create journals that last

content/post/2023/03/creating-journals-that-last.md

@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+---
+title: "Creating Journals That Last"
+date: 2023-03-18T09:24:00+01:00
+categories:
+  - learning
+tags:
+  - journaling
+---
+
+In case you haven't noticed lately, the archivist within me has been flaring up again. The subject of a more robust analog journal is something I've been pondering since I encountered Jeff Huang's [Designing pages to last](/post/2022/10/should-we-build-our-own-wayback-machines/) mantra---although he meant _web_-pages, not physical things on paper such as a notebook or journal.
+
+My wife bought her thermal [Phomemo Printer](/post/2023/02/phomemo-thermal-printing-on-macos/) to quickly and easily print and paste snapshots of life next to scribbles and drawings. The problem with a cheap thermal printer like the Phomemo is that it simply won't last very long: after two years, most of the photos will have completely faded, just like your average supermarket receipt. On the other hand, it's _very_ fast: after a matter of seconds your beautifully black-and-white dithered photo is ready.
+
+My own [HP Sproket printer](/post/2021/09/hp-sprocket-mini-printer/) does not particularly outperform the Phomemo when it comes to life expectancy: the "ZINK" [Zero Ink](https://zink.com/) photo paper does print in color without needing any cartridges, similar to classic Polaroid cameras. It doesn't have a strip where the ink resides, though, and instead relies on tiny parts that, depending on the heat, results in another color. On average, the internet claims these should last three to five years, at best. I'm a bit more optimistic: in my oldest journal, ten years ago, I can see the ZINK photos clearly fading, but it's still at an early stage. 
+
+And the I came across the Canon QX10 that supposedly uses something called "dye sublimation" resulting in snapshots that last a hundred years. The QX10 device itself is the most expensive of the bunch, and the paper refills are `$15` for 20 sheets, while 20 ZINK sheets are `$10`: both quite expensive!
+
+But then I wondered: how long does it take for the fountain pen ink I use to start fading in my journals? That depends on multiple factors, such as paper and ink quality. The Fountain Pen Network forum collects [ink fade tests](https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/334623-list-of-fade-tests/) and to my horror, some of these inks fade _very_ quickly: after nine months, Noodler's _Baystate Blue_ and _Rachmaninoff_ totally faded, while Noodler's _El Lawrence_, _Heart of Darkness_, and _La Reine Mauve_ remained (nearly) unchanged. That's a lot of variation coming from just one brand. 
+
+Inks exist in different compositions: acrylic inks---that aren't a great match for the average fountain pen---tend to resist time very well, pigment-based inks is your water-resistant staple at the cost of reduced color variance and required regular pen cleaning, and the most common dye-based inks are also the ones that tend not to last too long. Noodler has a series called "bulletproof inks" that uses a special formula to better bind with the cellulose of the paper: _Heart of Darkness_ is a bulletproof one. Saturation might be a factor, but don't forget to also take [paper quality](/post/2022/03/leuchtturm-notebook-paper-quality/) into account.
+
+---
+
+Should we really be caring about the permanence of our journals when all we want to do is journal? I'd be inclined to say no. That is, if you have another strategy set in motion: your [backup strategy](/post/2023/03/verify-your-backup-strategy). I explained my [journal digitization process](/post/2021/01/digitizing-journals-using-devonthink/) before. By scanning and tagging pages as soon as a part or the whole notebook is filled, all of the above considerations stop being relevant: you've essentially "frozen" the inks, pictures, masking tape, pencil strokes in place. Even if they slowly but surely further deteriorate, your backup (and backup of the backup!) ensures you can whip out a copy of the original page at any time. Given that the scan software and settings are up to snuff...
+
+It takes between six months and a year for me to fill one Leuchtturm A5 journal. That means any low quality Phomemo photo I added in the previous journal should still be visible. By the time I'll scan and verify a backup of the book, the contents shouldn't have started deteriorating, and I've never had this problem. Judging from the rate some of the inks fade, that's perhaps surprising, but on the other hand, I keep the contents out of direct sunlight. The inks I use lately are (of course) Pilot Iroshizuku, LAMY T51, and occasionally De Atramentis' document ink. 
+
+![](../journalscan.jpg "A journal scan. Left: a Phomemo print of our cat. Right: a noodle pink wrapping paper that lost color during the scan.")
+
+As I'm flipping through my oldest journals, the only problems I've encountered so far are:
+
+- Disposable receipts from brick and mortar stores that I sometimes paste in to save. Those indeed tend to fade _very_ quickly---within a few months. 
+- Newspaper clippings. These discolor, not to the point of unreadability, but they do change.
+- Other very cheap clippings from packaging material or ads such as tea bag wrappings that also discolor and fade a little.
+- Organic material such as a squeezed blueberry (that was fun!). These pigments seem to slowly fade over the years as well.
+
+My wife's Phomemo is still relatively new so I'm interested to see whether or not that's also going to be a problem. 
+
+Obviously, nothing lasts forever. But a simple digitize strategy will save your precious moments just a few decades longer. Until bit rot corrupts the files, that is. Luckily for me, it seems that Jeff's _design pages that last_ concept is much more important for webpages than for analog pages. 
+

