John Sullivan @johns@librem.one

What does it mean if I have a Sailor Pro Gear 21k #fountainpen with just "M" on the nib, vs one (Realo 1911) that has "H-M"? I thought all of Sailor's Ms these days were H-Ms..? The M was bought within the last 5 years; the H-M I have no way of knowing but the other nib markings look contemporary.

Got my first vendor/distributor email about a tariff driven price increase. Here we go.

Trying to understand the ramifications of living jn a world where we have not only tequila bottle dog toys but *reposado* tequila bottle dog toys. I just hope it's not over-oaked.

TIL that the Big and Little Dippers are not constellations. Quality liberal arts education I had.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Dipper

Next week, Amazon is stripping away your ability to download your ebooks.
https://lithub.com/next-week-amazon-is-stripping-away-your-ability-to-download-your-ebooks/

I think they have a point here and I'm glad that someone, anyone, is pushing against #Apple's "unapproved apps still need to be approved" stance. The sort of one-and-a-half party approach to third-party distribution.

https://www.engadget.com/apps/apple-is-deeply-concerned-about-altstores-porn-app-005013457.html?src=rss

After reading this, I'm left wondering, did Murakami kick off the cats in Japanese fiction motif? Or is he just another practitioner? (He is not mentioned in this article.)

In Tumultuous Times, Readers Turn to ‘Healing Fiction’ - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/07/books/healing-fiction-japan-korea-before-the-coffee-gets-cold.html

I'm a little behind on the news, but this is an amazing story. Import ban lifted for the very noble reason that they lost the only copy of the ban.

India Scraps Import Ban on Salman Rushdie’s ‘Satanic Verses’ - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/08/world/asia/india-salman-rushdie-satanic-verses-book-ban.html

Well, that's a bummer, I found these @letsencrypt email reminders very helpful https://letsencrypt.org/2025/01/22/ending-expiration-emails/ -- but it is a lot of "stamps" I guess. (Also, I did not receive the official email about this..)

I don't have writer's block, maybe just writer's detour, which is something like I sit down to work on some poetry and instead out comes a few paragraphs of an article on nonprofit governance.

The plant-based Kraft dinner comes in the same sized box as original Kraft dinner, but with 1.25oz less pasta. #vegan

some level of respect for the spammers sending "American Express" mail from "expressamerican" as the domain.

Of all the companies slapping "plant-based" on stuff that contains milk and eggs, Morning Star is one that should really know better.

OR SOMETHING'S ADDED, NPR

Renewed my @conservancy support with minutes to spare in EST 2024. Hope you will too! Living further on the fringe of the software freedom bubble has really made me realize even more how important their work is.

echoes of Invisible Cities and Hard-Boiled Wonderland, I meant to say.

Finished Accabadora by Michaela Murgia -- thanks @zacchiro . Started The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Murakami -- multiple mentions of #fountainpens in the first 30 pages and echoes of Invisible Cities so of course I'm happy.