Mike

UNC Admin Can Now, Officially, Secretly Record Faculty The new policy prohibits students from recording class without permission but explicitly allows administrators to surveil professors for any “lawful purpose.”

www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...

YouTube video by Mike Matteson Comparing EVERY Metal Dip Nib! (Okay, just 9 of them!)

Sometimes you want a dip nib instead of a fountain pen, and this video might just help you find the right one. After a year or so of testing, I think there are some that are clearly better than others, but let me know which ones you've tried and loved/hated!

If Jeff Bezos could afford to spend $75 million on the Melania movie & $500 million for a yacht to sail off to his $55 million wedding to give his wife a $5 million ring, please don't tell me he needed to fire one-third of the Washington Post staff.

Democracy dies in oligarchy.

This one is so sheeny that you don’t even need amazing paper.

That can help a lot with thick, sheening inks. Has it worked for you with shimmer?

Or! Keep a shim at your desk to clear the occasional blockage. You can also point the tip up and use the converter/piston to move ink through the feed a little to clear it.

Avoiding storing the pen tip-down can also help.

At the end of day, some pens are better with shimmer than others. 🤷🏼‍♂️

YouTube video by Mike Matteson Mia Maples Got Japanese Stationery! Let's See How She did!

It’s not about fountain pens, but one of our favorite YouTubers did a Japanese stationery video, and I made a react/response video. It was fun!

#miamaples

Mia Maples Got Japanese Stationery! Let's See How She did!
youtu.be/2I2WF3T8gNo

(But, also, those things are fun, too!)

Great answer!

Ian is one of my very favorite people. 👏🏼

The world is on fire, but we’re here with a little bit of inky joy: we talk to Ian Schon of SCHONDSGN to talk about his gorgeous fountain pens and the design and engineering challenges he faced while making them.

Have a listen: erasable.us/233

Benu makes really great pens!

Probably more-so than the last time you checked.

Those are awesome, and the maker (Dan) is a really good guy. His pens are awesome, and the Penwell is always in use on my desk.

I mean, if y’all are looking for another fountain pen channel, I know a guy. 😄

🤣🤣😵

I don’t know about $30 vacs that are on par with the $100 class, but some vintage Parker pens might be up your alley. A 45 is in that range. Or a user-grade 51 could be in that price range, though they’re usually in the $50-100+ category if they’re restored.

I just found out that Tig, Mae, and Fortune have a podcast together, and IG tells me that some of my friends knew this and never mentioned it. I am disappoint.
#handsomepod

I know lots of lefties here *think* they can’t, but I think every leftie I know uses fps.

This is a good plan. What’re you looking to get real into?

YouTube video by Mike Matteson Are These Benu Pens Haute Enough for You? *GIVEAWAY*

Check out this set of Benu Fountain pens, and enter to win one of them!

I went in today and asked them is I could get a direct phone number and skip some hoops, but they said they wouldn’t have time to answer the phone anyway. WHAT. Walgreens, if your pharmacy is too busy to answer the phone then HIRE A PHONE-ANSWERER.

That’s a bummer. I switched away from Rhodia a few years ago for the same reason. My new Rhodia Green Pad is good, though.

Walgreens’ “pharmacy” has kept me on hold for over an hour. This ain’t my local Walgreens. I can’t call them directly. I have to call the general line, convince a phone-tree-chatbot that I WANT TO TALK TO A PHARMACIST, and then sit on hold forever, and then give information to someone before they’ll xfer me to the dispensing pharmacy. All I want to do is fill an RX, and this is my second day of trying to do that. I got through yesterday, only for the actual pharmacy to hang up on me. This is stupid.

I’m so mad at Walgreens right now. Just let me fill a prescription, please?

Have you tried the SIG nibs from Franklin-Christoph? They can be pretty italic-y.

I think you just lather those in bacon grease and put them away when you’re not using them.

I’ve been doing this for ages. It really helps me remember what is going on for each class. Especially when I have different sections of the same course back-to-back because they may be at slightly different places and I can just look at the book to see where we are and what we did.

You’ll be alright then. Those hi-tec pens are also very fine. I like the Eco more than the Safari, but neither get as fine as a Pilot EF.