 months of negotiation went nowhere, Manny went to his local TV News's Consumer Reporter for help. 

And this time, his GAP insurer responded, after a little prodding from the reporter. And looks like Manny will get his payout after all. 

What's the takeaway? Read the paperwork carefully. 

See original Yahoo Finance Coverage: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/arizona-man-says-gap-insurance-110100024.html

Quick Review of Zen Yai and its Boat Noodles

Got out of CPMC Van Ness and needed late lunch, and decided to try Thai food, and Larkin has a bunch of Thai restaurants. Picked the closest, which happens to be Zen Yai, at 771 Ellis St.

Sat down, staff recommended beef "boat noodles", reasonable price of $15. Take a look at its picture to the right. 

You're looking at pork skin (chicharones), meat balls, mixed meat (with beef organs?) thinner rice noodles (even thinner than typical pho noodles), and some slices of beef (not visible). 

I have never had boat noodles before, and my closest point of reference would be Vietnamese pho, and there are definitely some similarities. However, these boat noodles have more organ meat, more complex flavor, and a lot of water spinach/kangkong? Very dark broth with a lot of mixings, not very beefy (or at least, not the kind of Vietnamese pho broth beefy), and not that salty either. 

Will probably go back to try some of the other dishes they have.

They also have pork boat noodles, which I guess would have more pork-based stuff than beef-based stuff. 

Yes, you can make IEMs Wireless... With a "Bluetooth Adapter"

 IEMs, or "in-ear monitors", are basically in-ear high-end earphones, that usually look like this:

KZ ZEX hybrid IEM from KZ-Audio

Note the wires. Yes, this has wires. because these are wired IEMs. And most people prefer it that way. In fact, they would even upgrade the wires to monocrystal core, multi-strand, oxygen-free wiring... However, these wires are... replaceable. Yes, you can remove the wires. There are 3 types of plugs, 0.75mm (or 0.78mm), MMCX, and a new one called "S-plug", which seems to be a variation of the 2-pin. 

What if you want a set of wireless IEM? 

You could add on what's commonly called "Bluetooth adapter", or "Bluetooth upgrade wire". And they'd look something like this. This is the split version. You can also get one that's linked together via wire around back of neck. 

KZ AE01 BT 5.4 IEM Adapter via KZ-Audio

See where it connects to the two IEMs? So basically it will turn any 0.75mm or 0.78 mm 2-wire IEM into a Bluetooth wireless version. IEM itself is NOT included, but AE01 itself is available directly from KZ for as low as $25 USD or from Amazon in the US for about $34, which seems to be a bargain. KZ itself also makes a version using several different Qualcomm chipsets for different price points. And you can also find versions made for MMCX and S-plug. 

This obviously, is NOT the only company making such. Prices vary greatly, from $20 to $200. The more expensive ones are from famous maker (such as Shure) and/or using high-end Qualcomm Bluetooth chipset that also support Qualcomm HD audio, AptX, and so on. 

So if you have a good set of 2-wire IEMs, you can turn them wireless with these adapters. 

Celebrity Fountain Pens? Really? From Taylor Swift?

Recently, Taylor Swift set the fountain pen world on fire by releasing her own fountain pen... only one, for the low-low price of only $15 USD as a part of her Tortured Poet Department Tour. It promptly sold out, and speculators are relisting them on eBay and other places for 3-10x the original price. 

Screenshot of Taylor Swift Pen Listing on Her Own website

Keep in mind that At $15, this is cheaper than "cheaper mainstream" fountain pens such as Pilot Metropolitan or Lamy Safari, which usually retail in the $25-35 USD range. Only the beginner fountain pens like Pilot Kakuno or Platinum Preppy, the disposable fountain pens like Pilot Varsity or the Chinese branded Xpen or Aretza disposable fountain pens, and a good majority of Chinese fountain pens, are cheaper. 

The question is, are Swifties (Taylor Swift fans) actually going to learn how to use fountain pens and write poems? Or are these pens just going to sit in a shelf, or worse, in a storage box until X years later? When you think about it, the Swifties will probably pay $150 instead of $15. And I applaud TS for pricing it at $15, but she really should have cut the max per order qty to 2 instead of 4 to discourage flipping. 

Of course, you're really just buying a logo, since it's pretty obvious the pen's made in China for about $5 or less. 

