Misfill, Cheater Edition

Each week in Refill, the Pen Addict Members newsletter, I publish Ink Links as part of the additional content you receive for being a member. And each week, after 10 to 15 links, plus my added commentary on each, I'm left with many great items I want to share. Enter Misfill. Here are this weeks links:

— What I’m Enjoying (From the Pen Cup)

— 2200 Inks! (Mountain of Ink)

— At today’s pro democracy protest (Writing at Large)

— 2023 Mid-Year Recap: Reader Favorites from the First Six Months of 2023 (The Gentleman Stationer)

— Pelikan To Be Sold To The Hamelin Group (The Pelikan's Perch0

— Kakimori #06 Toppuri (Inkcredible Colours)

— One more for the community’s exploration of #21PenQuestions (mnmlscholar)

— Maps, Everyday Ephemera, and Watercolor Drawings Record José Naranja's Travels with Fantastic Detail (Colossal)

— Ink of the Week – Troublemaker Petrichor (Fountain Pen Love)

— Maruman Mnemosyne Twin Ring Notebook Review (Blake's Broadcast)

— Mini-Review: Retro51 Rainforest Trust (The Well-Appointed Desk)

— 2023 St. Louis Pen Show (Rachel's Reflections)

— Ensso XS Minimalist Ultem (Figboot on Pens)

— Dominant Industry Standard Ink Swatch Tests (Nick Stewart)

— Exquisite Paintings by Lee Me Kyeoung Are an Ode to the Quaint Corner Stores of South Korea (Colossal)

— The Paris Review - Diary, 2021 (The Paris Review)

— Lit. (Present & Correct)

— Two boring pens that I like anyway (Extra Fine Writing)

— Guide: Pilot FriXion Erasable Pens (Shellshore)

— What’s What 6/25 — 7/1 (Line Variation)

— Nearly Two Dozen Exuberant Works by Ukrainian Folk Artist Maria Prymachenko Go On View in the U.K. For the First Time (Colossal)

— Rob Ball's carpet photos are an ode to the faded glamour of the British seaside (Creative Boom)

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Misfill, Ink Rainbow Edition

Each week in Refill, the Pen Addict Members newsletter, I publish Ink Links as part of the additional content you receive for being a member. And each week, after 10 to 15 links, plus my added commentary on each, I'm left with many great items I want to share. Enter Misfill. Here are this weeks links:

— Ink Rainbow (Rachel's Reflections)

— Lennon Tool Bar Watermelon (Inkcredible Colours)

— Watercolor Review: Boku-Undo Gansai Aurora Palette (The Well-Appointed Desk)

— Cartier Cougar Fountain Pen Review (Blake's Broadcast)

— An ink you like is too wet or dry – do not throw it out (dapprman)

— A Digital Archive of Graphic Design (swissmiss)

— New Takes on Traditional Chinese Ink Painting (Hyperallergic)

— June Rainbows Ink Palettes (Mountain of Ink)

— In Ink and Watercolor Illustrations, Felicia Chiao Immerses Curious Characters in Surreal Scenarios (Colossal)

— Specimens of Fancy Turning(1869) (The Public Domain Review)

— The BENU Tattoo is the perfect pen for when you need people to know you are rock ‘n roll but it’s winter and you work in an office (Extra Fine Writing)

— What’s What 6/18 — 6/24 (Line Variation)

— Nahvalur Nautilus Bronze Corydoras Fountain Pen Review (SBREBrown)

— Frida Kahlo's Illustrated Diary (Noted)

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Guest Post — Why Are UK Libraries Signing a Springer-Nature Deal They Don’t Seem to Like?

Libraries continue to sign Transformative Agreements while becoming increasingly convinced that they do not represent the desired transformation. Peter Barr explains why this happens.

The post Guest Post — Why Are UK Libraries Signing a Springer-Nature Deal They Don’t Seem to Like? appeared first on The Scholarly Kitchen.

