: AI is changing how we think. Many people now swap deep reading for building with agents. Is the …
: Will the last Zettelkasten practitioner please turn off the lights? In the olden days (approximately 2010) there was a mass exodus to social media from blogging. It was …
: Updating this site to Hugo 0.158 has caused the Search function to break. Normal service will …
: A mind like a skittish and unbroken horse “Unless it is occupied with some governing object that restrains and disciplines it, the mind …
: This video of Kurama-dera, a Buddhist temple outside Kyoto, is quite lovely. And the snowy scenery …
: 📷 From time to time the world offers you an extraordinary, fleeting gift. #photography #clouds
: 💬 “You don’t begin with the correct tool and work sensibly within its constraints until you …
: Are you accumulating notes or actually creating something? Semyon Vengerov gathered two million …
: Two Million Notes and No Dictionary: Learning from Semyon Vengerov's Cautionary Tale Russian bibliographer Semyon Vengerov (1855-1920) spent his life accumulating two million filing …
: Artists Books at the NSW State Library I visited the State Library in Sydney recently, where I was inspired by an exhibition on …
: Why I wrote the book on Shuhari and what’s in it for you Well, a book doesn’t just write itself, but why should I be the one to write it? What made me …
: ROOTS - Return Old Online Things to your own Site. That’s what Lisa Charlotte Muth is doing at …
: Podcast listening overtakes radio? The New Publishing Standard. Congratulations are due to Dave …
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Some urgent notemaking questions find answers
From time to time I attempt to answer questions about note-making on Reddit. It’s a tough job …
: The Digital Humanities Now website has come out of hibernation and kicked back into gear. OK, so it …
: AI isn’t making us obsolete: we already were, and that’s nothing to be ashamed of. Promethean shame …
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Fear of AI is nothing new: Promethean shame in a time of technological change
Günther Anders (1902-1992) is a 20th century philosopher for our time, which is fitting since he saw …
: Guy Kawasaki says ‘move fast and break things’ is a myth. True! But since he can’t …
: What's the true path of excellence? Brad Stuhlberg’s book The Path of Excellence is a great read and it offers what the subtitle …
: Beginners and intermediate learners fear ‘making mistakes’; experts seldom do. Not …
: 💬 I want to be just like him. Imitation is one of the most powerful and underrated stages of …
: "I want to be just like him" “I want to be just like him.” It’s difficult to overstate the importance of …
: 💬 “If it takes three years, find the right teacher.” Sometimes the best way to find the …
: Find the right teacher There’s a Japanese saying that I included in my book: If it takes three years, find the right …
: Discovery, aesthetics, and the art of self-publishing: my latest post explores Leonard Koren’s …
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Leonard Koren on Life as an Aesthetic Experience
I’ve never been much of a bathing person. Perhaps that’s due to unpleasantly lingering memories of …
: Every interface is an argument about how you should feel. - Phantom Obligation | Terry Godier This …
: A channel of the Katsura River at Arashiyama, Kyoto. Reviewing my photographs really makes me wish I …
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The Toe of the Year and the Curious Case of John Donne's Missing Commonplace Book
Last month, while my sister was moving house, she discovered a box of papers she’d never seen …
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Why your note-making tools don’t quite work the way you want them to - and what to do about it
Every so often I stumble upon a really clear articulation of a concept that makes sense of something …
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The Spiral of Mastery: Why the Greatest Experts Are Serial Beginners
Here in …The greatest experts aren’t afraid of starting again
Apparently, my tennis is rusty
: 2025 marked 250 years since the birth of author Jane Austen. In 2026 she still has something …
: Looking back at 2025: a year of writing slowly but thinking with curiosity. 🖋️ From the note-making …
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The posts of 2025
I’m much better at writing new stuff than consolidating the old, but it’s time to review …
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Fact checking the good news
I expect 2026 to be a better year than 2025, not through some kind of magic but because millions of …
: The right kind of optimism in 2026 Happy New Year! May the next 12 months bring you peace and joy and blessing. Here are a handful of …
: “Bun without bu means authority withers, while bu without bun means the people remain in fear …
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The Unity of Pen and Sword: Understanding Bunbu Ichi
My recent book is subtitled “The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters”. …
: I've written a book and here are the details! Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters Master the art of true learning in …
: 💬 “I’m not posting memes and ‘hot takes’. No goats were surprised by amateur divers in the …
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The Sydney I know isn’t like what they’re showing on the news
Tragically my home city has been in the international news for all the wrong reasons and we’re all …
: 12 days of Winter Wonder Photo Challenge by Micro.blog: Dec 15 - Frost 📷 We don’t have frost here so …
: 💬"The term “breaking the mold” is common, but without having learned anything from others, one …
: Shu Ha Ri and the philosophy of interior design The late interior designer Professor Shigeru Uchida discusses the importance of Shu Ha Ri for …
: Trying to write slowly in 2025 Before I really got going with the Zettelkasten approach to making notes (and with micro.blog) I was …
: Towards sunset, beneath Fushimi Inari Taisha, the city of Kyoto is laid out like a silver plate. I’m …
: Imitating the greats? Imitation can be a very effective form of learning, but it’s worth considering who to imitate, and …
: 💬 "When they email or text me about a post it feels like applause from a dark corner of a large, …
: Daniel kindly replied to my meandering questions about writing online, which circled the theme of …
: 💬 “You cannot transcend a craft you have not yet learned.” …
: 🎬 Paper Films! In the 1930s, Japanese films were made on fragile paper rolls. Nearly lost forever, …
: Japanese paper films Japanese paper films! What? Yes, in the 1930s the Japanese made a whole bunch of short movies using …
: “Each person possesses a mind with powers that are… always unique. — César Aira. In an age of …
: 💬 “The way we organise our online lives bleeds into the way we organise the rest of our social …
: What is the feat that only you could have carried out? 💬 “Each person possesses a mind with powers that are, whether great or small, always unique, powers …
: Remembering Tea Master Sen Genshitsu (1923-2025), who spread peace through sipping. His philosophy …
: 💬 “By jumping off your roof into a paddling pool with a goat in it you’ve probably enjoyed …
: 💬 Everyone has principles, don’t they, until the moment they see the phrase, “MySQL wasn’t …
: Why niche blogs and Small Rooms still win - even in the age of technofeudalism Views? I’ve had a few Blogging is about creative expression, but as Tom Critchlow observes, …
: Hey @manton now that micro.blog is getting very serious about video, perhaps there should be a video …
: There's a fundamental flaw in how we learn about expertise Learn Spanish in eight days? Learn to ski in a weekend? Finish a novel in a month? Design a book in …
: 📷 From the top of the castle the town seemed to have been poured into its valley, where it flowed …
: 💬 “How convincing does the illusion of understanding have to be before you stop calling it an …
: To truly learn a language, you don’t need computers, you need human interaction. Time to get …
: A clear and accessible introduction to Japanese philosophy, in a podcast with Takeshi Morisato. …
: AI is not helping the learning process 💬 “When teachers rely on commonly used artificial …
: What’s your most valuable note? @eleanorkonik@pkm.social asked: “Any examples where a …
: To truly understand, you must take things apart and build them back up. My cousin did it with cars, …
: Create your own mental models When he was still in high school my cousin took to pulling old cars apart, completely, then putting …
: Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving. — Terry Pratchett Nick …
: 📷 Outside Matsumoto Castle it was raining gently. My book, Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, …
: 🎵 You’ve got to have a dream. #RetroTech #VinylVibes
: Provocative words about learning, teaching, AI, and the timely value of history Do you like links? Here’s what I’ve come across on the Web lately: provocative words …
: Publishing means no more hiding Revelation must be terrible, knowing you can never hide your voice again. – David Whyte …
: I fell down a rabbit hole writing about Hypercuriosity! 🤯 Inspired by Anne-Laure Le Cunff’s …
: Having written about the need to create your own writing environment, I found this post showing the …
: Curious about Hypercuriosity One reason I make notes and write is that I’m curious about everything. I’ve written …
: Author Craig Mod seems to be following me. I saw his picture in Kyoto Station. Now he’s doing …
: Western learning aims for ‘completion,’ ‘graduation’ - an end-point. But Shu …
: 📚Tsundoku emergency temporarily averted.
