5 things

[truepenny]

1. The Columbus Zoo has otter pups, and video of the mama otter teaching one of her babies to swim (via Zooborns, and it's heresluck's fault I was over there in the first place).

ETA: also, the Sacramento Zoo's video clips of their new Sumatran tiger cub and her gorgeous mother are marvelous.

2. via @catvalente, this unspeakably awesome cartoon about angler fish. No really. Go read it.

3. "White Charles" is in the table of contents for Paula Guran's Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror 2010. w00t!

4. Fountain pen geeks, do any of you have comments on Noodler's black inks? I like my black inks REALLY BLACK, and Noodler's Polar Black is disappointing me by being more of a grayish sort of black. Are any of their other blacks better?

5. On Monday, as I was heading to the State Historical Society's reading room (which has just been renovated and is absolutely freaking GORGEOUS), I was diverted from my trajectory by a bookstore, where I found Tituba, Reluctant Witch of Salem (Elaine G. Breslaw); A Quest for Security: The Life of Samuel Parris, 1653-1720 (Larry Gragg); and The Logic of Millennial Thought: Eighteenth-Century New England (James West Davidson). It is possible that I am still smug about these finds.

Comments

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

I use the Waterman black and it turns out black as my heart.

[txanne.livejournal.com]

According to the French lady I bought my first fountain pen from, Shaffer black is the best. "Les notaires l'appellent l'encre de dix ans." 'Strue, too, my grad-school notes are still mostly legible.

[inizitu.livejournal.com]

ZOMG that angler fish thing is fabulous. Also, nature is a fucker. O.o

[midnightsmagic.livejournal.com]

I work at the Historical Society! I am bizarrely tickled by the fact that one of my favorite authors visits it. Perhaps I will run into you there sometime, though this is unlikely, since I spend my time in a dreary, windowless back office, and only rarely get to visit the amazing new reading room.

[bummble.livejournal.com]

Noodler's Bulletproof black (wich is their 'regular'black) is *very* intense; it also doesn't pull into the paper as much as some other inks, preventing feathering.

It's the blackest black I've ever blacked, with no nuances or shading whatsoever.
Also, it flows really well even in difficult fountain pens.

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

I have Waterman black, which works quite well for me, although if you can find it where you are, possibly check out Private Reserve. I haven't tried their black, but I was very impressed with some of their other colours.

[pixel39.livejournal.com]

I am useless about fountain pens, as I use dip pens and Sumi inks. That said, the mainstay of SCA calligraphers seems to be Higgins Eternal (which I was quite happy with until I discovered the Sumi inks and fell in love). Most of us use dip pens, but according to what I've found online it also works beautifully in fountain pens. It is quite black and reasonably permanent.

[elmocho.livejournal.com]

I second bummble above. Standard Black is pretty dark, and also "bulletproof", using a dye that bonds with the cellulose so it cannot be eradicated short of disintegrating the paper.

I've found it tends not to dry out as quickly as some inks, but it has a nice "lubrication" factor, making the nib feel really smooth upon the paper.

Heart of Darkness is even blacker than standard black. When I used it on a piece of photocopied paper, it was nigh-on indistinguishable from toner. It also seemed to have a little wetter flow, and perhaps more nib creep due to that. Also, possibly more feathering. I believe it dried more quickly than standard black, also.

In terms of price, it seems HOD only comes in a 4.5 oz. 'Boston Round' bottle with a built-in eyedropper. Most of the Noodler's come in 3 oz. bottles for $11.50-$12.50, including standard black, but I believe HOD would sell for their standard "bulletproof" price, which is more like $18-$19. With that big bottle usually comes a free Platinum Preppy pen, outfitted as an eyedropper-filled model, for the same price as a 3 oz. bottle of the more expensive stuff.

If you want it to be really black, HOD seems to be described as such.

(Yearns to leave work early and run comparisons using Lamy Vista...)

[finnyb.livejournal.com]

*lusts after the books, particularly the Tituba one*