The Superiority of Fountain Pens

I love fountain pens. They offer an older, yet superior form of writing. They have so many superior qualities, and very little flaws. The first and probably the greatest is the writing. To write with a fountain pen you don’t have to press down or even touch the paper. All that is needed is the ink to touch the paper, and it instantly writes. There is no pressure required. People that write or type all day understand the pain that comes after a long day of work. Your hand hurts, your shoulder hurts, and you wonder why you’re stuck in such a dead end job.
Also, they never need replacing and you don’t have to throw them away. All you need is to show them a bit of matenence and love and they will never fail or leak. A good fountain pen will cost as little as 2 dollars and exceptionally good ones can cost hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars. A great durable fountain pen, such as the LAMY safari costs 30 dollars. But think, you will never, ever need another one, as long as you take care of it.
You also have to refill your fountain pens, but there is a timeless joy in this ritual, which with a good pen, should only happen every two weeks or so. There are also many types of fountain pen ink holders. There is the eyedropper, which is the original. You fill up the whole barrel of the pen with an eyedropper; this one has the largest ink capacities. There is also the ink bladder, which is a rubber sac that using suctions you with ink. The problem with these is that the sac can rot and corrosive inks can destroy it. There is also the cartridge, which is a plastic cartridge that you insert into the pen. Even though the cartridges are wasteful and can get expensive it is still how most fountain pens work. So, what about us non wasteful but still modern people? Well, we have the converter, you buy one specific to your pen and this allows easy refills while still having the convenience of a cartridge.
Now, the ink you use is also a major factor. Not all inks are created equal, and normal inks can clog and destroy a fountain pen. These India inks clog up the pen, for a fountain pen you need a water based ink made with dyes and not pigments. My favorite brand of ink is noodlers. Good noodlers ink is waterproof, forge-proof, and UV-proof, so you will never get it off before destroying the paper. Noodlers ink binds to the cellulose of the paper, has the best array of colours, and is dirt cheap.
Now after all this I really hope you go out and buy a fountain pen, nothing too fancy, but something that fits your personality. Maybe an eloquent Mont Blanc, or a retractable pelican or a modern and sleek LAMY al-star? I just ordered 2 platinum preppy, a LAMY safari, and a bottle of ink. Eventually you can be the crazed collector I am.

Simon

The SIMUN experience was something very unique that I have never had the pleasure to experience before. It brought society and interaction into a very organized form that made things so much easier. In normal everyday life we all play by a different set of rules. But during SIMUN we all had the same set of rules, this made other people actions much easier to predict and come up with thoughtful responses. It was like we slowed down time and allowed us to respond much faster. This presentation allowed even the weak to be strong. Also alliances made much more sense. Since actions required much less commitment a basic political friendship was all it required to get a signature on things. People gave support willingly and we all understood that we wanted the group to succeed and not just individual people.
I was one of the most, if not, the most active person in the group. I was closely followed by the USA and South Africa. They were both juniors and all of them were really nice. I was glad that I got the country Kazakhstan, because it allowed me to make whatever allies I wanted depending on the situation, because Kazakhstan has no enemies, except for stupid Uzbekistan, but no-body likes them. On some issues I got to side with China and other times I got to be on the US’s side. It was nice and allowed a break from just supporting one person.
I prepared very little for SIMUN, I did a few of the assignments but my knowledge about countries history and policies helped me a lot. We discussed the ideas of the scenarios in class and since I paid attention to this I managed to survive. Also, the studying I did on my own during my high-time was good as I was able to enjoy doing the research and it stayed in my brain even if it was unconsciously. This put it into my brain the way English is, it was there and I didn’t really have to think about it. I just instantly knew what my countries side was. Maybe I should try this with Japanese, loll. Though languages are my weak spot so I don’t know. Okay, back on topic. The parliamentary procedures were also helpful and I think that they were probably the most important. When everyone knows these the discussion go’s much faster.
Next year I think that I will be able to pull an even better role because my constant understanding of every country policies went way up after SIMUN. The nice thing was that other peopled learned all about other countries by having to deal with them. Like now I know that Indonesia is a whiny bitch. Just kidding, but seriously, he kept whining about how he needed aid from the tsunami that was about 5 years ago. I think that that was the only thing they knew about their country. Ahh well, that was my only problem with the other countries position.
I also liked having really nice suits, especially the 3 piece one.

Pakistan Invaded

Ahh, the glorious nation of Kazakhstan. A nation so united, so powerful, and so loving. Kazakhstan has no enemies, well maybe those stupid Uzbekistan, but only a tiny bit. So, what happens when Kazakhstan has to pick an enemy? Well, in the event that a country like Pakistan experiences a Taliban run coup' de ta, Kazakhstan is split. Having no enemies, Kazakhstan really has only one choice, to try and please as many countries as possible. Kazakhstan is a big country, but it feels a lot of sympathy for other smaller Islamic countries. They would probably send in troops to Pakistan to help out, but more on a peacekeeping mission, not as an invading force. Kazakhstan's role would be to keep the country alive, while the NATO countries came in and beat up the Taliban. So, umm that’s it, I’m going to go participate in the running of the Jew.

