Paper planners, diaries and notebooks in the digital age

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

One would have thought that paper planners, diaries and notebooks would, by now, have died a death with all the digital “alternatives” available on the PC and online. But they have not – which is also a good thing – and I doubt that they will.

I have tried a fair number of digital “alternatives”, to planners, diaries, etc., both on the PC and online and found all of them rather wanting as, in the main, they cannot be adapted and adjusted to how I want to do things. I do have, I have to admit, Google Calendar but rarely use it, to be honest. I do, however, make use of the calendar in my Thunderbird email program (Open Source Outlook equivalent) for some appointments, and to remind me of birthdays. Otherwise, though, it is pen and paper all the way for me, with the occasional journal note for the diary printed from the PC.

Seeing that so many so-called Millenials and some a little older than that returning, in droves, to pen and paper, and even fountain pens in some cases, seems to point to the fact that they have had the same experience. Furthermore is “pen and paper” also far more secure as it cannot be hacked and will far less likely be searched by (US) border agents.

There is something special about a proper day-to-a-page bound paper appointment diary and the paper notebook. Something that, in my opinion, no digital application or device can ever fulfill. Life without a proper notebook – or more than one actually – and a paper diary are, to me, unthinkable. I also use the diary like a daily journal and that is what may make them special to me and I also keep them on their own shelf as something to revisit at times. Something that you cannot do – at least not as far as I am aware – with any online calendars and other such programs, not even those that are on your PC.

Furthermore I can use my paper diaries, notebooks, and whatever, at any time, anywhere, with no need for batteries and such, and even if the diary or notebook should get run over by a Main Battle Tank – rather unlikely but one never knows – the information contained therein would still be retrievable without much ado. Yes, admittedly, they are a little bulkier than a smartphone or even a tablet computer but then they are more reliable and almost indestructible, short of fire.

Personally I also have another little note-taking system that is a leather wallet with reused A4 sheets of paper folded in a special way to create an A7 size. This gives me, as generally the backside of the page is printed on – as I said reused paper – eight pages of A7 per A4 sheet. And there are four of those in the wallet. Enough, generally, for a day's worth of notes and such.

For general notebooks there is no need to go and spend a lot of money for a Moleskine or such. It is quite simple to make one's own by reusing paper such as one side printed sheets and even the backs of larger envelopes, held together by whatever means.

Also, often, it is possible to, part way into a year, find diaries, A4, A5 and even A6 ones, that are reduced to very low prices. Such a blank diary, especially a day to a page one, makes for a great, almost free, notebook. By buying those diaries up cheaply for your notebook use you also keep them out of the waste stream, whether this is actual recycling or more than likely landfill. Considering that they are made of different kinds of material, aside from paper, the landfill will generally be the way that they would go and thus, by using them as notebooks, we can avoid that happening. I always tend to get a couple when the opportunity presents itself.

I known that there are some to who the use of paper – nowadays – is an anathema, believing that it is better for the Planet not to use paper and that using digital, especially “in the cloud” is better and more environmentally friendly. Alas, this is not the case, and that already on the energy level. As to paper and trees I have written and spoken about so many times that I will not repeat myself.

© 2018

Paper Saver – Product Review

Review by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

The Paper Saver is – probably – the most eco-friendly notebook ever

The Paper Saver comes without paper inside, because it's meant to be stuffed with old, discarded printouts from your home office.

Having received my review sample I have to say that it is – in my opinion – a brilliant idea and probably beats any recycling of single-side printed paper and so many pages come as just that. They are used once, such as press releases, and then, generally, though not at yours truly's place, discarded.

The idea is so simple and effective that one can but wonder that it has not been done before. Along the lines of this principle, I have, for years, made A6 pocket notebooks, though with card covers and staples in the center.

The market for eco-friendly notebooks has become, over the years, a large and hot one. Mostly it is a case of beautiful covers enclosing thick piles of 100% recycled paper. No company, however, has taken its eco-minded ethos quite so far as Paper Saver.