: Japanese Shu Ha Ri: Is it Better Than Western Learning Methods? I’m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available …
: Keeping a diary is a way of living “A diary is not only a text: it is a behaviour, a way of life, of which the text is a …
: Magpie swooping season has been busy. But on this morning’s bike ride the magpies I saw were …
: I’ve been deep into writing about learning and the art of taking notes. That’s why I love it …
: My uncle and both my grandfathers were dedicated anti-fascists. That’s why I get to be here …
: Zettelkasten podcast episodes Here are a couple of podcast interviews where the Zettelkasten approach to making notes is discussed …
: If AI can’t do simple anagrams, how is it meant to fix the economy and make our jobs obsolete? …
: Some books I read before visiting Japan. #reading #Japantravel #shuhari
: Western learning is linear; mastery is cyclical. A new article will show exactly why the Japanese …
: An atomic note isn’t just about ideas; it’s about time. Start smaller, stop sooner, and your notes …
: On a single small island in Shugaku-in, the imperial pleasure garden, Autumn has arrived. I’m the …
: Kyoto is a unique mix of ancient and modern. From this angle Japan’s tallest wooden pagoda …
: Craig Mod’s newsletter Ridgeline features a wry account of a fashion photoshoot in a pizza …
: 💬“slow-cooked projects made just for fun.” - New Public That pretty much sums up this website.
: An ordinary street scene in Kyoto can have a unique atmosphere. Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of …
: The hills just to the North of Kyoto, from Kurama-dera temple. There’s a cool breeze up here, …
: I’m excited to be heading to Japan for some research. But just realised I’ve spent more …
: Back to the Information City? How knowledge visualisation shapes the journey I was intrigued by Mark Bernstein’s1 co-authored article revisiting the concept of the city as …
: Use case for the Zettelkasten Why use a Zettelkasten? Why indeed? Geeky online legend Gwern was rather negative: Most people …
: After launching my book on the Japanese concept of Shu Ha Ri I’m visiting Japan itself soon to …
: What does it mean to transcend the rules? The Karate Path A martial arts dedication performed by Japanese karate practitioner Kiyou Shimizu at …
: “The creative life is not linear. It’s not a straight line from point A to point B. It’s more …
: While reviewing Analysis of Shu Ha Ri in Karate-Do: When a Martial Art Becomes a Fine Art by Hermann …
: Is there a Zettelkasten method? Quite a few people write and speak about the Zettelkasten, a simple way of maintaining a note making …
: Mastering Any Skill, the Japanese Way 📚 A review of Analysis of Shu Ha Ri in Karate-Do: When a Martial Art Becomes a Fine Art by Hermann …
: “You get what the algorithm gives you. This is both a meagre blessing and a wicked …
: Open, free and poetic The Web is 34 years old! Following on from Plenty of ways to write online, here are some really …
: Plenty of ways to write online Writing online is more accessible than ever. We can maintain control of our own work by publishing …
: Watch in awe as a fleeting thought becomes a lasting note I describe in detail how I wrote a blog post and then repurposed it as a permanent note in my …
: Hot takes on our future with AI Here are eight ‘hot takes’ on the latest problems, questions and opportunities large …
: If there's more than one way of seeing, there's more than one way of organising 💬 “Our eyes are built for two perspectives. During the daytime we rely on our cone cells, which …
: The cat is characteristically ecstatic to see that the proofs of the new book have arrived. Not long …
: 💬 On Notebooks and Thinking Better Thoughts Once we’ve let our thoughts mature for a while, …
: As Alan Jacobs says, reading more books and reading books more - they’re not the same thing.
: I designed a book in three and a half hours A while ago, well, quite a long while ago, I designed a book in three and a half hours. Fun, yes, …
: Thinking about Joanna Macy today. In memoriam. I was very influenced by her insistence on both the …
: I’m unqualified to diagnose the following writers with ADHD but I’ll do it anyway Yes indeed: confidently diagnosing deceased note-making writers with ADHD, while in possession of no …
: 💬 “The things that make us different, in the right context are superpowers. You know, Saul …
: Less than keen on having a ‘second brain’: “I only have one brain, and it’s …
: 💬 Most attempts at providing computerised tools for writers have thrown out the affordances that …
: The next step after taking notes is to create a finished piece of writing, acknowledging that the …
: 📷Photo challenge day 30: solitude. 💬"I am the Cat who walks by himself, and all places are …
: Don't let your note-making system infect you with Archive Fever The Zettelkasten note-taking system offers a structured approach to organizing thoughts but might …
: 📷 Photo challenge day 26: bridge. I’ve used this as a metaphor for writing, but it’s …
: 📷 Photo challenge day 29: winding. It’s well worth taking a look inside White Bay Power …
: 📷 Photo challenge day 28: ephemeral. A reminder that our leaders don’t last forever, or even …
: 📷 Photo challenge day 27: collective. Rainbow lorikeets are among the most commonly seen #birds in …
: 💬"In these unprecedented times, it’s more important than ever to find better ways to care …
: 📷 Photo challenge day 25: decay. My worm farm is amazing! By turning waste into compost these little …
: 📷 Photo challenge day 24: bloom. The bougainvillea does get a bit unruly, but it’s probably …
: 📷 Photo challenge day 23: fracture. A crack in reality at the Edogawa Japanese Garden, north of …
: Don’t throw away your old notes Don’t throw out your old notes, even if you feel overwhelmed by them. Here are some helpful ideas on …
: 💬 Back in 2018 I said “the next Web will be fit for humans”. And how did that little …
: 📷 Photo challenge day 22: hometown. The view from Yerroulbine (Balls Head) on our mid-winter walk in …
: 📷 Photo challenge day 21: silhouette. Black swans in #Sydney. #mbjune
: How Walter Breuggemann shaped me At its best, a family can be ‘a communal network of memory and hope in which individual …
: 📷 Photo challenge day 20: gather. Six seagulls gather on a sandstone rock at La Perouse, #Sydney. …
: What to do when you've made some notes: Start writing The next step after taking notes is to create a finished piece of writing, acknowledging that the …
: 📷 Photo challenge day 19: equal. 💬 “I exist in a fractally connected, self-organized universe …
: Bob Doto is the author of ‘A System for Writing’. From reading to note-making to …
: 📷 Photo challenge day 18: texture. Furry or spiky? Spotted on a boardwalk in the Royal National Park …
: What I Learned from Bob Doto about Making Effective Notes and Writing a Book Historian Dan Allosso led a discussion on Bob Doto’s insights on flexible note-taking and …
: 📷 Photo challenge day 17: warmth. We saw a curious warning at this year’s Vivid, the big …
: 📷 Photo challenge day 16: blur. A smoking ceremony at Prince Alfred Park, #Sydney. #mbjune
: Influence is everything: novelty its flimsy dress This whole article dumbed down by AI summary: Cultural trends often leave behind valuable ideas that …
: Finished reading: Spring, Summer, Asteroid, Bird: The Art of Eastern Storytelling by Henry Lien 📚 A …
: 💬"When you’re writing, you’re trying to find out something which you don’t know. The whole …
: 📷 Photo challenge day 15: tie. This is how the tugboat from day 9 was secured to the wharf at …
: Photo challenge, day 14: twilight at the mouth of Deerubbin, the Hawkesbury River #mbjune #Sydney
: 📷 Photo challenge day 13: pathway. Calna Creek, just north of #Sydney. #mbjune
: 📷 Photo challenge day 12: hidden. It’s easy to watch the annual ‘humpback highway’ …
: Worth repeating and re-repeating: “the evidence shows that regularising migration is a …
: 📷 Photo challenge day 11: brick. #Sydney has more than one Japanese garden, but only one is owned by …
: 📷 Photo challenge, day 10: rail. Of the many wonderful exhibits at the NSW Rail Museum, this little …
: 📷 Day 9: wood. There’s a truly massive amount of timber in the old wharves around Sydney …
: A search for meaning in the palace of lost memories: Thoughts on Piranesi, a novel by Susanna Clarke Susanna Clarke’s novel Piranesi has got me thinking about memory, identity, the fallibility of …
: 📷 Photo challenge day 8: travel. Most of the photos this month are of #Sydney, but given …
: Who says you have to choose between yourself and others? The case for intelligent generosity It’s not rocket science but if you want to foster sustainable generosity and human flourishing …
: 📷 micro.blog photo challenge day 7: switch. #mbjune
: This is what nuclear ‘decommissioning’ looks like: a debacle. #nuclearindustry …
: 📷 Day 6: contrast #mbjune #Sydney. See the whole photogrid.