Weird Drug Interactions

I have a very bad immune system. This lack of bodily defenses has started when my parents got divorced and my living conditions plummeted. My most recent sickness has been a case of bronchitis. So during our midwinter break I spent it laying on the couch and playing (very badly) modern warfare 2.

Throughout my many days of being sick I’ve learned a lot about drugs. First of all acetaminophen is a very evil drug. The US government has decided that to protect the people, they would mandate that all opiates (drugs made from the opium plant) have acetaminophen in them. Acetaminophen causes 56,000 emergency room visits and 450 deaths per year. The belief is that this would deter people from taking these drugs for recreational purposes but even at the "recommended dose" acetaminophen can still cause liver failure.

Another thing that bothers me about the medical industry is that they only have the basic warnings on pill bottles. "Don’t take with alcohol" or "do not drive or operate machinery". While these are good warnings, they leave out what happens when taking combinations of drugs, such as when you have bronchitis but are still going to school. My experience right now is that Sudafed and caffeine cause a reaction that numbs the body and messes up the brain. Although my nose has stopped running and im actually awake and alert, my body is numb and I cant stop sweating.

Another weird drug affect are MAO inhibiters. These drugs include a very large variety ranging from anti-depressants to painkillers. During my father’s last run of cellulites, he was prescribed vicoden for the fact that his leg was the size of a watermelon. When you eat chocolate, peanut butter, take aspirin, ibuprofen or acetaminophen, you pass out fairly fast and this can lead to heart failure or other complications. Now I do not want pill bottles to contain every known reaction that can exist with these drugs, but the really common ones should be covered, like CHOCOLATE, PEANUT BUTTER, or TYLENOL.

A lot of these effects go completely unnoticed, like when you mix acetaminophen with hydrocodone, prescription vicoden, you get a much stronger painkiller, but then again that’s the point as this becomes prescription vicoden.

I geuss the true problem is our adiction to medication. throughout my childhood the responce for any problem was "go take ____". Now im unsure if the rest of our nation is like this but i learned to dry swallow pills at age 6. where in a more natural world, its "i have a headache, im gonna go run into a tree untill i get knocked out". though i think that medication probably saves alot more lives than it ends so im fine with our increasing addiction to pills.

So the next time you get sick, check all the drugs you take because a lot of these weird effects can be really unpleasant.

For more infromation on all these things, use google or wikipedia, as i have covered a very wide range of topics. For you Mr. Feilder my offical hyperlink is to this funny blog

War or Peace?

Over the past 14 years a grand total of 6.4 MILLION people have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo. But we need to look at this from a different standpoint, a view that treats the world in a different way.

The single biggest reason we need to lower our value of human life is because we have grown to a point of assumed superiority. Earth, as we know it, can not, and will not support the lifestyle we "Humans" have assumed. We have become the dominant species because not only do we consume enough resources to survive, we consume resources to be entertained and live in an overly complex world. So when it so happens that 6.4 million people die in the DRC, or 200,000 deaths in Haiti, is it because the world is not right, or "we didn't work hard enough?" or is it because the density of the population is so high that mass slaughter become possible. We need to stop viewing the world from a "Human" standpoint and more from a "Life" standpoint.

For the article that caused this wonderful rant, click HERE

What Did I Learn Over This Semester? (Edited for Content)

I learned that human interaction is bad. Deal with it. It may not be what you wanted me to learn but it is. When people get together bad things happen. Examples:

· First Day of school- This showed the fear and other emotions that we experienced during our first day in a new world. IE the effects of mild culture shock.

· Rabbit Proof Fence- See 3^rd Paragraph.

· The Power of One- See 3^rd Paragraph.

· Squirrel Cop- Our social system is one of monogamy; this is caused by society which is a product of human interaction. Lust for the women is part of human nature but the fear of showing it was brought out by society, thus causing hilarious events to ensue.

· Man in the well- See 4^th Paragraph.

· Rwandan Genocide- See 2^nd Paragraph.

I learned that the UN and the United States are complete fucking assholes^{Mean People}. Through a small amount of fear, lack of media coverage, laywer-ish technicality bullfuck^Stuff, lack of interest and general discord of human life, let eight-hundred-fucking-thousand people die. Also they cause fucking Canadians to go insane and do drugs.

I learned that for some reason white people are complete dicks^{Mean People}. I don’t know what causes it but for some reason, they feel the need to fucking trample over anyone that is even mildly different from them. It probably has something to do with the educational system that exists. IE: the one teacher has several students. This causes competition and a lack of resources. Notice how homeschooled kids aren’t complete buttfucks^{Mean People}? Yeah there’s a reason for that.

Examples of white assholeness^Meanness:

· Europe

· Africa

· North America

· South America

· Asia

· Australia

I think the penguins are the only people not touched by white crazy people.

I learned that other people aren’t innocent from this either. In “the man in the well” the story sets the backdrop as Middle-Eastern/African. It shows how little kids still have an evil in them. The important part is that they still understand what they are doing is wrong. The group decides what none of the people inside it want

I learned that Mr. Fielder has a very similar teaching style and personality to my old Language Arts teacher; Mr. Vasich. Examples of this are as follows:

· Like Assigning Lots Of Work

· Don’t Like Grading Lots Of Work

· Myth’s Unit/Section

· Rebellion

· NPR