Misfill, Hidden Shrines Edition

Each week in Refill, the Pen Addict Members newsletter, I publish Ink Links as part of the additional content you receive for being a member. And each week, after 10 to 15 links, plus my added commentary on each, I'm left with many great items I want to share. Enter Misfill. Here are this weeks links:

— Exploring Tokyo’s Hidden Shrines (Spoon & Tamago)

— Seven Years of Morning Pages (Almost) (From the Pen Cup)

— Das Messerbett (Lexikaliker)

— Tones Within Tones: Blue-Black Inks of Choice (The Gentleman Stationer)

— Sailor Pro Gear Imperial Black (Figboot on Pens)

— New Grinds from Custom Nib Studio (Line Variation)

— June Rainbows Ink Palettes (Mountain of Ink)

— LIFE Schopfer Notebook Review (Blake's Broadcast)

— Mini-Review: Pilot Juice Paint Pen in White (The Well-Appointed Desk)

— Review: Pentel Orenz Nero Mechanical Pencil (Shellshore)

— Moody Colors in My Pens (Dime Novel Raven)

— Out of Reach Pens (Rachel's Reflections)

— The 30 Best Albums of 2023 (So Far) (Our Culture)

— Video-Review: Montblanc 149 Calligraphy Curved Nib (Special Edition) (Scrively)

— Poppy DeltaDawn Unravels Fiber Art’s Queered Histories (Hyperallergic)

— Ensso XS Ultem Fountain Pen Review (SBREBrown)

— The Montegrappa Fortuna Camouflage is the perfect pen for when you need to write an elegant letter from a trench or something (Extra Fine Writing)

— Three kind angles on living for ink maximalism (mnmlscholar)

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Know Your Enemy: What’s Wrong With Men?

Matt and Sam explore the “crisis of masculinity” in America through books on the subject by Senator Josh Hawley and Harvard political theorist Harvey Mansfield.

HeatTransformers turns up the dial on heat pumps with new funding

In the Netherlands, central heating boilers will be banned by 2026 and its government has incentivized the installation of heat pumps. Meanwhile, the U.K. government estimates that heating buildings accounts for 25% of the U.K.’s greenhouse gas emissions. It passed the Energy Security Bill, and is aiming to install 600,000 heat pumps a year by 2028. All of this opens up opportunities for companies advising on, fitting and maintaining heat pumps, which is what Netherlands-based HeatTransformers, does. It just a raised €15 million Series A to go heavy on the (proverbial) gas.

“Heat pumps have an unbeatable CO₂ reduction ratio per invested dollars for households,” says Stijn Otten, co-founder and director of HeatTransformers, “This ratio is much higher than with solar for instance. This was already the case back in 2018 when we started, but even more today.”

While heat pumps might not be new technology, the tech isn’t evenly distributed. More than 60% of homes in Norway are heated using heat pumps, for example, while the U.S. sees fewer than 6% so equipped. HeatTransformers seeks to address the traditional challenges of heat pump adoption by connecting heat pump producers and installation specialists with consumers. The HeatTransformers platform takes consumers through the process from the beginning, when they might only be thinking about the benefits of a heat pump, through installation and beyond, with maintenance, online monitoring and the optimization of heat pumps.

This is a model that has attracted global energy companies, heat pump producers and installers as committed partners, including Engie, Bosch, BDR Thermea Group and dozens of local and national installers. Its €15 million Series A funding round was led by Energy Impact Partners (“EIP”), a global investment firm supporting the transition to a sustainable future, with participation from existing investors Fair Capital Partners and InnovationQuarter.

Interestingly, HeatTransformers told TechCrunch that it could have done without the investment but felt that it needed to scale faster in order to address the general state of the global energy market: war in Ukraine, energy poverty and carbon emissions’ climate impact.

“In this process we were looking for truly professional investors who could help us scaling up across multiple markets,” says Otten. “But at the same time, we also wanted investors who share the same impact fundamentals we have. This is what we found in Energy Impact Partners — a leading investment firm in this space with experience scaling companies like us across multiple markets.”

With heat pump sales having risen by almost 38% across Europe last year, which replaced roughly 4 billion cubic meters of natural gas and avoided 8 million tons of CO₂ emissions, HeatTransformers has recognized that right now is the time to be expanding, to meet the growing need for heat pumps not just in the Netherlands, but across Europe.

