Mini-Review: Kaweco Sage Fountain Pen (& Frosted Blush Pitaya)

We have reviewed the classic Kaweco Sport fountain pen many times but we continue to come back to it. It is a great gateway pen and its is inexpensive enough to live in your bag or on your desk at work. So, of course, you need more than one, right?

So, over the past few weeks, I’ve acquired TWO new models into my collection: the Smooth Sage ($29, EF nib) and the Frosted Blush Pitaya ($24.50, B nib).

I must confess that this is the first Kaweco Sport with a B nib and I am surprised  how much I am enjoying it. It  isn’t as broad and the BB I tested out years ago and preformed like a Sharpie marker.

Needless to say, my recommendation is that if you’ve never purchased a Kaweco Sport, what in the world are you waiting for? There are dozens of color options and you can even upgrade to the AL-Sport if you want a shiny, and more durable version. We like those too.

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DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Mini-Review: Kaweco Sage Fountain Pen (& Frosted Blush Pitaya) appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Texas Senate Bill Bars College Profs from “Compelling” Students to Adopt Certain Political Beliefs

Critics say Senate Bill 16 is overly vague and will create a chilling effect that will prevent important conversations about race and gender. But Republican supporters say the legislation is necessary to protect conservative students who are self-censoring in the classroom. by Kate McKee The Texas Senate approved a bill recently that would prohibit a college or university professor from “compelling” a student to adopt certain political beliefs, a proposal belonging to a slew of legislation introduced this session that university and community college faculty worry will restrict academic freedom in the classroom. The bill now heads to the Texas […]

Startup says the seaweed blobbing toward Florida has a silver lining

A brown macroalgae native to the Atlantic’s Sargasso Sea is increasingly a menace to coastal ecosystems and communities across the Gulf of Mexico, ever since mats of the normally beneficial seaweed (known as sargassum) exploded in numbers in 2011. This is the backdrop for Carbonwave, which recently raised $5 million to put the hulking algae blooms to good use.

Researchers say farm and sewage runoff is likely driving the now 5,000-mile-wide “Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt.” Climate change may also be playing a role.

There’s no need to run screaming from sargassum, despite the tone of some stories covering the Florida-bound blooms. Still, they pose a threat to coral reefs and tourism-dependent livelihoods alike. When the stuff piles up on beaches, it rots, emitting skunky hydrogen sulfide. 

The recent sargassum surges are forcing folks to find creative ways to get rid of it, and already, possible applications run the gamut. Researchers and entrepreneurs aim to turn it into syrup, bricks and even jet fuel. As for Carbonwave, the Boston- and Puerto Rico–based startup is using it in fertilizer, cosmetics and even faux leather.

Backed by ESG-themed investment firms Natixis and Viridios Capital, as well as ocean-focused VC Katapult, Carbonwave says the new cash will help it scale production of its seaweed-based emulsifier for cosmetics. The startup said in a statement that it “has already sold half a ton” of its emulsifier, which it created as an alternative to petroleum-based ingredients. The company also claimed that its sargassum fertilizer “reduces the need of” climate change-driving nitrogen fertilizer.

CEO Geoff Chapin said Carbonwave makes these products through a “proprietary extraction process,” which involves pressing the seaweed and removing the arsenic. The process yields a liquid fertilizer, while the leftover pulp forms the basis for the emulsifier and fake leather. The way Chapin tells it, the company uses “almost every part of the seaweed to make these products.”

Carbonwave is part of a wave of startups vying to turn algae into environmentally friendlier products. For starters, there’s H&M-backed Algiknit (now Keel Labs), which creates textiles; a slew of bioplastics companies, including Loliware and ULUU; and a firm called Umaro, which makes sea-bacon. Seaweed startups often focus on commercializing kelp in one way or another, but a few (like Carbonwave and Seaweed Generation) focus on sargassum.

“We need to put it to good use before it creates more ecological and climate harm,” Carbonwave told TechCrunch. 

The startup added that it may up its $5 million Series A with additional funding later on. It has secured at least $12 million to date.

