Get off my LAWN! "Grumpy Old Farts"

[beans-on-toast]

A note to acoustic guitar playing veterans.

Mike Masse has started offering a weekly lesson that shows how he plays songs that he performs on tour. It's very interesting to see in detail how he plays these songs. His arrangements are musical. Below is a link to the list so far.

He offers a live stream lesson each weak, then takes it down from youtube. You can buy the lesson after that. He normally charges $20 per lesson but makes them available free for life to vets. Contact Patrick Nettesheim at [email protected] to enquire, he will provide dropbox links.

Play It Like Mike: Guitar Lessons

Guitars 4 Vets Helping Veterans Cope With PTSD Through Music

 

[Jeff Scott]

As kid, I used to sometimes travel on planes alone. They insisted on putting the title Master in front of my name and would use it when they called me to board. Good that my last name wasn’t Bates.

A girlfriend in high school had a last name of Bates; we did sometimes call her father Master Bates!

 

[GwenOnBass]

To great amusement, no doubt.

 

[GwenOnBass]

 

[GwenOnBass]

Always a special day when I crack a brand new bottle of ink. It means I've run the old bottle, and that can be a lot of writing. More or less, depending on how fine or how broad a nib is in play.

It's the venerable, if not inelegantly named, Sheaffer Blue. Absolute standard ink for me, for every use. From checks to documents, it is stalwart Sheaffer Blue. Essentially unchanged since it was introduced in the early 30s (? 31? don't feel like looking it up), it's as fine an ink as I've ever encountered.

In other news, and gonna call it good news, all my labs are where they should be. Still a doctor's visit pending, so. Means I'll snag a new, free, hospital grade mask.

 

[Polish Thunder]

I am personally partial to the Pilot G-2 0.7mm Fine Point in blue (because black ink would be silly).

I am neither a writer nor an artist...I am am engineer. So ink smearing is something of a pet peeve for a lefty like me.



Disclaimer: That is not my handwriting in the attached photo. I print exclusively. This has been the case ever since I escaped the militant teachers in school that forced me to write in cursive.

 

[Charlie Tango]

Always a special day when I crack a brand new bottle of ink. It means I've run the old bottle, and that can be a lot of writing. More or less, depending on how fine or how broad a nib is in play.

It's the venerable, if not inelegantly named, Sheaffer Blue. Absolute standard ink for me, for every use. From checks to documents, it is stalwart Sheaffer Blue. Essentially unchanged since it was introduced in the early 30s (? 31? don't feel like looking it up), it's as fine an ink as I've ever encountered.

In other news, and gonna call it good news, all my labs are where they should be. Still a doctor's visit pending, so. Means I'll snag a new, free, hospital grade mask.

I write so little since I retired. Maybe there is something I miss, after all. I use Waterman Blue-black (sorry, now "Mysterious Blue" - what was the need to change the name?). I like it because it dries quickly, and being a left-handed overwriter (see President Obama's style for an example) the quick-dry attribute is a must. But I don't even have a pen inked at the moment. I keep telling myself that if I just found the perfect war-era Parker Vacumatic at a good price, it would make all the difference, but I know myself, and know that I just want one because it's cool.

Look at La Contessa with her fancy labs. Good on ya, and keep it up!

 

[Charlie Tango]

I am personally partial to the Pilot G-2 0.7mm Fine Point in blue (because black ink would be silly).

I am neither a writer nor an artist...I am am engineer. So ink smearing is something of a pet peeve for a lefty like me.

View attachment 3886205

Disclaimer: That is not my handwriting in the attached photo. I print exclusively. This has been the case ever since the militant teachers in school forced me to write in cursive.

Yeah. In fifth grade, another boy and I were prohibited from writing with fountain pens because the teacher couldn't read through the smears.

 

[GwenOnBass]

Far more fearsome than any Karen today is my primary school English teacher. Thunder and lightening, YOU LITTLE IMPS! Fifth year is when we learn cursive. Some of us learn cursive. Our desks have holes where inkwells once were. We select a long, blue writing pen from a box she presents. It's like any desk pen. As if we see many desk pens today. Maybe for show in some people's offices.

There is a very senior executive at [mumble major mumble daily mumble] who comes to meetings with a $1,400 fountain pen. This is where my 1936 Sheaffer Balance sees action. It hasn't seen action in quite a while. My everyday carry since retirement is a Lamy Safari.

 

[beans-on-toast]

As a kid I used Shaeffer Blue (at school) and black India ink. Black India worked well when giving yourself a prison tattoo on the fingers. Good thing that it faded with time.

For documents that I have to sign and scan, then send using secure email, I use black ink. It scans better than blue.

I don’t know what they used here to imitate Van Gogh.