“This investment will cement our market-leading position in the Netherlands, it will enable us to grow into other markets like Germany and the U.K.,” says Otten. “Fundamentally, it will help us grow and increase our impact.”

For Otten himself, the excitement lies in growing his company and, further into the future, having a lasting impact on global residential heating, as well as climate change.

“I am specifically looking forward to building the teams, further developing the tech-platform and building our partnerships with suppliers, energy companies and installation companies across Europe,” says Otten. “In 10 years’ time, heat pumps will be the common way of heating your home across the entire globe. HeatTransformers will have played a pivotal role in speeding up this transition and [will still be] playing a role in the installation of heat pumps and optimizing the energy systems of households across multiple countries.”

HeatTransformers turns up the dial on heat pumps with new funding by Haje Jan Kamps originally published on TechCrunch

Philosophers Among Recent NSF Grant Winners

A few philosophers have picked up grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) recently.

They are:

• Catherine Kendig and Paul Thompson (Michigan State University)
  “Epistemic and Ethical Functions of Categories in the Agricultural Sciences”
  The system for classifying objects of study in the sciences affects what can be known about them, and how they should be treated. The categories used within different systems of classification group the entities, processes, and systems that are the subject matter of the science, and determine how one differs from another. Agricultural science is a particularly important focus for studying systems of classification because social norms such as farm productivity, environmental quality and the economic competitiveness of farmers have long been explicitly recognized as values that influence the content and methods in agronomy, horticulture, and animal science. The project will apply analytic methods from the philosophy of science to improve understanding of how social, economic, ethical, and political values interact with biologically-oriented science in the agricultural sciences.
  This project will advance the clarity and quality of social and political debates that are currently shaping the practice of plant and animal food production with respect to issues such as environmental sustainability, food justice, adjustments to agriculture in response to climate change, and the welfare of livestock in intensive production systems. The core research team will identify categories and classification methods that proved decisive in steering the direction of research, or its subsequent application in several case studies on the agricultural sciences. A larger community including scholars working on agricultural science and veteran agricultural researchers will be created to steer, critique, and work collaboratively with the PIs. Research from the project will be published and will serve as the basis for a course designed for Colleges of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Colleges of Arts and Letters. ($452,995)
  

• John Morrison (Barnard College)
  “Representation and Inference in the Brain”
  The goal of this three-year project is to develop useful and precise definitions of ‘representation’ and ‘inference’ for attribution to the brain. Representation and inference are central notions in neuroscience, cognitive science, and philosophy, but there is no widely accepted definitions of these terms, and each of these fields would benefit from definitions in terms of neural activity. For example, neuroscientists often describe neural activity as representing and inferring. It is their way of describing the overall function of that activity, an abstraction away from detailed neural recordings. But, because there are no settled definitions, there are no objective grounds for these descriptions. As a result, they are treated as casual glosses rather than as rigorous analyses. Just as proper definitions accelerated progress in other fields, proper definitions of ‘representation’ and ‘inference’ have the potential to accelerate progress in neuroscience.
  This project will describe the challenge of defining ‘representation’ and ‘inference’ in terms of neural activity, survey potential definitions, and develop new definitions of these terms that link them to specific kinds of learning, each with identifiable neural correlates. It will then be shown how to attribute specific representations and inferences to the brain. The results of this project will contribute substantially to the philosophical foundations of neuroscience and cognitive science, and thereby serve to advance these fields. They will also be used in graduate and advanced undergraduate courses, and they will be published open source. ($298,656)

You can learn more about NSF grants here.

(Previous post about NSF grant winners is here.)

Work Zones Ahead!

