Path: csiph.com!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!nntp.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Snidely Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc,alt.usage.english Subject: Re: GNU Date: Mon, 30 Mar 2026 22:35:02 -0700 Organization: Dis One Lines: 37 Message-ID: References: <1rsoqz0.19zzbh71ebfb7bN%snipeco.2@gmail.com> <18a11176d0ed8bfb$1717$2710841$802601b3@news.usenetexpress.com> <1rsp93i.i0zwza16xvqdfN%nospam@de-ster.demon.nl> <18a11b491becb6ce$558$2491104$802601b3@news.usenetexpress.com> <1rsq78a.9hgxro1eczx2yN%nospam@de-ster.demon.nl> <10qb9df$1inu5$14@dont-email.me> <1rsr591.1ssq8oh1dihjwuN%nospam@de-ster.demon.nl> <10qc4dc$1silm$10@dont-email.me> <0cqjskp5oprp9v1utu6t3q8u0urkpnjbvs@4ax.com> <951q9mxo8p.ln2@Telcontar.valinor> <10qf25l$2tg1l$1@dont-email.me> Reply-To: snidely.too@gmail.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-15"; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Date: Tue, 31 Mar 2026 05:35:07 +0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="748fa33c8c966a6c583e891d17fdd753"; logging-data="3249665"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1+7VPFVSh5C6Y+/X01Bfgq1JXHkPOSHG1I=" Cancel-Lock: sha1:gZxSfvJZ140veH2iw7qs6J4Fa70= X-Newsreader: MesNews/1.08.06.00-gb X-ICQ: 543516788 Xref: csiph.com comp.os.linux.misc:84805 alt.usage.english:1141760 rbowman wrote on 3/30/2026 : > On Mon, 30 Mar 2026 16:49:06 -0700, Bobbie Sellers wrote: > >> Can but agree. I grew up with the older style desk in all my schools >> and am grateful because I took lots of notes. But curiously in the >> 1940s there were no ballpoint pens or other modern writing tools so the >> groove held a terrible old pen and the round hole, an inkwell. Pencils >> were used to practice writing on lined paper that was rather fllimsy and >> we practiced with pens and used fountain pens at home to write our final >> drafts. > > I can't remember what we used but it wasn't the inkwells. At some point I > had an inexpensive cartridge fountain pen. I cut costs further by using a > syringe to refill the cartridges from my mother's bottle of ink. I vaguely > recall the ones with an internal bladder and a lever on the side. > > My father brought home a BIC that he had found in a shipment from France > where someone had mislaid it. I thought that was pretty neat. It wasn't > too much later they hit the US market. I came to fountain pens long after ball points. Well, I actually began with Schaeffer cartridge pens, and then found a couple lever-bladder pens tucked away in drawers. When I was in college, there was a fad for Rapidiographs. By the time I was in 3rd grade and beginning to use pens, PaperMate click pens were readily available (and still cheap), and there were PaperMate stick pens, but Lindy stick pens were much more common. And messy ... the ball tip tended to leak or break off. /dps -- "Give a lawyer a meal and she eats for minutes; Giver her a client and she bills hourly for years" -- Mei Li, Kevin and Kell July 27, 2018