Australian startup, Paper Saver, uses no new paper at all, not even recycled, having figured out an ingenious way to put unwanted, surplus paper to good use – and we all have plenty of that lying around; I know that I have all the time, but I also reuse all of that anyway and always have.

The Paper Saver Notebook is a basic imitation leather cover with a stainless steel binding, nylon bookmark, and elastic, akin to the one used with Moleskine or Leuchtturm 1917 notebooks, and “derivatives”. The basics of this is a folder similar to magazine files – the so-called string binders – with the difference that there is only one metal “rod” instead of several in the case of those files.

Unlike “normal” notebooks the Paper Saver comes with no paper inside – because that is where you are meant to put your own sheets. Just grab a stack of accidentally printed paper, or paper that has already served its purpose in your office (40-50 sheets of either Letter size in the US/Canada or A$ in the rest of the world), and push it into the binding. Fold the other half over and you have got a half-blank notebook of 80-100 pages, ready for scribbling and sketching. Once you fill up those pages, pull out the whole wad of paper, flip it around, and start over again. Personally I would fold the pages in half first to have a fold before inserting the stack through the binding.

Once you have finished your first notebook you pull the wad out again and then you can, if you so desire, send the lot for recycling though most of us, more than likely, would wish to hold on to those notes. I know I would and will. Then add a “new” stack of one-side printed “waste” paper and ready is another notebook.

The idea for the Paper Saver grew out of architect founder Jon Yong's frustration with the sheer quantity of draft designs that were printed and discarded as soon as changes were made. He created a homemade Paper Saver nearly a decade ago before realizing that others might enjoy such a device.

While the Paper Saver, in itself, may not be made of recycled materials and components it will, however, if used correctly, keep paper being dumped in landfill. As the cover of the Paper Saver is faux leather it is also vegan-friendly; another positive.

This is a clever concept with potential to make us all feel slightly less guilty about the fact that 50% of paper used in North American offices, for example, ends up as garbage, and that a about 27% of waste in landfills is paper products. Rather than using yet more resources on recycling and shipping, it makes sense to extend the lifespan of paper that has already been made.

In addition we may also have to ask how much so-called 100% recycled paper really is post-consumer waste and how much of such a claim is actually greenwash.

At present the Paper Saver is in stores only available in Australia but can be purchased via the Internet. Two sizes are available; one for the US-Canada in the letter format and the other, for the rest of the world, in A4. In Canada or the United States, the Paper Saver is only available in black. In Australia and the rest of the world, cover colors include teal, brown, and red.

Very well designed and well made. Really looks the business for business – no pun intended – and at AUS$ 22 (around £14 or €15) is not going to break the bank either considering that this will – probably – be the last notebook you will ever (have to) buy, saving you money and also saving paper.

If you do not like writing on blank sheets of paper Paper Saver offers free downloads of printable lines and grid patterns.

Rating: 5 out of 5 plus an extra 1 point for ingenuity.

© 2017

Pen and pencil: for texting the old-fashioned way

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

About 500 years ago or thereabouts a graphite deposit was discovered in England and sliced into the first pencils some time after that. Initially it was used in a holder.

Despite of the fact that the inner core of a pencil is called a lead there is no lead in it and lead was never used. The metallurgists who discovered this pure graphite in Britain thought that is was some kind of black lead and thus it was called plumbago.

In the 16th century, a large deposit of pure, solid graphite was discovered in Borrowdale, England. This was the first time in recorded history that high quality, solid graphite had been found. When metallurgists first encountered this substance, they thought it was some sort of black lead, rather than a form of carbon. Thus, they called it “plumbago”, which is derived from “plumbum”, which is Latin for “lead”.

It didn’t take people long to realize that solid sticks of high quality graphite were good for marking things. At that point, this newly discovered substance from the mines of Borrowdale became extremely valuable. So much so that guards were eventually posted at the entrance to the mine and laws were passed to stop people from stealing the solid graphite. In addition, once a sufficient stock of the graphite was mined, the mine itself would be flooded until more graphite was needed.