Misfill, Deep Cut Baseball Edition

Each week in Refill, the Pen Addict Members newsletter, I publish Ink Links as part of the additional content you receive for being a member. And each week, after 10 to 15 links, plus my added commentary on each, I'm left with many great items I want to share. Enter Misfill. Here are this weeks links:

— Edition 46: Deep Cut Baseball Collectibles (Caroline Finds It)

— ink review : Teranishi Guitar Antique Black (inkxplorations)

— My Parker “17” fountain pen family. (Fountain pen blog)

— awol: a quick life update (a fleeting ripple)

— What I’m Using This Week (From the Pen Cup)

— Project Enjoy Collection 2023: Jan - March (Dime Novel Raven)

— Makar Mokuti Torpedo 250 (Figboot on Pens)

— Diamine City of London Ink Set (Nick Stewart)

— Pencil pot of the month – March 2023 (Bleistift)

— A few things I've learned from attending (a few) pen shows (Rediscover Analog)

— Ink Review #2097: Vinta Night Sky Tala (Mountain of Ink)

— Sailor hocoro Dip Pen (inkxplorations)

— Travelogue: Japan, part 1 (Carson Ellis - Slowpoke)

— Special Edition: 🖌️Artists’ Signatures ✍️ (Hyperallergic)

— Platinum 3776 Coarse Nib Review (Blake's Broadcast)

— Notebook Review: Traveler's Short Trip Passport Size (The Well-Appointed Desk)

— All doubled up on black (mnmlscholar)

— Borders, 1900. (Present & Correct)

— Caran d'Ache "Ultra Violet": Ink Review (Scrively)

— Pachimon: The Amazing Obscure Kaiju Collectible Cards From The 70’s (Design You Trust)

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Thinking about Life with AI

“What kind of civilization is it that turns away from the challenge of dealing with more… intelligence?”

That’s Tyler Cowen (GMU), writing at Marginal Revolution. He is addressing the “radical uncertainty” we should acknowledge regarding a future in which we’ve developed artificial intelligence (AI). Even if one does not believe that large language models (LLMs) could be a form of AI (recall the possible architectural limitation noted in the paper discussed last week), it does seem that at least the AI-like is here, will only get more convincing in functionality, and will likely bring substantial changes to our lives.

Cowen’s targets are those who are making broad judgments about the goodness and badness of these technological developments. He thinks we’re living in a transformational period—he calls it “moving history”—and our predictions about it should be informed by an appropriate degree of epistemic humility. He says:

Since we are not used to living in moving history, and indeed most of us are psychologically unable to truly imagine living in moving history, all these new AI developments pose a great conundrum. We don’t know how to respond psychologically, or for that matter substantively. And just about all of the responses I am seeing I interpret as “copes,” whether from the optimists, the pessimists, or the extreme pessimists… No matter how positive or negative the overall calculus of cost and benefit, AI is very likely to overturn most of our apple carts, most of all for the so-called chattering classes.

Of course, that AI is “very likely to overturn most of our apple carts” and will ultimately be as unpredictable in its effects as the invention of fire or the printing press is itself a bold prediction. But suppose we accept it. That we can’t be certain of what might happen doesn’t render speculation random or pointless.

So let’s speculate. I’m curious what changes, if any, you think we might be in for.

And let’s talk about how to speculate. I’m curious about how to think about these changes.

We might learn something from paleo-futurology, the study of past predictions of the future. One lesson appears to be that while some technological advances may be easy to predict, social changes are less so. Futurists of the 1950s, thinking about life in the year 2000, were able to anticipate, in some form, for example, video calls, increased use of plastics, and easier-to-clean fabrics:

Yet apparently it was not as easy to predict how odd it would be to relegate the shopping and cleaning to “the housewife of 2000”.

Technological changes affect attitudes and norms that in turn affect our expectations for various aspects of our lives, and those expectations have effects on how we live, what we think, the kinds of individual and collective problems we recognize, what else we are spurred to change, and so on.

So it is complicated, and so yes, let’s be epistemically humble. But let’s let our imaginations roam a bit, too, to explore the possibilities.

