I just bought the only physical encyclopedia still in print, and I regret nothing | Ars Technica
At a time when it’s hard to know what information to trust, I felt delight when I recently learned that World Book still prints an up-to-date book encyclopedia in 2023. Although the term “encyclopedia” is now almost synonymous with Wikipedia, it’s refreshing to see such a sizable reference printed on paper. So I bought one, and I’ll tell you why.
My Grandmother was a co
At a time when it’s hard to know what information to trust, I felt delight when I recently learned that World Book still prints an up-to-date book encyclopedia in 2023. Although the term “encyclopedia” is now almost synonymous with Wikipedia, it’s refreshing to see such a sizable reference printed on paper. So I bought one, and I’ll tell you why.
My Grandmother was a college professor and one thing she made sure of was always having up-to-date sets of all of the major encyclopedias in the house. Among them, World Book was always my favorite. As a child, I was a voracious reader. I would spend hours and hours paging through them and reading them whenever I was at her house. I’m fairly sure I’ve read the entire set cover-to-cover at least once. This article has me pondering doing so again.
The Wisdom of the Bankers Box
The Bankers Box has remained the same shape and size for a lifetime and won’t change for at least the rest of your life. You can know exactly how much space you’ll need now, and how much space you might have available in the future when taking on more stuff from relatives.
This is an excellent post on all the ways the humble Bankers Box rules.
The Bankers Box has remained the same shape and size for a lifetime and won’t change for at least the rest of your life. You can know exactly how much space you’ll need now, and how much space you might have available in the future when taking on more stuff from relatives.
This is an excellent post on all the ways the humble Bankers Box rules.
What Is Killing Cursive? Ballpoints. Probably. | Hackaday
I get it — you hate writing by hand. But have you ever considered why that is? Is it because typing is easier, faster, and more convenient here in 2023? Maybe so. All of those notwithstanding, I honestly think there’s an older reason: it’s because of the rise of ballpoint pens. And I’m not alone.
I get it — you hate writing by hand. But have you ever considered why that is? Is it because typing is easier, faster, and more convenient here in 2023? Maybe so. All of those notwithstanding, I honestly think there’s an older reason: it’s because of the rise of ballpoint pens. And I’m not alone.
A cut too far: The people who can’t give up paper – BBC Future
For decades, computers, smartphones and tablets have provided an alternative. Their illuminated displays can be virtually written upon or erased with the press of a few buttons or taps of a screen.
But the crisp flex of an off-white sheet held in the hand, or the way freshly-deposited ink from a favourite pen soaks into the fibrous surface – there is arguably nothing quite like paper.
Yep.
(via Aaron Alfano)
For decades, computers, smartphones and tablets have provided an alternative. Their illuminated displays can be virtually written upon or erased with the press of a few buttons or taps of a screen.
But the crisp flex of an off-white sheet held in the hand, or the way freshly-deposited ink from a favourite pen soaks into the fibrous surface – there is arguably nothing quite like paper.
Dessa Can’t Do Without Her Pilot Razor Point
Pen snobs suck: the loud talking about fine lines and ink flow, the zipper cases, the theater-kid pledges of absolute devotion to a singular make and model. And yet here we are. For me, it’s Pilot Razor Point, write or die.
Dessa is a brilliant recording artist and poet. If you never engaged with her work, I highly recommend it.
Pen snobs suck: the loud talking about fine lines and ink flow, the zipper cases, the theater-kid pledges of absolute devotion to a singular make and model. And yet here we are. For me, it’s Pilot Razor Point, write or die.
Dessa is a brilliant recording artist and poet. If you never engaged with her work, I highly recommend it.
A Short History of the Daily Planner – by Jillian Hess
For this New Year post, I decided to look at how people have used daily planners in the past. What I found was a fascinating origin story of tracking time in notebooks.
Fascinating. Essentially, the beginning was basically using it as a Daily Log, something I’ve been doing for over 20 years now.
For this New Year post, I decided to look at how people have used daily planners in the past. What I found was a fascinating origin story of tracking time in notebooks.
