Slowly, inch by inch, choice by choice, our stuff gets cheapened
April 17, 2024 11:21 AM Subscribe
The Problem with Adam Savage's Favorite Pencil: Former Mythbuster and MeFi's Own asavage goes on a surprisingly emotional tear about tool acquisition in the maker space, Blackwing 602s, Jeff Tweedy's pencil nerdery (đź””), and the "encheapening the product to increasening the profit" that has befallen his beloved PaperMate Sharpwriter #2. (It's not really about pencils.)
At the beginning of a young maker's explorations, tool acquisition is super important, and you don't know what tools you need. I mean, you have a hammer and a screwdriver and a hacksaw and some other things, but there are all these tools that you've got to learn about—Forstner bits and speed squares and needle-nose pliers, and really specific little tools like alligator forceps and things like that. So, at the beginning, we are a tabula rasa, and we are looking for information from the outside world. And the whole early part of making is learning about tools from other people. Interestingly enough, so is the latter part of making.
So at this advanced time in my career, where I've been doing this for decades, it's no longer new tools that I'm learning about, but what makers are trading at this advanced stage. I feel like I'm being really inarticulate here, but let's just let me... I was trying to frame this in an old maker/new maker kind of thing, because it seemed germane. Old makers are always sharing with each other their favorite versions of tools. That's what I wanted to say. The beginning is just what tool do I need, and at the end, it's what is your favorite version and why, because we all have all sorts of different parameters for the tools we like. I did a whole set of videos about how much I really really revere the Stanley Workmaster series screwdriver handles, and part of that is specifically because I had one left over from my dad's toolbox, and it was one of the things that got stolen when our production got robbed on Savage Builds. I'm not broken up about it; it just has sentimental as well as a form factor value.
So yeah, old tool, old model makers, advanced makers love, love going into great detail on their favorite this or that—their screwdriver, their saw blade, their hacksaw blade, their air retrieval system. We have opinions on everything, and it's so much fun to share and to find out about one that you didn't know because there's only so much that research can give and the rest is this web of compared experience. And for the uninitiated, it may be surprising to you that pencils are like this really important thing.
The maybe one of the most famous pencils is the Blackwing—half the pressure, twice the speed. Palomino made these, and this is the Blackwing 602 pencil was revered among Disney animators and other animators when I worked at Colossal Pictures in the '90s. A lot of their animators loved these. They went out of production, they became very sought after, original packages on eBay can go for like a lot of money per pencil.
I've told the story on the channel before, but years ago, I was at Jeff Tweedy's loft in Chicago having lunch. His loft is a marvelously cacophonous place where I feel right at home. And I looked over behind him on one of his electric pianos; he had a pencil cup, and I saw a Blackwing. And I was like, "Oh! A Blackwing pencil," and Jeff yelled out, "PENCIL NERD!" and if there was a bell to ring, he would have rung it. I am a pencil nerd. I do have a bunch of these. I have some vintage originals that one of Tested's patrons sent me, and I have some of the repros. They're delightful! These are not my all-time favorite pencil, for I draw in a different kind of way. I have different needs than an animator might, and my personal, personal favorite is this: the PaperMate Sharpwriter Number 2.
So many of you have tried to convert me to the beautiful world of high-end mechanical pencils. Don't get me wrong, there are some magnificent constructions within that frame, but for me, I would lose them constantly, constantly, constantly, constantly. It does not matter; I would... so, I need a—for me and pencils, it goes all the way back to second grade. My teacher, Mr. Sorkin, would give you a pencil, and if you needed another one, he'd give you another one, but he'd mark it on the board. For every number of pencils, you got a mark, and it was like they were keeping track that you were using up too many pencils. So, you got a red mark if you used 10 pencils this semester, and you got a green mark if you used like 20 pencils. I had a blue mark, and the blue mark, my teacher told my mom, "That means the Pencil Monster is following him and eating every pencil we hand him."
So I'm always losing pencils, which is why I love this. It's not a dis—it is a disposable option, the Sharpwriter Number 2 Paper Mate. I love this pencil. I learned about this pencil when I first got to Industrial Light and Magic in 1998. It was sort of the institutional pencil in the model shop, along with the institution of the checkbox, which changed my life. There's this whole chapter in my book about it. And I have loved this pencil ever since then, I have been buying it in bulk ever since then, so that is—1998... 26 years I have been giving my love to this pencil. I wanted some shot in a custom color, 'cause all the pen companies do some of their pen models in custom colors that you can order, but not this one! And I even went so far as, back when... back when Twitter (OG) existed, I managed to get a hold of somebody in a place to know at PaperMate where they were like, "Oh yeah, we can introduce you to our corporate team for custom stuff," and I was like, "Can you do the Sharpwriter Number 2 in white with my logo on it?" and they were like, "Absolutely not."
And look, I totally understand that too. When a company is making a product like this, they are running them through a tool that probably shoots 20 of these at a time, maybe 40, maybe 60, who knows? But it's shooting a whole bunch of them, and that means that there's like a vessel of hot plastic pellets being mixed to be this exact color formula that's at the factory. Those are heated up and sent through these pipes into these big tools, which heat and cool in rapid succession so they can knock out as many pencils as possible, and changing the color on a line like that is a huge cost. You got to take the whole thing offline, you got to clean out the whatevers—I don't know exactly how it works, but I know you got to clean out the whatevers—and then you got to put in a new color and then you got to go through the whole thing again at the other end. This is why they allocate certain portions of their line so that they can accommodate, and it's plausible that this was such a hot item for them, such a regular seller they had no impetus or reason to break the line and shoot it in a custom color.
So I understand the manufacturing reasons why they didn't shoot me a custom color. That's fine. I kept on buying them. In fact, so badly did I want my logo on it that actually, my old shop assistant, Freddy Schramm, I bought a hot foil stamper and Freddy ordered me my logo in hot, in a metal, and we hot foil stamped a whole crapton of these. I might have given you one, who knows?
There's hundreds of these in my shop, alas. Alas. There are hundreds of these in my shop. Again, this is my favorite pencil. I love the way the line feels. I love the way the line erases. I love how much utility I get out of these. I drop them all the time; the lead inside rarely breaks. So many things about this are ideal.
So what is this video about? This video is about—my God, 9 minutes in, I apologize for taking so long to get to the point. The point of this video is that recently Dave Fogler was over here at the shop, and he said, "Have you seen the new PaperMate Sharpwriter Number 2s?" and I said, "I don't know what you mean," and he said, "They're shooting them in a different color, and they changed the formulation on the eraser and the lead." And I ordered some from three different sources, hoping that he was wrong, and that maybe he had gotten some counterfeit PaperMates from Amazon, but no, no, it would seem that they have changed.
Okay, so first up, it would seem—oh, they've changed everything. Okay, we're going to get some b-roll of this, but first up, clearly, they changed the color—old color, new color. The old color, the old color—look at this old color! Look at how much they were working on that Ticonderoga color profile—all that red and that yellow, look at that! That is a great color. That—trying to make sounds that demonstrate my disdain for this color. It's a fine yellow, but it's not—okay. It's not the biggest problem with this pencil.
Let's get a piece of paper—okay, line... there we go. Alright, the lead—lead feels like it's actually going to be pretty similar, let's see here. Lead feels the same, lead feels the same—alright, let's try the eraser here—okay, the eraser seems to be wearing down a lot faster, number one. This isn't a scientific test by any measurement, and just yeah, the eraser is going away a lot faster and it does not erase as cleanly as the old one. Further, the writing has changed; they're not doing quite the same stamp. That doesn't really matter, again—the lead being the same... it's fine. Okay, let me collect myself.
I guess my biggest problem is that the new one is ugly! That's my biggest problem; it's hideous, and it makes me sad. It looks cheaper, it looks cheaper, it looks like its materials are less good, its colors are more washed out. The old pencil has a point of view on being a pencil! The new one is like a simulacrum of a pencil, and that makes me sad. It's... again, I've been buying these for 20 years, I have never noticed a color variance in them ever, ever, and they've just changed it—now, that could mean all sorts of things, it could mean that the dye for this one got expensive or they realized they could save a penny per X, whatever by going with this color, but they've changed the color of the tip, the color of the body, and the eraser type. My guess is these are all strategies for encheapening the product to encreasening the profit, which again, late-stage capitalism, I understand, commerce and all that. But it is sad when I consider a pencil an institution like this, and now I have one that's ugly. They'll work in my shop, they won't go to waste, but they're ugly now, and that makes me sad.
It's not really a huge rant, it's not like they destroyed my childhood or something like that, it's a small one, but slowly, inch by inch, choice by choice, our stuff gets cheapened, and that makes, again, yeah, that makes me sad. You know what, talk to me in the comments about products you are sad aren't as good as they used to be, yeah, let's have that kind of rant together. Okay, cool. Thank you guys, Adam out.
[Uh, before we let you go, before we wrap this video, let me just say, this is not a scientific test at all, it's completely emotional one, I am heavily biased towards the more beautiful pencil in my opinion, and so my assessment of both the eraser and the lead should be suspect because my bias is towards the object I find more compelling, and I'm not going to go through the double blind, it's just not worth my time right now. Uh, but also I just wanted to be honest with you about my bias. Don't trust my assessment of these pencils, go ahead if you like these, buy some new ones, and uh, work on them on your own. Like I said, these won't go to waste here, they'll just be, I'll just be sad a little bit sadder when I used them. That's all.]