I mean, I wouldn't mind getting one for my own collection, but I am NOT paying 2x-5x retail. 

How Small is Your Smalltalk?

We all can be socially awkward, but introverts doubly so. Here are some tips to learn the art of smalltalk...

First, you need to engage the target of your smalltalk

The Initial Engagement: Connect and handshake

Start with a quick story about yourself, that your target can related to, then ask for reciprocity. If you have heard of Philipp Humm's "storyselling", this is a "connection story". It should be based on your recent experience, followed by "what about you?"

EX:"I used to play tennis at semi-pro, but recently I picked up the racket again and I can barely get the ball over the net. What about you? Got any sports that you can't let go even though you're not good at it?"

Once you got the target talking, you can do the name and handshake. 

Listen, Wait to Respond, Ask for Clarification and/or Paraphrase Back

When the target starts talking, listen carefully. You're trying engage him/her to talk some more.

When target finishes talking, do NOT start talking just to fill the silence. Take a few seconds to think about what you are going to say. Don't take too long though. 3-5 seconds at most. This makes you look more deliberate, and emphasizes that you've been paying attention. 

Asking for clarification, as well as paraphrase their point back to them proves that you were actively listening. Establish dialog. 

Keep it Small and Light, Using Context and and Structure

Smalltalk is no place to bring up politics or religion. Keep the subject light, and talk "small" (or "brief" and "concise"). Not sure what to say? Answer the following 3 questions: "What? So What? Now what?"

EX: "American football, huh? Never felt I had any talent for it. But those footballer get to hang out with all the cheerleaders, at least back then. Was it same for your school too? Wonder what happened to them?"

Keep it Moving 

While it's nice you found someone to talk to, don't monopolize one guy. After a few back and forth, exchange contact info, and maybe join another group, either together, and have that guy introduce you, so you gradually expand your social circle. 

The point is to have fun, make contact, and talk to people. Those connections may be useful later. And the more you do this, the less anxiety you will feel. 

Now get out there. 

When in Doubt, Reboot! (It actually works)

It is now 2024, and the the latest CPUs have dedicated AI cores. Unfortunately, the old adage "when in doubt, reboot" still applies, even with Windows 11 and Android 14, the latest and greatest, esp. if you left both running for a long while,  and they start to glitch out. And that gets extra annoying. 

Photo by Mitesh on Unsplash

Just now, I had a hard time trying to reconnect Microsoft's Link to PC to my Pixel 6. It had worked fine for several days, but just today, it won't maintain the connection. It'd just disconnect after appearing to reconnect, then pop up with an error and ask me to relink via a QR code. Tried stopping the app on the phone and end task on the PC, neither worked. Ended up restarting the phone, the connection became stable. 

As an IT professional, I *will* tell you that a reboot solves 99.5% of all problems. You will lose a bit of work, but most modern apps autosave your progress... usually. 

But have you ever wondered WHY computers glitch out, and require a reboot? 

Because computers are made by humans, and humans write the programs that runs on computer. 

Generally speaking, programs all have bugs. By the time the programs reach you and me on our PCs, the major bugs have been squashed, and it's only the smaller and undetected bugs that remained. The smaller ones are judged to be tolerable. It's the hidden ones that makes program behave... glitchy. 

Programs typically asks the operating system (OS) for a chunk of memory for its own use, and was supposed to release such chunk when it is done with the chunk, so the OS can reissue them to another program. In practice, this "release" is rarely done, and each program ended up with a LOT of small chunks of memory, and when the program itself crash, NONE of those little bits of memory was released back to the OS. The end result is a program that increasing lost track of its own memory, the longer it ran, the worse this gets. 

It is typically recommended that you reboot your smartphone ones a day, maybe once every two days. And a PC, probably once a day or twice a week. 

And your computer will really feel more responsive after a reboot, and programs will crash less. 

Wool, Cotton, Polyester, and the Bajillion Different Fibers for Your Undies

Ever read the fabric composition label for your underwear? It's getting complicated, as more and more mixed fibers are used. 

Cotton is obviously the most common, as we had been cultivating cotton for a very long time, and it can be done relatively cheaply, at least compared to something like wool or silk.  

