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Transcript
Charlotte, do you need a pencil?
No, I have a pen.
Hello and welcome to episode 160 of the former Erasable podcast. I'm Johnny Gamber, broadcasting from a secret bunker under the Pencil Revolution Headquarters compound. After over seven years of podcasting about pencils, my oldest child is now ruthless enough to help me in this non hostile takeover of Erasable. Charlotte joins me tonight and she swears that she's excited to be here. Hello, Char.
Hello daddy. Thank you for having me.
Thank you for joining me on a school night. So, Charlotte, you recently completed a science project in which you explored the permanence of different writing media that folks rely on every day. And the results were, frankly shocking. And they prompted us to sell off all of our black wings so that we could buy more vintage Parker fountain pens and antique French notebooks. We've come to understand that pencils are just plain silly. Charlotte has kindly agreed to present her research tonight in a short interview with her witty, brilliant and handsome father. With apologies to Andy and Tim, from whom we are in hiding, we present the first episode of the Pen Punk podcast. Let's get down to business. Charlotte, your science project was pretty amazing. Even though I tried pretty darn hard to stop you from exploring the idea that ink could ever possibly be more permanent than pencil. Can you tell us what your hypothesis was when you began this reckless endeavor?
Sure. Inks that people rely on will fade faster if they're exposed to light.
Uh huh. And what made you want to stab your father in the back like that and write about ink?
I like ink more than pencil because it comes in many colors.
Um, have you heard of colored pencils, child?
Yes, but colored pencils are useless for writing.
Says you. Alright, so speaking of gear, let's geek out a little bit. What inks did you use? What kind of pens?
I used a dip pen, India ink, bulletproof ink, J. Herbin Pearl Noir black fountain pen ink, an inkjoy gel pen, a Parker Jotter ballpoint pen. And that's it.
That is a lot of stuff. So can you tell us briefly at the beginning, what did you think would fade fastest or slowest?
I thought that India ink would fade less than the other inks.
Hmm. Alright, can you tell us about your process?
Sure. Get the inks and paper and put them together. Put one in sunlight and one in the dark, leave them for about two weeks and then determine which ink faded the least.
And what did you find out at the conclusion of your experiment?
I found that both ballpoint pen ink and fountain pen ink faded.
Alright, I have to Ask. What about the pencil marks? Did they fade?
Well, no, but I wiped them out with an eraser in three seconds.
Alright, that's enough for me. Let's get some audience questions first. We have a little guy named Henry from Baltimore who has a question for you.
But Charlotte, does this mean that you don't like pencils anymore? Yes, anything that can be erased with breadcrumbs isn't worth writing with.
Good point. All right, we have another audience question, this time from Andy in San Francisco.
Yes, hello. Thank you for taking my call. Do you know how long of a line of ink? A bit. Click and right. I've been trying to test it and have been on the road for three days. It's hard because some roads are really dark asphalt and it's really hard to see the ink. I appreciate your help. I miss my family.
According to my mole at BIC in France, 1.2 miles or 2 kilometers. Stay safe out there in the dark.
That's good advice. Now, all the way from Johnson City, Tennessee, we have another Henry.
Hi, this is Henry from Tennessee. And I have a question about pins in cold weather. What happens if you take it out in a snowstorm? Well, most inks are going to freeze up on you. Get yourself a space pen. They write in extreme weather and their marks don't disappear if you touch them with rubber.
Is it true that the Russians used pencils?
No.
Okay, well, we have another question from Tennessee. This one is from tim from the 10B school.
Hi, Charlotte. This is Tim from Johnson City, Tennessee. I was wondering if in your research you found out if certain colors of ink last longer than other colors of ink. Thanks for answering my question.
I know from tattoos and automobiles that red fades more quickly than other colors. But for your writing, you should be good with any ink that contains pigment instead of dye. Hmm.
I liked red all that time. So now dialing in from the Bay Area on the west coast, we have Katie.
Hi, Charlotte, it's Katie in San Francisco. Longtime listener, first time caller. I'm so excited to have you help me out with my pen problems. So I have a combination of ballpoint pens and rollerballs. I don't have any fountain pens. I'm trying to figure out if I should be storing my pens with the point facing down into the pen, cup or up. Thanks so much for your help.
Depends. Dry pens tip down, wet pens tip up. But in the end you do you.
So we have. Looks like another call from Tennessee. This is from Lila.
Hi, this is Lila from Tennessee. I'm wondering why pens dry out. Inks only dry up when we are not honoring them by writing or drawing with them constantly.
Wow. I never thought about honoring my pens. So it looks like we have one more comment from Rosie and Roland Park. Go ahead, Rosie.
You guys are gonna make me cry. Go tell Mommy.
All right, all right, all right. So thank you for joining us for episode one of the Pen Punk podcast. And assuming that Andy and Tim don't either find Charlotte and I or change the password on Squarespace or you heard back from us in two weeks, where I think we're going to talk about our favorite spring colored inks. Take care and stay not erasable. Bye. Bye.
We stole your podcast. Now it's our podcast. If you want your podcast, the Vicky bought me some ink.