Of course, sticks of pure graphite are fairly brittle, so people started embedding them in various things such as hollowed out pieces of wood and also simply wrapped tightly in sheep skin. Thus, the pencil was officially born with a core of solid graphite, which was known then as black lead. The tradition of calling sticks of graphite “lead” has endured to this day, and in many countries the pencil is actually, in the vernacular, called, basically, a lead pen, such as the German “Bleistift”, which means precisely that.

But who uses a pencil anymore?

Pencils are like fax machines and margarine: They do a job, sure, but other things do the same job better – pens, email and butter, respectively. You can write a letter in pencil, but it's more adult to write in pen. You can solve a crossword in pencil, but it's more courageous in pen.

As far as I am concerned there are some things that a pen cannot do compared to a pencil, or at least not at the low cost.

When the US went into Space they spent millions upon millions to have a pen developed that could work in zero gravity, etc., which is now the Fisher Space Pen, while the Soviet Union (USSR) spent nothing, zilch, nada. They used what was already there and could do the same job, and yes, it was and is the humble pencil.

To be honest, we were issued – let me rephrase that... they tried to issue us – with the first generation of Fisher Space Pens (Bullet Pens) but they were so useless that we refused. The ink was so shall we call it think, or whatever was wrong with it, that it just could not follow fast enough as far as our writing was concerned. It just was not flowing well enough. Today the pen is somewhat better but I will just stick with an ordinary ballpoint or a pencil; thank you. Or, and now you can call me a real old-fashioned guy, a fountain pen, and ideally one that gets filled from a pot of ink.

But back to the pencil for a moment and the question as to who uses a pencil anymore? When I am working with wood, be it carving spoons, etc. I will mark the bowl shape (nothing else though) in pencil. On green, wet, wood a pencil mark works better than does a ballpoint pen and when I mark dry wood for cutting and such I always use a pencil, at time a flat carpenter's pencil. Also, the marks of a pencil can be removed from the wood (or whatever else) while that of a pen may be not.

Also, a pencil works when the paper is slightly wet (where often a ballpoint pen and especially a fountain pen will not), it will work on walls, upside down and in low gravity or even zero gravity environments, and in low temperatures where, again, ballpoint and fountain pen often will not do so. Thus there is still a place for it for sure.

I could not think about working without pen and/or pencil as I am still very much a pen and paper merchant. I also still write letters, though most of them, nowadays on the PC's word processing program and then printed out. The envelope, however, more often than not is addressed by use of pen though at times the typewriter – yes, one of those antiques, and mine is one, in fact – is used for that.

How could I possibly write in my diary – oh, yes, one of those books with paper pages in it – or my notebook, if it were not for the humble pencil or the ballpoint pen? The only drawback – though at times it is an advantage – of the pencil is that it is not really and truly permanent. Anything written can be erased by use of an eraser. But that is also one of the advantages of the pencil. Horses for courses, as they say.

© 2017

I make no apologies for advocating paper

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Using paper is an anathema for many in the green environmental movement but there is nothing wrong with paper, nothing whatsoever. Not even with paper made from wood pulp.

There is nothing wrong with paper for books or with using it for communications whether as letter or memo. In the same way as there is nothing wrong with wood in the form of products whatsoever. Better than using plastic by a long shot. Wooden kitchen utensils are way more hygienic than are plastic ones as the woods used for making them contain high amounts of antibacterial, antiseptic and antiviral properties.

When it comes to paper we are all being lied to left, right and center by people who either do not know what they are talking about and thus know no better or who have some other vested interest. Paper is not made from (tropical) rainforest trees. They are hardwood and the hardness of the wood simply makes them unsuitable for paper pulp, period!

Most paper is produced from spruce and other conifers specifically grown for this purpose and which are replanted after each felling and thus the entire operation is sustainable. And that ad infinitum. Most of those forests are owned by the paper industry and would not exist were it not for us using paper.

In fact, reducing the use of paper or doing without it all together would mean that the industry would no longer have any use for those forests and they would, in the end, be clear cut and turned over to some other use. And the size of those forests going in the hundreds of thousands of hectares if not more and they would be lost as forests without paper being produced and used. In addition to that millions of jobs would also be put in jeopardy if the industry would cease to exist or even would have to scale down significantly.

