5 ms·

An amusing anecdote: I was in grad school in 1987. The university had a campus computer store, which gave out a pamphlet: "Should I get a computer?" It listed m

An amusing anecdote: I was in grad school in 1987. The university had a campus computer store, which gave out a pamphlet: "Should I get a computer?" It listed many pro's and con's, nothing surprising for the era. I already had a computer. The thing that stuck with me, was the advice: "Don't expect a computer to organize you. If you have a messy desk, you will have a messy computer." Sure as shootin', even to this day, I still have a messy computer.

Terr_ 2y ago
Nevertheless, I go through life with the persistent unconscious belief that if I buy products-for-organizing I will become organized. :p
- jaredsohn 2y ago
  In a similar way, buying exercise equipment gets you in shape.
  - callc 2y ago
    If you buy enough equipment then the act of carrying the equipment inside will get you in shape. Just like my bogo sort. It’ll get there eventually.
    - throwup238 2y ago
      The most exercise I’ve ever had is solo assembling a 295 pound Rogue Fitness Monster Lite power rack and raising it from the horizontal position I assembled it in to the vertical position. I figured after that much effort I needn’t exercise ever again. I sold it the next week at a loss (cheapest hobby I’ve ever had). Although to be fair I didn’t realize at the time that I needed to buy the barbell and weights too. Lesson learned: stick to the monthly gym membership that I will never use. The second most exercise I’ve ever had is solo raising my Grizzly 14” bandsaw to standing. Also never used, but at least I never had the heart to sell it.
      - marcosdumay 2y ago
        That's the thing: you have to disassembly your gym equipment after you finish assembling it. Make sure you keep a set of boxes to put it back on.
  - layer8 2y ago
    And buying books makes you smart and knowledgable. It’s all so easy!
SV_BubbleTime 2y ago
Reminds me of the lottery… “If you aren’t happy before the money, you won’t be happy after”. Most people interviewed are not happy after relatively large wins, almost all report being isolated from family in the best cases and deeply resented and resentful more often than not.
- bookofjoe 2y ago
  "You know you won't win — but you might!" — Terry-Thomas on playing the lottery
  - SV_BubbleTime 2y ago
    “Your odds are winning are exactly the same if you don’t play.”
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
teekert 2y ago
True, however, anything not digital gets lost. And I may have many messy backups but I will find that one 15 y/o photo or doc when I need it.
uwagar 2y ago
i find my computer is better organised than my desk.
luotuoshangdui 2y ago
That's true. But at least you can do a search on a computer.
- cjs_ac 2y ago
  > You can't grep dead trees.
  - Ozarkian 2y ago
    The world's librarians at least gave it a good effort. Do you still remember all those card catalogs at the library?
    - sidewndr46 2y ago
      Not just that, I remember learning all of the different systems and being told how invaluable it was for research.
      - timcobb 2y ago
        I caught what must have been the last itty bitty tail of that. I was a 3rd grader in 1993 and were taught all about the card catalog and the Dewey decimal system and taking notes on note cards and organizing them in notecard boxes and how important it all was for research. I'm glad we moved on from that. For me, it was a drag.
        jolmg 2y ago
        IIRC from when I visited a library earlier this year, they were still being used in the genealogy section.
    - sokoloff 2y ago
      Yes, I remember them but also observe that we’ve moved on from those trays of cards in narrow drawers systems (and good riddance!). Those cards are no replacement for literal grep, of course. They were a search across a tiny summary of the contents, albeit a fairly structured one (which is helpful for some searches).
rollcat 2y ago
> Don't expect a computer to organize you. If you have a messy desk, you will have a messy computer. That's why Google and GMail got so successful. Don't sort; search.
- apozem 2y ago
  I love using note-taking apps for this reason. They are a bottomless bucket into which you can throw unlimited unorganized thoughts. When you need them later, simply search.
  - jagaerglad 2y ago
    which do you recommend? I do "note to self" in messaging apps and the search is alright but I guess there are better alternatives
    - rollcat 1y ago
      I use Notes.app on Mac & iPhone. Haven't found anything I like that would also work on Linux/BSD.
    - apozem 1y ago
      I've tried tons and ended up on Notion. Works on every device, syncs well, supports rich embeds and easy publishing to the web. It really depends on your preferences. Anything works as long as it has cloud sync and half-decent search. Some apps I've tried and liked: Apple Notes, Simplenote, Bear, Obsidian and Craft
- ThrowawayTestr 1y ago
  And there's Everything for Windows
al_borland 2y ago
For a long time, this was certainly true, and still is to an extent. I do find that software is beginning to do a good job of automatically organizing content when it has enough metadata to do so. Photos are the best example of this I’ve see. I use Apple Photos, and from the effort I put in (none), it’s just a large shoebox full of pictures. However, the software organizes everything by date, location, type, subject, etc, all at the same time. This makes it pretty effortless to find anything very quickly. Trying to create this level of organization manually would be borderline impossible, and require a person devoting to their life to organizing this one specific aspect of their life. There was recently a death in the family and everyone was looking for photos. I was able to pull up every picture of this person I had, spanning nearly 20+ years, in seconds. Others who didn’t use the software effectively spent hours and days manually scrolling through their photo grid. I attempted to tell them how they could make it easier, but they weren’t in the mood to deal with technology lessons, understandably so, so I didn’t try and press it.
- andy99 2y ago
  Others who didn’t use the software effectively spent hours and days manually scrolling through their photo grid. I attempted to tell them how they could make it easier, but they weren’t in the mood to deal with technology lessons, understandably so, so I didn’t try and press it. Doesn't that demonstrate the point?
  - al_borland 2y ago
    They spent years actively avoiding letting the software do its thing in several ways. In many cases putting forth more effort to avoid letting the software make their life easier. Their rejection of technology is what led to the struggle. For example, I clicked a button 16 years ago for face detection, and in 16 years they didn't do that and didn't want to. I use iCloud photo library so I have access to all my pictures everywhere, while they have fractured libraries on various hard drives (that I don't think are backed up anywhere else). Turning on face detection any time in the last 16 years and keeping their library together, solves the problem and creates less work. And sure, I end up paying $2.99/month for extra storage, but that seems cheap when factoring in the time they spend trying to avoid it, not to mention the calls I've gotten when they think a drive isn't working and they are crying, because they think they just lost everything. I'd pay the $3 for them if it meant never getting a call like that again, where I'm bracing to hear someone died, because they are crying so much they can't get the words out. Several times when I pulled up pictures they have asked me how I'm able to do it so quickly. It's not exceptional organization or effort on my part, I'm simply using the software. I took 10 minutes, one time, to play around with the new Photos app when they revamped it, instead of just complaining that it changed, like most of the internet. There is no magic. Learn how the tools work, and use the tools. When you do that, the organization can often take care of itself.
exe34 1y ago
I can't find/grep on my desk. My messy computer is much easier to handle!

