You may very well call me a boring old fart, but I very much prefer fountain pens over (almost all) ballpoint pens. Maybe that's because we weren't allowed ballpoint pens in primary school and had to use fountain pens?

Regardless of the Real Root Cause of my pen preference, I've been a relatively happy user of a Waterman Kultur Demonstrator for the last some years - with one exception: the cap isn't tight enough and the pen dries out very quickly.

Recently, however, I've discovered a nicer and cheaper pen: the Platinum Preppy costs about $3(!) a piece incl. cartridge, comes in two nib widths (0.3 and 0.5mm), is refillable - and can be converted into a cartridge-less eyedropper pen with just an o-ring. The (proprietary) cartridges have a very big opening, so it should be pretty trivial to refill them with a small syringe. The nib is great and very consistent, and glides better than my Waterman. In addition to that it's got a spring-loaded inner cap which I think will keep it from drying out too quickly.

Unfortunately neither pen, pencil, rapidograph or ballpoint fix my lousy handwriting - but I do enjoy making my inconsistent squiggles more if it's by pen :-)

[ published on Sat 28.07.2012 20:39 | filed in interests | ]

I really like this lovely small gem of common sense, uncommon in this century of propaganda and threat exaggeration:

"That is, if the conduct complained of would not amount to an offence if it occurred off-line, then it is not an offence simply because in a particular instance it was undertaken with the aid of digital technology."

"For example, complaints have been received about comments posted on Facebook which are abusive or harassing. If this behavior occurred in a public place it would not be a reportable offence," said Acting Inspector Luke Manhood.

Fan-TAS-tic!

[ published on Sat 14.07.2012 17:38 | filed in interests/au | ]

Apparently your life history is reflected in the types of germs in your belly button. This is, of course, highly exciting for every human on the planet.

[ published on Sat 14.07.2012 17:26 | filed in interests/humour | ]

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