Startup says the seaweed blobbing toward Florida has a silver lining by Harri Weber originally published on TechCrunch

The Virtuous Image: Femininity and Portraiture on the Internet

Images of bodies impact young people, especially young girls and women. The normative implications of those images—what a body ought to look like and what a body ought not to look like—affect their self-esteem. A 2021 exposé of internal research conducted by Facebook (now Meta) on its photo-sharing app Instagram revealed the company itself tracked […]

Michigan Comm. College Enrollment Dropped–Adjunct Faculty Used to “Adjust” the Budget

by Sophia Deiters and Kevin Lopez Grand Rapids Community College’s Board of Trustee met on Feb. 20, 2023 to swear in re-elected members, discuss falling enrollment and approve budget allocations including additional funding for the Michigan Reconnect program. This was Charles Lepper’s first board meetings as president of the college. Nathaniel Lloyd, Director of Budget and Business Services and Lisa Freiburger, Vice President for Finance and Administration presented the 2022 to 2023, mid-year budget amendment.  “Clearly the highlight of our revenue is the decline in enrollment. We saw it decline 7.5% in Fall and 3.5% in Winter,” said Lloyd. “The budget […]

Pilers and filers

In Temple Grandin’s Visual Thinking, she writes about the work of psychologist Linda Silverman:

In a presentation about the differences in learning styles, Silverman flashes a slide showing a person with a tidy file cabinet and a person surrounded by messy piles of paper. The “filer” and the “pilers,” to use her terms. You probably know which one you are. What does it say about the way you think?

According to Silverman, “Filers” tend to be verbal/sequential thinkers and “Pilers” tend to be visual/spatial thinkers.

When googling around for these terms, I came across a blog post for the Container Store that suggested different products for different kinds of thinkers — tell us who you are so we can sell you something! — filing cabinets and file folders for the Filers, of course, but for the Pilers, they recommend a cabinet of drawers to throw the piles in. (But doesn’t that defeat the purpose of having the piles out where you can see them? Hmm.)

What’s funny is that I was just telling a friend on the phone that I use drawers as a way of storing my collage materials — I toss scraps into the drawers, and when it’s time to make a collage, I just pull out the drawer and start sifting through stuff.

All of these “versus” type situations can be rethought as spectrums and/or creative tensions. There are times when I want to access that sequential part of my brain and bring order to things, and filing does that, but there are other times I want to access my visual brain, and piles help.

Huawei’s Watch Buds ask: “What if your smartwatch also contained earbuds?”

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The Cut + Paste Homeware Collection Appreciates Layers in a Fresh Form

“This felt like a really natural partnership, we have a joint appreciation for color and we wanted to find a way to celebrate this in a way neither studio would have come up with alone,” said Jemma Ooi, co-founder at CUSTHOM, of their collaboration with Jonathan Lawes. The Cut + Paste homeware collection, designed by the two London-based studios, adds some lighthearted fun to your home with its playful approach to color and form.

One of the best parts? The collection of tumblers, highballs, a vase, and artwork are designed so that each piece can be enjoyed singularly or as part of a set. The collage-like designs are chosen by the team for their bold, graphic color blocks.

Jonathan Lawes adds, “A lot of my work can get quite busy and numerous layers all interacting – this was a good way to reel that back in and focus on specific elements.”

Another fantastic quality of Cut + Paste is that its pieces are all made from recycled glass supplied by revered glassware brand, LSA International. In fact, both the color palette and designs are inspired by the green of the recycled glass being used. The art prints are made using water-based inks and FSC-managed papers, and the entirety of the Cut + Paste collection can be recycled.

To learn more about the Cut + Paste collection, visit custhom.co.uk.

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

A devastating e-bike tragedy. Children fired out of cannons. The media circus surrounding George Santos. A psychology professor studying the science of awe. And a deep dive into a beloved (and dirty) Peanuts character.