On the brighter side: The "Adam Savage's Favorite Tools" playlist (115 videos and counting)
Printmag.com: The Blackwing Pencil
Transcript (click to expand)
Hey everybody, Adam Savage here in my cave with a sad story—a sad story... In the making of things, in the specific bandwidth of making things that I occupy, which is a generalist bandwidth, sort of theater bandwidth. The early stages of this kind of making involve a lot of tool acquisition. (Sorry, I've got like dust all over here that's grating on my arms.)At the beginning of a young maker's explorations, tool acquisition is super important, and you don't know what tools you need. I mean, you have a hammer and a screwdriver and a hacksaw and some other things, but there are all these tools that you've got to learn about—Forstner bits and speed squares and needle-nose pliers, and really specific little tools like alligator forceps and things like that. So, at the beginning, we are a tabula rasa, and we are looking for information from the outside world. And the whole early part of making is learning about tools from other people. Interestingly enough, so is the latter part of making.
So at this advanced time in my career, where I've been doing this for decades, it's no longer new tools that I'm learning about, but what makers are trading at this advanced stage. I feel like I'm being really inarticulate here, but let's just let me... I was trying to frame this in an old maker/new maker kind of thing, because it seemed germane. Old makers are always sharing with each other their favorite versions of tools. That's what I wanted to say. The beginning is just what tool do I need, and at the end, it's what is your favorite version and why, because we all have all sorts of different parameters for the tools we like. I did a whole set of videos about how much I really really revere the Stanley Workmaster series screwdriver handles, and part of that is specifically because I had one left over from my dad's toolbox, and it was one of the things that got stolen when our production got robbed on Savage Builds. I'm not broken up about it; it just has sentimental as well as a form factor value.
So yeah, old tool, old model makers, advanced makers love, love going into great detail on their favorite this or that—their screwdriver, their saw blade, their hacksaw blade, their air retrieval system. We have opinions on everything, and it's so much fun to share and to find out about one that you didn't know because there's only so much that research can give and the rest is this web of compared experience. And for the uninitiated, it may be surprising to you that pencils are like this really important thing.
The maybe one of the most famous pencils is the Blackwing—half the pressure, twice the speed. Palomino made these, and this is the Blackwing 602 pencil was revered among Disney animators and other animators when I worked at Colossal Pictures in the '90s. A lot of their animators loved these. They went out of production, they became very sought after, original packages on eBay can go for like a lot of money per pencil.
I've told the story on the channel before, but years ago, I was at Jeff Tweedy's loft in Chicago having lunch. His loft is a marvelously cacophonous place where I feel right at home. And I looked over behind him on one of his electric pianos; he had a pencil cup, and I saw a Blackwing. And I was like, "Oh! A Blackwing pencil," and Jeff yelled out, "PENCIL NERD!" and if there was a bell to ring, he would have rung it. I am a pencil nerd. I do have a bunch of these. I have some vintage originals that one of Tested's patrons sent me, and I have some of the repros. They're delightful! These are not my all-time favorite pencil, for I draw in a different kind of way. I have different needs than an animator might, and my personal, personal favorite is this: the PaperMate Sharpwriter Number 2.
So many of you have tried to convert me to the beautiful world of high-end mechanical pencils. Don't get me wrong, there are some magnificent constructions within that frame, but for me, I would lose them constantly, constantly, constantly, constantly. It does not matter; I would... so, I need a—for me and pencils, it goes all the way back to second grade. My teacher, Mr. Sorkin, would give you a pencil, and if you needed another one, he'd give you another one, but he'd mark it on the board. For every number of pencils, you got a mark, and it was like they were keeping track that you were using up too many pencils. So, you got a red mark if you used 10 pencils this semester, and you got a green mark if you used like 20 pencils. I had a blue mark, and the blue mark, my teacher told my mom, "That means the Pencil Monster is following him and eating every pencil we hand him."
So I'm always losing pencils, which is why I love this. It's not a dis—it is a disposable option, the Sharpwriter Number 2 Paper Mate. I love this pencil. I learned about this pencil when I first got to Industrial Light and Magic in 1998. It was sort of the institutional pencil in the model shop, along with the institution of the checkbox, which changed my life. There's this whole chapter in my book about it. And I have loved this pencil ever since then, I have been buying it in bulk ever since then, so that is—1998... 26 years I have been giving my love to this pencil. I wanted some shot in a custom color, 'cause all the pen companies do some of their pen models in custom colors that you can order, but not this one! And I even went so far as, back when... back when Twitter (OG) existed, I managed to get a hold of somebody in a place to know at PaperMate where they were like, "Oh yeah, we can introduce you to our corporate team for custom stuff," and I was like, "Can you do the Sharpwriter Number 2 in white with my logo on it?" and they were like, "Absolutely not."
And look, I totally understand that too. When a company is making a product like this, they are running them through a tool that probably shoots 20 of these at a time, maybe 40, maybe 60, who knows? But it's shooting a whole bunch of them, and that means that there's like a vessel of hot plastic pellets being mixed to be this exact color formula that's at the factory. Those are heated up and sent through these pipes into these big tools, which heat and cool in rapid succession so they can knock out as many pencils as possible, and changing the color on a line like that is a huge cost. You got to take the whole thing offline, you got to clean out the whatevers—I don't know exactly how it works, but I know you got to clean out the whatevers—and then you got to put in a new color and then you got to go through the whole thing again at the other end. This is why they allocate certain portions of their line so that they can accommodate, and it's plausible that this was such a hot item for them, such a regular seller they had no impetus or reason to break the line and shoot it in a custom color.
So I understand the manufacturing reasons why they didn't shoot me a custom color. That's fine. I kept on buying them. In fact, so badly did I want my logo on it that actually, my old shop assistant, Freddy Schramm, I bought a hot foil stamper and Freddy ordered me my logo in hot, in a metal, and we hot foil stamped a whole crapton of these. I might have given you one, who knows?
There's hundreds of these in my shop, alas. Alas. There are hundreds of these in my shop. Again, this is my favorite pencil. I love the way the line feels. I love the way the line erases. I love how much utility I get out of these. I drop them all the time; the lead inside rarely breaks. So many things about this are ideal.
So what is this video about? This video is about—my God, 9 minutes in, I apologize for taking so long to get to the point. The point of this video is that recently Dave Fogler was over here at the shop, and he said, "Have you seen the new PaperMate Sharpwriter Number 2s?" and I said, "I don't know what you mean," and he said, "They're shooting them in a different color, and they changed the formulation on the eraser and the lead." And I ordered some from three different sources, hoping that he was wrong, and that maybe he had gotten some counterfeit PaperMates from Amazon, but no, no, it would seem that they have changed.
Okay, so first up, it would seem—oh, they've changed everything. Okay, we're going to get some b-roll of this, but first up, clearly, they changed the color—old color, new color. The old color, the old color—look at this old color! Look at how much they were working on that Ticonderoga color profile—all that red and that yellow, look at that! That is a great color. That—trying to make sounds that demonstrate my disdain for this color. It's a fine yellow, but it's not—okay. It's not the biggest problem with this pencil.
Let's get a piece of paper—okay, line... there we go. Alright, the lead—lead feels like it's actually going to be pretty similar, let's see here. Lead feels the same, lead feels the same—alright, let's try the eraser here—okay, the eraser seems to be wearing down a lot faster, number one. This isn't a scientific test by any measurement, and just yeah, the eraser is going away a lot faster and it does not erase as cleanly as the old one. Further, the writing has changed; they're not doing quite the same stamp. That doesn't really matter, again—the lead being the same... it's fine. Okay, let me collect myself.
I guess my biggest problem is that the new one is ugly! That's my biggest problem; it's hideous, and it makes me sad. It looks cheaper, it looks cheaper, it looks like its materials are less good, its colors are more washed out. The old pencil has a point of view on being a pencil! The new one is like a simulacrum of a pencil, and that makes me sad. It's... again, I've been buying these for 20 years, I have never noticed a color variance in them ever, ever, and they've just changed it—now, that could mean all sorts of things, it could mean that the dye for this one got expensive or they realized they could save a penny per X, whatever by going with this color, but they've changed the color of the tip, the color of the body, and the eraser type. My guess is these are all strategies for encheapening the product to encreasening the profit, which again, late-stage capitalism, I understand, commerce and all that. But it is sad when I consider a pencil an institution like this, and now I have one that's ugly. They'll work in my shop, they won't go to waste, but they're ugly now, and that makes me sad.
It's not really a huge rant, it's not like they destroyed my childhood or something like that, it's a small one, but slowly, inch by inch, choice by choice, our stuff gets cheapened, and that makes, again, yeah, that makes me sad. You know what, talk to me in the comments about products you are sad aren't as good as they used to be, yeah, let's have that kind of rant together. Okay, cool. Thank you guys, Adam out.
[Uh, before we let you go, before we wrap this video, let me just say, this is not a scientific test at all, it's completely emotional one, I am heavily biased towards the more beautiful pencil in my opinion, and so my assessment of both the eraser and the lead should be suspect because my bias is towards the object I find more compelling, and I'm not going to go through the double blind, it's just not worth my time right now. Uh, but also I just wanted to be honest with you about my bias. Don't trust my assessment of these pencils, go ahead if you like these, buy some new ones, and uh, work on them on your own. Like I said, these won't go to waste here, they'll just be, I'll just be sad a little bit sadder when I used them. That's all.]
