More Tales Of The End Of Pens

[VOKEY]

I hope the pen isn't eradicated, but if it is , I got it covered

[orfew]

The problem as I see it is that the author is equating technological innovation with human progress. Just because we invent something new does not mean it leads to the advancement of civilization.

[Seele]

orfew, I think you have made a great point here. Having been in the publishing business for three decades, the first thought that popped into my head was that the current generation of writers appears to have little knowledge foundation. A publisher I worked for once had a best-selling, and greatly respected photographic magazine; once the old guards have retired and a team of young guns took over, it went downhill. Say they tested the Nikon F6, arguably one of the most sophisticated cameras ever, they dismissed it because it used something they never heard of called film.

[PS104]

How I wish I had invested in paper companies when they first started talking about a "paperless" office.

...and what about that poor lady that lost all her emails because her computer crashed

[fpenluver]

Should anyone wants to follow the step of the NYT author I am here to help. Please send your pens to me. Fountain only please.

[Christi0469]

In my opinion we are trending closer to a paperless society. That doesn't mean that we all are putting away pen and paper and picking up our smartphones. Some of clients don't even own a computer despite having the financial means to do so (at least one doesn't own a cell phone). The article also displayed quite a bit of bias toward affluent countries.

[fpenluver]

Oh just thought one more thing. On the brighter side, if that happened there will be less competition when bidding on ebay. No?

[hbdk]

So data is safe, huh? He will be in for a surprise at the next Carrington event

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859

Edited July 25, 2014 by hbdk

[Namru]

So data is safe, huh? He will be in for a surprise at the next Carrington event

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859

Or if Snake Plissken shows up.

[Beckwith]

I hope the pen isn't eradicated, but if it is , I got it covered

 

Delta makes a stylus pen, as I believe do many other companies. It's an interesting mix of old and new, but I personally would never puchase one.http://www.fahrneyspens.com/Item--i-2500236S

[Strombomboli]

I don't expect accuracy in reporting from the NYT (...) How do I know this? Because I was *in* Athens at the time.

 

I beg to differ. Living in a city with an institutionalized street riot each year on the 1st of May (this has been going on for over 25 years now) and having excperienced regular rioting here before (in the eighties), I can assure you, that riots are a very local event. In a big city, you do not notice anything of it, if you are in another quarter, or maybe just around the corner. A friend of mine was in Kiev during the occupation of the Maidan and reported how peaceful everything was two blocks away.

 

I think, you can trust the NYT when it comes to reporting street riots. And if it was just a small one, you see that it is a good paper since it does not concentrate only on big events. Obviously, the NYT is aware, that there is a world outside the USA.

Edited July 25, 2014 by Strombomboli

[paultyler_82]

I do wonder how seriously protected the backups are against something like... oh, the Solar Event of 1859 were to repeat. If it could provide enough power to the telegraph system for this...

 

...then one wonders what it might do to a server farm. We might like to have the odd important thing backed up on media that don't attend to electromagnetic force so readily.

 

Geomagnetic storms are a very real threat because the answer is, we are basically defenseless against them. A storm on the magnitude of the Carrington Event would cause major power outages and would likely shred our modern data and telecommunications infrastructure.

The telegraph system was largely variable in signal strength and the equipment was robust, nowadays we use much more sensitive electronics that rely on moderated power sources and more specifically regulated voltage ranges. If another Carrington hit occurred, the US's 120/240V 60Hz lines would likely suddenly vary quite sharply in both voltage and frequency. I'll leave it up to you to imagine what that would do, but those that have attempted to use appliances rated for a different country's line in the US or vice versa probably have an inkling of what would occur. Fluctuations would likely exceed the limiting capacity of even commercial grade surge supression

[Ted A]

So data is safe, huh? He will be in for a surprise at the next Carrington event

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859

 

It doesn't take anything that major to cause major data loss today: http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2011/04/21/major-amazon-outage-ripples-across-web/

 

Every time I see someone telling us how safe data is in the cloud, I have to think about Amazon servers crashing and losing huge volumes of data.