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1. Molly’s Last Ride

Peter Flax | Bicycling Magazine | January 31, 2023 | 8,136 words

Exactly two years ago, 12-year-old Molly Steinsapir got onto an e-bike with her best friend, crashed, and died. I remember when it happened — the tragedy was covered widely, in no small part because Molly’s mom took to social media to talk about it. Now, in a moving and nuanced feature, Peter Flax examines the question of who, if anyone, is liable for Molly’s death. Flax, who owns two bikes made by the manufacturer of the one Molly rode, a company her parents are now suing, illuminates how the explosive growth of the e-bike industry, while a seeming net good for people and the planet, isn’t without dangerous consequences. There aren’t a lot of industry regulations, and there are pressing concerns about the quality of popular equipment. “As a country we have decided we value entrepreneurship and business and letting people just go to market,” Molly’s mom, Kaye, tells Flax, “and then we find out if the thing is safe or not as it is sold and marketed and used.” This is one of my favorite kinds of magazine feature, the personal story that serves as a lens for a bigger one, which in turn asks people to wrestle with urgent questions. Molly is gone, but her death may well save another 12-year-old girl somewhere. —SD

2. The First Family of Human Cannonballing

Abigail Edge | Narratively | January 9, 2023 | 6,964 words

I was a child who had to endure being padded up to the hilt and a safety lecture just to get on a bike. So this story, about a family who happily fired their children out of cannons (starting around the ripe old age of 14), left me agog. An insight into a different world, it is a delightful read about what happens if you actually do run away with the circus. David Smith was 27 when he and his wife, Jean, joined a traveling circus — a surprising career move for a maths teacher. After a stint as a trapeze artist, where he would catch his wife as she hurtled through the air, he found cannon life and never looked back, continuing to be fired over 100 feet into his 70s. The couple’s children grew up immersed in circus culture, seeing it change over the years as circuses fell out of favor; David’s son, David Jr., is still being fired out of cannons today. Pragmatically told, this is a measured take on an extraordinary family. —CW

3. 16 Hours With George Santos: Dunkin’ Donuts, 27,000 Steps and a Scolding

Jesús A. Rodríguez | Politico Magazine | January 31, 2023 | 4,248 words

Okay, so Politico doesn’t believe in Oxford commas. Demerit issued. But look past that, because Jesús Rodríguez turns on the gas for this scrum’s-eye view of what it’s like to have to cover George Santos, a man whose unrelenting mendacity is shocking even by Congressional standards. If Frank Sinatra had a cold, Santos has an allergy to anything resembling virtue. But he does have the feeble bribery of a box of donuts, which he leaves outside his office for the frustrated journalists — and the last of those donuts provides the apt (if obvious) literary device that fuels the piece. Empty calories, with a core of emptiness at its center: Is there a better culinary symbol for a man like this? Rodríguez knows you know the answer, so he just lets the question sit as he chases Santos around the Capitol and surrounding offices, chronicling every platitude, snipe, and muttered aside along the way. This may be a piece about an elected official, but to call it political journalism does it a disservice. Sometimes you need to laugh to keep from crying, so enjoy the punchlines while you can. —PR

4. Finding Awe Amid Everyday Splendor

Henry Wismayer | Noema | January 5, 2023 | 6,377 words

“To experience awe, to fully open ourselves up to it,” writes Henry Wismayer, “helps us to live happier, healthier lives.” But what is awe? How has the human sense of wonder over the centuries driven us toward various pursuits and ways of being? Wismayer spends time with Dacher Keltner, a Berkeley professor at the forefront of a scientific movement examining our least-understood emotional state. I’ve appreciated Wismayer’s recent contemplative essays on other subjects, like travel and tourism, and this hybrid of profile and reported essay is yet another thought-provoking read. It’s informative about this new field of psychology but not at all dense, and I came away from it fresh, open-minded, and ready to experience the small wonders of my day. —CLR

5. The Dirt on Pig-Pen

Elif Batuman | Astra Magazine | October 27, 2022 | 2,245 words

I’m still sad that Astra Magazine is no more. Maybe it’s because I’m seeing so much fervor for bot-written text lately (oh hi, ChatGPT) and I worry about its mind-boggling potential to pollute the internet with pap left unchecked, not to mention the repercussions of inevitable misuse. Thankfully Astra remains online for now, which allows you to read Elif Batuman’s terrific deep dive on the Peanuts character Pig-Pen. Through Pig-Pen, Batuman explores what Charles Schultz had to say about American values in the 1950s and beyond, most notably, commentary on the darker side of society and relationships. But, in wearing his messiness with pride, is Pig-Pen perhaps the most authentic Peanut of all? “Everyone, it turns out, has a Dirty version of themselves: mussed, unkempt, scribbled over. This feels true.” —KS

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Kaweco Original Fountain Pen with 250 Nib Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

There's no denying how prevalent the design of the Kaweco Sport is in the stationery world. There are several different models of the Sport that all feature the same faceted barrel and minimal style. It's a thing of beauty, and I'd bet that most fountain pen fans have at least one in their collection. But what if you're not a huge fan of the pocket pen size, the lack of a clip, or the small nib that comes on the Sport models? In that case, the Kaweco Original Fountain Pen is meant for you.