And of course we can make fiber out of petroleum products, and we generally call that polyester. The problem is polyester tend not to absorb moisture, so it's generally used as one part of a "moisture-wicking" type base layer that makes you not feel wet and sticky as you sweat by moving the moisture from the skin to the absorbent layer above. 

In the recent years, new versions of fabric based on some variation of plant-derived cellulose hit the market, some of them even protected by trademark as they supposedly are better for something else. But generally, they are based on the fiber of a tree that is nowhere close of being endangered and can be harvested easily and its bulk turned into cellulose to be woven into fabric. Beechnut tree got turned into "Modal" fabric, and other fancy trademarked names using other tree species are all over the place, mostly so they can justify their high prices. 

But a perennial favorite, if expensive, is wool. It is somewhat counterintuitive, but wool is soft, absorbent, and anti-odor. Most people tend to associate wool with winter wear. However, wool is hygroscopic, i.e. it absorbs water, it can work as a base layer. Natural wool also contains lanolin, which inhibits bacteria growth, the true source of bad odor. The main problem is cost and stretch, which is why generally you will find a wool blend (mix of wool fiber and some other fiber) plus a few percentage of spandex to give a little bit of stretch, rather than pure wool, to keep the cost down. 

And even then, wool blend undershirts are expensive compared to pure cotton or pure artificial fiber undershirts. Still, if you have extremely limited space (such as a backpacker or single-bag traveller) merino wool blend based clothing may be the edge you need in packing light. But they typically cost $40 USD each, if not more, and that's several times the cost of typical cotton undershirts. 

Oh and they should be hand washed and air hang dried. 

And try out merino wool blend socks. Those don't stink even as your feet sweat. 

What Utilities for My Own PC?

If you've been on Youtube long enough, you've probably seen a couple videos where each Youtuber makes a list of "You Must Try These Programs". But chances are, only a few of them would be useful to you. 

Let me go through my own setup, and I'll explain why each of them are useful to me in one way or another. If it's not noted as freemium or paid, then it's free. Maybe you'll find something useful for yourself. I am on Windows 11. 

Photo by Sebastian Bednarek on Unsplash

Audio

NVIDIA Broadcast -- filters out noise from any microphone input or speaker output

Audacity -- the best sound editor and free 

Peace and EqualizerAPO -- a genuine equalizer for Windows

Video

NVIDIA Broadcast -- it will take background out of videos, blur them, replace them... 

Handbrake or Format Factory -- convert video (or audio) from one format to another

VLC Player or any other Media Player alternative -- playback most formats, online or off

DisplayFusion (freemium) -- manages multiple monitors with ease, task bar, wallpaper, and more

Davinci Resolve Free (paid available) or Shotcut or CapCut (freemium) -- video editor, CapCut is probably easiest but some functions locked away under freemium, ShotCut is a bit more professional, and Davinci Resolve is super powerful but complicated.

Clipboard

Clipboard Fusion -- hotkeys, transforms, triggers, sync, history... make your clipboard useful!

Desktop Customization

Wallpaper Engine (paid) -- live wallpaper that covers multiple monitors, that truly interact with you, playlists, support PC RGB lighting engine sync... 

Fences (freemium) -- automatically organize your desktop shortcuts and icons into groups, have them fade or vanish when not in use

Rainmeter -- customizable skin / widget you can place on your desktop

Launcher / File Manager / Explorer Alternative

Launchy  -- hit a hotkey to bring up a program launch bar by typing in partial name, no need to hunt in Windows desktop or start menu, supports skins. NOTE: Windows PowerToys have something similar, 

Double Commander -- a clone of the old Norton Commander                  

Text Expander

PhraseExpress or AutoHotKey

Define short phrases, and these programs will expand them into full sentences as you type them. AutoHotKey will also give you macro capability with your regular keyboard 

Mobile Link

Microsoft Phone Link -- Link your Android or iOS smartphone to your PC via Bluetooth and companion app, and get phone notifications on the PC, answer phone calls on PC, do SMS, etc. 

Offline Reader

Omnivore -- a free offline reader that also gives you FREE email addresses that you can cut off to kill off spam that won't let you unsubscribe. So your "mailing list" goes into your offline reader instead of your inbox. 

Office Suite

LibreOffice -- or any other similar suite such as OpenOffice, PolarisOffice, OnlyOffice, WPS Office, SoftMaker Office, and too many others to list. 

