# You're in solitary confinement with pens and paper. **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-in-solitary-confinement-with-pens-and-paper/734628 **Category:** In My Humble Opinion **Created:** [October 14, 2015, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-in-solitary-confinement-with-pens-and-paper/734628 "2015-10-14T14:02:23Z") **Posts on this page:** 7 **Page:** 2
### Author: ![Nefario](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/59ef9b/32.png) [@Nefario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nefario) #### Post date: [October 15, 2015, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-in-solitary-confinement-with-pens-and-paper/734628/21 "2015-10-15T15:20:44Z")
I’d _draw_ various inventions and work on sketching skills; writing is too much work! Optimizing paper airplane design could burn a lot of time too. ---
### Author: ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker) #### Post date: [October 15, 2015, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-in-solitary-confinement-with-pens-and-paper/734628/22 "2015-10-15T15:39:11Z")
I’ve been meaning to write a “to do” list for decades. Maybe I’d finally get around to it. ---
### Author: ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon) #### Post date: [October 15, 2015, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-in-solitary-confinement-with-pens-and-paper/734628/23 "2015-10-15T16:18:25Z")
Mathematical research. I would try to find something to work on that I didn’t depend on the literature. ---
### Author: ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi) #### Post date: [October 15, 2015, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-in-solitary-confinement-with-pens-and-paper/734628/24 "2015-10-15T16:26:06Z")
Reminds me of school. I wrote lots of short stories and developed my own little sci-fi universe while pretending to take notes during classes that were painfully boring. I always felt like I wanted it to be a novel if I had time, so that would probably be it. ---
### Author: ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters) #### Post date: [October 15, 2015, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-in-solitary-confinement-with-pens-and-paper/734628/25 "2015-10-15T18:01:40Z")
I would write - or attempt to write - poetry. It’s something I used to do when I had such a thing as free time and an uncluttered mind. I would imagine that solitary confinement would force both of those on me, so I might as well put them to good use. ---
### Author: ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble) #### Post date: [October 15, 2015, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-in-solitary-confinement-with-pens-and-paper/734628/26 "2015-10-15T18:19:21Z")
I’d make flipbooks. Try and recreate all the SF classics I can remember in flipbook format. Maybe write some of my own. ---
### Author: ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton) #### Post date: [October 15, 2015, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-in-solitary-confinement-with-pens-and-paper/734628/27 "2015-10-15T20:51:59Z")
Solve the [Riemann Hypothesis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riemann_hypothesis). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-in-solitary-confinement-with-pens-and-paper/734628.md?page=1)