Quote of the Month

"So, you're still going to die one day. But as to when, that answer probably doesn't reside in what you eat nearly as much it does in what your DNA looks like."

Extracted from Gizomodo publication by Ryan F Mandelbaum titled 'Scientists find Genetic Mutation That Could Increase The Male Lifespan'
https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2017/06/scientists-find-genetic-mutation-that-could-increase-the-male-lifespan/

New York - Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Federal Reserve Bank of New York - Built between 1919 - 1924

Deep inside the Federal Reserve Bank of New York lies more than one quarter of the world's know reserves of gold bullion. These tens of billions of dollars worth of gold bars, each numbered and weighed, are stored five stories underground in 122 compartments in a vault closed with a steel door weighting 90 tons. Most of the gold at the Federal Reserve belongs to foreign governments and international organisations. They store their gold here for three reasons: first, the bank's location in the heart of the US financial center; second, its unrivaled security; and third, the ease of trading when many countries keep their gold in the same building. As countries originally made payments to each other, gold bars could simple be wheeled from one country's vault to the next - no need crate them for long ocean voyages, no fear of disaster at sea.
........ extracted from a street display showing information on the Federal Reserve Bank

Fisher Astronaut Space Pen

Fisher Astronaut Space Pen Specifications

I bought this pen because of its unique feature of pressurized sealed ink cartridge. It means that it can write on an inverted surface with its anti gravity technology. There are many myth and stories about this pen and how the Soviets had used a pencil to overcome weightless condition in space which prevented conventional ball point pen ink from flowing. It comes with a chrome finishes and it has a push mechanism for the cartridge to be pressed down for writing.

I purchased the pen from Amazon at a cost of USD$35.67 + USD$2.56 for import tax. Total: USD$38.23.

The pen writes very smoothly and it is one of the smoothest ball point pen I have written. According to the specification, it has ultra hard tungsten carbide ball. Impressive.

I just hope its chrome finishing will not tarnish over time.

Parker Sonnet Cisele Fountain Pen

Parker Sonnet Cisele

Parker Sonnet Cisele

I bought this Parker fountain pen from Amazon at a cost of USD $269.67 + USD$19.35 for import tax. Total: USD$289.02. In New York, this would cost USD$376, probably excluding city tax. I was planning to buy this in New York but when I saw the price over at Amazon, I stopped.  There are so much saving from purchasing over the Internet. This is the reason why retails shops are dying in US. The only thing is that a buyer can't feel and decide before purchase when it is bought over Internet. I have no issue given that I am familiar with fountain pen.

The Parker Sonnet Cisele has a medium gold plated nib. The body has also other gold plating parts. I was expecting the body to be heavy, but I am wrong. The body is slightly lighter than my China made Jinhao 163.  I am guessing that the body of the Parker pen is made from some resin that makes it light. The Jinhao 163 however has a metal core. The Parker writes just like any ordinary fountain pen. It is interesting to note that the pen is made in France. The gold finishing does looks good.  Being Parker premium pen, the Sonnet does come with a nicely designed box. The ink can be through the pump filler provided on purchase or through independent parker ink cartridge.

I bought this pen because the design reminds me of a mechanical ball point Pilot pen which I had when I was a Primary School boy.

Note: Mustafa Shopping in Singapore is selling the same pen at S$475 (equivalent of US$339.3) as at June 2017.