Then, when using paper as opposed to computer and the cloud there is the added security factor that, as long as the document is in your possession, in your filing cabinet or safe, or whatever, it is secure. The same cannot be said when held on a computer and especially not when held “in the cloud”.

It is for that reason that the Russian intelligence community is returning to the use of typewriters and paper for sensitive documents and a paper-based circulation list.

It is true that paper can be made from pulp other than wood pulp, such as from hemp – it used to be made from this plant until the early part of the 20th century, as well as from rags, as long as those are from natural fibers. In fact the Chinese, who invented paper, did make that paper from just that stuff, that is to say from rags. And that was all the while the Europeans still used vellum made from animal skins.

However, today most paper is being made from wood-pulp, predominately from coniferous trees such as spruce and fir with the occasional deciduous ones in the form of poplar and birch. Most other deciduous and even coniferous woods are too hard for the creation of pulp for the making of paper.

It is true, however, that acre for acre hemp is much more productive for fiber for the making of paper as is wood but, alas, the growing of hemp (Canabis sativa) is outlawed in most places, or strictly controlled because of the hallucinogenic properties of hemp due to its contents of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). In times past, however, it was compulsory – yes, compulsory – for farmers to give over part of the farm to the growing of hemp for making of sails and other canvas products as well as and especially for the making of paper.

The New York Times in 2012 had a great article entitled “In Defense of the Power of Paper” http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/jobs/pen-and-paper-still-practical-in-the-office-workstation.htmwhere even Joel Makover of the Green Business Group says that while he uses paper not that much he still prints out reports for proofreading as he finds it easier to read things on paper than on the screen and this, in fact, goes for many people.

© 2014

Don’t write handwriting off yet!

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Writing by hand is becoming fashionable again, and stationery and pens have never looked so good.

There are pens, including and especially fountain pens (again) of all kinds and notebooks in all manner of funky colors and designs. And many of those – pens and notebooks – could be seen at the London Stationery Show held from April 1 to April 2, 2014.

It was – in my opinion – good to see that fountain pens are back again (with a vengeance) and paper notebooks in all manner of forms and those notebooks that are made by Castelli in Italy (and yes, Made in Italy) or Leuchtturm1917 (Made in Germany) are FSC certified and as far as Castelli is concerned all the workers are unionized and thus conditions for the workers thus are good. The same cannot be said in places where many other notebooks and such like are produced, such as in a number of countries of the Far East.

Pen and paper are far from dead. In fact both are having a revival and a ball and there is nothing whatsoever wrong with paper and using it. It does not cause the destruction of the rainforest. It is a myth that must be put to bed or better still buried. Palm oil, on the other hand, does cause serious destruction to the rainforest as do certain farming practices in Brazil and other countries near the equator.

Quality paper notebooks and high quality writing instruments, including and especially fountain pens, are in demand by the new generation of hipsters. What to the Sloane Ranger generation was the Lefax and the Filofax to the new hipster generation is the Moleskine (and similar) notebooks and the fountain pen.

Despite the fact that we are in the so-called digital age pen and paper more than have their place here and with the revelations that our online communications and things that we store there – and even on our computers – are not safe from prying eyes, the letter, the notebook, the pen and the typewriter even, have their place and are even been given a pride of importance – paper and typewriter that is especially – in the Russian intelligence and security community. And if they are concerned with their high grade of encryption I think we all should be. So, let's get back to paper and the pen or typewriter.

The London Stationery Show also had a great number of other green and greenish inventions on show such as notepads made from stone paper. The latter is made from limestone waste from the quarrying industry and thus kept out of landfills.

Just before the beginning of the London Stationery Show the National Stationery Week’s, Get Britain Writing and Get Kids Writing campaigns took off and a long list of retailers and the Post Office are standing behind this.

While one could say that to some extent all of them have a vested interest, the retailers wanting to see sales go up and the Post Office the use of the letter service again, to get back to writing properly is a very good idea indeed. We must also combine that with teaching children not just good handwriting – I can't writer properly myself by hand though – and the proper use of grammar. They are writing a letter not sending a text message on their cell phones. And when it comes to letters; there is still something almost magical about a letter (no, not a bill or some advertising) dropping through the letterbox.