: 📷 Day 5: reflection #mbjune #Sydney. See the whole photogrid.
: 📷 photo challenge day 4: nostalgia. Can you tell what these are? #mbjune
: 💬 “There’s a left-field way of thinking about the world that doesn’t follow the straight path. The …
: 📷 Day 3: shadow #mbjune. 💬 “My work grows from the duel between the isolated individual and the …
: A large tree in a small park is adorned with fairy lights, creating a striking appearance against …
: Finished reading: This Is Happiness by Niall Williams 📚 A shaggy dog story in the best possible …
: What I've learned from non-linear narratives Thoughts on how non-linear narratives have profoundly influenced my reading and writing practices, …
: A large tree in a small park is adorned with fairy lights, creating a striking appearance against …
: When did you first hear about making notes the Zettelkasten way? #pkm #zettelkasten #notetaking
: Daniel Wisser’s notecards as art and archive Daniel Wisser’s exhibition in Vienna features 60 index cards with sketches of stories …
: What Tim Berners-Lee Has to Teach About Effective Notes Tim Berners-Lee’s insights on the interconnected nature of knowledge have inspired a flexible, …
: How I learned to make useful notes the Zettelkasten way I encountered Niklas Luhmann’s sociological work in 1990 but only came across his Zettelkasten …
: “The rapid passage of time is a complete antimeaning machine. Doesn’t life absolutely require …
: “No writing is wasted. Did you know that sourdough from San Francisco is leavened partly by a …
: Leibniz created a haystack of notes that wouldn't fit in his Zettelschrank Gottfried Leibniz, a prolific yet disorganized thinker, struggled to manage an overwhelming influx …
: Sinister Zettelkasten? The 2025 Sydney Film Festival program features Jodie Foster’s new film, “Vie …
: “You only come to know these things in hindsight – when you look back and see the precarious chain …
: From a single idea to many, and from networks of linked ideas to reconfigured networks of knowledge. …
: I found a way to create order from my jumbled ideas A discussion of the SOLO taxonomy model of learning, which emphasizes the progression from …
: “It is surprising how much one can produce in a year, whether of buns or books or pots or pictures, …
: 💬 “Live right up to the last breath and stay positive about the world, your family and the …
: From tiny drops of writing, great rivers will flow A river is made of water droplets. Breaking large writing projects into smaller parts makes the task …
: Education will defeat autocracy The decline of academic departments may lead to innovative educational alternatives and community …
: Have you ever read a book by mistake? Confession time: a mistaken identity led to the discovery of Cynthia Ozick’s novel The Messiah …
: Finished reading: The White Ship by Charles Spencer 📚 I knew very little about the rival sons of …
: Writing notes is much more than just writing notes. Done right, it’s a way of working with …
: The future of the humanities is wide open The humanities within universities are facing decline and financial prioritization, yet interest in …
: To understand the future of AI, look to the past The hype about AI isn’t new. In his day, Victor Hugo was breathless about the book.
: By rejecting the terms of Trump’s authoritarian bullying, Harvard University may forego $2.3 …
: Why not publish all your notes online? Contemplating whether to publish personal notes online reveals both the potential benefits of …
: Time to concede nothing A reflection on the enduring legacy of thinkers like Erasmus and Castellio, emphasizing the …
: Why in #Australia are there at least 50 private health insurance options (!) but only two major …
: Machine learning engineer Edwin Wenink has made 899 private notes public in his Zettelkasten, …
: Some sound advice from a less crazy time (two whole months ago): Write it Down | dansinker.com
: Human creativity, when combined with AI, leads to greater innovation rather than a decline in …
: The game Myst, originally created as a card network in HyperCard, is being explored through graph …
: So many, many books I really want to read. Here are just a couple on this towering tsundoku pile: …
: An interesting Zettelkasten discussion. malikalimoekhamedov.substack.com/p/bob-dot… See also: …
: It's a great time to be writing the future Writers are worrying about AI taking their livelihoods. But unless you were already writing like a …
: Five solutions to link rot in my personal note collection Link rot on the Web poses significant challenges, which have prompted me to consider various …
: Tame the chaos with just four folders for all your notes Bob Doto’s A System for Writing recommends a structured Zettelkasten (note box) using four …
: Can you make too many notes? This guy did. #zettelkasten #notetaking #pkm
: 💬 This is a quiet space… Moving to Sydney offered cheap train travel compared with Europe. …
: Lord Acton took too many notes, but that doesn't mean you have to Excessive note-taking can hinder productivity and completion of work, as illustrated by Lord …
: The Dance of Joyful Knowledge: Inside Georges Didi-Huberman's Monumental Note Archive Georges Didi-Huberman’s extensive collection of over 148,000 notes exemplifies the enduring …
: The article that struck Will like a bolt of lightning: What’s the purpose of making notes? …
: TIL of a philosopher and prolific author who maintains at the heart of their working practice a …
: Roland Barthes on the purpose of making notes Note-taking should mainly serve as a means to enable writing rather than being an exhaustive record …
: My writing process oscillates between notes and drafts Writing is a messy, iterative process involving rough ideas, multiple drafts, and the challenge of …
: I’m always comparing my sloppy first drafts with other people’s heavily-edited published …
: I’ve been asking what comes after content?. Here’s one possibility, dreamed up by …
: Nothing is immune from the law of fashion: what looks cutting edge today will date very quickly. …
: 💬 This quote from Thus Spoke Zarathustra seemed to land for me. kim e landwehr …
: 💬“I had in my mind to write three books about the world as it was, using concepts and images almost …
: Ironically, I just saw this message from 2013 on the same day I heard Microsoft has announced …
: 📷 It’s always amazing to be reminded we’re living on the surface of an exquisite marble. …
: A nice little book launch today for our anthology. Destinations & Detours. I guess it was also …
: 💬“If something happened that struck me, I would write a note — sometimes just on a little scrap of …
: ”Just as no one can be Charles Dickens these days, very soon, no one will be able to market anything …
: I’ve found writing on Wordpress a bit of a chore. Plenty of features when all I wanted to do …
: What comes after content? The decline of Hollywood has been attributed to the rise of AI-generated ‘content’, …
: The Lost Medieval Library Found in a Romanian Church medievalists.net medievalists.net …
: My notes were full but my heart was empty. Doug Toft travels beyond progressive summarization Doug Toft discusses his struggle with summarizing reading notes and suggests that writing about what …
: Well the book arrived this morning. Now I really am publishing slowly!