On the brighter side: The "Adam Savage's Favorite Tools" playlist (115 videos and counting)
Printmag.com: The Blackwing Pencil
Eberhard Faber’s product left its mark, literally, on some of America’s most iconic twentieth-century creative output, scrawled and smudged across scores, sketches and manuscripts. The company was bought and sold a couple of times starting in 1988 and while the Blackwing survived these transactions it eventually went off the market in 1998. On eBay, however, the pencils started selling for as much as $40.HowStuffWorks: Hagoromo Fulltouch: The Legendary Chalk Hoarded by Mathematicians
Mathematicians prefer writing complex theorems in chalk than with a whiteboard marker or a smartboard. And Hagoromo chalk has been described as the "Rolls-Royce of chalk."How I Became a Hoarder of Discontinued Makeup
Founded in 1932 in Nagoya, Japan, the company that became Hagoromo Bungu barely survived WWII, but went on to produce 90 million sticks of chalk a year by 1990. By this time, mathematicians from all over the world coveted the product. According to chalk connoisseurs, it's dense and difficult to break, produces very little dust, writes more smoothly and erases more cleanly than any other chalk in existence.
After the company's sales peaked in 1990, though, chalkboards began disappearing around the globe, and with it sales of the world's most sought after chalk. In 2014, Takayasu Watanabe, the head of the third-generation family business and grandson of Hagoromo's founder, announced he was in very poor health and rather than saddle his three daughters with a flagging company, he would just shut down production.
There was, of course, an uproar amongst the world's mathematicians. Academics began stockpiling the stuff — calculating how much Hagoromo they needed to last them the remainder of their careers. Math professors filled home closets with the stuff and began selling it to each other in faculty lounges — these were suspenseful times in the math world.
At one point, I stooped so low as to purchase four sample-size mini-compacts — each featuring 0.09 ounces of makeup — for $45 each, the same price as a full-size compact. I was paying $500 per ounce of makeup, and I could not stop. Shopping for a new foundation is like shopping for a new bra or basic jeans — a demoralizing, exhausting process that forces you to stare into a too-bright mirror acknowledging everything you hate about your appearance. And even when you think you’ve found it, you might not know for another week whether the new product works — whether this new foundation will clog your pores, or that bra will snag on sweaters, or those jeans will slowly unzip while you walk. Who can deal with that? Better to spend exorbitant amounts of money clinging to the one thing I already know works, I reasoned.NYTimes: For Kodachrome Fans, Road Ends at Photo Lab in Kansas
Demanding both to shoot and process, Kodachrome rewarded generations of skilled users with a richness of color and a unique treatment of light that many photographers described as incomparable even as they shifted to digital cameras. “Makes you think all the world’s a sunny day,” Paul Simon sang in his 1973 hit “Kodachrome,” which carried the plea “Mama, don’t take my Kodachrome away.”Advice from a Reformed Ink Hoarder
As news media around the world have heralded Thursday’s end of an era, rolls of the discontinued film that had been hoarded in freezers and tucked away in closets, sometimes for decades, have flooded Dwayne’s Photo, arriving from six continents.
My thoughts, for what they are worth? Use the good china, as they say, and break out that beloved bottle of ink that you have saved for a rainy day. Lamy Dark Lilac ink, or Petrol? Use it. Pelikan Edelstein Amber? Use it. Sheaffer Burgundy ink? Use it. Enjoy what you have while you can.
To anyone with an engineering bent, I recommend Henry Petroski's The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance, a famous book from 1992. Anyone can make a pencil for $100; it takes an engineer to make one for a penny.
posted by neuron at 11:51 AM on April 17 [7 favorites]
posted by neuron at 11:51 AM on April 17 [7 favorites]
Enpencilitification.
posted by whatevernot at 11:57 AM on April 17 [3 favorites]
posted by whatevernot at 11:57 AM on April 17 [3 favorites]
I'm thankful I stopped taking pictures with slide film (Kodak Ektachrome E100 VS) before they stopped making it. Being forced to use something else would have been quite annoying.
For food products I think manufacturers should be required to clearly highlight changes to package size or ingredients on the packaging itself for 1 year after the change so that buyers now that they're getting less in a box or that the manufacturer is using cheaper ingredients. For goods like pencils I kind of feel that things are more variable anyways. Fine the Sharpwriter pencil has been the same for a long time but how much does a person care if its a cheaper item like a Bic pen? Would they need to say they've changed the ink formula or plastic housing?
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 12:08 PM on April 17 [5 favorites]
For food products I think manufacturers should be required to clearly highlight changes to package size or ingredients on the packaging itself for 1 year after the change so that buyers now that they're getting less in a box or that the manufacturer is using cheaper ingredients. For goods like pencils I kind of feel that things are more variable anyways. Fine the Sharpwriter pencil has been the same for a long time but how much does a person care if its a cheaper item like a Bic pen? Would they need to say they've changed the ink formula or plastic housing?
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 12:08 PM on April 17 [5 favorites]
I went to grad school for math, but I never heard of Hagoromo chalk during my time there. There does seem to be a cultural preference for chalk among mathematicians (one that I share!), and I don't know why. I could complain that whiteboard markers are always going dry, and you need new ones more frequently than you think you would, and it feels wasteful to throw the plastic away when you're done. But honestly, that's all secondary and I just think writing with chalk feels better.
posted by jomato at 12:14 PM on April 17 [9 favorites]
posted by jomato at 12:14 PM on April 17 [9 favorites]
I think it's important to try to not be too precious about your tools. I know it's easy to fail at this, and some tool will become the favorite, but it is almost guaranteed that they are going to change the tool, and ultimately what should matter is you and your skill.
On the subject of pencils, I prefer clutch pencils(aka lead holders), and my favorite would probably be that really nice one Rotring makes, but those are, like, forty or fifty bucks, and I lose pencils. Not as often as Adam Savage, apparently, but enough that I like to calibrate the cost of the pencil to the chance I'll lose it. Around ten bucks seems about right to me, so my current favorite is a metal Pacific Arc 2mm lead holder. I wouldn't recommend other Pacific Arc pencils, because they reportedly don't have the kind of tight tolerances you might want in a mechanical pencil, but for clutch pencils that doesn't seem to matter as much. Pacific Arc seems to make mostly knockoffs, so I'll be surprised if I can buy this pencil in ten years. Worst case, I'll need to fall back to a Staedtler 780 (which is a design that has seen some changes, but the last one I got was fine)
posted by surlyben at 12:17 PM on April 17 [7 favorites]
On the subject of pencils, I prefer clutch pencils(aka lead holders), and my favorite would probably be that really nice one Rotring makes, but those are, like, forty or fifty bucks, and I lose pencils. Not as often as Adam Savage, apparently, but enough that I like to calibrate the cost of the pencil to the chance I'll lose it. Around ten bucks seems about right to me, so my current favorite is a metal Pacific Arc 2mm lead holder. I wouldn't recommend other Pacific Arc pencils, because they reportedly don't have the kind of tight tolerances you might want in a mechanical pencil, but for clutch pencils that doesn't seem to matter as much. Pacific Arc seems to make mostly knockoffs, so I'll be surprised if I can buy this pencil in ten years. Worst case, I'll need to fall back to a Staedtler 780 (which is a design that has seen some changes, but the last one I got was fine)
posted by surlyben at 12:17 PM on April 17 [7 favorites]
Maybe this is why I couldn't cut it in grad school, but the feeling of chalk dragging against a chalkboard always gives me the shivers. I much prefer a white board. However, white board markers almost universally suck. Is there a marker equivalent to Hagoromo chalk? Ones that are never dry and always produce crisp lines that are easily wiped clean without getting smudgy?
posted by RonButNotStupid at 12:21 PM on April 17 [3 favorites]
posted by RonButNotStupid at 12:21 PM on April 17 [3 favorites]
My wife does this with makeup - there's one particularly eyeliner pencil that she adores and has used for longer than we've been together. She hunts for them on ebay and other sites so that she can keep her stockpile high.
Me, I'm really precious about some of my tools - like the 1970's bamboo wok turner that I have. My mom bought it in Orlando's Chinatown. I inherited it. Things either my age or slightly older and it just feels right in my hand. I'd be very, very sad to ever lose it.
posted by drewbage1847 at 12:26 PM on April 17 [2 favorites]
Me, I'm really precious about some of my tools - like the 1970's bamboo wok turner that I have. My mom bought it in Orlando's Chinatown. I inherited it. Things either my age or slightly older and it just feels right in my hand. I'd be very, very sad to ever lose it.
posted by drewbage1847 at 12:26 PM on April 17 [2 favorites]
I had a blue mark, and the blue mark, my teacher told my mom, "That means the Pencil Monster is following him and eating every pencil we hand him."
What an excellent story and what an excellent collection, Rhaomi! Thank you so much for this post. I miss my Apple Laserwriter. I had it for many many years and it was still healthy when I moved to a different country and passed it along to someone else.
posted by Bella Donna at 12:27 PM on April 17
What an excellent story and what an excellent collection, Rhaomi! Thank you so much for this post. I miss my Apple Laserwriter. I had it for many many years and it was still healthy when I moved to a different country and passed it along to someone else.
posted by Bella Donna at 12:27 PM on April 17
@bz -- I have a treasured Noblot! One of the best gifts I've ever been given
posted by PikeMatchbox at 12:33 PM on April 17 [1 favorite]
posted by PikeMatchbox at 12:33 PM on April 17 [1 favorite]
My old favorite shaving creams are, by and large, gone.
Crabtree & Evelyn made wonderful creams but they rebranded and reformulated enough times and now only have a single product (which is sold out online anyway) that they describe as "apple-scented."
I have a final tub of their Myrrh cream that I probably should have used already, plus a puck of the soap. I expect I'll never smell their Sienna again. *sigh*
posted by wenestvedt at 12:38 PM on April 17 [8 favorites]
Crabtree & Evelyn made wonderful creams but they rebranded and reformulated enough times and now only have a single product (which is sold out online anyway) that they describe as "apple-scented."
