But there are still some things out there that are higher than ink prices per ounce, such as silver, Chanel #5, and gold.Grumbling over the price of refill ink? Well, according to the calculations at this site, that may be because the cost is nearly twice that of human blood, or $2,701.52 per gallon for ink versus $1,514.79 per gallon of blood.

(Notice I said "cost" rather than "price." Blood has no price, but there are costs involved.)

The ink calculations were based on a black refill cartridge containing 1.42 ounces costing $29.97, or $21.11 per ounce. A US gallon has 128 ounces, giving us $2701.52 per gallon.

Things could be worse-you could be buying ink at the cosmetics counter at Macy's, as Chanel #5 costs almost ten times more than ink, or $200 an ounce. But don't worry: if there was some conceivable fashion marketing angle for refill ink, the vendors would have already seized on it, and tacked another zero onto the price.

Meanwhile, I have to grovel and admit that my past references to ink being priced like molten silver were (according to the previous calculations) somewhat exaggerated. The latest price for silver is about $31 per ounce, or a 47 percent more than the ink price used above.

But at least we're not talking about the price of gold, lately pushing above $1,382 per ounce. That about 65 times more than ink. So we don't have sleazy investment infomercials touting ink futures.

Not yet, anyway.