Misfill, Order and Chaos Edition

Each week in Refill, the Pen Addict Members newsletter, I publish Ink Links as part of the additional content you receive for being a member. And each week, after 10 to 15 links, plus my added commentary on each, I'm left with many great items I want to share. Enter Misfill. Here are this weeks links:

— Order and Chaos Converge in Yool Kim's Emotionally Charged Works (Colossal)

— Pure Pens Westgate Hotel on Midori MD (Inkcredible Colours)

— ink review : Diamine Tudor Blue (150th Anniversary Edition II) (inkxplorations)

— Urban Sketchers Sketchwalk: Dizengoff Square (Writing at Large)

— Ink Review #2092: Dominant Industry Spring Fields (Mountain of Ink)

— Early thoughts on the Aurora Duo Cart fountain pen. (Fountain pen blog)

— Unmoored (From the Pen Cup)

— Visconti Mirage Mythos (Figboot on Pens)

— Pen Show Adventures: Dipping Back into Vintage, or Pursuing Vintage-Style Modern Pens? (The Gentleman Stationer)

— SCRIBO Feel La Dotta Campanula Fountain Pen - BBB Nib (Gourmet Pens)

— It's not easy being green. (The Well-Appointed Desk)

— Stifflex Flex Softcover Notebook Review (Blake's Broadcast)

— Even More Indie Makers (Rachel's Reflections)

— A six-pen repeat with aspirations of empty pens (mnmlscholar)

— Aurora Il Viaggo Secreto in Italia Volterra Review (SBREBrown)

— The Kirifuri Falls, by Keisai Eisen (1843) (ZEN in TECHNICOLOR)

— You Too Can Have Your Art on a Postage Stamp (Hyperallergic)

— Japanese Craftsmanship Meets Pokemon at Kanazawa’s National Crafts Museum (Spoon & Tamago)

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Data Nirvana

Misfill, Bunnies Edition

Each week in Refill, the Pen Addict Members newsletter, I publish Ink Links as part of the additional content you receive for being a member. And each week, after 10 to 15 links, plus my added commentary on each, I'm left with many great items I want to share. Enter Misfill. Here are this weeks links:

— Bunnies Exclusive // Nahvalur Nautilus – 2023 Year of the Rabbit (Weirdoforest Pens)

— Pen Porn: Nahvalur Nautilus Brilliant Bunny (Rachel's Reflections)

— Schon DSGN Monoc Titanium Nibs & JoWo Fountain Pen Nib (Gourmet Pens)

— Original Crown Mill Pure Cotton Writing Pad Review (Blake's Broadcast)

— In the Studio With Amos Kennedy (Hyperallergic)

— “Drawing feels a lot like cooking”: Tarn Susumpow crafts delicious illustrations as if following a recipe (It’s Nice That)

— 2023 Arkansas Pen Show Recap, Day One (The Gentleman Stationer)

— Introducing the SBREBROWN Fountain Pen (SBREBrown)

— Reader Question 1: Paper as a Read Later App? (Analog Office)

— Cortex Brand Sidekick Review (Writing at Large)

— Thinking in twos while I slow down this week (mnmlscholar)

— Pure Pens People’s Charter on Midori MD (Inkcredible Colours)

— Notebook Storage Boxes (Notebook Stories)

— A Book and New Documentary Explore the Possibilities of Ink-Making in Urban Environments (Colossal)

— Nahvalur Ikkaku Ye-Yu (Figboot on Pens)

— Enigma Stationery Acrylic Sample Vial Display (The Well-Appointed Desk)

— Ink Review #759: Pennonia Danuvius Danube (Fountain Pen Pharmacist)

— Grün? SUPER5! (Lexikaliker)

— An Earthy Pen & Ink Pairing (From the Pen Cup)

— A Handful of Kaweco Nibs (Dime Novel Raven)

— Crochet Your Next Big Catch with Free Patterns from the National Park Service (Colossal)

— Ferris Wheel Press LE's 2022 (Mountain of Ink)

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Misfill, Cheerio Edition

Each week in Refill, the Pen Addict Members newsletter, I publish Ink Links as part of the additional content you receive for being a member. And each week, after 10 to 15 links, plus my added commentary on each, I'm left with many great items I want to share. Enter Misfill. Here are this weeks links:

— Fountain Pen Review: SchonDsgn x Inkdependence "Cheerio Waterpen" (The Well-Appointed Desk)

— One Week 100 People Day 6: Posca Pens and Pencil (Writing at Large)

— The Salty Quill Writing Retreat for Women: a Story in Pictures (Paper Blogging)

— Bag Dump: What's in My Rickshaw Banzai Bag? (The Gentleman Stationer)