I know that I am extremely old-fashioned as to the use of pen and paper and am always accused of being biased towards paper being a commercial forester by original trade. And I am also very biased towards the old-fashioned fountain pen.

Having mentioned the latter I must mention the fact that Meisenbach pens from Germany have a new rather innovative product on the market which combines the fountain pen (ink cartridge) with the ballpoint pen in one. With this one, when you run out of ink you simply replace the cheap common garden ink cartridge for a few pence and the empty one can go for recycling being made of PE.

Writing and being able to write (properly) matters, if anything more than ever in a digital age. And of course you can never have too much stationery, including notebooks and pens.

© 2014

The comeback of the paper notebook

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Basically declared dead well ahead of time at the advent of mobile devices, the cloud and all that the paper notebook is far from dead and dying. In fact, it is making a definite comeback, as are good quality pens and their use.

The German company Leuchtturm 1917, who has been making good quality notebooks well before Moleskine was ever thought of, reported a 40% increase in notebook sales across the board in 2013 compared to the previous year. And more and more notebooks of the style, upon which Moleskine is based, are being produced by and for other stationery companies.

Seeing that we are, supposedly, in the digital age makes the return of analog ways an interesting phenomenon, not only are paper notebooks, especially good quality ones, all of a sudden cool – a little like the Filofax was in the Sloane Ranger era – but demand for typewriters, and here even and especially manual ones, and here also working vintage ones, also is on the up.

Paper and especially paper notebooks, and analog in general, is far from being dead or at the brink of extinction in the digital age and this is also good so, in my opinion.

The United States has reported that in a number of areas enquiries as to learning the use of a typewriter to such an extent that typewriting schools are opening up (again) even. And most of those enquiries appear to be coming from young people under 28 years of age.

Paper, handwritten, or types, or printed, will be with us for much longer as records and books go than anything stored on hard drives or in “the cloud”.

The British Archives at Kew have been working on the archiving or websites and other material from and on the Internet but had to make a choice as to what to keep and what not to and much of what is on the Internet today, even important information, will not be available for future generations, not even researchers, unlike published books in print, notebooks, journals, and other paper records, whether held in public, university or private “collections”. And we call that advancement?

E-books and cloud storage all sounds good until we look a little deeper into that glass and find that we have been falling for an illusion on a grand scale.

Amazon's Kindle books have had a serious problem once when Amazon decided that people had had their books long enough and deleted them off people's devices. Even though you pay for them you do not, unlike with a physical book, actually own them and you are not permitted to – legally – pass them onto others. It is also not technically possible to do so.

If you store your notes – and some people even upload, using white-lined notebooks, pages of their paper notebooks – and other stuff in the cloud you give, by using the service, the owner of that service, be this Google or whoever, copyright use of everything to use and distribute as they see fit. Sorry, but I do not think so! Thus my notes and other materials stay in hard copy firmly with me (and in digital for on some electronic media in my possession).

It very much appears to be time to rethink digital and find some terra firma again and some sanity. And, it would appear, a fair number of people around the globe are beginning to realize that too.

The paper notebook, the fountain pen and the typewriter are on their way back again already and, so it would appear, not just in a small way.

Paper notebooks have a great deal going for them and they are far from dead, that is for sure. While this may not be to the liking of the proponents and advocates of paperless and may also displease the believers that the production of paper harms the tropical rainforests – which is a fallacy – it is a sign that people appear to be looking for “slower” ways in our maddening modern world. The continuing increase in the same of paper diaries, address books and agendas also proves this trend.

At the same time paper notebooks, the notes contained therein and diaries are always accessible, even on a mountain top or during a power outage and thus beat the electronic equivalent – if there is such a thing as an electronic equivalent to them – hands down (and that goes for real books as well). No batteries, no power cord, no connection, or whatever, to worry about.

Paper is here to stay and is going still very strong indeed and long may it continue.

Personally I cannot function without paper notebooks of some kind and I always have various on the go.

© 2014