: Finished reading: Nothing Left to Fear from Hell by Alan Warner. 📚 This was so piteously moving. The …
: Publishing slowly I’m writing so slowly that you might be wondering if I’m ever going to get anything …
: To care is to disobey The book Pirate Care discusses how the act of caring for others has been criminalized, and it …
: I’ve found Natalie Goldberg’s writing prompts to be especially helpful. Maybe it’s …
: A great strength of youth is to be able to say, with naive but powerful conviction: “How hard …
: 💬 “We live in a warehouse of casts that have lost their moulds,” - Roberto Calasso, The Marriage of …
: Making meaning where there is none A quote by Italian author Roberto Calasso parallels the enigmatic environment of Piranesi’s …
: A photo of a toy train set from @manton brought back a fond memory: The first time I ever used eBay …
: Diversity is the only reality!
: Currently reading: Wanderlust by Rebecca Solnit 📚 I like walking because it is slow, and I suspect …
: Useful Australian software? You’re probably thinking of Canva or Atlassian. And who even knows …
: Torches against pitchforks There’s a great Dave Coverly cartoon of a worried king looking down from the battlements of …
: “Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through …
: Create a note system that indexes itself Niklas Luhmann’s Zettelkasten system exemplifies a self-indexing record-keeping method. It …
: Semantic line breaks are a feature of Markdown, not a bug The adoption of semantic line breaks in Markdown enhances clarity by encouraging writers to isolate …
: 💬 “It was mainly a matter of transcribing and rearranging my notes… My notes were like …
: 💬“Read Montaigne, read him slowly, carefully! He will calm you . . . Read him from one end to the …
: Maybe you can create coherent writing from a pile of notes after all “My notes were like plans for a bridge”. I’ve argued that you can’t create …
: Read better, read closer For anyone seeking clues on better techniques for reading, Scott Newstok, author of How to Think …
: Improve your notes (and your life) with two-word phrases I’ve been discovering the power of two-word phrases in innovation and branding. This article …
: Year in books for 2024 Happy New Year! Here are some of the books I finished reading in 2024. Happy New Year! Do you have …
: Here’s a fascinating podcast episode about Andrew Hui’s new book. The Study. “With …
: Zettelkasten anti-patterns When developing your Zettelkasten, your collection of linked notes, what have you learned not to do? …
: 💬 “Put something on the Web, and do it for free”. thehistoryoftheweb.com/the-free-…
: Here’s one for the #Zettelkasten and #PKM tragics: a dive into the pre-history of …
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Atomic notes and the unit record principle
Researcher Andy Matuschak talks about atomicity in notes, an idea also …Thinking about atomic notes
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How to write a better note without melting your brain
There’s a great line in Bob Doto’s book A System for Writing which goes like this: …
: In The Atlantic Arthur Brooks suggests three ways to become a deeper thinker. He also ‘solves’ a …
: TIL there’s a tracker for bogong moths! What? Yes, the iconic, endangered species that keeps the …
: The future: They touted a slow race between 1984 and Brave New World. Instead it’s a sprint to …
: Want to read: On Mysticism by Simon Critchley 📚 Having written about Julian of Norwich as a sci-fi …
: 🗨️ Keanu Heydari on the value of the #Zettelkasten. “Maintaining a zettelkasten is, in itself, …
: 📷 Just returned from hiking in New Zealand, where the sky was blue and the politics torrid. I …
: Do I prefer Mastodon or Bluesky? No need to choose, just cross-post from my blog using micro.blog. …
: Lots of interest in Bluesky lately. I signed up a year ago. Although I hate venture-funded projects, …
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Not just notes: another meaning of 'Zettel'
In German, Zettelkasten, quite simply, means ’note box’. But there’s another, more …
: This year, for Halloween, I’m wearing normal clothes. Somebody asked me, “What are you supposed to …
: 💬 “Are you curious about your world? If so, what does your curiosity look like? How does it feel, …
:
Busybody, hunter, dancer - which is your curiosity style?
Are you curious about your world? If so, what does your curiosity look like? How does it feel, and …
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Three styles of curiosity - so which one is yours?
I’m interested in what it means to be curious. So I was intrigued by a new study about …
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Why not make notes by hand?
It’s often said that making notes by hand is good for learning. Here’s 🎬Notes on Biology …
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So many note-taking apps in the app graveyard - but not all are zombies
While clearing out my desk recently I found a USB thumb drive with a whole heap of old note-taking …
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The truth according to Trump
Alan Jacobs rightly observes that Trump supporters don’t care about the ’truth’ of …
: 💬Manuel says: “people are slowly starting to realise that you can get immense human value from the …
: 💬 “Doing and seeing and thinking about stuff. Writing things down. Sharing and talking about little …
: Yuri says social media platforms have killed links. If so, it’s a very bad thing. I …
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How to write an article from your notes - an example
In July 2024 educational technologist Andy Matuschak published a long article outlining his …
: 💬 Oliver Burkeman: It’s not that systems for getting things done are bad, exactly. It’s just that …
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The shortest writing session that could possibly be useful
Here’s my perspective on ‘atomic notes’. They’re atomic in time even before …
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Enhanced markdown apps you can use for free to make effective notes
I’ve lost track of the ridiculous number of ‘Zettelkasten apps’ now on the loose …
: Finished reading: A System for Writing by Bob Doto 📚. Ok, I finished it a while ago, and here’s my …
: Finished reading: The Looking-Glass by Machado De Assis 📚 My favourite late 19th century Brazilian …
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How to get Strata for micro.blog up and running
I’ve decided to make use of the ‘notes’ feature in micro.blog. This is like making private posts in …
: I know nothing about breakdancing 🤣 but back in October I attended the qualifying event for the …
: “Feel the importance of every day, and every hour as it passes” - Jane Austen 🗨️ More
: Great evening light on the way home 📷
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Feel the importance of every day, and every hour as it passes: Jane Austen's timely advice for writers and creators
Jane Austen died in the cathedral city of Winchester on July 18, 1817; she was 41 years old. Towards …
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Feel the importance of every day, and every hour as it passes: Jane Austen's timely advice for writers and creators
Jane Austen died in the cathedral city of Winchester on July 18, 1817; she was 41 years old. Towards …
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My favourite tool is this notebook I made
I couldn’t find a note-making app that really suited me so I made one myself. OK, that’s …
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Notemaking helps you remember - and helps you forget
Do we really need to remember everything? This is the question posed by Lewis Hyde’s memorable …
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Making notes will aid your short-term memory, even when you haven't got one
This week I was making notes about a presentation when my colleague looked over and offered to just …
: Thanks to @guidostevens@kolektiva.social I found this great quote from Cal Newport, from his book …
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A System for Writing by Bob Doto
“The note you just took has yet to realize its potential.” - Bob Doto. Another …
: 💬"The note you just took has yet to realize its potential." - Bob Doto, A System for …
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A System for Writing by Bob Doto
“The note you just took has yet to realize its potential.” - Bob Doto Another …
: Here’s why Puss in Boots is my hero: he made something from nothing, and so can we. This …
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Something from nothing is no fairy tale
As an adult, one of my favourite fairy tales is Puss in Boots. I have immense respect for this …
: Why not let your reading be a smorgasbord of serendipity? Yes indeed, why not let your reading be a smorgasbord of serendipity? Here’s Anna Funder, …
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A minimal approach to making notes
I want a minimal approach to making notes. I don’t want anything fancy, just enough structure …
: Five useful articles about writing Here are five links with worthwhile writing advice. 🖋️ How to think in writing, part 1: The thought …
: Finished reading: Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa 📚 This made me want to visit …
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A forest of evergreen notes
Jon M Sterling, a computer scientist at Cambridge University, has created his own ‘ …
: “let’s look at all the apps that live under our thumbs, and interrogate the choices they’re making, …
: Andy Bell found 14 ways to supercharge your workflow with AI, but I’ve found the single best one.
