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When I finished my PhD in physics, my father asked me what I might want as a gift. My first company got its first investment so I knew I was leaving academia.
by spodek 7y ago
When I finished my PhD in physics, my father asked me what I might want as a gift.
My first company got its first investment so I knew I was leaving academia. The world outside academia had white boards, which felt unnatural and the markers always running out of ink. A piece of chalk, you knew exactly how much was left -- a physical bar chart.
I asked him for a blackboard. I still have it and use it, though not daily. It's about 4 feet by 6 feet. The only thing that compares and that drew me away from it to any degree is mindmapping software. I use Freeplane https://www.freeplane.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page https://www.freeplane.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page, but it doesn't replace the blackboard.
Nothing like a blackboard.
- schaefer 7y agoGiven the topic of the article, you should absolutely post a link to a photo of your blackboard. :)
- themodelplumber 7y agoThat's awesome, I love your bar chart analogy. BTW I enjoy using Freeplane too, and wouldn't object to seeing screenshots of others' mind maps...
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- JoshTriplett 7y agoThere are whiteboard markers that show you how much ink is left: https://www.amazon.com/Erase-Markers-Indicator-Chisel-Black/dp/B01N7THFMQ https://www.amazon.com/Erase-Markers-Indicator-Chisel-Black/...
- devchix 7y agoI, too, love a blackboard. A door in my house is covered with a cheap chalkboard-like material, not real slate, so it curves and pops with changing season and humidity. I have 10 sticks of Hagoromo chalks and a couple of those fiddly chalk holders. To me one of the most comforting sounds in the world is the musical staccato of chalk on blackboard. Problems are being solved, or at least, the evidence of an attempt. I love when it's full of scribbles, then a wet towel makes the black pristine again. I want to replace the whiteboard I have with a real slate board, but I don't think they make them anymore.
- tzs 7y ago> My first company got its first investment so I knew I was leaving academia. The world outside academia had white boards, which felt unnatural and the markers always running out of ink. A piece of chalk, you knew exactly how much was left -- a physical bar chart. I wonder if you could make a whiteboard marker holder that can tell you how much is left in the marker by noting the changes in weight as the ink is used? BTW, apparently you can get refillable markers. That could help a lot. Keep two of each other color, starting with both full. When one runs out, switch to the other, and sometime before that runs out, refill the first. At my last office, I asked if I could have a blackboard instead of a whiteboard, but my boss said that chalk dusk is bad for computers and rejected my request.
- TeMPOraL 7y agoMarkers I use at home have exchangeable "marker fluid" cartridges built from transparent plastic, so I can tell roughly how dry is the marker by checking whether there is some fluid sloshing around. It's an uncommon model, though, and I think the company making it stopped producing the variant with exchangeable cartridges.
- bitwize 7y agoDid you get some of that Japanese chalk? The good shit? There's a Japanese brand of chalk that's like the Cuban cigar of chalk, because the factory closed down due to low demand so now there's a limited global supply and mathematicians are buying it up because of course. You should score some if you can.
- evanb 7y agoIt's Hagomoro, mentioned in the second paragraph that it's now being made in South Korea. It's expensive but no longer at risk of extinction.