I have a final tub of their Myrrh cream that I probably should have used already, plus a puck of the soap. I expect I'll never smell their Sienna again. *sigh*
posted by wenestvedt at 12:38 PM on April 17 [8 favorites]
pizza
there is still good pizza in the world, but if you're not making it the stuff you buy is getting worse
cherish your good pizza joints, they are disappearing
posted by elkevelvet at 12:42 PM on April 17 [8 favorites]
there is still good pizza in the world, but if you're not making it the stuff you buy is getting worse
cherish your good pizza joints, they are disappearing
posted by elkevelvet at 12:42 PM on April 17 [8 favorites]
I appreciate the inclusion of the transcript, by the way!
posted by tavella at 12:46 PM on April 17 [37 favorites]
posted by tavella at 12:46 PM on April 17 [37 favorites]
See also: Scharffen Berger chocolate bars
posted by the sobsister at 1:01 PM on April 17 [1 favorite]
posted by the sobsister at 1:01 PM on April 17 [1 favorite]
I get it. My favourite mass-market mechanical pencil is the Pentel P205/207/209 and favourite bulk pen is the Bic Cristal (it used to be Pilot Hi-Tecpoint, pens, but that was back when I did a lot more writing by hand, but those are fussy if you leave them sit too long without use). They are simple and cheap writing instruments that are easy to find. I would be super annoyed if those were ever messed around with.
posted by fimbulvetr at 1:06 PM on April 17
posted by fimbulvetr at 1:06 PM on April 17
Bic Ecolutions are my favourite "disposable" mechanical pencil though -- at CAD$4 for 12, who cares what happens to them.
posted by fimbulvetr at 1:08 PM on April 17 [1 favorite]
posted by fimbulvetr at 1:08 PM on April 17 [1 favorite]
In my shower I have a "family-sized" conditioner and a "family-sized" shampoo, same brand, same line/scent/etc. I don't use conditioner much, so that bottle is older -- and is almost twice the size of the "family-sized" shampoo.
I also recently bought new Ivory bar soap, and noted the new bars are about 3/4 the width of the old ones. I don't have an old wrapper to see if it's just a change in shape (thicker in different directions) or if it's really less soap.
But -- pencils -- I am a fan of the kurutoga mechanical pencils, which not only feel hefty and comfortable in my fingers but automatically rotates the lead so it doesn't get a flat side. 0.7mm leads, draws and writes really nice.
posted by AzraelBrown at 1:14 PM on April 17 [5 favorites]
I also recently bought new Ivory bar soap, and noted the new bars are about 3/4 the width of the old ones. I don't have an old wrapper to see if it's just a change in shape (thicker in different directions) or if it's really less soap.
But -- pencils -- I am a fan of the kurutoga mechanical pencils, which not only feel hefty and comfortable in my fingers but automatically rotates the lead so it doesn't get a flat side. 0.7mm leads, draws and writes really nice.
posted by AzraelBrown at 1:14 PM on April 17 [5 favorites]
Graphgear 1000 (in .7mm) ftw.
posted by nushustu at 1:33 PM on April 17 [3 favorites]
posted by nushustu at 1:33 PM on April 17 [3 favorites]
It seems like the new pencils are fine and he realized that they are fine, but released a 20 minute video anyway.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 1:38 PM on April 17 [7 favorites]
posted by paper chromatographologist at 1:38 PM on April 17 [7 favorites]
They did appear to change the color, the strength of the eraser, and the pressure behind the lead, which are small but pretty important details for a pencil. But as the post says, it's not really about the pencil itself, more about how enthusiasts form unexpectedly emotional bonds with their favorite tools (see his aside about the stolen Stanley Workmaster screwdriver handed down from his dad) and how even seemingly minor reductions in quality can feel surprisingly painful, especially if they seem to be driven by cold calculations from beancounters who don't understand or appreciate the craftsmanship they've inherited.
posted by Rhaomi at 1:49 PM on April 17 [9 favorites]
posted by Rhaomi at 1:49 PM on April 17 [9 favorites]
I was kind of doing this with Tom’s of Maine calendula-scented deodorant until I realized I had been wearing the same scent of deodorant for over 20 years and it was okay to make a change. And it was, no big deal.
posted by jeweled accumulation at 1:50 PM on April 17 [1 favorite]
posted by jeweled accumulation at 1:50 PM on April 17 [1 favorite]
I became aware of this sort of thing in my early teens, when I could no longer find what I'd determined to be my favorite (and fortunately inexpensive) shoe. I had to shop around to try to find something else I liked just as much, which was a PITA, and not only was it only almost as comfortable as the old shoe, it was also more expensive.
So I learned not to get too attached to a particular instance of a thing in this life, because it won't stay the same forevermore. I've had plenty more lessons since then, of course. Even so, I understand Adam's distraught reaction to that pencil changing.
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:05 PM on April 17 [3 favorites]
So I learned not to get too attached to a particular instance of a thing in this life, because it won't stay the same forevermore. I've had plenty more lessons since then, of course. Even so, I understand Adam's distraught reaction to that pencil changing.
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:05 PM on April 17 [3 favorites]
Ugh I have been stockpiling a particular sheet mask in the fear that it will be discontinued. It's the first one I've ever used that is just like, wow, holy shit, my face looks different and better immediately but also crucially, does not punish me for its effectiveness with a breakout 24 hours later.
There are lots of things I've let go with relatively little trouble and obviously nothing lasts forever in this fallen world but I will indeed order a dozen of these sheet masks any time I see them online. It's the hill I'm dying on, with smooth dewy unlined skin.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 2:09 PM on April 17 [7 favorites]
There are lots of things I've let go with relatively little trouble and obviously nothing lasts forever in this fallen world but I will indeed order a dozen of these sheet masks any time I see them online. It's the hill I'm dying on, with smooth dewy unlined skin.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 2:09 PM on April 17 [7 favorites]
See also: Scharffen Berger chocolate bars
Why? Did they change them? It has been a while since I bought any.
posted by bz at 2:09 PM on April 17 [1 favorite]
Why? Did they change them? It has been a while since I bought any.
posted by bz at 2:09 PM on April 17 [1 favorite]
I was working in an animation studio when the Blackwing went extinct. There was a flurry of experimentation as people looked for a new pencil that felt the same on the paper. Ultimately they mostly settled on a Tombow pencil. The 301, I think it was. Though that doesn't seem to exist any more. Might have been one of the Monos.
I'm no longer in the animation industry so I can't comment on what they're using now. Wouldn't surprise me if most of their work's done with a drawing stylus now, I know most of mine is. I'm still using the spring-loaded stylus nibs Wacom no longer makes, and every time I think about my little cache of them, I think of an interview with Edward Gorey where he said he used a discontinued Giliotte dip pen nib. He bought a ton of them when they stopped making them and was pretty sure he had enough to last the rest of his life.
I do most of my work with Adobe Illustrator and lately it's been getting really unstable. I've found some workarounds but it's really annoying to suddenly have a major part of how you've been using the UI just marked as dangerous ground, save before visiting. I keep on feeling these urges to move over to Moho or Toon Boom, I'll lose the ability to easily do some printing tricks but I'll gain a tool that's not a trailing appendix of a sprawling corporation and the ability to make shit move.
posted by egypturnash at 2:19 PM on April 17 [12 favorites]
I'm no longer in the animation industry so I can't comment on what they're using now. Wouldn't surprise me if most of their work's done with a drawing stylus now, I know most of mine is. I'm still using the spring-loaded stylus nibs Wacom no longer makes, and every time I think about my little cache of them, I think of an interview with Edward Gorey where he said he used a discontinued Giliotte dip pen nib. He bought a ton of them when they stopped making them and was pretty sure he had enough to last the rest of his life.
I do most of my work with Adobe Illustrator and lately it's been getting really unstable. I've found some workarounds but it's really annoying to suddenly have a major part of how you've been using the UI just marked as dangerous ground, save before visiting. I keep on feeling these urges to move over to Moho or Toon Boom, I'll lose the ability to easily do some printing tricks but I'll gain a tool that's not a trailing appendix of a sprawling corporation and the ability to make shit move.
posted by egypturnash at 2:19 PM on April 17 [12 favorites]
I have a Skilcraft US Government mechanical pencil, 0.7. It’s been with me for about 30 years and keeps on clicking.
I use it at the gym to track my weightlifting goals so you could say this whole comment is just a flex within a flex.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 2:21 PM on April 17 [16 favorites]
I use it at the gym to track my weightlifting goals so you could say this whole comment is just a flex within a flex.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 2:21 PM on April 17 [16 favorites]
So you’re saying the pencil monster is a stranger to you. That makes it a trifecta.
posted by Bella Donna at 3:28 PM on April 17
posted by Bella Donna at 3:28 PM on April 17
AzraelBrown, Ivory soap bars are either 3.17 ounces ("personal" size) or 4 ounces ("expected" size). I think there was a 3.5 ounce bar? Not sure if the huge "laundry soap" cakes are available, now that there's an Ivory liquid detergent.
3-pk of 3.17 oz bars vs. 3-pk 4 oz bars
10-pk 3.17 oz bars vs 10-pk 4 oz bars
Ivory debuted in 1879 as a 10 oz bar that cost a nickel. Trapped air bubbles make it the soap that floats.
posted by Iris Gambol at 4:05 PM on April 17 [3 favorites]
3-pk of 3.17 oz bars vs. 3-pk 4 oz bars
10-pk 3.17 oz bars vs 10-pk 4 oz bars
Ivory debuted in 1879 as a 10 oz bar that cost a nickel. Trapped air bubbles make it the soap that floats.
posted by Iris Gambol at 4:05 PM on April 17 [3 favorites]
The bubbles are, for better or worse, not filled with Satan.
posted by box at 5:16 PM on April 17 [3 favorites]
posted by box at 5:16 PM on April 17 [3 favorites]
the kurutoga mechanical pencils, which not only feel hefty and comfortable in my fingers but automatically rotates the lead so it doesn't get a flat side. 0.7mm leads, draws and writes really nice.
