#pen usa

[rvspecter]

[samdeancest]

i am but a feral animal.

[vintagepromotions]

Advertisement for Venus fountain pen (1945).

[bopinion]

2025 / 02

Aperçu of the week

"Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that really threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedom."

(Departing US-President Joe Biden in his farewell speech)

Bad News of the Week

The devastating firestorms around Los Angeles are dramatic in two respects. Firstly, the fact that they are happening. The second is how the political public is dealing with it. The images are terrifying, and the tragedy of losing your own home is something you probably can't even imagine. After all, we are not usually talking about the third residences of Hollywood stars, but mostly about the homes of ordinary families. All you can do now is keep your fingers crossed that they are insured - and that the insurance will pay.

I'm just as stunned by the way the Republican-influenced media is assessing the disaster. Namely as man-made. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean that they have finally realized that climate change exists and who is responsible for it (namely all of us). No, I'm talking about the ridiculous blame game with which the guilt is placed on a few individuals. The fire chief is to blame because she is a woman and a lesbian. The mayor is to blame because she is a woman and black. The governor is to blame because he is a man, but a Democrat.

But it's so obvious: firstly, science has warned of exactly that if the climate warms by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius - and we had 1.6 degrees (for the first time) in 2024. And secondly, urban development, especially in the Los Angeles area, is fundamentally wrongly designed, so in a way, a basic danger is being negligently accepted. Of course, those who have just lost everything cannot take comfort in this. But it should give everyone pause for thought. Those who are in the process of making a personal decision about where to live. But above all those who have political, administrative or regulatory responsibility.

Good News of the Week

But no, officer: I may be standing at the scene of the crime, hold the weapon in my hand and have announced the murder - but I didn't do it. That's about the level of absurd mendacity of the AfD (Alternative für Deutschland / Alternative for Germany). In the last week, it has made several headlines that you would have expected to find in the black humor column. First there was the “interview” of top candidate Alice Weidel with Elon Musk on X. And then the party conference at the start of the Bundestag election campaign by the end of February. I will pick out two aspects from each of these two media events - quite randomly, there is a lot to choose from. And, of course, I will follow each steep thesis with a fact check.

“Angela Merkel opened the borders for migrants in 2015, since then the crime rate has been going up (abbreviated)”. No, there have been no internal borders for Germany in the Schengen area since 1995. You can't open non-existent borders either. According to official “police crime statistics”, the current crime rate is lower than in 2015, when it was already lower than in the period from 2001 to 2005, for example.

“Hitler was not right-wing, but a communist who called himself a socialist.” Communists were persecuted and murdered thousands of times under National Socialism. Hitler himself declared in 1928 that his National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) was not socialist. This makes sense, because Nazi ideology propagates racial and biologistic thinking, whereas left-wing ideologies such as socialism and communism pursue an ideal of equality.

“The family, consisting of father, mother and children, is the nucleus of society” is the socio-political definition of the traditional family image in the election manifesto adopted on Sunday. This is astonishing, given that Alice Weidel, who was officially elected as the lead candidate on Saturday, is in a same-sex relationship with a woman and is raising two children with her. Weidel presumably also lives in Switzerland with her partner because she comes from Sri Lanka and, according to the AfD, would have to be “remigrated” from Germany.

“Tear down all wind turbines, bring nuclear power plants back online and allow longer operating times for coal-fired power plants”. This is almost more radical than Donald Trump - both (of course) want to leave the Paris climate protection agreement. Because short-term slogans for ill-informed voters are more important to them than the long-term survival of humanity. There's really no need to make any judgment here, because rarely has there been such a far-reaching consensus among scientists as there is on man-made climate change.

Why is this good news? Because of the level of absurd mendacity mentioned at the beginning. Because I am counting on the nonsense articulated by these political criminals becoming so blatant in the coming weeks during the election campaign that even the last potential sympathizer of this mongrel will realize that this kind of theater can have nothing to do with a serious political program. And they then put their cross somewhere else.

By the way: More than 7,000,000 viewers watched the AfD party conference on X, according to the political culture magazine “Cicero”. Just 6,000 watched the Social Democrats' parallel party conference with Chancellor Olaf Scholz - does anyone still doubt that what Elon Musk is doing here is actively influencing the election campaign?

Personal happy moment of the week

I don't believe in New Year's resolutions. After all, there are at least 364 other days after New Year. But this year I have really resolved to tackle a few things. One of them is my personal work-life balance. For example, I will only work every other weekend in 2025. So far so good: First weekend in January worked (even 3 days because of a public holiday), second not. So now only 12 days of work before I can catch my breath again - yeah! Should I be worried that this makes me happy? Naa...

I couldn't care less...

