What now

Okay, so you know that favorite pen brand you have? Whatever one that is. When I say "your favorite pen", there's that one that comes to mind. But have you ever bought one and found it to be unusually scratchy and unpleasant, or the ink blobs weirdly or it's more dry than usual? That's because a pen is only as good as its refill. Mass manufacturing pens is going to produce some inferior ones, and you'll run into them every once in a while. You might have the best pen ever, but then you use it up and buy another one or you buy a refill, and then it... sucks? Betrayal? Hello? Because maybe the tiny ball in the refill has a little imperfection on it, and now whenever it catches on the edge of the pen tip, your ink stutters. Now you're trying to write and its frustrating and you're not having a good time about it.

This is why I'm constantly recommending fountain pens even when we were talking about ballpoint or gel. A fountain pen, by nature of having a permanent pen nib, will write the same no matter how many times you fill it. You run out of ink, you fill it back up, and it's still the same pen. A gel or ballpoint pen refill replaces the entire writing mechanism along with the ink, and there's a good chance the writing mechanism will suck. Fountain pens don't do that.

Furthermore, fountain pens significantly reduce the amount of waste per pen refill. Yeah, I'm out here constantly like "you guys should totally stop buying a 17-cent pen and instead buy a $7 fountain pen with an $11 ink converter and a $17 bottle of ink." Which is very Vimes-Boot-Theory of me, I know. But in the end, if you can afford the upfront cost, all those things will last you much longer than a pack of cheap pens AND you'll have a better time writing AND you'll significantly reduce the amount of plastic waste that you produce. Ink comes in glass bottles that you can reuse or recycle IF you ever get to the end of them, but they can last for-fuckin’-ever.

Yeah. Anyway.

I guess in conclusion, here’s a relatively cheap but good quality and very long lasting fountain pen setup if you want:

Preppy fountain pen - $7

Noodler’s ink - $17 with the promise that you will never get to the bottom of this bottle

EITHER a converter for the fountain pen so you can fill it with the bottled ink - $11

OR a syringe that you can use to manually refill the Preppy’s included cartridge when it’s empty - $2.50

The ONLY thing of that setup you’d ever need to buy again is the ink, and that’s only if you manage to finish it in the first place.

I might translate this article later today. This one was the most complete one, even in Italian news it's not talked about that much.

Found an article on this in English

Also a different, unrelated article about concerns & possible violation of international law in using another of the film’s locations

Behold the pocket-sized western pygmy possum! (Cercartetus concinnus). One of the world’s smallest possums, this species typically weighs just 0.5 oz (14 g)—the size of an AA battery. This dainty marsupial is a nectarivore, meaning that its diet consists primarily of plant nectar. It inhabits treetops in forests throughout parts of Australia, using its long prehensile tail like a fifth limb as it moves from branch to branch.

looks like reform hogs are scraping the bottom of the bin for the tiniest bit of dirt. it takes a bin to clean up clacton!

context under the cut. british politics are very silly