Uniball doesn’t stand still, however. Some of the Kuru Togas are even twirlier with the recently revised W Speed Engine.
posted by zamboni at 5:34 PM on April 17 [5 favorites]
Uniball doesn’t stand still, however. Some of the Kuru Togas are even twirlier with the recently revised W Speed Engine.
posted by zamboni at 5:34 PM on April 17 [5 favorites]
Fuck. The Sharpwriter is my favorite pencil too.
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:15 PM on April 17 [1 favorite]
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:15 PM on April 17 [1 favorite]
I bought one of those Zebra four-color pens plus pencil at a stationery shop in Kyoto in 2008 and I still use it today after four years as an eikaiwa monkey, three years of engineering school, and my whole career so far.
Of course I have a shoebox full of ink refills just in case they become hard to get later. Half of them will probably dry out before I ever use them.
I never found eraser refills so I just never erase when I use the pencil. It still has the original in case of emergency.
posted by The Monster at the End of this Thread at 6:40 PM on April 17 [6 favorites]
Of course I have a shoebox full of ink refills just in case they become hard to get later. Half of them will probably dry out before I ever use them.
I never found eraser refills so I just never erase when I use the pencil. It still has the original in case of emergency.
posted by The Monster at the End of this Thread at 6:40 PM on April 17 [6 favorites]
Photography YouTuber Willem Verbeeck has just yesterday posted an interview with Todd Hido, in which Mr. Hido makes the surprising admission that he stockpiled 126 cartridge film on the occasion of its discontinuation. Not because the film itself was anything special, but because one of his favorite cameras was made to use it.
I can understand being sad about losing something like this, something that you had considered "an institution," as Savage says. And I can understand viewing it as part of "late stage capitalism," where relentless pursuit of growth at all costs constantly puts everything under pressure. I think that's a real phenomenon.
But pencils and film are both end products of complex industrial infrastructures. They're likely to need to change from time to time, just because the world isn't static. And they're both consumables; if you're using them habitually, you're running through them, and you're more likely to notice such changes. That's true even outside of "late stage capitalism," though. Is there any way to orchestrate an industrial society that doesn't subject people to these winds of change?
posted by Western Infidels at 7:36 PM on April 17 [2 favorites]
I can understand being sad about losing something like this, something that you had considered "an institution," as Savage says. And I can understand viewing it as part of "late stage capitalism," where relentless pursuit of growth at all costs constantly puts everything under pressure. I think that's a real phenomenon.
But pencils and film are both end products of complex industrial infrastructures. They're likely to need to change from time to time, just because the world isn't static. And they're both consumables; if you're using them habitually, you're running through them, and you're more likely to notice such changes. That's true even outside of "late stage capitalism," though. Is there any way to orchestrate an industrial society that doesn't subject people to these winds of change?
posted by Western Infidels at 7:36 PM on April 17 [2 favorites]
And they're both consumables
Well, one has to be by design, the other maybe shouldn't necessarily be considered so (except for those being actively pursued by the Pencil Monster and its cousins).
That's true even outside of "late stage capitalism,"
Well, except that in an ideal world "making things ever more cheaply in search of ever more profit" shouldn't happen.
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:52 PM on April 17 [2 favorites]
Well, one has to be by design, the other maybe shouldn't necessarily be considered so (except for those being actively pursued by the Pencil Monster and its cousins).
That's true even outside of "late stage capitalism,"
Well, except that in an ideal world "making things ever more cheaply in search of ever more profit" shouldn't happen.
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:52 PM on April 17 [2 favorites]
I would just like to share that the Leatherman Micra is probably my favourite tool of all time. It is a tiny pocket size multitool that I literally use every day. it has seriously robust scissors perfect for tearing into blister packages, a nice little knife, flat blade and philips screwdrivers, a bottle opener, nail file and nail cleaner, tweezers, and even has a small ruler for making measurements etched into the outside. I hope they never change it, I've lost mine and bought new ones 3 or 4 times and the build quality has always been fantastic.
posted by signsofrain at 8:03 PM on April 17 [4 favorites]
posted by signsofrain at 8:03 PM on April 17 [4 favorites]
Surprised nobody mentioned The Body Shop closing. That's been a multi front crisis in our house.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 8:59 PM on April 17 [7 favorites]
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 8:59 PM on April 17 [7 favorites]
I am a bit of a pen freak. The finer the point the better. But I am also cheap so I have subsisted on a horde of fine point pens from a job I held fifteen years ago. Four years ago, the couple that used to own our small town grocery store gave out pens to friends and acquaintances for Christmas. I somehow got a couple. It was the pen of my dreams. Extremely fine with a gripping surface that was soft and easily held. I used up one and then started on the second when I chanced upon him and asked him where he got them. It was from some marketing company in the South US. I check the website and they no longer had those fine instruments. I was dejected.
There is no label or insignia for a manufacturer anywhere on the pen. I suppose the next time I am in the Twin Cities I can track down a store that sells fountain pens and the like, see if said store recognizes it. If that kind of store still exists. Or I'll just end up shopping for guitars.
A few months after our initial exchange, the ex-grocer showed up at my door. "I don't know what it is about these pens. There's a few people in town that are crazy about them. I found four more yesterday, I gave two to someone else and you can have the last two."
I now have three. I am 66. I figure I can string these three out for at least twelve years. Who knows, they might outlive me.
posted by Ber at 9:19 PM on April 17 [12 favorites]
There is no label or insignia for a manufacturer anywhere on the pen. I suppose the next time I am in the Twin Cities I can track down a store that sells fountain pens and the like, see if said store recognizes it. If that kind of store still exists. Or I'll just end up shopping for guitars.
A few months after our initial exchange, the ex-grocer showed up at my door. "I don't know what it is about these pens. There's a few people in town that are crazy about them. I found four more yesterday, I gave two to someone else and you can have the last two."
I now have three. I am 66. I figure I can string these three out for at least twelve years. Who knows, they might outlive me.
posted by Ber at 9:19 PM on April 17 [12 favorites]
It's stupid, but I like the Rotring 800 -- it's not round so it doesn't roll, it's mostly metal (inner tube is now plastic, the bastards), it has a retractable tip, and if you manage to break it you can send it in for repair (although, now that Newell owns them you need to have a receipt and photographic evidence of the damage before they'll knuckle under and accept the repair job. Fortunately, Amazon retains your receipts basically forever, sooo suck it Newell!)
...but now it seems I'm gonna need that W Speed Engine also...
For erasers, check out the Tombow Mono Zero. It's a very specific type of eraser, but if you need it, you need it. If any of you aren't aware, there is a whole small solar system of Japanese erasers with varying characteristics and behaviors (like, maximally transparent is one feature. Freaky lightweight is another feature, or very dense, and so on).
posted by aramaic at 9:58 PM on April 17 [2 favorites]
...but now it seems I'm gonna need that W Speed Engine also...
For erasers, check out the Tombow Mono Zero. It's a very specific type of eraser, but if you need it, you need it. If any of you aren't aware, there is a whole small solar system of Japanese erasers with varying characteristics and behaviors (like, maximally transparent is one feature. Freaky lightweight is another feature, or very dense, and so on).
posted by aramaic at 9:58 PM on April 17 [2 favorites]
The Merrell shoes I have been wearing copies for 25 years have been losing about 10% a year in max durability with each new pair.
posted by Typhoon Jim at 10:14 PM on April 17 [7 favorites]
posted by Typhoon Jim at 10:14 PM on April 17 [7 favorites]
Thanks for the transcript
I feel like artists are often on the front line of things being replaced. A lot of art tools are from the working world, which are then replaced, or stop being manufactured in the same way, because some other technique takes their place. In the 50s, gouache painting was huge because of its simple translation to print colours - now it’s a small side section in the watercolour paints area. It takes a long time to get to mastery of a technique, maybe a few decades of practice, and that’s long enough for a tool to become outmoded.
posted by The River Ivel at 11:48 PM on April 17 [1 favorite]
I feel like artists are often on the front line of things being replaced. A lot of art tools are from the working world, which are then replaced, or stop being manufactured in the same way, because some other technique takes their place. In the 50s, gouache painting was huge because of its simple translation to print colours - now it’s a small side section in the watercolour paints area. It takes a long time to get to mastery of a technique, maybe a few decades of practice, and that’s long enough for a tool to become outmoded.
posted by The River Ivel at 11:48 PM on April 17 [1 favorite]
The thing about film isn't just that it's an endpoint to a complex industrial infrastructure (though it definitely is, an extraordinary one, maybe one of the most interesting of the 20thC). It's also that the use case for film has completely altered in the past two decades: before digital photography became possible at the level of ordinary professionals, film was part of commercial and amateur processes that had to be standard and reliable. Take photographs of your products for sale, photograph your workers to make them Employee of the Month, photograph the news event, photograph documents for recording, photograph the minor car accident to fill out insurance forms, photograph the ground from a plane to make maps, photograph slides for work presentations, photograph your holiday, photograph things for instrumental purposes; and the artistic use for film was a marginal part of the market. Film was marketed with detailed charts showing exactly how it would perform at every temperature, at every push- and pull-development setting, as an absolutely dependable instrumental tool.