...that Meta is now showing its true colors. For its customers with the abolition of fact-checks - so they can lie and be influenced even more uninhibitedly under the guise of freedom of opinion. For its employees with the reduction of programs for inclusion and diversity - which fits in perfectly with the general rejection of any form of regulation. “Don't be evil!” was Google's motto for years. They wanted to be one of the good guys and also give their customers and users this impression, after all, they should trust the services with pretty much everything personal. The motto was dropped in 2018. And the claim probably too. After all, the big gatekeepers of the digital world are no better than any other profit-oriented company. Is anyone really surprised by this?

It's fine with me...

...that many French rejoiced at the death of Jean-Marie Le Pen. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau finds it disgraceful to “dance on a corpse”. I find it more disgraceful what the approved Nazi and Front National founder Le Pen has done to the political discourse. It is primarily thanks to him that positions and vocabulary that used to be taboo are now considered acceptable throughout Europe.

As I write this...

...January 20 is fast approaching - and the orange meteor will hit Washington DC again. Trump will not order a military attack on Greenland on his first day in office. But he may pardon enemies of the constitution who were involved in the attack on the Capitol. Trump will not immediately slash the USA's rudimentary welfare system. But he will probably sign off tax cuts for companies and the rich. Trump will probably not ban wind turbines and solar panels. But he will certainly make it easier to promote fossil fuels and reduce environmental standards.

Europe is wavering between euphoria (Orban and Meloni) and shock (Starmer and Scholz). No one can yet know whether “Project 2025” will actually be implemented to the letter. But in contrast to the very democratic Biden administration, a fundamentally different wind will be blowing over the next four years. Two aspects will be decisive: firstly, whether it will remain an arch-conservative episode or the beginning of lasting socio-political change. Secondly, whether the rest of the “free world” allows itself to be infected - whether it actively adopts the madness or just stares like a rabbit at a snake.

Post Scriptum

In protest against the increasing radicalization of discourse on Twitter, more than 60 German universities and research institutions, including elite institutions, have announced their departure from the social media platform. The official reason: the platform's orientation contradicts the fundamental values of universities, such as openness to the world and academic integrity. The changes at X, such as the amplification of right-wing populist content or, conversely, the restriction of the reach of other content by the algorithm, made further use unacceptable for the participating organizations, according to the initiative, which originated at the University of Düsseldorf. I'll join in right away. Which is relatively easy for me, as my last visit and post (a reference to this blog, by the way) on X was almost two years ago...

[eggbunni]

Finally allowing myself to play with part of my haul from the 2024 San Francisco Pen Show!

This is the Monteverde USA Limited Edition Innova Lightning 1999 fountain pen. 😍 It ticks all my little inner rave girl boxes — colorful, cool, and sexy. ✍️🌈✨🤸‍♀️

[schlock-luster-video]

On December 11, 1986, The Malibu Bikini Shop debuted in Australia.

Here's some original art inspired by this film's VHS box!

[zeldasavefile]

It was so random that I used to pen pal. I made 1 friend out of it and 2 enemies

[thelonleycosmos]

asking again, I really want/need a pen pal. we can even start talking over pm on here first.

I miss writing letters. I miss walking to the post office in the cold, and mailing a letter.

I miss sitting at my desk whilst having music on, and existing else where. I miss being raw and vulnerable to someone..who doesn’t know me. I am BEGGING

[bansheemakesart]

baby's first political art

"All Eyes on Rafah"

[Hard Tip Brush Pen on Line Paper]

[penguins-sketches]

Mario zine page

[mjsharpcraft]

Handmade Damascus Steel Pen 🖊️

[merp-blerp]

I bought the TTPD fountain pen through the UK store yesterday... as an American... and I feel like I just cheated at life.

[imaginationengine]

[ninocom5786]

Un male è sempre minore di un altro susseguente possibile maggiore. Ogni male diventa minore in confronto di un altro che si prospetta maggiore e così all’infinito. La formula del male minore, del meno peggio, non è altro dunque che la forma che assume il processo di adattamento a un movimento storicamente regressivo, movimento di cui una forza audacemente efficiente guida lo svolgimento, mentre le forze antagonistiche (o meglio i capi di esse) sono decise a capitolare progressivamente, a piccole tappe e non di un solo colpo (ciò che avrebbe ben altro significato, per l’effetto psicologico condensato, e potrebbe far nascere una forza concorrente attiva a quella che passivamente si adatta alla “fatalità”, o rafforzarla se già esiste)

Antonio Gramsci, Quaderni del Carcere, Quaderno 16 (XXII) § 25

[fellaicy]

where are those scumbags?!

[setsuntamew]

blacklight hours at ausa 💙

Madara Mikejima: @setsuntamew Kohaku Oukawa: @dragonofeternal