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Make your notes a creative working environment
“Do you have an ideal creative environment? Also do you believe the physical space influences …
: Being human is a trend now. According to the Mintel Global Consumer Trends Report for 2024: “Today’s …
: 🐙 Octopus intelligence is intriguing. Having read Ray Naylor’s The Mountain in the Sea 📚, I …
: I really enjoyed the latest micro.blog photo challenge, both taking part and seeing all the great …
: As online search declines (thanks Google 😖) more people should know about it the discovery tools on …
: Is the Web reconfiguring itself again? Is the web falling apart?, Eric Gregorich wonders. Meanwhile Manuel Moreale is confident that the …
: 📷 Day 28: Community. Spotted at a rally in Sydney: “Let’s dream new blueprints for the …
: Finished reading: Ian Gentle: The Found Line, edited by David Roach 📚 I’ve posted about this …
: Finished reading: Always Will Be by Mykaela Saunders 📚 These short stories are set entirely in …
: 📷 Day 27: it’s always a lovely surprise to receive a bespoke selection of books in the mail, …
: 📷 Day 26: critter. It’s a bluebottle, or Portuguese man o’ war. These wash up on the beach, mainly …
: 📷 Day 25: spine. This is ‘Echidna’ by Illawarra artist Ian Gentle.
: 📷 Day 24: light. I took this shot as we saw in the new year on the beach.
: 📷 Day 23: dreamy. On the weekend I visited White Bay Power Station for the Sydney Biennale. Reopened …
: 📷 Day 22: blue. This is the ocean pool at Kiama, NSW.
: 📷 Day 21: mountain. This is Black Mountain, the unlikely centre of Canberra.
: 📷 Day 20: ice Memories of Norway.
: 📷Day 19: birthday On my birthday this year I visited an exhibition of the artist Louise Bourgeois. …
: 📷 Day 18: mood The Blue Mountains, in one of their mysterious moods.
: 📷 Day 14: cactus. This is from ‘The Channel Series’, by Karl de Waal, as seen at the Art Gallery of …
: Finished reading: Orbital by Samantha Harvey 📚 This reads curiously well alongside To be Taught, if …
: 📷 Day 13: page. Fantastic marginalia on this page of a manuscript at the State Library of Victoria.
: Finished reading: To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers 📚My backlog of sci-fi reading is …
: Finished reading: A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers 📚I seem to be getting through the …
: 📷 Day 7: I’ve posted this photo before but it’s definitely my idea of wellbeing.
: Remembering 2 Tone records.1 (I once met Jerry Dammers’ dad. He was an extremely proud father). HT …
: 📷 Micro.blog photo challenge April 2024. Day 4: foliage #mbapr
: 💬“Peace of the sort that brings wholeness, harmony, and health to our lives only happens when chaos, …
: Micro.blog photo challenge April 2024. Day 3: Card. My daughter made this card for my birthday, to …
: 📷 Micro.blog photo challenge April 2024. Day 2: Flowers. This extraordinary bunch came our way. What …
: 📷Micro.blog photo challenge April 2024. Day 1: toy
: How to set your own agenda Harrison Owen, who died in March 2024, invented one of the most hopeful approaches to group …
: Finished reading: A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers 📚 I found this almost too whimsical …
: When it comes to writing notes, how much mess is just enough? Oliver Burkeman, author of Four Thousand Weeks, likes to keep his notes messy1: “‘Messiness’, in …
: Really looking forward to forward to photoblogging in April. It’s simple: just post a photo every …
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Don't make a Zitatsalat out of your writing
Yes, Zitatsalat. I found this lovely but rarely used German …Zitatsalat? What does that even mean?
: Hugo shortcodes in micro.blog Here’s a quick test of Hugo shortcodes. I’ve been reading some tips for making the most of the Hugo …
: 🌊 A blissful Autumn weekend swimming and surfing #pacificwavewednesday Surf Beach at Kiama, New …
: Work as if writing is the only thing that matters “Work as if writing is the only thing that matters. Having a clear, tangible purpose when you …
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The card index system is ‘a thing alive’ - or is it?
Niklas Luhmann, the famed sociologist of Bielefeld, Germany, wrote of how he saw his voluminous …
: How to make Mastodon even more fun! Here are a couple of fun websites that will make Mastodon (and possibly the whole fediverse) even …
: 💬 “The real issue with speed is not just how fast can you go, but where are you going so fast? It …
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How to start a Zettelkasten from your existing deep experience
An organized collection of notes (a Zettelkasten) can help you make sense of your existing …
: 💬"At what point does something become part of your mind, instead of just a convenient note …
: Here’s how we journey beyond the ‘hero’s journey’.
: Yes, we can be heroes, but does that mean we should be? Yes really, we can be heroes. Thanks very much David Bowie! But if this sounds attractive, perhaps …
: Give it, give it all, give it now Annie Dillard on the writing life 💬 See also: The constant flight forwards Sharing what you know …
: Looks like you can all relax. Everyone’s ‘pivoting’ these days, so why not Satan? …
: Mark Luetke shows how he uses a Zettelkasten for creative work (‘zines!) “The goal here …
: Atomic notes - all in one place From today there’s a new category in the navigation bar of Writing Slowly. ‘Atomic Notes’ now …
: A new post category in micro.blog, filtered to include existing posts Micro.blog is a really useful and easy way to host a website. Even though it feels more like a …
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How to overcome Fetzenwissen: the illusion of integrated thought
It’s too easy to produce fragmentary knowledge. One potential problem associated with making notes …
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From fragments you can build a greater whole
Everything large and significant began as small and insignificant This is my working philosophy of …
: How to decide what to include in your notes Before the days of computers, people used to collect all sorts of useful information in a …
: Promethean shame among authors using AI tools: “It starts to make you wonder, do I even have any …
: At last, writing slowly is back in fashion! Cal Newport, author of the forthcoming book, 📚Slow Productivity, has finally latched on to the …
: Thinking nothing of walking long distances How far is too far to walk? Author Charlie Stross observed that British people in the early …
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Does the Zettelkasten have a top and a bottom?
What does it mean to write notes ‘from the bottom up’, instead of ‘from the top down’? It’s one of …
: Can we understand consciousness yet? Professor Mark Solms, Director of Neuropsychology at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, …
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Ross Ashby's other card index
During the Twentieth Century many thinkers used index cards to help them both think and write. …
: Soon we'll all be writing the books we want to read To benefit from AI-assisted writing, look closely at how it’s transforming the readers. Whenever new …
: Even the index is just another note It’s tempting to place your notes in fixed categories At some point in your note-making …
: I’m late to the party but just needed to say: yes, the web is fantastic . I actually love it 😍
: 📷 Moonlight over the headland. This time of year in Sydney is pretty magical.