[VOKEY]

Delta makes a stylus pen, as I believe do many other companies. It's an interesting mix of old and new, but I personally would never puchase one.http://www.fahrneyspens.com/Item--i-2500236S

Why would you never buy a stylus? You can do much more with a stylus, on a tablet, than you can with a finger.

[tringle]

I carry all items described except for my old manual typewriter. As long as I have 12 fountain pens with me, a pad of Rhodia R cream, a vial of ink, some cartridges, my MacAir, iPad, and iPhone. I am ok. One will work.

 

If the power goes out, and internet crashes for good, I am sure there is much more to worry about than volumes of sensitive data and all the electronic devices. Do I have water, food, clean underwear?

 

What was this topic? Zombie Apocalypse?

 

[prf5]

Something is wrong with this statement: "While my home is filled with multiple laptops, smartphones, tablets and other Internet-connected devices, there isn’t a single pen to be found. No ballpoint, fountain or rollerball. No highlighter, marker or even an itty bitty nub of a pencil."

 

I have no compunction about relying on smart (rather than passive) electronic devices. But why would a house be filled with them? You can have Internet-connected televisions, VOIP land lines, several computers, and printers on every floor (I have three of each). Still, electronic devices aren't furniture. They can't fill a house. On the other hand, if you don't have a single item to write with then you have to use an electronic device to take a voice message, make a grocery list, or scratch out a thought. That's not an efficient use of time or space. Rather than proclaiming the demise of the pen, the author seems to be extolling the virtues of being a packrat.

[TXKat]

I think the forcasting of the death of the pen is much like the forcasting of the "paperless office" 30 years ago. While business has made great strides in reducing paper, there are still tons of industries that require paper hard-copies for regulatory and archival purposes. Going all digital is not possible, so the pen will be around for a long time to come.

 

This immediately made me think of this: (if it works)

https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?v=10151971000630872 *giggle*

Edited July 25, 2014 by TXKat

[Ted A]

He sort of sounds like me from a few years ago when I was trying to justify the purchase and carrying of a smartphone and an Ipad and never carrying a pen and paper. After a while I got tired of carrying electronic things everywhere and having my notes look like I was using sidewalk chalk. I finally admitted that the ipad was for consumption of data, not the creation and that it was more important to be able to quickly take notes that I could read later than to use my expensive electronics.

[Dillo]

Hi,

 

After spending the last week on a contract that required some stress testing of security of some home security and surveillance tools, I really believe that as long as something is smart, electronic, and connected to the internet, you have a security risk. How big the security risk is is another matter entirely. A lot of these smart devices, especially when we talk about those connected things can be quite insecure. I spent time after hours this week turning my network sniffing and test tools on myself to see how much data I could glean from my own network connection, and in any case, it's quite easy to break through to many things connected to a network. Many tools are already resident on computers or available for free. And, if you are using a wireless IP camera made in China, that was under $100 and connects to Wifi or your network, I suggest you smash it on the sidewalk and send the remains to the recyclers. It doesn't matter who you bought it from. Many of them transmit the passwords and usernames over the clear, and those can be easily intercepted and traced. You can find the passwords and usernames, trace the route of the communication, find an address or location and scout out the area. You then can find where the person lives, and you know their habits and whether they are at home or not. Then, well, you could be a burglar or something more sinister.

 

Anyway, keeping certain things either dumb or on paper keeps it from even being remotely accessible from the internet. This makes it a lot more difficult for an opportunistic criminal to get hold of your information either inadvertently or on purpose. You would need physical access, and procuring that can be a lot more difficult in many cases from securing remote access over the internet.

 

Dillon

[Ecriveur]

I had to laugh at this...

 

 

The author clearly has much better luck (or perhaps much shorter experience) with technology than me.

 

 

I'll be those drawings in the Egyptian Pyramids, already several thousand years old, will far outlast anything that guy puts online.