Techo Lineup – Hobonichi Techo 2017
The time has finally come! We now bring you the full 2017 lineup scheduled for release on September 1st. There are 79 total designs, so please take your time looking through them all!
It’s that time of the year! I’ve used the Hobonichi Techo for my journal and daily log for years now. The folks at 1101 are previewing this year’s lineup of planners and accessories leading up to the release. If you’re a Techo fan this is one to put on the calendar.
The Write Stuff: How the Humble Pencil Conquered the World — Popular Mechanics
Chemistry was a young scientific field in the 1500s, so the locals couldn’t have known exactly what they found. They did notice one crucial fact about the new material: the graphite made a darker mark on paper than lead, which had been used in styluses since Roman times. So they called it black lead. English people cut graphite into chunks and put it into sticks that could be used to write. They wrapped the sticks in paper or string and sold them on the street. This new tool was called the pencil—a name derived from pencillum, the Latin for a fine brush. Making your mark would never be the same.
An excellent primer on the history of the pencil.
Drawing the Calendar — uxdesign.cc – User Experience Design
Sometime in the fall of last year I began to draw my calendar.
My weeks were packed with a series of interlocking jobs and I couldn’t keep them straight. Tiny calendars on my computer weren’t cutting it. I needed something tangible?—?I needed a calendar-as-artifact.
I love the idea of this.
(via Chris Bowler)
A Note about Notes — CJ Chilvers
Every nerdy note taker has their own philosophy and system for taking notes. I won’t bore you with mine, but I do want to share a basic principle of note taking that is often ignored in even the nerdiest of circles.
Concentrate on streamlining input, not output.
And, hence, why I take notes by hand. I find it the most friction free and possibility rich of any other available option.
Let’s bring women and people of color to the the Blackwing Volumes editions | Woodclinched
We have the 725, modeled after Bob Dylan’s guitar; the 211, a tribute to John Muir; the 1138, a movie reference to a George Lucas film; the 24 for John Steinbeck; and most recently, the beautiful be-Yankeed Volume 56 for Joe DiMaggio.
These are all fantastic tributes, and I love the story behind them. But they represent just one demographic of those who made history. What about a pencil that Blackwing fans who are women, or people of color?
Hmmm… As a person of color myself (African-American) I agree. I think of great writers like Langston Hughes or Ralph Ellison (who is a cousin of mine, by the way) who are equally deserving. I suggested James Audubon to Andy as another good potential pick because a lot of people don’t know that he was of partial African heritage (his Mother was Black). No matter what, I support this effort.
If you write with a pencil you get three different sights at it to see if the reader is getting what you want him to. First when you read it over; then when it is typed you get another chance to improve it, and again in the proof. Writing it first in pencil gives you one-third more chance to improve it. That is .333, which is a damned good average for a hitter.
— Ernest Hemingway, on why he always wrote his first drafts by hand with pencil and paper.
Execupundit.com: The Card with Two Sections
One section contains the actions you will take on positive matters. Some will be urgent and some less so and yet they deserve routine attention; e.g. study Spanish.
The other section is a list of the actions you should not take. [Snacking will be a common one for many of us.]
A nice idea. I have used a single 3×5 card (which I call my “Today Card”) as my daily task driver for years. I also split it into two sections — the top with the 3 or 4 things I must do today and the bottom for notes/scratch. I don’t often have a lot of stuff that gets added to the bottom so maybe I’ll give this a try.
I still use my little tape recorder, and I still write longhand. I can’t think unless I’ve got a pen or a pencil in my hand, with a big old yellow legal pad. I think my writing is as good as it ever was.
— Dolly Parton Is Proud of Her Gay Fans and Hillary Clinton – The New York Times (via Austin Kleon)
My notebook system (part 1): Field Notes 56-Week Planner – Decoding
I was one of those “paper is dead” guys. We all have some kind of mobile device with productivity apps installed on them, why would you use paper? Actually, my devices got me into using notebooks again. I spend so many time with screens. I’m a developer, so using my iPad for development made me a bit more aware about adding dedicated tools to my tool belt. Couple of months ago, I’ve read an article about carrying a pocket notebook which instantly made me want to have paper with me all the time.
The Parker 51 — The Pen Addict
The Parker 51 is one of the most popular fountain pens ever made and consequently, much has been written about its history. I won’t rehash it all here. The pen was developed in 1939, the Parker company’s 51st year in business, and went on sale in 1941. Since then, it has been altered and revived any number of times, most recently in 2002. This article will focus on the earlier versions of the pen.
Great look at the what is, perhaps, the favorite vintage pen in my collection. I have a 1939 and it’s still one of the best writers I have.