: Three worthwhile modes of note-making (and one not-so-worthwhile) I finished reading Alex Kerr’s Finding the Heart Sutra on New Year’s Eve, so it just scraped into my …
: It feels soothing that they still have these mechanical boards at a few rail stations in New South …
: Finished reading: Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin …
: Manton Reece has updated his excellent and inspiring book on Indie Microblogging. This 1660 …
: Some people have created a little list of books they didn’t read in 2023. I suppose mine would be my …
: Finished reading: Finding the Heart Sutra by Alex Kerr. 📚 I really enjoyed Alex Kerr’s Lost …
: Finished reading: Same Bed Different Dreams by Ed Park 📚 This was my final read of the year, 2023. …
: The value of feedback depends on how you use it I had a school friend who worked on Saturdays at the local op shop. Whenever an item of clothing she …
: Raising babies? Here's how to survive - I mean, enjoy it Ben Werdmuller may not be alone in finding it quite a challenge raising a baby while also having a …
: Conducting myself properly They made me the student leader of the school orchestra. One day the music teacher was sick and he …
: The real story of Napoleon? If you’re thinking of viewing Ridley Scott’s movie version of Napoleon 🍿, or if …
: Why I'm writing faster Why do you write? Everyone has their reasons but I write so I can think: Writing is not simply a way …
: Publish first, write later Even a flightless bird may contemplate the constant flight forward “Literature is perhaps …
: Whether I’m a tortoise or a hare, or a person who resists anthropomorphizing animals just for the …
: Having posted Choose your own race and finish it there’s no excuse now not to boost this: …
: Choose your own race and finish it Are you Hare or Tortoise? The idea of writing slowly appeals to me because it comes from …
: yeah, no, that didn’t work. Back to the drawing board. Or whatever board is needed for my wicked …
: I’m a big fan of the POSSE approach - Post Once, Subvert Social networks Everywhere. I think that’s …
: Well I’ve signed up to BlueSky. Dislike sociopathic ‘social’ networks at the whim of seed(y) …
: A history of thinking on paper It’s hard to describe how exciting it was to receive in the mail this morning: The Notebook by …
: Finished reading: Movement by Thalia Verkade 📚This is for everyone who’d like to get around their …
: In eight different ways, to have a friend is to be one A few years ago, Barking Up The Wrong Tree reflected on research 1 that identified the eight …
: How to make the most of surprising yourself Your collection of linked notes, your Zettelkasten, isn’t a ‘second brain’, as …
: Finished reading: The Circle of the Way by Barbara O’Brien 📚 Plenty of wide-ranging …
: Finished reading: The Real Work by Adam Gopnik 📚A great section on the art of magic and the …
: Learning to make notes like Leonardo Leonardo wrote on loose sheets of paper The Codex Arundel, a notebook of Leonardo Da Vinci, is not …
: Discovering the music of Kyle Shepherd 🎵 As part of the Sydney Opera House 50th Birthday celebrations there was a staging of South African …
: Finished reading: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin 📚Would recommend if you or …
: Can you keep all your notes in email? Zsolt suggests using email as a kind of append-only note storage system. Edit: Zsolt is actually …
: 📷 🎶 Can’t let the day go by without marking that Sydney Opera House opened exactly 50 years ago …
: 📷 Ominous weather above the Parramatta River. What does the morning have in store?
: If we're not just making content, what are we making? My little struggle with editing text directly in Wordpress has highlighted a distaste for the term …
: Finished reading: Farsighted by Steven Johnson 📚 Wrote 17 notes in 2 hours, and enjoyed doing it by …
: Updating a Wordpress site this weekend felt like a chore. I really wanted to enjoy it, but the …
: Yet more good vibes in Sydney: Glebe Point Road closed to traffic means it’s open for a …
: Good things in Sydney, continued… the brand new accessible entrance to Redfern Station. …
: Linda Burney, Minister for Indigenous Australians, at our local polling centre this morning for the …
: When I was a child, my mother loved nothing better than to visit ‘Bronte country ‘, or …
: The only problem with 📷🎉 completing the September 2023 micro.blog photoblog challenge - 30 days of …
: Currently reading: Why Women Read Fiction by Helen Taylor 📚 Bought this at the National Library …
: 📷🎉 Celebrating the completion of the September 2023 micro.blog photoblog challenge. 30 days of …
: 📷 Day 30: treasure #mbsept The final day of the photoblog challenge, and a treasured memory of my …
: 📷Day 29: Contrast #mbsept The Glowworm Tunnel in the Wolgan Valley, NSW. I couldn’t see the glow …
: 📷 Day 28: workout (@rom) #mbsept It might just work out, but it’ll certainly be a workout.
: 📷 Day 27: embrace (Matt, aka @mroutley) #mbsept This pub gets a big tick! (It’s obviously the only …
: 📷 Day 26: beverage (@Annie) #mbsept Art at The National Gallery of Victoria: 100 glasses (1991-92). …
: 📷 Day 25: flare (Matthew, aka @matt17r) #mbsept Sydney’s Darling Harbour may feel like an …
: 📷 Day 24: belt (George, aka @allaboutgeorge) #mbsept When we visited CERES in Melbourne, we also …
: 📷 Day 23: a day in the life #mbsept Deeply into our residency in Portland NSW. Please come to the …
: 📷 Day 22: road (Dan, aka @jomalo) #mbsept Hairpin bends at Kamay National Park, Sydney
: 📷Day 21: fall #mbsept Coat-hanger season might be my favourite time of year.
: 📷Day 20: disruption #mbsept Sometimes you have to protest to stop the disruption. “Let’s …
: 📷 Day 19: edge #mbsept Clear edges at Adelaide’s Himeji Garden.
: Is domain-hosting a viable social media business model? Since July 2023 BlueSky has apparently learned from Manton Reece and micro.blog that you can run a …
: 📷 Day 18: fabric #mbsept Fab 1970s wallpaper at The Foundations, Portland NSW.
: Can you make your autobiography out of hashtags? Image credit[^1] The hashtags of a cyberneticist In 1963 Ross Ashby, the British cyberneticist and …
: 📷 Day 15: red #mbsept The bottlebrush trees at the front of our house are just coming into bloom.
: 📷 Day 14| statue #mbsept Food for thought.
: As 9/11 is commemorated again it’s worth reflecting on why some people are wary of US foreign …
: 📷 Day 13| glowing #mbsept Sydney Airport at dusk.
: 📷 Day 11 | retrospect #mbsept
: 📷 Day 10 | cycle #mbsept I’d like to put an end to these signs. Bike paths should go on …
: 📷 Day 9 | language #mbsept There are more than 150 of these signs in Wales.
: A note on the craft of note-writing An fairly new article from Brazil caught my eye, on note-writing as an intellectual craft. It …
: 📷 Day 8 | yonder #mbsept A sign in the Art Gallery of South Australia.