The Kaweco Original is a modern take on a classic design that looks like a Sport model has been stretched a bit to a more standard length. Oh, and it has a clip built in to the cap. The chrome accents against the matte black body are classic Kaweco all the way, and those facets on the body and cap remind you of all the Kaweco Sport models that came before it.

The branding on the pen is normal for Kaweco; there's a "Kaweco Original Germany" stamped on the side of the body, "Kaweco" is stamped into the clip, and the top finial has the traditional "Kaweco" split into three parts in a circle pattern. This is all standard for all of Kaweco's pens (as long as the pen also has a clip. The nib also features the round logo stamp along with a nib size indicator and some minimal scroll work around the edge of the nib shoulders. All of this is right in line with all the other pens in Kaweco's lineup.

Aside from the additional length, there's one other major difference with this pen compared to other Kaweco pens — the nib size. Most Kaweco pens comes with their 060 size steel nib, which is the smaller sized nib that fits the Sport models quite well. The 250 nib size on this pen is quite a bit larger, but fits the longer and wider body perfectly. I've seen this nib on the Supra, and I know a couple other models come with it, but it's still somewhat hard to find on Kaweco pens. It's a $25 upcharge, but I think it's totally worth it. The nib was buttery smooth out of the box, and the writing experience is great. I've taken to writing without posting the cap since there's a good balance with just the pen body due to the extra length.

Another thing that the longer body affords us is the ability to use a standard size cartridge converter! Another rarity with many Kaweco models, you will have no problems popping a standard converter in here to use your favorite inks. I opted for a Kaweco cartridge this time around, but I tested the fit with a converter to be sure. I've tried all the small Kaweco converter, and they either don't work well, don't hold enough ink to be worth the hassle, or they're just fiddly and unreliable compared to cartridges. Being able to use a standard converter is fantastic. I just wish Kaweco included one in the box at this price.

The Kaweco Original with the larger 250 nib comes in a $125 (the smaller 060 variant is $105.50). The Kaweco AL Sport starts at around $76, and I think the Original is fairly priced given the additional body length, the larger cap and clip, and then of course the large 250 nib. You can save a few bucks with the 060 model, but I'd strongly urge you to go with the large 250. It's perfect on this pen.

You can pick one of these up with an EF, F, M, or B nib in either the 250 or 060 nib size, but matte black with chrome trim is the only color option. If you enjoy the timeless design of the Kaweco Sport but want a little longer body, this is the pen made for you!

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Finding Awe Amid Everyday Splendor

What is awe? And can experiencing awe lead to a happier, healthier life? Henry Wismayer spends time with Dacher Keltner, a Berkeley psychology professor at the forefront of a scientific movement examining our least-understood emotional state. I’ve appreciated Wismayer’s contemplative essays on other subjects, especially travel and tourism, and this profile-reported essay hybrid is yet another thought-provoking read. It’s informative but not dense, and I came away from it fresh, open-minded, and ready to experience the day’s small wonders.

Out of this trove of 2,600 personal narratives, the team at Berkeley distilled a definitive catalogue of awe’s elicitors. Keltner dubbed them “the eight wonders of life.” The most common source of awe was the moral beauty of other people, such as witnessing instances of compassion or courage. Also prevalent was “collective effervescence,” the sense of transcendent unity we might feel at a sporting event or when dancing in unison with others. Then came two predictable ones: nature and music, to which was added a third aesthetic stimulus, visual design. The last three could be lumped together by those of a romantic disposition as matters of the soul: spiritual awe, life and death, and epiphanies, like Archimedes’ Eureka moment, or the Damascene conversion of St. Paul.

Tinker the Robot (1966)

Tinker the Robot was created by David Weston in 1966. Weston, an inventor, could control the Robot's actions from a control panel in his garage. The robot had a 200 meter range of motion and contained over 120 electric motors as well as other features. — Read the rest