How I Pocket Notebook | cygnoir.net
Much has been written by smarter minds about the pocket notebook and its myriad uses. For this post, I’ll be focusing on my particular setup and sharing how I use it in the hopes you might also find it useful.
The hack with the magnetic clips blew my mind. It’s genius!
Much has been written by smarter minds about the pocket notebook and its myriad uses. For this post, I’ll be focusing on my particular setup and sharing how I use it in the hopes you might also find it useful.
The hack with the magnetic clips blew my mind. It’s genius!
Shunned in computer age, cursive makes a comeback in California | Reuters
Starting this year, California grade school students are required to learn cursive handwriting, after the skill had fallen out of fashion in the computer age… Experts say learning cursive improves cognitive development, reading comprehension and fine motor skills, among other benefits. Some educators also find value in teaching children to read historic documents and family letters from generations past.
Yep. My da
Starting this year, California grade school students are required to learn cursive handwriting, after the skill had fallen out of fashion in the computer age… Experts say learning cursive improves cognitive development, reading comprehension and fine motor skills, among other benefits. Some educators also find value in teaching children to read historic documents and family letters from generations past.
Yep. My daughter went to a Montessori preschool where cursive is taught exclusively and it still benefits her to this day.
Eminem’s Boxes of Notes – by Jillian Hess – Noted
Anyone who thinks notes ought to be neat and tidy should look at Eminem’s lyric sheets.
Always fun to see an artist’s creative process. Even more fun when it is a crazy handwritten explosion of ideas out of which nuggets of pop/rap gold flow. Via Austin Kleon’s always excellent newsletter.
Anyone who thinks notes ought to be neat and tidy should look at Eminem’s lyric sheets.
Always fun to see an artist’s creative process. Even more fun when it is a crazy handwritten explosion of ideas out of which nuggets of pop/rap gold flow. Via Austin Kleon’s always excellent newsletter.
About nine months ago, after a tragic Kindle Scribe syncing accident in which I lost about 20 pages worth of journaling, I (mostly) swore off digital tablets and returned to paper and pens in a big way. I pulled out the two fountain pens I owned—a black Pilot Metropolitan and a Laban PF-900 Yellow that was gifted to me about 15 years ago—inked them, and started doing all my journaling, writing, and note-taking by hand.
A few weeks later, I bought a Lamy Al-Star (since gifted to a fr
About nine months ago, after a tragic Kindle Scribe syncing accident in which I lost about 20 pages worth of journaling, I (mostly) swore off digital tablets and returned to paper and pens in a big way. I pulled out the two fountain pens I owned—a black Pilot Metropolitan and a Laban PF-900 Yellow that was gifted to me about 15 years ago—inked them, and started doing all my journaling, writing, and note-taking by hand.
A few weeks later, I bought a Lamy Al-Star (since gifted to a friend because it turns out I don’t like triangular grip sections) and a Bronze Kaweco Liliput.
Today, nine months later, I own 19 fountain pens. And I acquired four of them last weekend at the California Pen Show.
My partner and I moved to Los Angeles almost two years ago, so we were excited when we found out there was a pen show in our new city. We purchased VIP passes, so we arrived first thing Friday morning when the doors opened. My partner actually took the day off so that we could attend on Friday.
The main ballroom on Friday morning.
Going into the show, I knew I wanted to purchase at least one of two “grail pens”: a Montblanc Meisterstück 146 and a Montblanc Writer’s Edition Victor Hugo. The Victor Hugo was my priority, because if I could find one, the price would eat up my entire budget, precluding me from buying the Meisterstück or anything else during the weekend. I read Les Miserables last year, and saw the magnificent traveling version of the Broadway production at the Pantages, and I’ve wanted the Victor Hugo Montblanc ever since. I found at least three sellers who had it in their personal collection, but it must be a stellar pen, because nobody wanted to part with it. Now I’m even more excited to find one for sale in the future.
Failing to find a Victor Hugo freed up my budget for other pens, so on Friday I purchased a beautiful, gently used Montblanc Meisterstück Glacier LeGrand and a bottle of Montblanc Glacier ink to accompany it (the pairing is exquisite, and the pen writes smoothly with just the tiniest bit of pleasant feedback).