 

[beans-on-toast]

I am personally partial to the Pilot G-2 0.7mm Fine Point in blue (because black ink would be silly).

I am neither a writer nor an artist...I am am engineer. So ink smearing is something of a pet peeve for a lefty like me.

View attachment 3886205

Disclaimer: That is not my handwriting in the attached photo. I print exclusively. This has been the case ever since I escaped the militant teachers in school that forced me to write in cursive.

When I studied drafting, they taught us how to print for technical documents. Ever since then I’ve printed. Except for when it’s really official, my signature is printed. It’s as unique as my cursive signature. When taking notes in school, I used to use shorthand. Recorders did away with that.

 

[GwenOnBass]

Newspaper editors with permission to work in the composing room use a blue pen the camera is (mostly) blind to. Unless you know what you're looking for, you're unlikely to notice the editor's pen on the printed page. The Chicago Tribune is the first paper I encountered that issued red pens for its laser camera. In my day most American composing rooms were union shops. In practical terms that means nobody but nobody touches type but composing room employees. Pointing with a pica pole was the only safe way around. Safe, meaning leaving work with no "accidental" X-Acto incidents.

Used to be people cared about type.

 

[GonePlaid]

I knew a typesetter that worked at The Miami Herald, which was right on Biscayne Bay. (Their rolls of newsprint came by barge.) Anyway, on breaks he'd come to the seawall and do a little fishing, using old type as sinkers. Guess you could say he was typecasting. I'll go to my room now.

 

[Charlie Tango]

I knew a typesetter that worked at The Miami Herald, which was right on Biscayne Bay. (Their rolls of newsprint came by barge.) Anyway, on breaks he'd come to the seawall and do a little fishing, using old type as sinkers. Guess you could say he was typecasting. I'll go to my room now.

Kern you stop that, please? That was a real slug, and so early in the morning, too.

 

[beans-on-toast]

I knew a typesetter that worked at The Miami Herald, which was right on Biscayne Bay. (Their rolls of newsprint came by barge.) Anyway, on breaks he'd come to the seawall and do a little fishing, using old type as sinkers. Guess you could say he was typecasting. I'll go to my room now.

I wonder if he placed any requests for particular fish on his sinkers.

This brings back memories of melting lead with an old plumber’s blow torch in the back yard. The kind of torch with a pump like a camp stove. I would pour the lead into molds and make sinkers. These days, they ban lead.

 

[GwenOnBass]

The first sentence of a news story is the lede, and this lede about Roman lead leads a GOF Tuesday Use of ancient lead in modern physics experiments ignites debate

Get the lead out!

 

[beans-on-toast]

A friend bought a country property to build a house on needed to trim back the brush and weeds for the living area. Not so fast said the town. There are some weeds that are unique to the area. They wanted to send out an inspector to determine if the weeds could be removed. I understand tree cutting restrictions and permits. But needing an ok to cut your grass for fear that a weed would be affected is nuts. This is what happens when flakes are in charge.

If the archaeologists were told that their grants would be reduced because the funds are needed to preserve the shiplead, they’d change their tune in a heartbeat.

 

[bobyoung53]

Always a special day when I crack a brand new bottle of ink. It means I've run the old bottle, and that can be a lot of writing. More or less, depending on how fine or how broad a nib is in play.

It's the venerable, if not inelegantly named, Sheaffer Blue. Absolute standard ink for me, for every use. From checks to documents, it is stalwart Sheaffer Blue. Essentially unchanged since it was introduced in the early 30s (? 31? don't feel like looking it up), it's as fine an ink as I've ever encountered.

In other news, and gonna call it good news, all my labs are where they should be. Still a doctor's visit pending, so. Means I'll snag a new, free, hospital grade mask.

When I was in the first grade (IIRC) we had inkwells on our desks and had to learn how to write with pen and nib, my efforts usually just ended up with big black blobs on my paper with holes in it. I don't remember if I ever dipped the girl's pigtails in front of me though but that would have been right up my alley back then. I was never any teacher's favorite pupil although my family was well known in my town and known for being good pupils and exhibiting good behavior until I came along. All my younger brothers and sisters had to deal with my reputation when they had my former teachers.

 

[GwenOnBass]

When I was in the first grade (IIRC) we had inkwells on our desks and had to learn how to write with pen and nib, my efforts usually just ended up with big black blobs on my paper. I don't remember if I ever dipped the girl's pigtails in front of me though but that would have been right up my alley back then. I was never any teacher's favorite pupil although my family was well known in my town and known for being good pupils and exhibiting good behavior until I came along. All my younger brothers and sisters had to deal with my reputation when they had my former teachers.


View attachment 3886841

Portrait of a secondary school bra snapper?

 

[bobyoung53]

Portrait of a secondary school bra snapper?

No, I was too shy but in most other ways I was terrible.