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Refilling an ink jet cartridge with highlighter ink

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Re: Refilling an ink jet cartridge with highlighter ink

#31
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we gave people UBI we could have this "creative creation" happening all the time

The one thing I don't get about UBI is who does the "shit" jobs. Those jobs that are low-skill low-pay under the current system. Most people who do those jobs do so only because the alternative is worse. Even in places with generous social-welfare systems there tends to be social pressure against relying on it, but making the payments universal seems likely to remove that stigma. The first order effects are obviously…

You pay them more.

Re: Refilling an ink jet cartridge with highlighter ink

#32
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we gave people UBI we could have this "creative creation" happening all the time

The one thing I don't get about UBI is who does the "shit" jobs. Those jobs that are low-skill low-pay under the current system. Most people who do those jobs do so only because the alternative is worse. Even in places with generous social-welfare systems there tends to be social pressure against relying on it, but making the payments universal seems likely to remove that stigma. The first order effects are obviously…

I suppose if those jobs are so terrible that no one who has UBI wants to do them, they'll have to pay a fair wage to attract people. If they're truly necessary, wages will rise until until positions are filled. And yes, you may now have to pay more for work that was woefully underpaid previously.

If your scenario comes to pass, it just means we've been taking advantage of the people who currently work those jobs because they have no other alternative.

Re: Refilling an ink jet cartridge with highlighter ink

#33
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we gave people UBI we could have this "creative creation" happening all the time

The one thing I don't get about UBI is who does the "shit" jobs. Those jobs that are low-skill low-pay under the current system. Most people who do those jobs do so only because the alternative is worse. Even in places with generous social-welfare systems there tends to be social pressure against relying on it, but making the payments universal seems likely to remove that stigma. The first order effects are obviously…

Providing a UBI doesn't mean market forces vanish, it would just shift/adjust those market forces. I think these "shit" jobs would either cease to exist if they weren't really necessary, be replaced by automated solutions, or be compensated at a high enough rate that someone would be still be willing to do them. It seems like all three of those would be net positives economically.

Re: Refilling an ink jet cartridge with highlighter ink

#34
Actually squeezing it from a highlighter is messy and unnecessary. You can buy bottled highlighter ink for fountain pens pretty cheaply.

(there are special super-broad pen nibs for highlighting work. To use bulk ink, you have a "converter" cartridge with a piston or squeeze-bottle that allows you to suck ink out of the bottle and into the pen)

Since you specifically seem to be after fluorescent, here's somewhere to get started:

https://www.gouletpens.com/collections/bottled-ink?filters%5...

Here's an "invisible ink": https://www.gouletpens.com/collections/bottled-ink/products/...

Or a yellow highlighter ink: https://www.gouletpens.com/collections/bottled-ink/products/...

Pink: https://www.gouletpens.com/collections/bottled-ink/products/...

I am not 100% sure that the viscosity will exactly match what printer ink is, but if it's too thick you could cut it with isopropyl alcohol or similar.

edit: on further reflection if your goal is something that is visible outside of a blacklight, the darker colors might have more pigment and thus be more visible, although still probably quite light.

Re: Refilling an ink jet cartridge with highlighter ink

#35
post #5

Maybe this quarantine actually leads to enough random exploration in people’s free time, that we see an explosion of creative new startups afterwards. “Creative creation” as the libertarian economists might say.

It looks like obblekk's comment is getting some down-votes (appears gray to me). I'm honestly curious what people's objection to this comment/idea is?

I'm not saying that this will necessarily happen, but it's not a crazy thought. Anecdotally more then a few people I know have taken the time stuck at home to pursue things like reading, taking online courses, watching/reading tutorials, and working on side-projects.

In any case, hoping that something positive may come out of this bad situation just seems so fundamentally unobjectionable to me, I'm curious what other's thoughts are about this?

Re: Refilling an ink jet cartridge with highlighter ink

#36
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we gave people UBI we could have this "creative creation" happening all the time

The one thing I don't get about UBI is who does the "shit" jobs. Those jobs that are low-skill low-pay under the current system. Most people who do those jobs do so only because the alternative is worse. Even in places with generous social-welfare systems there tends to be social pressure against relying on it, but making the payments universal seems likely to remove that stigma. The first order effects are obviously…

Those jobs would have to be paid exceptionally well, in order to be attractive, if you want more than just the UBI-life.

It would totally change how we look at people doing those unpleasant jobs. Let's be honest, right now it's a bit of a caste system.

Re: Refilling an ink jet cartridge with highlighter ink

#37
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's probably very faintly visible in ordinary light, but what makes fluorescent ink interesting is that it fluoresces, i.e. it reflects UV light in the visible spectrum, which makes it seem brighter than normal pigments. So the blacklight makes it much more visible.

Ah! So in the words, the printer is placing a thinner (ie, too thin) layer of ink on the paper than a human with a highlighter would, right?

That, or the brightener particles are making it through the nozzle, but the nozzle diameter is too fine for the highlighter pigment particles themselves.

Re: Refilling an ink jet cartridge with highlighter ink

#38
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we gave people UBI we could have this "creative creation" happening all the time

The one thing I don't get about UBI is who does the "shit" jobs. Those jobs that are low-skill low-pay under the current system. Most people who do those jobs do so only because the alternative is worse. Even in places with generous social-welfare systems there tends to be social pressure against relying on it, but making the payments universal seems likely to remove that stigma. The first order effects are obviously…

Everyone else thinks something nice and utopian would happen, but my guess is that "working five years at a shit job" would become the new "getting a bachelor's degree in pretty much anything" that employers would look for as a way to prove conscientiousness, when hiring for the high-paying jobs.

Anyone wanting to make more than UBI pays out, would have to first "do their time" in the sucky jobs, in order to get the "credential" of having done so. It'd be a generalization of the concept of internships, where companies would admit that—like with university—where you interned, and what you interned in, doesn't actually matter, so much as the fact that you interned somewhere doing something.

Re: Refilling an ink jet cartridge with highlighter ink

#39
post #14

Interesting, but it's a lot easier to just toss out the inkjet and buy an inexpensive laser printer. You can even buy a small-office color laser printer for $200-300 these days. And 3rd-party toner cartridges for these printers are ubiquitous and cheap and work fine. Why does anyone use inkjets any more? The entire industry is just a big scam.

> Interesting, but it's a lot easier to just toss out the inkjet and buy an inexpensive laser printer.

Ah yes, the true hacker ethos.

Re: Refilling an ink jet cartridge with highlighter ink

#40
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we gave people UBI we could have this "creative creation" happening all the time

The one thing I don't get about UBI is who does the "shit" jobs. Those jobs that are low-skill low-pay under the current system. Most people who do those jobs do so only because the alternative is worse. Even in places with generous social-welfare systems there tends to be social pressure against relying on it, but making the payments universal seems likely to remove that stigma. The first order effects are obviously…

well, who does the secretarial jobs now that we eliminated the secretarial class?
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