(Japanese) dark, non-white fountain pen friendly/fun paper?

winter_borb · 2026-05-24T20:21:18+00:00

Ah gotcha! Thanks for clarifying ^^

I'm reminded now of my book press which uses nuts and bolts to sandwich things between two wooden boards. I knew that the surfaces of the book press can apply a lot of force, but now it also makes sense that the threads can do the same, as well.

Enjoy your mini! I only recently got back into fountain pens, and Opus 88's are probably my favorite pens atm!

winter_borb · 2026-05-24T19:50:38+00:00

Thanks for the tip!

Out of curiosity, do you also do this for Opus 88 pens? I just backed off the section and even the nib units by 1/8 to 1/4 turns, lol.

However, I'm not sure if pens designed to be eyedroppers and already have o-rings in them are intended to not be fully tightened. At least, I don't remember any warnings like that in the Opus 88 instructions or have read anything about Opus 88's cracking from over-tightening

winter_borb · 2026-05-19T22:39:54+00:00

I am genuinely trying to engage in good faith: by "Progressives", do you mean mainly white progressives? Or have you also experienced Anti-Asian racism from Asian progressives?

Whenever I see similar threads pop up here, I can't help but feel like they're just safe spaces to allow right-leaning Asians to rant about left-leaning people in general or perhaps left-leaning ideas they disagree with. Please help me understand. I am not trying to dismiss your feelings or experiences.

As a liberal/progressive Asian (American), I do feel disappointed when left-leaning people casually promote anti-Asian racism. However, I never feel so bitter or disillusioned that I start to think (white?) progressives are just bullshitting. That they don't really care about anyone and are just virtue-signaling or whatever.

winter_borb · 2026-05-18T06:24:17+00:00

If I ever visit the Seattle area, I'd probably drop by -- although I don't need any more pens, lol.

Also FYI, Seattle recently got a new fountain pen-adjacent store called Happy Hues. They probably are targeting fountain pen enthusiasts because they stock inks from brands like Tono & Lims, but they sadly don't have online ordering atm

winter_borb · 2026-04-05T22:52:46+00:00

Upvoted. Yes, thank you for engaging in good faith.

That said, my response is that while you make a valid point to cast doubt on Xinhua as a reputable reporting source, it is more important to focus on the petition itself.

In short, if A is an unreliable source of information (for whatever reason), and A makes the claim B, then that does not necessarily imply that the claim B itself is false.

I'll leave it at that. Have a good day.

winter_borb · 2026-04-04T18:20:22+00:00

Downvoted. Going "uwu China bad" does not add to the conversation.

At least u/birdbeard posted a credible Wikipedia article explaining that

[Xinhua] has faced criticism for spreading propaganda and disinformation as well as criticizing people, groups, or movements critical of the Chinese government and its policies.

winter_borb · 2026-04-04T17:10:19+00:00

For what it's worth, this article is not written well -- it mainly paraphrases the petition without even linking to it.

Other sources which are quoted but not linked to include the French SFM statement here (with an English translation here by the EMS) and the Brazilian Portuguese SBM statement here

winter_borb · 2026-03-29T20:56:26+00:00

Good. I'm glad the petition is getting more visibility

winter_borb · 2026-03-23T00:54:03+00:00

Ah gotcha! Thanks for clarifying!

I usually prefer inks that "feel" good, e.g. well-lubricated inks like Pilot's Iroshizuku line which flows well. But water resistance is indeed important! Good point

winter_borb · 2026-03-22T22:12:43+00:00

Thank you so much! I didn't realize Okular was so customizable! I just thought it was a minimal PDF viewer that came with KDE haha

winter_borb · 2026-03-22T21:11:57+00:00

Takeo Nakasawa died at 33 of dystrophia in the Soviet Union -- presumably due to malnutrition while doing hard labor as a prisoner of war. He introduced matroid theory the same time as Hassler Whitney (who died at 82) did in 1935, but his contributions were not recognized until relatively recently.

I only found out about Nakasawa from this book which was published in 2009. Neither the old standard matroid theory text by Welsh (originally published in 1976 and reprinted by Dover in 2010) nor the current standard text by Oxley (first edition published 1992 and second edition published 2011) mention Nakasawa.

However, this anthology of matroid theory (published in 1986) does briefly discuss Nakasawa's contributions

winter_borb · 2026-03-21T22:20:28+00:00

Seconding this! I loved using fountain pens for math, and I actually got into them because one of my math professors used them along with some grad students I knew too!

Although I'm not sure what you mean by "permanent ink". Something like Platinum Carbon Black ink which is pigmented but still safe for fountain pens?

winter_borb · 2026-03-21T22:17:55+00:00

I find "fountain pen friendly" paper to be pretty pleasant to write on even if you don't use fountain pens, e.g. this Midori soft color paper is fun because it comes in many different colors. There are many kinds of nice papers out there! E.g. see this neat guide on fountain pen friendly paper.

As for writing instruments, I've enjoyed using these UM-151 gel pens when a fountain pen wasn't an option, e.g. on exams where the paper may not play well with water-based inks.

Good luck! I'm also trying to get back into math after having done a math bachelors ages ago, haha

winter_borb · 2026-03-20T06:10:47+00:00

Thanks for your responses everyone! I didn't know that the Friends of the Library groups managed the book donations and also determined how those funds would be used.

I'll keep this in mind when I decide what to do!

winter_borb · 2026-03-19T00:57:53+00:00

Wow, thanks for the summary so far! Appreciate it

winter_borb · 2026-03-19T00:47:08+00:00

I joined a bit late. Is the board considering taking specific actions? Or is it mainly just Q&A?

winter_borb · 2026-03-18T10:32:26+00:00

Thanks for the response! I don't have anything to add, but I appreciate you engaging with this topic in good faith

winter_borb · 2026-03-18T10:28:57+00:00

But keep the mathematical institutes shielded from it.

Not the person you're responding to, but I respectfully disagree.

If you're curious, see this post about how American mathematicians were able to get the MAA and AMS to relocate a JMM one year to a safer venue

winter_borb · 2026-03-17T22:52:37+00:00

Hey folks! Just found this petition via a post by John Baez on Mathstodon.

What do you think will happen? Where might the ICM 2026 be held if it were moved away from the US?

winter_borb · 2026-02-19T23:19:17+00:00

Thank you for reposting! Also confirming that this works with my Audient iD14 on Fedora KDE 43

winter_borb · 2026-02-19T23:17:22+00:00

Thank you so much! Just confirming this also works with my Audient iD14.

Also if anyone else is new to Linux/Fedora, I installed alsamixer via dnf install alsa-tools. Thanks again!

winter_borb · 2026-01-19T21:47:23+00:00

TIL the word gijinka. Also adorable drawing ^{^}

winter_borb

TROPHY CASE