The Montblanc Meisterstück Glacier LeGrand (photo by my friend Danny Martinez).
I spent the rest of Friday debating several other pens to spend my remaining budget on. I settled on a new Sailor Cylint, which to me has been the platonic ideal of a Sailor ever since it was announced last year, even though it’s not what most people want from a Sailor pen. I’m very pleased with it.
I took advantage of the show being hosted by Nahvalur and had them fix the piston knob on my Voyage Los Angeles. It took them only minutes to fix. I’m glad to have this pen working again, because I had Gina of Custom Nib Studio regrind it into one of her famous journaler nibs a few months ago, and I’ve been missing using it.
Friday afternoon, we attended a workshop by Joe Crace, The Gentleman Stationer, on Paper for Everyday Writing. We’ll be purchasing some of his recommended papers from his store soon.
Friday evening, at the close of the show, we attended a panel on vintage pens. This is where my partner, Aadrial, who hadn’t yet found anything within budget that piqued her interest, started find her direction for the show.
We spent Saturday at home, catching up on work, enjoying two new pens, and recovering from what had been an exhausting day for two introverts. But Sunday morning we were back at the show, on the hunt for a vintage pen for Aadrial. We spent an hour at the table of Myk Daigle, owner of MaD Mercantile. Myk, by the way, is wonderful. He taught us a lot about vintage pens (and earlier in the morning, he’d bought me a sparkling water at the hotel cafe after overhearing me grumbling about forgetting to buy one). He was also the only seller we noticed who had a chair on the customer side of the table. In the end, Aadrial purchased a restored Waterman W2 from Myk. But later that day, she found two more vintage pens, a Parker 61 and a Sheaffer that we’re still struggling to correctly identify, in a bargain bin in stunningly good condition.
My partner’s acquisitions, including a fun Jinhao I surprised her with because she hadn’t gotten anything with a metal overlay, which was what she’d initially hoped to find going into the weekend.
Also on Sunday, I found a never-inked Laban PF-900 Yellow that I immediately purchased. This acquisition was particularly sentimental for me, because my first fountain pen, as I mentioned above, was a gifted PF-900 Yellow, and it’s been largely unusable due to a leaking section ever since I dug it out of storage nine months ago. I thought I could use the new one as a proxy, or even put the new one’s section in the old pen’s nearly identical but well-loved body. Unfortunately, the new pen struggles with ink flow after being left unused for more than an hour or so, but that issue should be easier to fix than the leaky mess that is the old pen.
As we were getting ready to depart the show, I spotted, quite randomly amongst a plethora of other pens on a table, one that I’d been thinking about purchasing for a while: a humble TWSBI Precision. I hadn’t yet purchased it because I hadn’t been able to find one in person to test out (I must have a thing for pens that don’t fit what most people expect from their respective companies, because nobody seems to care about the gunmetal gray Precision in the sea of TWSBI’s other, far more colorful offerings), and at $80, it’s not necessarily an online impulse buy. The one on the table, though, was only $45. I was more than happy to pay that, but then the seller told me to make him an offer, so I got this unused pen for just $35! Amazingly, after using it quite a bit in my bullet journal this week, it might be my favorite purchase from the whole weekend—and it’s certainly my favorite TWSBI that I own.
All four of my California Pen Show acquisitions.
I rounded out the weekend by purchasing a bottle of Sailor Shikiori Suberakashi from Dromgoole’s. Only two days later did I realize I’d spent several minutes chatting about Kawecos with Ana Reinert from The Well-Appointed Desk, who was helping run the Dromgoole’s booth. Hi Ana! It was great to meet you!
(I’d also like to briefly shout out Jeremy and the fine folks at FLAX Pen to Paper, LA’s best stationery store, who had a table near the ballroom entrance. The only reason I didn’t purchase anything from them is because they’re my go-to the rest of the year.)