That's reversed now. Nobody looks to film for those qualities of image-making. Digital cameras, in a way that really defies the argument of this post, are more reliable, give more detail, to a better standard, fail less, do more, are far more flexible, can be used in far more secondary processes (with computers, and especially phones), are orders of magnitude cheaper, and for most purposes are simply better than film, in every way. The use cases are reversed now, people who shoot film don't value that bulletproof consistency, they value the special look they feel is film's to give, or the arbitrary quirks that come with DIY processing, or if you're like me, you just like it for reasons you can barely explain to yourself. That's slightly different I think to the other commodities being mentioned here, and I don't think what's happened to photographic film is really comparable to what's happened to fancy pencils.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 12:38 AM on April 18 [8 favorites]
That's reversed now. Nobody looks to film for those qualities of image-making. Digital cameras, in a way that really defies the argument of this post, are more reliable, give more detail, to a better standard, fail less, do more, are far more flexible, can be used in far more secondary processes (with computers, and especially phones), are orders of magnitude cheaper, and for most purposes are simply better than film, in every way. The use cases are reversed now, people who shoot film don't value that bulletproof consistency, they value the special look they feel is film's to give, or the arbitrary quirks that come with DIY processing, or if you're like me, you just like it for reasons you can barely explain to yourself. That's slightly different I think to the other commodities being mentioned here, and I don't think what's happened to photographic film is really comparable to what's happened to fancy pencils.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 12:38 AM on April 18 [8 favorites]
I'm still annoyed Birmingham Pens no longer sells the first ink I fell in love with, Banker's Ice Rink. Most blues are boring, but that was just off blue enough to be interesting.
The worst thing is when they stop making something long-lasting but perishable. My last jar of my favourite body scrub now smells off because I hoarded it for too long. (And don't get me started on perfume - reformulations there cause a riot, and I literally cried when the cat broke my bottle of Shalimar Parfum Initial.)
posted by I claim sanctuary at 2:50 AM on April 18 [1 favorite]
The worst thing is when they stop making something long-lasting but perishable. My last jar of my favourite body scrub now smells off because I hoarded it for too long. (And don't get me started on perfume - reformulations there cause a riot, and I literally cried when the cat broke my bottle of Shalimar Parfum Initial.)
posted by I claim sanctuary at 2:50 AM on April 18 [1 favorite]
One of my favourite stationary brands Lamy [German] recently got bought by Mitsubishi [Japanese].
I am in Paaaaaain.
Mitsubishi are well known for acquiring companies and making small - yet significant - 'at scale' production changes that demonstrably make the items crappier.
Plus I cannot afford to stockpile anything right now.
posted by Faintdreams at 3:08 AM on April 18 [3 favorites]
I am in Paaaaaain.
Mitsubishi are well known for acquiring companies and making small - yet significant - 'at scale' production changes that demonstrably make the items crappier.
Plus I cannot afford to stockpile anything right now.
posted by Faintdreams at 3:08 AM on April 18 [3 favorites]
Mitsubishi are well known for acquiring companies and making small - yet significant - 'at scale' production changes that demonstrably make the items crappier.
What acquisitions are you thinking of? Note that the acquisition is by Mitsubishi Pencil, makers of Uni-ball, not the unrelated Mitsubishi Group. What I’ve seen from reactions among stationery fans is that it’s way better than an acquisition by venture capital or similar, and it’s likely to be kept at status quo for the near future. The most recent episode of Tokyo Inklings discusses the acquisition at length.
posted by zamboni at 3:39 AM on April 18 [8 favorites]
What acquisitions are you thinking of? Note that the acquisition is by Mitsubishi Pencil, makers of Uni-ball, not the unrelated Mitsubishi Group. What I’ve seen from reactions among stationery fans is that it’s way better than an acquisition by venture capital or similar, and it’s likely to be kept at status quo for the near future. The most recent episode of Tokyo Inklings discusses the acquisition at length.
posted by zamboni at 3:39 AM on April 18 [8 favorites]
The Merrell shoes I have been wearing copies for 25 years have been losing about 10% a year in max durability with each new pair.
The same has happened to the Salomons that I have basically lived in for the past 15 years or so. My first pair lasted over two years, now I'm lucky to get a year out of them before they start failing, and the soles are less grippy than they once were too. Price has gone up markedly every year as well. I could probably put up with the price increase, fair enough, but the drop in quality really pisses me off. I hate shopping, which is why I've stuck with the same footwear for so long, but I'm getting to the point now where I may have to look for an alternative.
posted by tomsk at 5:27 AM on April 18 [4 favorites]
The same has happened to the Salomons that I have basically lived in for the past 15 years or so. My first pair lasted over two years, now I'm lucky to get a year out of them before they start failing, and the soles are less grippy than they once were too. Price has gone up markedly every year as well. I could probably put up with the price increase, fair enough, but the drop in quality really pisses me off. I hate shopping, which is why I've stuck with the same footwear for so long, but I'm getting to the point now where I may have to look for an alternative.
posted by tomsk at 5:27 AM on April 18 [4 favorites]
the strength of the eraser
This is not particularly relevant but this thread got me rabbit-holing about pencils and erasers and I feel a weird need to note that it is only today, after various decades of life, that I learned that the material called "rubber" got its name because it was so useful for rubbing pencil marks off paper. I knew erasers were called rubbers in some places and still never realized the material was named for that. Kind of amazing that out of all its useful qualities that's the one that stuck.
posted by trig at 5:31 AM on April 18 [6 favorites]
This is not particularly relevant but this thread got me rabbit-holing about pencils and erasers and I feel a weird need to note that it is only today, after various decades of life, that I learned that the material called "rubber" got its name because it was so useful for rubbing pencil marks off paper. I knew erasers were called rubbers in some places and still never realized the material was named for that. Kind of amazing that out of all its useful qualities that's the one that stuck.
posted by trig at 5:31 AM on April 18 [6 favorites]
This is generally what's been bumming me out about the world. We could do better. It instead the hand of the free market says we must do it cheap. And thus.... *Waves hands despairingly at the world*
posted by AngelWuff at 6:07 AM on April 18 [5 favorites]
posted by AngelWuff at 6:07 AM on April 18 [5 favorites]
I love to cook. I have a favorite spatula... the kind that could double for flipping burgers, but it's some kind of hard heat-resistant plastic? My wife probably bought this thing a decade before I met her when she was a teenager. It is circa 1982, and partially chipped, then melted smooth again on its end... but not too much. It probably came from Sears and cost $3. I use it for almost anything I cook in a pan or a pot, sautéing, frying, scraping, stirring sauces, stews, soups. Even flipping meats that I am searing sometimes.
She has since purchased similar, newer, "better," implements, but I just love the weight, the tensile feel, the scrape-a-bility and the ease of cleaning the thing. I'm not fussy about tools, but when I go to grab something for any of these uses, I dig down and find this cheap, old, reliable thing that fits so well in my hand over any of the newer ones.
That's about the only tool that I really feel this way about. A few years I bought a couple expensive (roughly $30 a piece?) Japanese made mechanical pencils, the kind that twist the lead slightly each time you click for more. I just never liked the tiny erasers and I almost immediately lost the pointless eraser-cap for one of them. Eventually they got shuffled to the bottom of a junk drawer. I guess I still like old wooden pencils. Oh, I also really do love the 1960's era hand-cranked pencil sharpener that I have tightly attached with wood screws into a stud on a wall downstairs. I got it from Ebay for $20, and it supposedly came from an old school in Kansas that was demolished some time ago. I love the smell of pencil shavings, and we had one like this in my house when I was a kid.
posted by SoberHighland at 6:09 AM on April 18 [9 favorites]
She has since purchased similar, newer, "better," implements, but I just love the weight, the tensile feel, the scrape-a-bility and the ease of cleaning the thing. I'm not fussy about tools, but when I go to grab something for any of these uses, I dig down and find this cheap, old, reliable thing that fits so well in my hand over any of the newer ones.
That's about the only tool that I really feel this way about. A few years I bought a couple expensive (roughly $30 a piece?) Japanese made mechanical pencils, the kind that twist the lead slightly each time you click for more. I just never liked the tiny erasers and I almost immediately lost the pointless eraser-cap for one of them. Eventually they got shuffled to the bottom of a junk drawer. I guess I still like old wooden pencils. Oh, I also really do love the 1960's era hand-cranked pencil sharpener that I have tightly attached with wood screws into a stud on a wall downstairs. I got it from Ebay for $20, and it supposedly came from an old school in Kansas that was demolished some time ago. I love the smell of pencil shavings, and we had one like this in my house when I was a kid.
posted by SoberHighland at 6:09 AM on April 18 [9 favorites]
The boatbuilders I know do not truck with modern tools. They go to tool auctions and buy old planes, chisels, mallets, wrenches and restore/sharpen them. I took a weeklong class in boatbuilding once and had the opportunity to try your basic modem Home Depot products vs. antique and compare, and it’s unequivocally true. The teacher gave a wonderful disquisition on the economics behind tool manufacture, of which I only remember the gist, which basically amounts a once-artisanal toolmaking process transmogrifying to a cost-engineered, cheap, mass-manufacturing process that anticipates minimal use for any individual tool. Even the “pro” hand tools are used much much less than their 19th venture versions
posted by Miko at 6:18 AM on April 18 [5 favorites]
posted by Miko at 6:18 AM on April 18 [5 favorites]
We could do better. It instead the hand of the free market says we must do it cheap.
Ah, but always remember we aren't doing things cheaper, we're just pushing the cost off to wage theft and environment destruction.
Capitalism says stealing the spare change from the cupholder is a profitable task if you don't have to pay for the smashed car window.
posted by AlSweigart at 6:30 AM on April 18 [10 favorites]
Ah, but always remember we aren't doing things cheaper, we're just pushing the cost off to wage theft and environment destruction.
