Reading Time: 2 min Centuries ago, before we had ways to easily and reliably transfer the written word, memory and storytelling were key, as that’s really all you had. If you didn’t remember what you needed to know, you were done — there was no library to reference, much less a search engine. Over time, though, that’s certainly changed. […]
Learning
Learning more leads to learning more
Reading Time: < 1 min Your brain will never be “full”. It might feel like it sometimes, but that’s not the case. In fact, it’s largely the opposite; as you learn more, your capacity to learn expands as well. In his book “Moonwalking With Einstein“, author Joshua Foer shares a few insights along those lines. The first is about your […]
Areas to wish to be ignorant
Reading Time: < 1 min I recently saw a quote that got me thinking, but I haven’t figured out where to take it yet. It’s attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson, and he said: There are many things of which a wise man might wish to be ignorant. I can see it going a few ways. Evil Knowing about the hardships […]
Remember more, or choose to forget?
Reading Time: 2 min I talk a lot on here about efforts to improve my memory by using tools like Anki. I believe that knowing some things by heart is important. On the other hand, I have an extensive notes database that I constantly manicure (currently in Tana) so that I have a record of things that I want […]
I should probably know that
Reading Time: < 1 min I wrote a few years ago about my fear of unknown gaps in my knowledge, and why that means I’d likely shy away from any opportunity to be on a game show. I think I’d likely perform fairly well, depending on the show, but there’s a chance I would miss an easy question and would […]
What day is it on that date?
Reading Time: 2 min Not long ago, I fell into a rabbit hole on YouTube and found myself watching a video on how to determine what day of the week a particular date fell on. For example, you might hear November 22, 1963, and this technique helps you to quickly determine that it was a Friday. For things like […]
Outliner versus plain text note-taking systems
Reading Time: 2 min As I’ve been digging more into the Tana note-taking app and talking to people about the pros and cons of it, a common dividing line seems to be coming up; is the app focused on outline-style notes, or plain text? I never really thought it mattered to me (and I didn’t even really see the […]
Show Me
Reading Time: < 1 min If you’ve ever watched “Better Call Saul”, you’re likely familiar with Lalo Salamanca. When his uncle Hector has a stroke and is debilitated, Lalo comes up from Mexico to Albuquerque to help oversee the family business. He wants to get a feel for how things are run, so he asks a lot of questions. As […]
Context is essential for learning
Reading Time: < 1 min I recently was going back through a book I read a while ago, and I had highlighted some sections inside of it. Those sections were indeed interesting, but the highlight was mostly useless. Why had I highlighted those words? Did I agree with them? Disagree? Have other thoughts? There was no way to easily tell. […]
Honest skepticism
Reading Time: 2 min If you disagree with something I post on here, or something you read elsewhere, or with a position that a political candidate holds, that’s great! You shouldn’t (and really can’t) agree with everything out there, so holding your position is very important. However, what if you later realize that you were wrong? If you said […]