The California Pen Show was a fantastic way to spend a weekend. My partner and I met some wonderful people and acquired some wonderful pens. Part of me wishes I could attend a pen show every weekend, despite my introversion (not to mention what such a lifestyle would do to my bank account). We’re hoping to spend the entire weekend enjoying the San Francisco International Pen Show in August.
Long-lost Gershwin musical found by University of Michigan researcher – mlive.com
Because even in this digital age, if you want to to last long enough to be discovered later, you’ll choose paper.
I intend to start contributing to The Cramped more in the coming weeks after having contributed very little since 2019. Accordingly, I’ve updated my section of the “What We Use” page. Things have changed both significantly and not at all since I last updated it in 2018.
I intend to start contributing to The Cramped more in the coming weeks after having contributed very little since 2019. Accordingly, I’ve updated my section of the “What We Use” page. Things have changed both significantly and not at all since I last updated it in 2018.
An Analog Library of All the Lives I’ve Lived – Josephine Sittenfeld , New York Times
I hold on to these journals because when I feel discombobulated and lost, reading through who I was at 14 or 19 or 25 years old helps connect me to myself. Paging through the diaries now, I’m startled to realize how far I’ve come and also how little I’ve changed. In Journal No. 1, I’m a 9-year-old living in Ohio. I’m 4 feet 5 inches tall, weigh 75 pounds and feel a kin
I hold on to these journals because when I feel discombobulated and lost, reading through who I was at 14 or 19 or 25 years old helps connect me to myself. Paging through the diaries now, I’m startled to realize how far I’ve come and also how little I’ve changed. In Journal No. 1, I’m a 9-year-old living in Ohio. I’m 4 feet 5 inches tall, weigh 75 pounds and feel a kinship with Curious George. In Journal No. 11, I’m 20, working for my college professor on an archaeological dig in Syria and flirting with a German man twice my age. Journal No. 19 leaves off in June 2009, when, unbeknown to me, life is about to pivot: In a month I’ll become engaged, in six months I’ll be married, and in a year I’ll be pregnant with my first child.
The Tools of Excellence v4, 1: The Notebook & Pencil – Nicholas Bate
1: The Notebook & Pencil Paper and pencil. There it is: no power needed, discrete, ultimately flexible. Portable. Breezes through security. On a plane, on the beach, back-backing in the Western Isles. The tool which allows you to plan, record, create, schedule, sketch, brainstorm and write a love note. Never be without the pair.
1: The Notebook & Pencil Paper and pencil. There it is: no power needed, discrete, ultimately flexible. Portable. Breezes through security. On a plane, on the beach, back-backing in the Western Isles. The tool which allows you to plan, record, create, schedule, sketch, brainstorm and write a love note. Never be without the pair.
Montblanc asked Wes Anderson to direct its ad. He did – and designed a pen | Vogue Business
Anderson agreed to their brief, which involved directing a short film focussed on the brand’s famous heritage and craft, but he also wanted to be the main character in front of the camera. Then, when he showed up on set in Berlin, the filmmaker presented a prototype pen of his own design that he asked the German company to manufacture. He’d even named it: the Schreiberling, which means
Anderson agreed to their brief, which involved directing a short film focussed on the brand’s famous heritage and craft, but he also wanted to be the main character in front of the camera. Then, when he showed up on set in Berlin, the filmmaker presented a prototype pen of his own design that he asked the German company to manufacture. He’d even named it: the Schreiberling, which means ‘the scribbler’ in German.
10 Things Jerry Seinfeld Can’t Live Without | GQ – YouTube
Even if you’re writing comedy, a legal pad says. “I am taking this seriously.”
What we believe in.
(via Cultural Offering)
A tale from “ye olden days” of graphic design that taught me to love and embrace constraints — Rohdesign
It was an earlier time filled with layout boards, non-repro blue pencils that made lines invisible to production cameras, technical ink pens to create registration marks, and typography and photography output on photo paper.
It was hardcore analog, with nearly everything done manually.
What we believe in.
It was an earlier time filled with layout boards, non-repro blue pencils that made lines invisible to production cameras, technical ink pens to create registration marks, and typography and photography output on photo paper.
It was hardcore analog, with nearly everything done manually.
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