Capitalism says stealing the spare change from the cupholder is a profitable task if you don't have to pay for the smashed car window.
posted by AlSweigart at 6:30 AM on April 18 [10 favorites]
I’ve long lamented the discontinuation of my favorite underwear (from the Gap Body Love line).
posted by thivaia at 6:31 AM on April 18 [1 favorite]
posted by thivaia at 6:31 AM on April 18 [1 favorite]
I've been wearing LL Bean t-shirts exclusively for something like 25 years now. I used to buy a new batch every 3 years or so. Now I'm seeing noticeable wear after just a few months. I also just got a new pair of Keen hiking shoes. I walk a lot, so I need to get a new pair every year or so. There's something decidedly less comfortable about the current pair. This could be the shoes or the insole I buy to go with them, but something's definitely different. And, of course, the last time I went to buy a pair of Keen hiking boots, they had retired the model I've been wearing for years, and the new one is not nearly as good for me. I've never liked shopping, but it's gotten to the point where I'm afraid to go shopping.
posted by mollweide at 6:44 AM on April 18 [6 favorites]
posted by mollweide at 6:44 AM on April 18 [6 favorites]
See also: Scharffen Berger chocolate bars
Why? Did they change them? It has been a while since I bought any.
To my palate, SB did, after it shut down production for COVID. To start, it had discontinued its Nibby line (my favorite!) a bit before, then SB came back after COVID with a reduced basic bar line (80% dark, 72% dark, and 41% milk) for a while, then expanded fairly dramatically into bars with add-ins (coconut/almond or salt or cherries/almond) plus different form factors (square, shards).
In all these changes, I noticed that the dark chocolate bars, which were my go-to for years, had gotten...less dark. There's now a roundness to their taste profile that wasn't there before, as if SB were trying to make them more accessible, less off-putting to those who might think dark chocolate will be bitter. They're...fine? But it's a different experience. Plus SB brought back my beloved Nibby bar…but in milk chocolate. I won't be forgiving them that slap in the face. It's like the Pet Sematary of chocolate.
posted by the sobsister at 7:36 AM on April 18 [4 favorites]
Why? Did they change them? It has been a while since I bought any.
To my palate, SB did, after it shut down production for COVID. To start, it had discontinued its Nibby line (my favorite!) a bit before, then SB came back after COVID with a reduced basic bar line (80% dark, 72% dark, and 41% milk) for a while, then expanded fairly dramatically into bars with add-ins (coconut/almond or salt or cherries/almond) plus different form factors (square, shards).
In all these changes, I noticed that the dark chocolate bars, which were my go-to for years, had gotten...less dark. There's now a roundness to their taste profile that wasn't there before, as if SB were trying to make them more accessible, less off-putting to those who might think dark chocolate will be bitter. They're...fine? But it's a different experience. Plus SB brought back my beloved Nibby bar…but in milk chocolate. I won't be forgiving them that slap in the face. It's like the Pet Sematary of chocolate.
posted by the sobsister at 7:36 AM on April 18 [4 favorites]
It seems like the new pencils are fine and he realized that they are fine, but released a 20 minute video anyway.
Recent reviews on Amazon suggest there are other significant changes making the new version notably worse.
posted by Ayn Marx at 8:04 AM on April 18
Recent reviews on Amazon suggest there are other significant changes making the new version notably worse.
posted by Ayn Marx at 8:04 AM on April 18
Jet Pens sells many unusual writing instruments to which one can become addicted and then suffer the loss of having them removed from the market or otherwise become impossible to acquire. The cheap, slightly weird but wonderful Morning Glory mechanical pencil with rectangular lead is usually in stock but the leads themselves are often unobtainable.
https://www.jetpens.com/Morning-Glory-Sketch-1000-Pencil-1.8-mm-Flat/pd/27924
posted by bz at 8:49 AM on April 18 [6 favorites]
https://www.jetpens.com/Morning-Glory-Sketch-1000-Pencil-1.8-mm-Flat/pd/27924
posted by bz at 8:49 AM on April 18 [6 favorites]
You terrible people made me put in another order to Jetpens yesterday. Shakes fist.
posted by tavella at 10:09 AM on April 18 [7 favorites]
posted by tavella at 10:09 AM on April 18 [7 favorites]
Well, except that in an ideal world "making things ever more cheaply in search of ever more profit" shouldn't happen.
So I don't really want this to turn into a drawn out discussion, but it is true that many changes in the availability of parts to make finished goods have at most a tangential relationship to the seeking of profit.
The machines and tooling that make our industrial world go wear out over time, no matter how well made. If you're punching steel, the die is gonna wear out, it's just basic material science. The mechanisms in the machine will wear no matter how frequently greased. Eventually, these things become more expensive to maintain than it would cost to replace, so people do that. As more and more people do that, it becomes uneconomical to continue to produce parts for the old machines, so they are eventually all, or substantially all, retired.
The problem is that the new machines are designed differently. Technology marches on. Materials improve, techniques change, and the machines change with them. Often it is simply not possible to precisely copy the parts made by the old machines. Other times, the new machine unlocks a better way of making the equivalent part. Better may mean cheaper with no reduction in strength or other quality metrics. Maybe it means less wasted material. Maybe it means crisper bends are possible in a stamping press. (As an aside, if you wonder why cars are so damned angular lately, it's largely because it has only recently become possible to make those shapes reliably and economically, so every designer of course wants to use the new hotness)
Either way, the long supply chain for the various gubbins that make up your mechanical pencil or whatever ends up going away, necessitating a redesign whether the manufacturer wants to do it or not. Yeah, maybe they could buy their gubbins from one of the dwindling number of suppliers using the old machines, but there will still be subtle differences and the increasing scarcity of suppliers capable of making the gubbins in the old way means the cost of materials only goes higher and higher because there's always somebody else with an even higher value or harder to redesign product who will pay more for the machine time. You might be willing to pay double for your fountain pin nib or your particularly nice feeling mechanical pencil or ballpoint pen or whatever, but most people won't.
It's pretty much the same thing as when we say we can't make any more of the Rocketdyne F1 engines from the Saturn V. It's physically possible to do, but it would be an artisan process down to the bolts that hold it all together. They, quite literally, don't make them like they used to, so replicating them would require a hand machining process at an order of magnitude more expense. Hell, the same goes for the metal alloys. Some of them simply aren't made any longer. The newer ones aren't worse in any sense except being the old one, but you can't simply replace the old alloy with the new alloy and expect it all to work.
I guess my point is that in such interdependent systems, which is basically all of modern civilization at this point, change is inevitable. It's going to happen for good reasons and bad. Accepting this reality saves a lot of gnashing of teeth.
posted by wierdo at 10:38 AM on April 18 [8 favorites]
So I don't really want this to turn into a drawn out discussion, but it is true that many changes in the availability of parts to make finished goods have at most a tangential relationship to the seeking of profit.
The machines and tooling that make our industrial world go wear out over time, no matter how well made. If you're punching steel, the die is gonna wear out, it's just basic material science. The mechanisms in the machine will wear no matter how frequently greased. Eventually, these things become more expensive to maintain than it would cost to replace, so people do that. As more and more people do that, it becomes uneconomical to continue to produce parts for the old machines, so they are eventually all, or substantially all, retired.
The problem is that the new machines are designed differently. Technology marches on. Materials improve, techniques change, and the machines change with them. Often it is simply not possible to precisely copy the parts made by the old machines. Other times, the new machine unlocks a better way of making the equivalent part. Better may mean cheaper with no reduction in strength or other quality metrics. Maybe it means less wasted material. Maybe it means crisper bends are possible in a stamping press. (As an aside, if you wonder why cars are so damned angular lately, it's largely because it has only recently become possible to make those shapes reliably and economically, so every designer of course wants to use the new hotness)
Either way, the long supply chain for the various gubbins that make up your mechanical pencil or whatever ends up going away, necessitating a redesign whether the manufacturer wants to do it or not. Yeah, maybe they could buy their gubbins from one of the dwindling number of suppliers using the old machines, but there will still be subtle differences and the increasing scarcity of suppliers capable of making the gubbins in the old way means the cost of materials only goes higher and higher because there's always somebody else with an even higher value or harder to redesign product who will pay more for the machine time. You might be willing to pay double for your fountain pin nib or your particularly nice feeling mechanical pencil or ballpoint pen or whatever, but most people won't.
It's pretty much the same thing as when we say we can't make any more of the Rocketdyne F1 engines from the Saturn V. It's physically possible to do, but it would be an artisan process down to the bolts that hold it all together. They, quite literally, don't make them like they used to, so replicating them would require a hand machining process at an order of magnitude more expense. Hell, the same goes for the metal alloys. Some of them simply aren't made any longer. The newer ones aren't worse in any sense except being the old one, but you can't simply replace the old alloy with the new alloy and expect it all to work.
I guess my point is that in such interdependent systems, which is basically all of modern civilization at this point, change is inevitable. It's going to happen for good reasons and bad. Accepting this reality saves a lot of gnashing of teeth.
posted by wierdo at 10:38 AM on April 18 [8 favorites]
I have the same Japanese mechanical pencil I did all my math degrees with. It's a Yasutomo, and it's really nice, it can retract the whole head with a second click, so I could carry it in my pocket. I spent like $6 on it in the 90s. Some time in the teens I casually looked to see if I could get another, and couldn't find any, so I retired it from daily use so I won't lose it.