— Dymo Labelling Ideas (1977) (Present & Correct)

— Wabi-Sabi: A Short Film on the Beauty of Traditional Japan (Open Culture)

— Allegory Goods Reliquary (Figboot on Pens)

— An upcycled Tradition (Bleistift)

— Diane Arbus Notebooks (Notebook Stories)

— The art of Hasui Kawase, 1883–1957 (feuilleton)

— Ink of the Week – Sailor Ink Studio 123 (Fountain Pen Love)

— Notes Art (Kottke)

— Atlas of the Munsell Color System (1915) (The Public Domain Review)

— Color Traveler Kure Battleship Yamato Gray on Leuchtturm1917 (Inkcredible Colours)

— PenBBS Season 29 Part 1 (Mountain of Ink)

— Hip Hop and the Machine (Hyperallergic)

— A new identifier system for Zettelkasten (Thoughtful Atlas)

— Monthly Pen Purchases: February 2023 (Rachel's Reflections)

— Change Of Plans: Pelikan May Be Eyeing A New Plant At Their Peine-Vöhrum Site (The Pelikan's Perch)

— A Maddeningly Complex Ballpoint Pen Replica of a 1000 Yen Bill by Keita Sagaki (Spoon & Tamago)

— February In Three Parts – California Pen Show & Other Adventures (The Poor Penman)

— flexible: galen leather a5 zippered folio (a fleeting ripple)

— Nostalgia Blue (Dime Novel Raven)

— The Day the Stationery Store Came to Me (From the Pen Cup)

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What Data Do Adult Learners of Color Want?

Misfill, Upcycled Edition

Each week in Refill, the Pen Addict Members newsletter, I publish Ink Links as part of the additional content you receive for being a member. And each week, after 10 to 15 links, plus my added commentary on each, I'm left with many great items I want to share. Enter Misfill. Here are this weeks links:

— The new, upcycled Noris (Bleistift)

— Charles Darwin’s note-making system (Richard Carter)

— My growing Lamy 2000 family. (Fountain pen blog)

— Ferris Wheel Press November-January Inks (Nick Stewart)

— Diplomat Elox Matrix (Figboot on Pens)

— De La Soul's Albums Are Now Available On Streaming Services (The Quietus)

— Sailor Pro Gear King of Pen 2021 LE Blue Dawn Fountain Pen (Gourmet Pens)

— Quick Look: Tsukineko Soramame Ink Pad - Set of 4 (The Well-Appointed Desk)

— Magna Carta Denima (dapprman)

— Kakimori Pen Nib Review (Blake's Broadcast)

— Gift Idea for Industrial Designers: Eames-Themed Playing Cards (Core77)

— SCRIBO La Dotta Domus Fountain Pen Review (SBREBrown)

— Inside Montblanc Haus, an Immersive Museum Designed to Inspire Writing (Cool Hunting)

— ink review : TACCIA Ukiyo-e Utamaro benizakura (inkxplorations)

— Lennon Tool Bar Saira on World Craft Freiheit (Inkcredible Colours)

— Experiments in thread work: Danielle Clough on finding joy with the needle (Creative Boom)

— Ink Review #2063: Van Dieman's Deciduous Beech (Mountain of Ink)

— Ink Review #757: Stipula Dark Grey (Fountain Pen Pharmacist)

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Making Transfer Students Visible

Misfill, Blotting Paper Edition

Each week in Refill, the Pen Addict Members newsletter, I publish Ink Links as part of the additional content you receive for being a member. And each week, after 10 to 15 links, plus my added commentary on each, I'm left with many great items I want to share. Enter Misfill. Here are this weeks links:

— Benefits of Blotting Paper (dapprman)

— Video-Review: Diplomat Nexus (100 year anniversary pen) (Scrively)

— postcode envy: jinhao 80 (a fleeting ripple)

— Writing Through a Mood (From the Pen Cup)

— Triangular Grip Pens: Love 'em or Leave 'em? (The Gentleman Stationer)

— Ink Review #2062: Van Dieman's Summer Wineglass Bay (Mountain of Ink)

