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Paper is the real 'killer app'

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Re: Paper is the real 'killer app'

#141

Post by BeetleB »

criddell wrote: post #39

So, what's your favorite notebook and pen combination? I ordered a bunch of pens from Jet Pens a year ago and my favorite also ended up being one of the cheapest - the Pilot Hi-Tec-C. My favorite notebook used to be an engineering notebook. It had a grid on one side of the page and college-ruled lines on the other and had a spiral bound spine. Not sure if I have a favorite any more. I do use a lot of index cards.

I grew up on fountain pens when I lived abroad. When I moved to the US, I stopped. I found notebook paper here not horrible for fountain pen ink. And my pens leaked a lot (cheap Chinese Heros).

Almost two decades later, only a few months ago, I decided to give them another try.

Fantastic stuff. I use a Pilot Metropolitan MR. Medium nib. But one does need to purchase higher quality paper than what you'll find in regular stores. These days I write on Figurare notebooks.

I can't believe I wrote with ballpoints all these years. Fountain pens are so much better. I now look for excuses to take notes on paper.

Re: Paper is the real 'killer app'

#142

Post by chillingeffect »

weavie wrote: post #52
pumblechook wrote: post #35

I've found journaling on paper to be one of the best morning rituals for calming anxiety. It really is amazing how just writing a few sentences creates a sense of awareness of what's going on in your head. I also tried bullet journaling as my 'system', but quickly abandoned it. It is great if you're not a compulsive to-do list maker, but if you follow a GTD-like system where you frequently capture, it becomes onerous…

Interesting. I wonder how useful journaling would be to help combat insomnia. I will give it a go next time I am lying in bed at 2am with my head buzzing..

hugely :) you don't even have to use the structure of a journal. i've found it helpful, when my head is too full, to simply write down single words reverberating in my head impairing sleep. I did it just last night!

Re: Paper is the real 'killer app'

#143

Post by Starwatcher2001 »

criddell wrote: post #74
otalp wrote: post #37

I never liked all the multitude of list making apps - Evernote, Todoist, Omnifocus, etc. I prefer org-mode[1] on emacs. It's simple, flexible, distraction free and for some reason reminds me of writing on paper. You get the simplicity, while also making it as powerful as you want. 1- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJTwQvgfgMM

I like Evernote as a place to store my notebook pages that I want to search for. It's easy to take a picture with my phone and upload it as a PDF to Evernote which does a shockingly good job of finding text in the images and indexing them. I also get some metadata related to the time, date, and place where I generated the PDF. It's nice having important parts of my notebook available at all times. I'm also surprised…

I do mind mapping extensively, both on paper, and using Mindjet's "mind manager". I use mind mapping to brain dump everything relevant about a project. The free-form approach helps me get stuff down in whatever order my brain decides to bring it to memory. They then get hacked into a logical order, maybe split into separate maps, and get used as an "at a glance" overview, which is great for making sure nothing gets missed during development. Paper is handy for the first cut, or on a bus, in a meeting etc., but the electronic version is better for editing and showing to colleagues and customers.

Re: Paper is the real 'killer app'

#145

Post by dack »

24gttghh wrote: post #138
adtac wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think I got a solution - every article is accompanied by a QR code that you can scan to open a searchable version of the exact same text. Just a couple of seconds away and you don't lose the papery-feel either.

Why not ditch the QR code and have an app that takes a photo of text and lets you perform ctrl+f on the image?

because you still couldn't search across pages

Re: Paper is the real 'killer app'

#146

Post by cableshaft »

KIFulgore wrote: post #124

I recently re-subscribed to a real-life, old-fashioned newspaper. I like the digital edition, but prefer the paper version. The resolution is amazing and you can't beat the loading times, and I never run into browser incompatibility issues. There are still too many ads, but they don't pop up and dance.

After almost a decade of not bothering with them, six months ago I signed back up for physical magazine subscriptions again. I decided I like having the physical artifact around sometimes. There's even a niche magazine (Vitamag) where I'm one of only about 100 people that pay for it through Patreon, that they actually print our names on a page of each book. That's a pretty cool feeling.

Re: Paper is the real 'killer app'

#147

Post by damontal »

criddell wrote: post #73
pumblechook wrote: post #35

I've found journaling on paper to be one of the best morning rituals for calming anxiety. It really is amazing how just writing a few sentences creates a sense of awareness of what's going on in your head. I also tried bullet journaling as my 'system', but quickly abandoned it. It is great if you're not a compulsive to-do list maker, but if you follow a GTD-like system where you frequently capture, it becomes onerous…

If it isn't too personal, what's a typical entry in your morning journal? Does it vary or is there a pattern?

not op but it doesn't have to be typical. just keep your hand moving for 10 or 15 minutes even if it's gibberish. something usually will come out.

Re: Paper is the real 'killer app'

#148

Post by criddell »

BeetleB wrote: post #137
criddell wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a Pilot Metropolitan fountain pen. It's a nice pen but I don't use it for a few reasons. First, the ink evaporates very quickly. Secondly, the ink is always uniformly dark. I like that I can vary the heaviness of lines by varying the force I use as I write. Third, they are messier.

Interesting: I own the same pen, but do not have the issues you listed. Mine is a Medium, but light inks remain light (i.e. the flow is not thick). If you meant that you want the thickness of the ink to vary with angle, then yes - most modern fountain pens are designed that way. However, they do also make the "italic" type ones.

With ball points, I can vary the heaviness of lines by altering how hard I press the tip into the paper. Very light pressure yields very faint lines. A fountain pen is uniformly dark, which I suppose what most people want for writing.

Re: Paper is the real 'killer app'

#149

Post by BeetleB »

criddell wrote: post #148
BeetleB wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting: I own the same pen, but do not have the issues you listed. Mine is a Medium, but light inks remain light (i.e. the flow is not thick). If you meant that you want the thickness of the ink to vary with angle, then yes - most modern fountain pens are designed that way. However, they do also make the "italic" type ones.

With ball points, I can vary the heaviness of lines by altering how hard I press the tip into the paper. Very light pressure yields very faint lines. A fountain pen is uniformly dark, which I suppose what most people want for writing.

Yep - that's true. With some fountain pens, you can vary with angle, but not as much control as with pressure.

Personally, one of the reasons I like fountain pens is that I don't have to apply pressure. :-)

Re: Paper is the real 'killer app'

#150

Post by BeetleB »

dood wrote: post #66
pumblechook wrote: post #35

I've found journaling on paper to be one of the best morning rituals for calming anxiety. It really is amazing how just writing a few sentences creates a sense of awareness of what's going on in your head. I also tried bullet journaling as my 'system', but quickly abandoned it. It is great if you're not a compulsive to-do list maker, but if you follow a GTD-like system where you frequently capture, it becomes onerous…

I know someone who found journaling cured severe RSI, when nothing else worked. I learned about this on HN and was skeptical, but lots of people had testified that it helped them, so I passed the recommendation on - amazingly it did work. See The Mindbody Prescription by Sarno.

I think it will depend on the type of RSI. Both me and a coworker once had horrible RSI. One of the problems (amongst many) that we complained about was that writing with a pen became quite painful.

I mean, RSI can be really bad. It affects your quality of life outside of the computer world. Pressing the button on my remote was painful. Pressing the button to change the frequency on my car radio was painful. Essentially, any delicate work was painful.

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