: 📷 Day 7 | panorama #mbsept Can’t believe it’s been a week already. Good memories of this …
: If you live your life in chunks, what size should they be? Life tends to be lived in chunks. Hours, days, weeks, months, seasons, years - these are familiar if …
: Yes, Esperanto is idealistic - not that there's anything wrong with that The child who learns Esperanto learns about a world without borders, where every country is home. …
: Finished reading: Milkman by Anna Burns 📚 Different from what I expected - very funny. It’s …
: Micro.blog photo challenge day 5 | forest read more). 📷 #mbsept
: 📷 🏡A couple of weeks ago we visited CERES urban farm, with its community garden, cafe, bike …
: 📸 Day 3 | Precious Three days into the Micro.blog photo challenge already! Time spent simply …
: How many books are you reading? On Mastodon, Evan Prodromou asked “How many books are you reading?” and I was slightly …
: Finished reading: Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon. 📚 Loving Austin Kleon’s blog, I ordered his …
: 📸 Day 2 | Buildup The Micro.blog photo challenge continues! There was a lot of buildup to the blue …
: 📸 Day 1 | Abstract The Micro.blog photo challenge begins! Most of the paintings in our house are …
: Looking forward to the micro.blog photoblogging challenge, starting soon at a blog near you. 📷
: Feels like Summer here in Sydney, even though it’s the penultimate day of Winter. 26C by lunchtime, …
: The early morning cloud was lifting over Spectacle Island 📷
: How to connect your notes to make them more effective A linked note is a happy note A great strength of the Zettelkasten approach to writing is that it …
: What is the real work of Serendipity? Currently reading: The Real Work by Adam Gopnik 📚 The Real Work is what magicians call ’the …
: Hey @joshua , what did you end up doing during your last 48 hours in Paris? The suspense is killing …
: TiddlyWiki is a really useful writing tool I use Tiddlywiki as a writing tool, and as a heavily customised Zettelkasten (an ‘index box’ of …
: This newly opened bike path is a great example of #greeninfrastructure. The pipe easement beside the …
: Writing about my worm farm, which is a metaphor for my writing:
: Yesterday I polished the look of the Writing Slowly website by switching to Matt Langford’s Tiny …
: Mystery machinery, abandoned on the Karloo Track. Is it a lawnmower? 📷
: Finished reading: Unlocking Luhmann by Claudio Baraldi 📚 This is a great companion volume to the …
: Cherry blossom! Spring is here. 📷🏡
: “RSS rules, man!” - Baldur on Martin Field’s Really Specific Stories podcast. 🎙️💬
: Ted Nelson's Evolutionary List File Rick Wysocki has a great post introducing Ted Nelson’s innovative idea for a new kind of file …
: A Network of notes is a rhizome not a tree The Zettelkasten is not just an outline The Zettelkasten approach to making notes and writing is not …
: Finished reading: Your Name is not Anxious by Stephanie Dowrick. Urgent, practical, and affirming. …
: “Walking in and of itself is a way to cultivate precisely all the qualities of person-hood that seem …
: Is there a literature of teeth? Do you find teeth comical? Do you find it hard to take them seriously? Jianan Qian, writing in The …
: Finished reading: Foster by Claire Keegan 📚 Wonderful. Almost as good as Small Things Like These.
: Two metaphors for #learning. Do we acquire knowledge or do we participate in it? Maybe it’s …
: Another week, another new bike path! Still partly under construction, this one’s near my house …
: The dream is diversity “We co-create with one another and with nature, but by the very creativity of the Universe and …
: The dream is diversity “We co-create with one another and with nature, but by the very creativity of the Universe and …
: Just want to say I’ve been using #Workflowy for 541 weeks now. It’s just fantastic. The …
: Checked out this new Sydney cycling path on the weekend. It runs from Parramatta, across the …
: The mastery of knowledge is an illusion The writing task always eludes us. CJChilvers sees in the slow but inevitable demise of the Evernote …
: Walter Benjamin on the obsolete book “Already today, as the current scientific mode of production teaches, the book is already an …
: Hermann Burger - Serious about a Zettelkasten? The Swiss writer Hermann Burger (1942–1989) wrote the draft of a novel in 1970 called Lokalbericht …
: 📷 Low hanging cloud over the creek on the way home.
: Currently reading: Milkman by Anna Burns. 📚 By turns hilarious and harrowing. It’s not at all …
: Thoughts are nest-eggs - Thoreau on writing In October 1837 the writer Ralph Waldo Emerson prompted the twenty-year-old Henry David Thoreau to …
: I have elephants A chapter of Sarah Bakewell’s book Humanly Possible considers the life and times of …
: 📚I’m really enjoying Craig Mod’s latest pop-up newsletter from Japan. This time he’s doing a walking …
: Finished this collection of short stories a while ago but forgot to record that important fact: A …
: This week I finished reading: Lost Kingdom by Serhii Plokhy 📚 Discovered some of the complexities of …
: 🎵 Belatedly learning to play ‘Maybe I’m amazed’. There’s something …
: Gaslit by machinery that calls itself a person “I’m Bard, your creative and helpful collaborator. I have limitations and won’t always get it …
: How to be interested in everything Thomas Edison claimed he was interested in everything “One day while Mr. Edison and I were calling …
: To build something big, start with small fragments Building something big from something small. That’s how everything big gets built. 💬 …
: Let's have another new logo Matti is unimpressed that the notetaking app Obsidian has a new logo. Change. It happens all the …
: 📷🐋 Just when we thought we would see nothing, this humpback whale popped up at the mouth of Broken …
: The lost index cards of Harold Innis Chris Aldridge has discovered yet another writer who used index cards to construct an extensive body …
: With the rise of large language models (LLMs), we are once more suffering from La Stilla Syndrome. …
: Jules Verne could have told us AI is not a real person A castle of mysterious voices In one of French writer Jules Verne’s many sensational novels, …
: Very happy the videos are already available from micro.camp. It was frustrating to be (not) watching …
: I read the top ten Zettelkasten posts on Hacker News so you can do something more wholesome with your day I really did read a lot of geeky Zettelkasten posts and now I’m going to share them with you …
: More than ever, embracing your humanity is the way forward. Innovation makes people panic. Every so …
: 🍳📷 I made this. Just saying.
: 📷🐦Though they’re a common site on Sydney Harbour and the Parramatta River, I rarely see this …
: Aby Warburg's Zettelkasten and the search for interconnection Aby Warburg and the compulsion to interconnect Aby Warburg was a German art historian obsessed with …
: Thanks to a post by @chrisaldrich I was finally prompted to write about Aby Warburg’s …
: Aby Warburg's Zettelkasten and the search for interconnection Aby Warburg and the compulsion to interconnect Aby Warburg was a German art historian obsessed with …
: Emotional Ignorance by Dean Burnett 📚demolishes the old myth that we only use 10% of our brains. …
: Was Dracula foiled by a gang of obsessive note-takers? May 3 is the date Bram Stoker’s famous novel, Dracula begins. It’s a classic tale of …
: 30 years of the World Wide Web. An incredible journey! I recall wondering if it would supersede …
: More discontent in the world of academic publishing. It’s amazing how far the brightest people …
: “The question: what are you making with your notes?” An important question, and a great …
: “Everyone needs their own thinking space.” Sometimes it’s a room of your own, …
: “Do you know exactly what you want?” It’s a very good question. I do, and my word of the year is …
: An amazing Femi Kuti concert last night. The recordings are great but they don’t do justice to …
: 📷 Golden early-evening light on the route home.
: The Writer’s Journey began as a memo. Working at Disney during the 1980s, Christopher Vogler …
: April already 📷📚It’s April already. Do the months slip past ever faster? Autumn has arrived again and it’s …
: 💬 “In a society that profits from your self doubt, liking yourself is a rebellious act”. A magic …
: Personal publishing is still the future The online writing gurus say it’s pointless starting your own blog, because no one will read …
: Can’t believe I’ve only just found out about the Parks board game. (Hat tip to John Chandler) …
: Visited the Wildcat Zine Fair in yesterday’s rain. Did I mention I really like zines? Something …
: Adding two plugins to the website this morning. ‘Search space’, by @sod is now at 1.0 so definitely …
: We think best when we bring opposites together “We think best when we bring opposites together, when we realize that all these realities, one …
: 📷 Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 31: “practice “. Keeping the instruments out and ready to …
: 📷 Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 30: “mirror” Penultimate day of the photo challenge!