— Curating the Chaos (Dime Novel Raven)

— CONID Kingsize Bulkfillers with Montblanc 149 Nibs - Totally Ridiculous and Fun (Gourmet Pens)

— Retro 51 Winnie-the-Pooh Set Review (Writing at Large)

— Pen Porn: Benu Talisman True Unicorn (Rachel's Reflections)

— Office Renovation ft. the FlexiSpot E7 Standing Desk (Figboot on Pens)

— Annotated Songs: July July! (Colin Meloy’s Machine Shop)

— Endless Observer Notebook Review | Regalia Paper Review (Blake’s Broadcast)

— Vinta Elysium Green on Kokuyo Campus (Inkcredible Colours)

— Tripping the teal fantastic (mnmlscholar)

— Duchessa 1935 Forum 2022 Fountain Pen Review (SBREBrown)

— When a UFO Came to Japan in 1803: Discover the Legend of Utsuro-bune (Open Culture)

— Ink of the Week – Iroshizuku Yama-budo (Fountain Pen Love)

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Misfill, Mess Up Your Notebook Edition

Each week in Refill, the Pen Addict Members newsletter, I publish Ink Links as part of the additional content you receive for being a member. And each week, after 10 to 15 links, plus my added commentary on each, I'm left with many great items I want to share. Enter Misfill. Here are this weeks links:

— Mess Up Your Good, Premium, Luxury Notebooks (Analog Office)

— Krishna Sea At Night on Midori MD (Inkcredible Colours)

— The Sailor Pro Gear Slim That I Feared Was Lost & The Aurora I Bought To Replace It (Chicana Writes)

— Pen Porn: 18111 Night Snow (Rachel's Reflections)

— Benu Beam Me Up (Figboot on Pens)

— Kaweco 2022 Limited Edition Sports (dapprman)

— Sailor Realo 1911 Fountain Pen Review (Blake's Broadcast)

— Water-Activated Calligraphy Makes Shodo More Accessible (Spoon & Tamago)

— Threlkeld Granite Co, 1898 (Present & Correct)

— Vintage Ephemera Backdrops Mark Powell's Intimate Ballpoint Pen Drawings (Colossal)

— Ensso Piuma Pocket Ultem Fountain Pen Review (SBREBrown)

— The Forbidden Notebook (Notebook Stories)

— After Sitting in Storage for More Than Three Decades, an Art Amusement Park Is Finally Going On Tour (Colossal)

— Ink of the Week – Iroshizuku Murasaki-shikibu (Fountain Pen Love)

— How I use my Hobonichi (Stationery 🍕)

— journaling ii: a new start! (ink between the teeth)

— Ink Review #2045: Robert Oster Muddy Grass (Mountain of Ink)

— Pen Review: Pentel Fude Touch Brush Sign Pen 2020 Colors (12-Color Set) (The Well-Appointed Desk)

Want to catch the rest, plus extra articles, reviews, commentary, discounts, and more? Try out a Pen Addict Membership for only $5 per month!

The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

Our favorites this week included the truth behind the term “burnout,” an incisive analysis of rap scapegoating, flowers for an aging icon, the beauty of noticing hidden wildlife, and an engaging look at history’s forgotten children. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

1. Edifice Complex

Bench Ansfield | Jewish Currents | January 3, 2023 | 3,358 words

I might have recommended this essay based on the excellent headline alone, but in fact the substance is the star of the show. Like many millennials, I have adopted the term “burnout” into my vocabulary as a way of describing the feeling of working too hard, juggling too much, and feeling depleted by the grinding expectations of late-stage capitalism. After reading this piece, I’ll be endeavoring to use the word differently. As historian Bench Ansfield shows, the true origins of burnout as a concept have been obscured over time. Burnout isn’t a reference to a candle burning at both ends until there’s nothing left, but to the shells of buildings left by a wave of arson that ravaged Black and brown neighborhoods in New York City in the ’70s. Much of the damage was caused by landlords looking for insurance payouts. “If we excavate burnout’s infrastructural unconscious — its origins in the material conditions of conflagration — we might discover a term with an unlikely potential for subversive meaning,” Ansfield writes. “An artifact of an incendiary history, burnout can vividly name the disposability of targeted populations under racial capitalism — a dynamic that, over time, has ensnared ever-wider swaths of the workforce.” If this were the premise of a college class, I’d sign up in a heartbeat. —SD

