Even James Bond ain’t got shit like this!
Looks pretty plain, right? Nothing too fancy, just a simple, silver, ball-point pen. So what makes it so special? See that little button on the end? Well it….hell, it’ll be easier to show you than to try and explain it:
[This is where I was going to put a little movie, showing the pen in action. Sadly, that’s not to be. Why? Well, the pen uses a special ink that’s clear, but reacts to a light in the end of the pen. Shine the light on the invisible writing and it glows like something white under a blacklight. The only problem is, the wavelength of the light – while looking spiffy to the naked eye – only registers as white to both my DV cam and digital camera. Sorry for the technical malfunction.]
Is that awesome or what?!?
[Trust me, it is. I’d written this before attempting to film it, so although you can’t see it for yourself, my reaction should tell you just how cool it is.]
One of my students brought one to class this week and was playing with it during class. Usually, that ticks me off a bit, but when she showed me the pen, I went from irked to awed in less than a second.
“That’s so cool!” I told her. “Where did you get it?” I had to have one.
She told me she got it at a stationery store near her school. I asked if she’d get one for me if I gave her the money. She agreed and I asked how much it was.(You’re not gonna believe this.)
1,000 won.
That’s like 85 fucking cents!
I gave her 5,000 and told her to get me five of them. She delivered the next day and I thanked her, giving her an extra 500 won for her trouble. (Not that I’m a cheap bastard or anything, but 500 can get a kid plenty sugared up at our school store.) She was happy for the tip and was probably just as pleased as I was with the pens.
I’ve since found them at another store, right by our school. The ones from this place are even better, being that they’ve got replaceable batteries and even come with a spare set – still only 1,000 won. I took one of mine apart since the tip wouldn’t quite retract all the way and made an interesting discovery. The ink is actually clear. Wicked!
The package of the one I got today claims the ink is good for more than one year. I assume they’re referring to how long it’ll react to the light, and not how much ink there is in the pen. (Actually, the kind of gip you on the ink. The barrel is about half the size of a regular Bic stick pen, but there’s maybe an inch or so of ink in it. Lame!)
But really, it’s not like you’d use it for taking notes or anything. It’s for Super Secret type messages, or writing naughty stuff to friends in class. And as far as the light itself, I’ve really got no idea what sort of wavelength theyr’e on, or what it is in the ink that reacts to the light, but it looks cool as hell.
They haven’t caught on big at my school yet, but I think that’s because they’ve only just come out. Give it a few more weeks and little blacklight/ultraviolet beams will be flashing in all the classrooms. (Of course, since I’ve got my own, I can just take all their notes and read them easily.)
This could get rather interesting.
^.^