I got into Blackwings recently, bc I erase a lot more when drawing and I want more options on tip geometry than you can get with a mechanical. I have a Zebra F-301 that's also ~20 years old. I decided to "upgrade" to the F-701, which I discovered has a huge following in the "EDC" fandom. Nice in some ways, bc they tell me I can put in a fisher space pen refill, or certain types of gel ink that are nicer than the very basic thing it comes with. But it's also weird and creepy, bc there are people out there selling the "hobo tactical PENetrator" that turns your otherwise nice metal pen into a pretty scary shiv.
I also have a Fisher Space pen from the 90s, and some Staedtler lead holders from the 70s I inherited from my dad.
So I don't fear the Pencil Monster. Or rather, I suppose I do fear it, and that is what keeps my pencils safe. Maybe because of the math, I've always had a pretty good sense of where my pencil is. I have discovered a marvelous insight into this whole chalk business, which this comment is not large enough to contain :)
posted by SaltySalticid at 11:48 AM on April 18 [4 favorites]
I got into Blackwings recently, bc I erase a lot more when drawing and I want more options on tip geometry than you can get with a mechanical. I have a Zebra F-301 that's also ~20 years old. I decided to "upgrade" to the F-701, which I discovered has a huge following in the "EDC" fandom. Nice in some ways, bc they tell me I can put in a fisher space pen refill, or certain types of gel ink that are nicer than the very basic thing it comes with. But it's also weird and creepy, bc there are people out there selling the "hobo tactical PENetrator" that turns your otherwise nice metal pen into a pretty scary shiv.
I also have a Fisher Space pen from the 90s, and some Staedtler lead holders from the 70s I inherited from my dad.
So I don't fear the Pencil Monster. Or rather, I suppose I do fear it, and that is what keeps my pencils safe. Maybe because of the math, I've always had a pretty good sense of where my pencil is. I have discovered a marvelous insight into this whole chalk business, which this comment is not large enough to contain :)
posted by SaltySalticid at 11:48 AM on April 18 [4 favorites]
Perhaps it is we who are the real Pencil Monsters.
posted by zamboni at 12:28 PM on April 18 [3 favorites]
posted by zamboni at 12:28 PM on April 18 [3 favorites]
I used to use a Zebra m402 pencil, because they were the only mechanical pencil I've ever owned where the rubber grip didn't fail. They were just about perfect, and when they stopped being available I bought three of them and figured I was good for a while. Then I lost two and broke the other over successive years. I bought a 701 as a replacement, and replaced the plastic on that with the surviving metal parts from the broken 402, and that was pretty great, until I dropped it on concrete and damaged the nib. I still have it, and I could just get another 701, but I don't trust myself, so I hace a Pentel graphgear 1000, which has a retractable nib, and is fine for a type of pencil I rarely use (because I'm usually using a lead holder).
By far the best thing about the Zebra m402 was the time I was drawing with it in public, and *from across the room* this guy goes "Is that a Zebra m301?" and I was like "no, it's a 402, [and also we are friends now]." I think that's just about the best outcome one can reasonably expect from a pencil.
posted by surlyben at 1:19 PM on April 18 [7 favorites]
By far the best thing about the Zebra m402 was the time I was drawing with it in public, and *from across the room* this guy goes "Is that a Zebra m301?" and I was like "no, it's a 402, [and also we are friends now]." I think that's just about the best outcome one can reasonably expect from a pencil.
posted by surlyben at 1:19 PM on April 18 [7 favorites]
Since this is turning into a mechanical pencil thread: does anyone else ever feel like the exact same lead, in different pencils, writes differently? In some pencils it can feel smoother, in some scratchier, and I have one very old pencil that makes the expression "like butter" keep coming to mind. (So of course it also has the traditional planned-obsolescence feature of the mechanical pencil world: a tiny eraser with a unique size that I've never found a good replacement for.)
It's weird because those differences in smoothness feel very obvious to me, but I can't think of any reasons that would account for them. Minuscule differences in amount of play in the lead sleeve, maybe?
posted by trig at 1:35 PM on April 18
It's weird because those differences in smoothness feel very obvious to me, but I can't think of any reasons that would account for them. Minuscule differences in amount of play in the lead sleeve, maybe?
posted by trig at 1:35 PM on April 18
I assume you've ruled out paper differences?
Otherwise, try to rotate the lead in the different pencils, I bet you get farther or easier rotation in some. That and the difference in vertical give (in tens of microns maybe) can add up to a different sensation. Your writing hand is extremely sensitive to tactile feedback!
posted by SaltySalticid at 4:10 PM on April 18 [1 favorite]
Otherwise, try to rotate the lead in the different pencils, I bet you get farther or easier rotation in some. That and the difference in vertical give (in tens of microns maybe) can add up to a different sensation. Your writing hand is extremely sensitive to tactile feedback!
posted by SaltySalticid at 4:10 PM on April 18 [1 favorite]
I assume you've ruled out paper differences?
But what if using unruled paper?
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:26 PM on April 18 [3 favorites]
But what if using unruled paper?
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:26 PM on April 18 [3 favorites]
I personally favor the Staedtler 925-25. Simple, clean, balanced design. I don't do much writing, but the act of using it makes it a pleasure.
posted by ndr at 5:03 PM on April 18 [5 favorites]
So I don't really want this to turn into a drawn out discussion, but it is true that many changes in the availability of parts to make finished goods have at most a tangential relationship to the seeking of profit.At the individual level you're not wrong, but the aggregate capacity of the industrial base that builds machines that produces parts that are assembled into the final product is also a choice set by policy. It's not a coincidence in the last twenty or so years "tech" has become synonymous with software and consumer electronics, while manufacturing goods grounded in their physical function has fallen by the wayside, resulting in a corresponding allocation of investment capital. The profit motive accounts for things like Boeing's financial "engineering" at the expense of actual engineering and durable goods becoming replaceable to ensure a revenue stream.
posted by ndr at 5:03 PM on April 18 [5 favorites]
I hoarded a face cream and a shampoo until I had to give up and switch brands ... The skin wants what it wants. There's a website that lets you enter a skin product and find other skin products with a similar ingredients list though so thank god for that. People with naturally good skin will never understand how important it is to keep using the exact same formulation.
posted by subdee at 7:15 AM on April 19 [1 favorite]
posted by subdee at 7:15 AM on April 19 [1 favorite]
I like that this thread is trying to live the Mitch Hedburg joke "I bought a seven-dollar pen because I always lose pens and I got sick of not caring." but reality is still trying to force people to learn not to care. That part sucks.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:20 AM on April 19 [2 favorites]
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:20 AM on April 19 [2 favorites]
I assume you've ruled out paper differences?
But what if using unruled paper?
Sorry, I just want to underline how unruly that was of me.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:39 AM on April 19 [2 favorites]
But what if using unruled paper?
Sorry, I just want to underline how unruly that was of me.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:39 AM on April 19 [2 favorites]
Paper, ruled and unruled, has been ruled out, but I'll see if I can find differences in the other factors.
posted by trig at 11:21 PM on April 19 [1 favorite]
posted by trig at 11:21 PM on April 19 [1 favorite]
Incidentally, Savage appears to be "MeFi's own", and he recently mentioned reading "a MetaFilter thread" in this clip from a January 2024 stream.
At least I assume it's January, because the date made it look like it was recorded in September and I guess that has to just be weird unsorted US date formats.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 8:53 AM on April 20 [2 favorites]
At least I assume it's January, because the date made it look like it was recorded in September and I guess that has to just be weird unsorted US date formats.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 8:53 AM on April 20 [2 favorites]
There's a website that lets you enter a skin product and find other skin products with a similar ingredients list though so thank god for that.
Link please!
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 10:39 AM on April 20 [3 favorites]
Link please!
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 10:39 AM on April 20 [3 favorites]
The Merrell shoes I have been wearing copies for 25 years have been losing about 10% a year in max durability with each new pair.
The same has happened to the Salomons that I have basically lived in for the past 15 years or so.
I'm one of you folk but I've transitioned to wearing New Balance gortex running shoes. Easier/lighter on the feet in the warm seasons and I save my leather Merrell's for the winter cold. It also lets me size for thick winter socks versus summer socks. The New Balance running shoes hold up really well and remain water resistant for quite some time in my experience (for running shoes). Do not trust Nike gortex though. The waterproofing on my one pair lasted about 2 months.
posted by srboisvert at 3:57 PM on April 22
The same has happened to the Salomons that I have basically lived in for the past 15 years or so.
I'm one of you folk but I've transitioned to wearing New Balance gortex running shoes. Easier/lighter on the feet in the warm seasons and I save my leather Merrell's for the winter cold. It also lets me size for thick winter socks versus summer socks. The New Balance running shoes hold up really well and remain water resistant for quite some time in my experience (for running shoes). Do not trust Nike gortex though. The waterproofing on my one pair lasted about 2 months.
posted by srboisvert at 3:57 PM on April 22
See also: Scharffen Berger chocolate bars
Why? Did they change them? It has been a while since I bought any.
This one is on global climate change combined with corporations squeezing the raw ingredient supplies to the point of extinction. Enjoy genuine chocolate while you can because it is going to become an extreme luxury good really quickly and the plebes are going to only get pseudo-choco. It'll be good for my metabolic health but terrible for my soul.
posted by srboisvert at 4:01 PM on April 22 [1 favorite]
Why? Did they change them? It has been a while since I bought any.
This one is on global climate change combined with corporations squeezing the raw ingredient supplies to the point of extinction. Enjoy genuine chocolate while you can because it is going to become an extreme luxury good really quickly and the plebes are going to only get pseudo-choco. It'll be good for my metabolic health but terrible for my soul.
posted by srboisvert at 4:01 PM on April 22 [1 favorite]
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posted by bz at 11:45 AM on April 17 [5 favorites]