Silver

[Blind groper]

I bought a new pair of undergrunds yesterday. It has the label "stink resistant." and "made in China". I am aware that nano particles of silver are inserted into socks and other smelly items to kill bacteria and stop it stinking.

Will my grundies now smell sweet and attractive?

[SteveB]

I invested in a silver mine last Christmas since silver went down like 30% last year. I'm still waiting for that asshole precious metal to go up in value.

[JimC]

I bought a new pair of undergrunds yesterday. It has the label "stink resistant." and "made in China". I am aware that nano particles of silver are inserted into socks and other smelly items to kill bacteria and stop it stinking.

Will my grundies now smell sweet and attractive?

I'm not sure I want nano particles of silver to come into contact with my sensitive bits...

[Svartalf]

Are you a werefrog?

[JimC]

Possibly, during certain phases of the moon...

[mistermack]

I have some solid silver Parker pens. Why?
I'm buggered if I know. I collect pens, even though my writing is shit.
My favourite metals are stainless steel and chrome. Why the fuck did I buy silver pens?

I have this stupid hoarding instinct. I will never use up even one refill. I type and print everything, and a pencil is far the best tool for making notes while on the phone. It will always work first time.

It's the second sign of madness. The first is hairs on the palm of your hands. Yes, I have that too.
Courtesy of a skin-graft that I had when I was three years old.

[Svartalf]

I never had a silver pen, but I prefer inkpen to ballpoint or pencil when I have to write notes on something... I'll use ballpoint only if the surface demmands it, or for the shortest texts (for instance my diary is in inkpen, while my grocery lists are in ballpoint)

[mistermack]

I never had a silver pen, but I prefer inkpen to ballpoint or pencil when I have to write notes on something... I'll use ballpoint only if the surface demmands it, or for the shortest texts (for instance my diary is in inkpen, while my grocery lists are in ballpoint)

Ink is ok so long as you steer clear of water.
I agree ballpoint is best for shopping lists, because pencil can actually fade in your pocket.
But I have some lovely pens, but only use the shit ones. The nice ones stay in a box, in bubble wrap.
Crazy. Now and again they come in handy for presents. But the same thing happens.

I gave my sister a nice set for her birthday.
Six months later, I asked her if she had used them, and she said no, they were in her safe !!

It's a madness that's catching.

[Svartalf]

pens are for writing... that's why they should not be too nice for you to feel easy using them... my current fountain is a cheapo plastic bodied one... I bought it when my Waterman died on me, I don't know what happened, it just wouldn't write anymore, even on a full, new cartridge.

[mistermack]

pens are for writing... that's why they should not be too nice for you to feel easy using them... my current fountain is a cheapo plastic bodied one... I bought it when my Waterman died on me, I don't know what happened, it just wouldn't write anymore, even on a full, new cartridge.

It probably clogged. People clean them, using a little ultra-sound cleaner which cost peanuts. You can get them on ebay.
Or soaking sometimes does the trick.

[Hermit]

Almost 35 years ago, while delivering some cartons of meat to a restaurant somewhere in the northern suburbs of Sydney, I something silvery lying in the car park. It was a Parker pen. It was marked. Some car had run over it, but it was still in good working order. I never had a ballpoint pen that good. It worked faultlessly. Greasy paper? No problem. Upside down? It kept going. No matter what the conditions, it would glide across paper with seemingly zero friction, leaving solidly black lines exactly where and how you wanted them. I actually went through several of those extra thick refills over the years. Once I bought an aftermarket refill because it was half the price of the real thing. Waste of money, that. I threw it away because it behaved worse than a 20 cent BIC ballpoint. A few years ago the pen disappeared. Kids.

Edit: Oh yeah, as to the above. My Shaeffer fountain pen ceased functioning after a while. A couple of days soaking in water got it going again.

[mistermack]

Almost 35 years ago, while delivering some cartons of meat to a restaurant somewhere in the northern suburbs of Sydney, I something silvery lying in the car park. It was a Parker pen. It was marked. Some car had run over it, but it was still in good working order. I never had a ballpoint pen that good. It worked faultlessly. Greasy paper? No problem. Upside down? It kept going. No matter what the conditions, it would glide across paper with seemingly zero friction, leaving solidly black lines exactly where and how you wanted them. I actually went through several of those extra thick refills over the years. Once I bought an aftermarket refill because it was half the price of the real thing. Waste of money, that. I threw it away because it behaved worse than a 20 cent BIC ballpoint. A few years ago the pen disappeared. Kids.

Edit: Oh yeah, as to the above. My Shaeffer fountain pen ceased functioning after a while. A couple of days soaking in water got it going again.

Yeh, genuine Parker refills are the best by far. I bought some on ebay, for an average of 35p each. But I'll never finish even one in my lifetime.
Papermate refills cost about £2.50 each, and that's cheap on ebay. Nowhere near the quality either.

I think soaking in water is the best bet. Ultrasonic cleaners work, but I sometimes wonder if they can affect the seals.

[JimC]

When I was a young 'un, we had nib pens, with a little inkwell set into the school desk to dip 'em into. Pain in the arse, actually...

[Svartalf]

I was lucky enough to arrive in school after they made ballpoints legal, but I discovered fountain ones in first form of secondary school and never really looked back.

[mistermack]

When I was a young 'un, we had nib pens, with a little inkwell set into the school desk to dip 'em into. Pain in the arse, actually...

Yeh, we had those. My fingers were always stained blue with ink. But then I got given a fountain pen. Which got leaky and my fingers were always stained blue with ink.

Then the ballpoints came out. And they stopped and started and stopped and started, because they got hot in your pocket and leaked, and you could see little air bubbles in the ink that made it stop writing, but you could get it going again, by blowing hard down the end. So then my mouth and fingers and pockets were always stained with blue ink, which took a lot longer to wash off.

Happy days.