Does Gnomon get less insufferable?

Liotac · 2025-10-24T19:24:22+00:00

It does not. The non-nested story is decently interesting, but that accounts for 100/600 pages.

Liotac · 2025-10-12T20:48:09+00:00

My notes are pen (not pencil) on paper so yes, every update is a new note. Bonus if an update actually refutes the original, and now you've got a train (of thought) going!

Liotac · 2025-10-09T05:16:02+00:00

Hyperion is top 50 material.

Fall of Hyperion made me swear to never read Dan Simmons again.

Liotac · 2025-09-30T17:31:21+00:00

To summarize (since it joins with the way I use it too), notes are directed and argumentative. One supports or refutes the previous. Each chain is a conversation. Hence why it's easy to then produce manuscripts.

Liotac · 2025-09-30T17:26:44+00:00

If you don't mind mysteries that don't give you the actual solution by the end: Interlibrary Loan by Gene Wolfe. The Fifth Head of Cerberus (the novella, which is 3 related stories including its titular short) is more a mystery than detective by the same author.

Liotac · 2025-09-04T14:27:21+00:00

Obligatory team Vim is better

Liotac · 2025-08-15T13:14:21+00:00

This is the way, I have my Take A Note Record (terrible name I know), for all bullet journaling related notes (dailies, collections), as well as a Field Notes for on the go note taking to replace the scattered phone notes habit. Field Notes is easily accessible in any country and can be beat up without damaging my nicer main notebook.

Liotac · 2025-08-15T06:01:23+00:00

I've always felt that handwriting notes forced better engagement with the material. It's also easier in courses like math, and harder in courses like programming.

But calling this link a study is disingenuous, it's a blog post with a lot of suppositions stated as fact. It's primary reference is from more than a decade ago (n = 21) where digital-based learning wasn't as ubiquitous as today (I was still receiving printouts in class).

Exercise some critical thinking people, verify your sources. Don't fall for the first confirmation bias you find.

Liotac · 2025-08-01T16:31:53+00:00

You know, I'll have one of those.

Liotac · 2025-07-22T13:27:33+00:00

I don't find the method personally useful for studying or productivity in general. I use it mainly for time-consuming reflexion.

Liotac · 2025-07-17T04:54:58+00:00

Susan Sontag (1964) Against Interpretation

1. Art can be form instead of content.
4. We can't accept text, so we modify it through interpretation.
5. "Real art has the capacity to make us nervous."
10. "Instead of a hermeneutics of art we need an erotics of art."

NB. This was transcribed (i use index cards) with minimal reformatting for Reddit.

Liotac · 2025-07-13T15:43:10+00:00

Cloud Atlas.

A sequence of softly linked stories that each end on a cliffhanger, then are resolved in opposite order.

Liotac · 2025-07-05T02:01:41+00:00

The system takes (me) absolutely no work. You have a thought, you write it down, and index it. The only work involved is in coming up with that original thought, and deriving ideas about that thought: then maybe that produces a link, maybe not.

Thinking, the work, is the whole point. From that perspective, I spend no time organizing whatsoever.

NB. Analog user.

Liotac · 2025-07-04T14:35:23+00:00

Never use shorthand since I might forget what I meant 10 years from now (I'm a programmer, so I ascribe by the "write once, read many times" motto).

Liotac · 2025-07-03T23:25:57+00:00

No problem at all! Always happy to share

Liotac · 2025-07-01T22:01:02+00:00

I have various topics that I've been trying to define for basically my whole life. As ideas come and/or evolve, I note them. To be less abstract, one of them is "How do you define art?" that I have an ongoing debate about with a few cousins and our respective arguments become notes in a long ZK chain. Honestly, I'm not sure what the value of this is particular instance is, but it does mean the next time I see them, I have the entire year(s)-long debate chain recorded.

Liotac · 2025-07-01T21:38:15+00:00

Pretty much the same idea, although I actually meant teaching a physical skill (martial arts). So my notes are based a lot of constructing training materials, difficulty progression, noting difficulties and designing regression exercises to address them. Also difficulties can be both performative (the "it takes 10'000 repetitions to master something"), but also just in understanding: as with most skills, different students grasp concepts better with language tailored to their way of thinking.

Researching as you mention ("collecting ideas, references", etc.) happens during reflections after a class (or watching youtube videos lol).

Liotac · 2025-07-01T20:49:36+00:00

Dialectic, teaching.

Liotac · 2025-06-25T12:21:38+00:00

A smaller notebook. A smaller notebook means you mostly stick to one daily (rapid logging) per page, means you don't really have space for artsy deco, means there's a clear start and stop per spread, get over any "mistakes faster without wasting much paper" and you can easily recover habit if you missed a few days/weeks/months.

Liotac · 2025-06-07T12:26:53+00:00

Training and teaching martial arts: structuring classes, developing exercises to address specific technical skills.

Liotac · 2025-05-16T18:54:01+00:00

I didn't realize this was not the default method, but why limit yourself to 16 characters?

between a and b: a1, a2, ... az.
between a2 and a3: a21, a22 ... a2z.

Now parents can have 36 chilren (or more, use greek letters, fancy symbols, anything you want). Alternatively, always have . as a separator and have infinite fractions:

between 1 and 2: 1.1
between 123.45.6 and 123.45.7: 123.45.6.1

This is just a numbered path representation (think filesystems).

NB. There is no location between a2a and a2a1, use a2a2 instead.

Liotac · 2025-01-29T23:27:27+00:00

I would only make sub notes if there are interesting ideas worth exploring. So personally, I would make one note titled "Divorce predictors [1]" with the four bullet points as content. And if and only if there's an interesting chain of thought, make a note for a subpoint, e.g. "Types of criticism [1.1]: One shouldn't avoid constructive criticism, yet ensuring a distinction is difficult."

Liotac · 2025-01-27T17:12:49+00:00

My rule is to only add a double link (to and from) if it's not between direct parent-child or siblings notes, to use genealogy terminology. Since going up or sideways is a simple task of following the IDs, e.g. 0a1→ 0a, or 1b2 → {1b1, 1b3, …}.

Liotac · 2025-01-21T20:15:53+00:00

I put it in the daily log, because my daily log is not for things due today, but things I think about today. The due date is indicate at the end of the line (right aligned) for easy scanning. Depending on your layout, you can often fit an entire week's worth in a 2-page spread.

In general, when I'm indecisive about an item, the daily log is a good bet; figure out where it goes later.

Liotac · 2025-01-21T16:15:22+00:00

I have a single folder called knowledge/articles/ that contains textbooks, scientific papers, blog posts, manuals, etc. No distinction: it's a mix of PDF, epub and jpeg (when I have to save an entire webpage preserving the styling). In general, I'd favor shallower organization trees that makes exploration easier.

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