Found Randomly on the 'Net

12 Likes

image

10 Likes

Rules of ink colour I learned long ago:

Black for adults,
Blue for schoolkids,
Red for teachers,
Green for ransom notes and conspiracies.

12 Likes

I use red for taking off points on exams, and green for giving them back when regrading.

After a nasty experience several years ago, I began using green to number my exam copies before giving them out and purple to (separately) number them when they are turned in. For large classes (40+ students), it makes it easier to keep track of how many students showed up for an exam and how many of those actually turned their exams in. :rage:

14 Likes

12 Likes

What about brown? I have a brown Pelikan pen that I fill with brown ink.

Also, I believe the chief if MI6 uses green ink.

8 Likes

Well, shit… :grinning: :wink:

11 Likes

I am not remotely surprised.
(see rules above)

8 Likes

Back during COVID isolation, I played around making quill pens (no shortage of geese hereabouts). During one of the few outdoor meetings with my granddaughters, I gave them one each.

For monks and traditionalists.

There were lots of walnuts lying around that fall, so I picked up some husks and boiled some down to make walnut ink in the simplest way possible.

I wrote my granddaughters a letter, folded into itself and sealed with wax, Jane Austen style (no envelope).
(The red block is downhill ski wax.).

Amazingly, it survived Canada Post and arrived in good condition.

A couple of weeks later I got replies. They had made their own batch of blueberry ink and written back.

So if my Gen Z granddaughters play @sqlrob’s game of Never Have I Ever, they will have to admit that they have received and sent letters written with a quill pen.

14 Likes

Now I have to know: is there difference between downhill ski wax and cross country ski wave?

5 Likes

and wax for brazilians?

2 Likes

I don’t know about their actual composition, but they are used differently. Downhill wax is chosen for maximum speed given the temperature and snow conditions. X-country wax is applied for slipperyness (glide) in the same way over most of the ski, but chosen to grip the snow (kick) for a section under the foot.

By colour convention, red X-country wax is softer and stickier than red downhill wax, totally unsuited for sealing letters.

8 Likes

Brazilian waxing has not been shown to improve ski performance. However Lucas Pinheiro Braathen has come out of retirement so who knows?

6 Likes

Did you have to boil it outside? Does it have a strong aroma?

2 Likes

Not that I noticed, but I wasn’t about to risk splashing it about the kitchen. That stuff is permanent.

4 Likes

I got really into fountain pens for a while but I always hated refilling them, and cartridges were not always reliable.

But Pilot Varsity disposable fountain pens are pretty great. I know to some folks that’s heresy :slight_smile:

I really like the design of Lamy Safari/Al-Star/Vista pens, and have been using rollerball ones. But Lamy ink is pretty mediocre. Morning Glory Pro Mach is a great pen though…

3 Likes

The only useful thing I learned from the deluge of unsolicited mail from probate lawyers, is using blue ink to sign documents shows which are the originals and which are copies.

I like using purple pens, and green ones.

4 Likes

I support your Varsity usage.

3 Likes

At work I’ve been using a JPG (colour scan) of the squiggle that vaguely looks like the short version of my signature done in blue ink on everything that comes out of a computer since 2002.
In all of that time exactly two people have asked me about it.

Heh, I get to use green ink (for pens and rubber stamps) at work for certain documents.