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posted by janrinok on Monday June 11 2018, @07:43PM   Printer-friendly
from the asking-soylent dept.

Imagine being isolated off-grid for an unknown number of years. Maybe you're stuck somewhere like Davidge or Mark Watney; or perhaps you've chosen a life of isolation like Yoda or Obi-Wan Kenobi. Maybe you're a survivor of the $Apocalypse. Wouldn't keeping a journal be a great idea? You could pass on your knowledge, keep track of daily activities, maybe even keep yourself from going insane!

Forget all the wastefulness, extravagance, and complexity of most modern devices, you've got survival to think about! Obviously power usage would be a major concern, but ergonomics, searchability, repairability, and data robustness would be important too. Keeping in mind that this is a dedicated device for journaling and barring the old Russian pencil and paper, what would the best solution look like with off-the-shelf modern technology?


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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by AthanasiusKircher on Monday June 11 2018, @10:13PM (10 children)

    by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Monday June 11 2018, @10:13PM (#691640) Journal

    If you actually want it to last, make sure paper is acid-free, preferably archival grade. Personally, I'd go with cotton rag paper for anything I wanted to preserve long-term.

    And make sure you have a good source for ink that will last a long time unless you want to learn to make your own. Having a large supply of fountain pen nibs might be preferable for long-term, if you're concerned about disposable pens drying out over the years.

    Want even more durable? Animal skin parchment has really stood the test of time. You have to worry about the occasional worm or very hungry rat, etc., but I've worked with thousand-year-old manuscripts that have only suffered discoloration over the centuries.

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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by aristarchus on Tuesday June 12 2018, @01:32AM (8 children)

    by aristarchus (2645) on Tuesday June 12 2018, @01:32AM (#691727) Journal

    Dip-pen nibs, or just a good supply of feathers, and a pen-knife. A decent gold or even stainless steel nib in a fountain pen should out-live the user.
    Ink, avoid the pretty colored water, for once exposed to water again, it will become water again. You want a good iron-gall ink, Registar's Ink, as specified by the Church of England for official records. Or Possibly German or Japanese iron-galls. Take a look at TheFountainPenNetwork. [fountainpennetwork.com] Madness. Stay out of the calligraphy forums, however. It gets nasty in there.

    • (Score: 2) by tonyPick on Tuesday June 12 2018, @06:53AM

      by tonyPick (1237) on Tuesday June 12 2018, @06:53AM (#691807) Homepage Journal

      For an example of what you can do with travel notebooks in ink and sketchwork (and talent, of course):

      https://www.boredpanda.com/traveling-artist-handmade-sketchbooks-jose-naranja/ [boredpanda.com]
      http://josenaranja.blogspot.com/ [blogspot.com]

    • (Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Tuesday June 12 2018, @10:49AM

      by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Tuesday June 12 2018, @10:49AM (#691850) Journal

      Yes - nibs are pretty durable... If you don't do something stupid like lose them or destroy then accidentally. I didn't really mean a very large supply -- just several spares. Decent nibs are so much easier to use (I find) than feathers, etc.

      And yes, totally agree about ink type.

    • (Score: 2) by darkfeline on Tuesday June 12 2018, @06:23PM (5 children)

      by darkfeline (1030) on Tuesday June 12 2018, @06:23PM (#692041) Homepage

      Iron gall ink is not friendly on fountain pens. It's the 21st century, we have permanent water-based fountain pen inks, Noodler's Black being a prominent example.

      Modern iron gall inks are better mixed to reduce the amount of deposits, but you still have to be extra careful or it will destroy your pen.

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      • (Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday June 13 2018, @12:15AM (1 child)

        by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Wednesday June 13 2018, @12:15AM (#692161) Journal

        What if we made the fountain pen out of a titanium-depleted uranium alloy?

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      • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Wednesday June 13 2018, @12:38AM (2 children)

        by aristarchus (2645) on Wednesday June 13 2018, @12:38AM (#692171) Journal

        Why do you say this? It is not true. Why do you think that nibs were made of gold in the first place? Gallo-ferric acid is corrosive, but gold only dissolves in aqua regia, which any competent alchemist knows. Modern, 21st Century iron gall inks are perfectly copasetic for fountain pens, if the user is conscientious about use, occasional flushing, and normal scribing procedures. (Oh, and iron-gall is itself water-based, as medium.)

        Noodler's is a company run by a single right-wing nut-job. The cellulose-reacting dyes are proprietary, and aimed at foiling check-washing, not longevity.

        • (Score: 2) by darkfeline on Wednesday June 13 2018, @03:21AM (1 child)

          by darkfeline (1030) on Wednesday June 13 2018, @03:21AM (#692206) Homepage

          I'm not talking about the nib, and nibs are not made of pure gold anyway, they are made from a gold alloy. Also, stainless steel has existed for a long time now; gold alloys haven't been used for their corrosion resistance since then. Nibs are now made from gold for the perceived value and extra flexibility of the nib (they feel slightly better to experienced users).

          I'm talking about the internal feed, which gets clogged by deposits from the iron gall ink. Yes, like I said, if you're extra careful, modern iron gall inks can be used for a period of time, but it will fuck up your pen if you keep using it, just like eating McDonalds will do to your arteries, even if you exercise and limit yourself to one meal a week. Admittedly, if you're using a cheap pen with a feed wider than then it may keep working for the majority of your lifetime.

          When I wrote "water based" I meant water soluble dye based inks ("water based" as in leaves behind no particulate matter when the water evaporates), which iron gall ink is not.

          > aimed at foiling check-washing, not longevity

          I don't know what to say, good sir. Medicine is aimed at curing disease, not prolonging life. Cars are aimed at moving matter around, not transportation. All I see is you saying that the ink is designed for permanence, but not for permanence.

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          • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Wednesday June 13 2018, @04:20AM

            by aristarchus (2645) on Wednesday June 13 2018, @04:20AM (#692216) Journal

            I'm talking about the internal feed, which gets clogged by deposits from the iron gall ink.

            Feeds are typically non-metallic, traditionally ebonite, or hard rubber. Iron gall does not chemically react until exposed to an oxydizing environment, so put the cap on your pen! And flush it out once in a while. Not like those actual "carbon black" pigmented inks, which do contain particles. Of course, all the rage now is "shimmer" inks, with metallic particles. I suggest, you have to make a choice, when journalling, between convenience and durability. Archival paper, and lower acid iron-gall inks are the way to go, if you want a journal that will survive until humanity remembers how to turn the lights back on. If they ever do.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 12 2018, @03:09PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 12 2018, @03:09PM (#691937)

    Fountain pens are fun but obsolete compared to just about any other writing instrument out there.
    I think people who like them are attracted to the finicky aspect of using and maintaining them, honestly, like tinkering on an antique car.
    If you like writing with liquid ink, technical pens with air tight caps will not dry out for many years. Sadly, drying out is something fountain pens do very quickly. That and leak a bit on your fingers.
    For ultimate longevity, may I suggest a pencil (mechanical or conventional). You could pick one up decades later and it will still write. The writing will not run or fade, but you do have to watch out for smudging if you use a soft lead.

    If you want to go full caveman, some have suggested dip pens which will last a REALLY long time before breaking/becoming unusable, but I would suggest learning to carve pens from reeds if you want a theoretically inexhaustible pen supply.