2. How “The Shadow of State Abandonment” Fostered Then Foiled Young Thug’s YSL

Justin A. Davis | Scalawag | February 9, 2023 | 4,089 words

Put aside the chewy headline for a moment. Also put away whatever you know or don’t know about Young Thug, one of Atlanta’s most influential rap luminaries for a decade, and the epicenter of a sprawling and questionable criminal investigation into his YSL crew. What you’ll find is a shrewd, fascinating analysis that combines a music obsessive’s encyclopedic genre knowledge and a Southerner’s geographical intimacy, refracted through a lens of accessible (a crucial modifier!) political theory. It ably unpacks the hydra-headed beast of gentrification and economics and policing, as faced by the young Black man who’s currently the Fulton County DA’s public enemy number one. “As working-class and poor Black Atlantans fight against displacement and fall back on everyday survival tactics,” Justin A. Davis writes, “they’re joining a decades-long struggle over who exactly the city’s for. So is YSL.” This sort of piece is exceedingly rare, not because of its form but because it demands an outlet that understands and nurtures its particular Venn diagram. Credit to Scalawag, and of course to Davis, for creating something this urgent. Required reading — not just for Thugga fans or Atlantans, but for anyone seeking to understand the world outside their own. —PR

3. Joe Montana Was Here

Wright Thompson | ESPN | February 8, 2022 | 12,111 words

“No. 16 is no longer what it once was. Joe Montana now must be something else.” I haven’t kept up with American football in at least 20 years, but that didn’t stop me from devouring Wright Thompson’s astonishing profile of former 49er quarterback Joe Montana. I grew up watching the Niners (Ronnie Lott 4eva) and have fond memories of attending games at Candlestick as a child. But you certainly don’t need to be a Niner fan, a football fan, or even be into sports at all to appreciate this beautifully written and revealing piece. Thompson paints a portrait of a complicated man and an aging athlete — one of the greatest of all time — and what it’s like to watch someone else take over that throne. —CLR

4. Creatures That Don’t Conform

Lucy Jones | Emergence Magazine | February 2, 2023 | 5,179 words

The forest path near us is a never-ending source of delight. I love being the first to see animal tracks in the snow. I look forward to the first yellow lady slippers that appear as if by magic near the marshy section, not to mention all the leaves and flowers as they sprout, and the myriad fungi that cling to the trees. Lucy Jones shares this wonder in nature (at slime molds in particular!) in Emergence Magazine. There she finds equal parts beauty, mystery, and wonder — a coveted yet all-too-elusive feeling nowadays — as she scans the forest for varieties that she’s just now starting to notice. “My eyes were starting to learn slime mold,” she writes. “My ways of seeing were altering, thanks to my new friends who were showing me what to look for. What was once invisible was quickly becoming apparent. It challenged my sense of perception. How little and how limited was my vision! How vast was the unknown world.”—KS

5. Children of the Ice Age

April Nowell | Aeon | February 13, 2023 | 4,400 words

April Nowell opens this piece with a delightful story about a Palaeolithic family taking their kids and dogs to a cave to do some mud painting, which feels like the modern-day equivalent of exhausted parents taking their offspring to McDonald’s and handing them a coloring book. I was instantly entranced. Such stories are rare, partly because evidence of children (with their small, fragile bones) is tricky for archaeologists to locate, but also because of assumptions that children were insignificant to the narrative. Nowell explains how, with the help of new archaeological approaches, this is changing, and the children of the Ice Age are getting a voice. I am ready to listen, so bring on these tales of family excursions and novices struggling to learn the craft of tool sculpting (as Nowell explains, “each unskilled hit would leave material traces of their futile and increasingly frustrated attempts at flake removal”). A Palaeolithic archaeologist and professor of anthropology, Nowell is an expert in this topic, but her vivid writing and human-based approach makes her fascinating field accessible to all. —CW

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