content/post/2023/03/herodotus-and-the-pyramids.md

@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ This is an elaborated postscript to my last [post on Herodotus](/post/2023/03/ho
 
 I know very little about history but the more I read about it, the more interested I get. According to Wikipedia, several researchers have attempted to stamp a date on the Great Pyramid of Giza using both historical evidence and radiocarbon dating. In 1646, we thought it was erected in 1266 BC, while in 1849, that was pushed back to 3124 BC. The latest estimate is between 2613 and 2577 BC. That's _Before Christ_, obviously. 
 
-For me, that was not so obvious. Of course I know what BC means, but I didn't especially _register_ that fact when reading Herodotus' Book II. Herodotus wrote _Histories_ 2450 years ago. And in it, he wrote about Khufu's pyramid, that was built more than 2100 years ago before Herodotus. That means I read an ancient text about an ancient artifact that is still standing in 2023. That's simply unbelievable and incredibly hard for my mind to grasp! These facts span 4550 years. Unbelievable.
+For me, that was not so obvious. Of course I know what BC means, but I didn't especially _register_ that fact when reading Herodotus' Book II. Herodotus wrote _Histories_ 2450 years ago. And in it, he wrote about Khufu's pyramid, that was built more than 2100 years ago before Herodotus. That means I read an ancient text about a then already ancient artifact that is still standing in 2023. That's simply unbelievable and incredibly hard for my mind to grasp! These facts span 4550 years. Unbelievable.
 
 ![](../pyramids.jpg "A close-up of the pyramid site in Gizeh. Photo courtesy of Unsplash.")
 
@@ -33,6 +33,6 @@ Yet while reading Herodotus and other ancient more philosophical works, I can't
 
 ---
 
-Let's circle back to Kunstvensters' question: _Where is the burial chamber of Cheops?_ We still don't know. Khufu's tomb was never found. The pyramid was supposedly looted during the construction of the Valley of the Kings, another site that reeks of delusions of grandeur, in Luxor, a few hundred kilometers upstream the Nile. The excavation period lasted 500 years and took place a rough 900 years after Khufu's reign. No mention of this site by Herodotus, though.
+Let's circle back to Kunstvensters' question: _Where is the burial chamber of Cheops?_ We still don't know. Khufu's tomb was never found. The pyramid was supposedly looted during the construction of the Valley of the Kings, another site that reeks of delusions of grandeur, in Luxor, seven hundred hundred kilometers upstream the Nile. The excavation period lasted 500 years and took place a rough 900 years after Khufu's reign. No mention of this site by Herodotus, though.
 
 Four thousand years of opportunistic looting, violent wars, and politic instabilities later, the Great Pyramids of Giza itself still stands. I guess relocating a massive limestone slab is a bit of a hassle.