Zettlr -- think of it as a MUCH simplified version of Obsidian.md, it's all markdown files, and little else. 

Notepad++ -- it's just a much better notepad, but there are many other alternative text editors

Miscellaneous

WizFile -- search for any file on your HD(s) with very fast filtering (you can also try Everything)

WizTree -- display your HD's usage per folder... also very fast

Revo Uninstaller (freemium) -- Uninstaller, everybody needs one, the built-in is not good

And Microsoft PowerToys... 

Well, that's most of what I use. I hope you find something useful in here. 

Fountain Pen Esoterica: bargain hunting cheap pens and used vintage pens

The problem with fountain pens and related items is they tend to... multiply,, as you end up buying more and more of them even though you don't really need all of them. And the pens aren't exactly... cheap, unless you intentionally limit yourself to buy the lowest end of the market, i.e. Chinese (and sometimes, Indian) pens. And these are so generic, you may decry the lack of "quality". But is it really that lacking? And let's also discuss two alternative sources of fountain pens that are a bit better, but with their own set of risks and rewards. 

Photo by Digital Content Writers India on Unsplash

Buying Used Vintage Pens

There is another source of pens... used vintage pens on sale at eBay, Mercari, Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and so on. Fountain pens lasts almost forever with some proper maintenance, unless they suffer catastrophic damage like broken barrel. Usually nibs or nib units can be replaced, and internal bits can also be replaced with rebuilt or replacement parts. Eyedropper conversion may also be possible (where with addition of O-ring, the entire interior of barrel is converted into an ink reservoir. The sellers can easily look up what similar items sold for, so you are unlikely to pick up something for a small fraction of its worth, However, you can pick up something vintage for not a lot of money. For example, I ordered a Schaeffer fountain pen, probably 20+ years old, with an Italic M nib, for about $25. We'll see when it gets here. Mercari will often sweeten the pot by giving you $5 credit for your first order. eBay often have coupons for certain market segments. Keep an eye out for them. 

Buying Chinese for "Commodity" type pens 

Chinese pens offer tremendous value with virtually no brand at all. It's all about the price. I picked up this set of 7 pens for less than $6 on Temu, and it contains a whole set of pens and nibs, preassembled, with nib sizes as follows: 0.5, 0.7, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0. And these aren't dip pens, but cartridge fillers with converter included. So what we have here is M, B, 1.0 stub, 1.5 stub, 2.0 stub, 2.5 rake, and 3.0 rake. While I doubt I'll get much of a chance to use the super-wides, I probably will ink up the 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 and try them.

Also, if you plan to share the hobby, you probably should buy some REALLY cheap Chinese fountain pens to give away. Recently Chinese markets are flooded with the retractable tip fountain pens with plastic barrels and if you buy 4, it's just $3.59 on Temu. And yes, it has ink. You would rather lose these than your $25 pen, or godforbid, $250 pen, right? I actually bought one of these before, in .38 nib, and it's actually VERY smooth writing pen. 

I also picked up a glass dip pen for $1.99, just for funsies, and a desk pen holder for it also for $1.99. I have plenty of ink for the moment, that's mainly for show and funsies. 

Ever thought about buying Indian? 

If you want something with a bit more support, another source of pens that's slightly more premium with a good choice of nibs, but still very affordable, is Fountain Pen Revolution of Texas. They have a hook up with fountain pen factories in India so they can offer brand new fountain pens that don't look like generic Chinese pens, yet are affordable starting as low as $15, with some premium versions costing quite a bit more, of course. Their pens use either #5.5 or #6 nibs. And they can be fully disassembled for cleaning and some parts replaced if need be, esp. the nib and feed. I actually ordered 2 pens from them, with 2 extra nibs and feeds that's a bit different. The two Kanwrite pens are about $25-35 each with premium flex and omniflex nib. I've already received them and I need to ink them up and test them this weekend. Checking their catalog shows that they have some brand new but older model pens, such as the Darjeeling V1, that starts at $15. 

In conclusion

Not all of us can afford to buy an Esterbrook Estee, a Pelikan M800, much less a Namiki Emperor. However, that should not stop you from enjoy the hobby. You can look for a sale, or you can simply shop the lower end of the market, and enjoy the different nibs and designs available on the lower end of the market.