: 📷 Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 29: “slice” One of our local bakeries does a quite decent …
: 📷🚲Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 28: “prompt” I like to keep this old prompt front-of-mind: …
: 📷 Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 27: “support” Sydney has many more bridges than just the …
: 📷 Day 26 of the Micro.blog March Photoblogging Challenge. The prompt is ‘instrument’. This small …
: 📷 🌮Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 26: “variety” Fond memories of the time my kids and their …
: 📷 🌮Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 25: “spice” When I searched my photographs for “spice”, …
: 📷 Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 24: “court”. Walking through the parks near my house just …
: 📷 Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 23:”chance”
: 📷 🐝Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 22: “insect” Just in time for a photograph, this native bee …
: 📷 Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 21: “tiny”
: 📷🪴Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 20: “houseplant” In hot weather, spraying the leaves of this …
: How’s your coffee art these days? I predict big improvements for my game. ☕️
: 📷 🗂️🗃️Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 19: “analogue”
: 📷 Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 18: “portico” When it comes to fancy architecture, nothing …
: 📷 Day 18: “fabric #mbsept 1970s wallpaper at The Foundations, Portland.
: A gift from my son: three intriguing books for my to-read pile (which never seems to get any …
: 📷 Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 17: “early”. Cloud on the headland, slow to …
: 📷 🚴Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 16: “road” Came across a surprising sign on a cycling tour …
: 📷🐈 Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 15: “patience” If you wait long enough, something is bound …
: 📷 Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 14: “horizon” Mysterious Lake George. The …
: 📷 Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 13: “connection” At work I’m into …
: 📷 Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 12: “shiny” It’s often very bright at my …
: 📷 Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 11: “gimcrack” The very opposite of gimcrack: a …
: 📷 Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 10: “ritual” My daughter goes surfing almost …
: 📷 Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 9: “together” Spotted during my regular bike …
: Micro.blog March Photo Challenge Week 2 Preview Just thought I’d provide a preview1 of week 2 of the photoblog challenge. Week 2 prompts: 🗓 …
: 📷 Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 8: ‘Walk’ Exploring the mangrove walkway at …
: 📷 Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 7: ‘Whole’ The leaves of my Swiss cheese plant, …
: 📷 Micro.blog March Photo Challenge, day 6 “Engineering”. This time last year we were …
: You don't build art, you grow it Finished reading: Dancing with the Gods by Kent Nerburn 📚 This book is advice on the artistic life …
: 📷 Micro.blog March photo challenge, Day 5: Tile. A home renovation uncovered these original hearth …
: 📷 March Micro.blog photo challenge day 4: Zip I imagine commuting by zip-line to my office in the …
: I woke before dawn to find someone had left a beach campfire alight through the night. As the sun …
: 📷 March Micro.blog photo challenge day 2: Weather The view from the train window this morning neatly …
: 📷 March Micro.blog photo challenge, day 1: Secure Well, that’s what the cat’s feeling, …
: Can AI give me ham off a knee? Last night I lay awake thinking about how AI-automated writing is about to change our entire …
: When someone believes they have no expertise, that doesn’t mean they have nothing useful to say. We …
: Free books! 📚 TIL: A search on Amazon Kindle produces loads of free academic book titles, many of …
: Putting yourself out there attracts people who are likeminded. That’s one benefit of making it …
: Despite AI, the Internet is still personal Blogging is great and it will never die. That’s why I keep coming back to it and you do too. Dave …
: A home to endangered pied oystercatchers. The city is just visible in the distance.
: What I saw on my bike ride this moring - a view through the bird-hide window.
: Footnotes Footnotes For some reason I really like footnotes. And sometimes 1 it’s good to see the …
: Finished reading Cold Enough for Snow Finished reading: Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au 📚 This was a quite mezmerising read. It …
: The coming ellipsis eclipse Eclipse of the ellipsis: should you be worried? Apparently, using an ellipsis marks you out as …
: Here’s a photo of where I live. It wasn’t sunny today though. Today we had nearly 10cm of rain. In …
: Why I'm writing slowly There’s an emerging movement in favour of ‘slow productivity’. And writing is one …
: Want to read: Pirate Enlightenment by David Graeber 📚 I’ve long been fascinated by the idea …
: The thing about advice is that people do what they want with it Currently reading: Dancing with the Gods by Kent Nerburn 📚 I know nothing at all about Kent Nerburn, …
: Finished reading: Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout 📚 This was an intriguing character study. Lucy …
: Can sentimental writing ever be as exact as reality? Finished reading: The Forest of Wool and Steel by Natsu Miyashita 📚 There’s a section of the …
: Big changes at writingslowly.com New year, new website (backend) It’s a new year, so it must be time for new web connections! …
: The past is as urgent as ever Finished reading: The War of the Poor by Eric Vuillard 📚 This incendiary novella - only 66 pages …
: Visions of a utopian Middle Ages Finished reading: Matrix by Lauren Groff 📚 I found this an intriguing, highly fictional …
: My piano is a forest Currently reading: The Forest of Wool and Steel by Natsu Miyashita 📚 I love the metaphor of the …
: What I learned from Austin Kleon about sharing what you know Learning and sharing, sharing and learning. It’s a virtuous circle. That’s what I …
: Without democracy, no true creativity Finished reading: Against Creativity by Oli Mould 📚. This is a critique of everything symbolised by …
: I'm now @Richard@mastodon.au - yes I joined Mastodon. There's an original idea. As though there …
: Not thinking of writing a novel in November Well, I didn't sign up to NaNoWriMo, where you undertake to write 50,000 words in a month. Partly, …
: Thinking of writing a novel Manton mentioned NaNoWriMo and that has got me thinking. …
: Living beneath the shadow of the past In former times people lived their lives beneath the shadow of their past. The golden age was always …
: My range is me The actor and film director Taika Waititi made an interesting comment on his creative process: "I'm …
: You can get a lot done by writing slowly “People say to me, ‘Oh, you’re so prolific’…God, it doesn’t feel like it—nothing like it. But, you …
: When I publish a post with no title, where does it go and who gets to see it?
: Thanks to Tom Critchlow, I now know a simple JS trick for including the micro.blog feed into a …
: Best albums of 2018 Thanks to NPR’s list of great albums of the year, I found Jeremy Dutcher, Wolastoqiyik …
: I had forgotten that posts to my wordpress site only show up on micro.blog if there’s no …
: Finally the iPad Having finally got hold of an iPad, I’m expecting more posts here soon - and by extension on …
: zines I'm imagining writing a handful of 'zines and setting up stall at one of those 'zine fairs. I would …
: Great bike ride down the river and along the bay this morning. Cold to start but warmed up nicely. …
: You have been warned It starts innocently enough, then they take over the world. You have been warned.
: Social networks fit for humans “Social Networks don’t scale socially”. A distributed alternative to large social …
: A big win for civilization in England? A judge has ruled that a local council in England needs to …
: What keeps me from blogging? Mark Sample asks himself what it is about blogging that keeps him from blogging. For me, to be …
: Shelter [caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“393”] Olivia Chaney - …
: Blogs are back According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, blogs are back! The article references one of my …
: Should I read the Indieweb Guide? I’ve now added the Indieweb plugin along with webmentions. Looking forward to finding out how …
: Only sinners left down here I miss my old habit of blogging regularly. It used to make me happy. I like the idea of cultivating …
: Just by posting on my site, the post is automatically mirrored to micro.blog
: New micro.blog account I did in fact add a micro.blog account, which you can find at micro.blog/writingslowly (but it's …
: I’m thinking of adding a connection between this site and Manton Reece’s micro.blog …
: Welcome Hello,Thanks for reading my first post here. As you can see the site certainly lives up to its name. …
: 📷 Day 25: flare (Matthew, aka @matt17r) #mbsept Sydney’s Darling Harbour feels like an …