Terr_ 2y ago

Nevertheless, I go through life with the persistent unconscious belief that if I buy products-for-organizing I will become organized. :p

jaredsohn 2y ago
In a similar way, buying exercise equipment gets you in shape.
- callc 2y ago
  If you buy enough equipment then the act of carrying the equipment inside will get you in shape. Just like my bogo sort. It’ll get there eventually.
  - throwup238 2y ago
    The most exercise I’ve ever had is solo assembling a 295 pound Rogue Fitness Monster Lite power rack and raising it from the horizontal position I assembled it in to the vertical position. I figured after that much effort I needn’t exercise ever again. I sold it the next week at a loss (cheapest hobby I’ve ever had). Although to be fair I didn’t realize at the time that I needed to buy the barbell and weights too. Lesson learned: stick to the monthly gym membership that I will never use. The second most exercise I’ve ever had is solo raising my Grizzly 14” bandsaw to standing. Also never used, but at least I never had the heart to sell it.
    - marcosdumay 2y ago
      That's the thing: you have to disassembly your gym equipment after you finish assembling it. Make sure you keep a set of boxes to put it back on.
- layer8 2y ago
  And buying books makes you smart and knowledgable. It’s all so easy!

SV_BubbleTime 2y ago

Reminds me of the lottery… “If you aren’t happy before the money, you won’t be happy after”. Most people interviewed are not happy after relatively large wins, almost all report being isolated from family in the best cases and deeply resented and resentful more often than not.

bookofjoe 2y ago
"You know you won't win — but you might!" — Terry-Thomas on playing the lottery
- SV_BubbleTime 2y ago
  “Your odds are winning are exactly the same if you don’t play.”

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

teekert 2y ago

True, however, anything not digital gets lost. And I may have many messy backups but I will find that one 15 y/o photo or doc when I need it.

uwagar 2y ago

i find my computer is better organised than my desk.

luotuoshangdui 2y ago

That's true. But at least you can do a search on a computer.

cjs_ac 2y ago
> You can't grep dead trees.
- Ozarkian 2y ago
  The world's librarians at least gave it a good effort. Do you still remember all those card catalogs at the library?
  - sidewndr46 2y ago
    Not just that, I remember learning all of the different systems and being told how invaluable it was for research.
    - timcobb 2y ago
      I caught what must have been the last itty bitty tail of that. I was a 3rd grader in 1993 and were taught all about the card catalog and the Dewey decimal system and taking notes on note cards and organizing them in notecard boxes and how important it all was for research. I'm glad we moved on from that. For me, it was a drag.
      - jolmg 2y ago
        IIRC from when I visited a library earlier this year, they were still being used in the genealogy section.
  - sokoloff 2y ago
    Yes, I remember them but also observe that we’ve moved on from those trays of cards in narrow drawers systems (and good riddance!). Those cards are no replacement for literal grep, of course. They were a search across a tiny summary of the contents, albeit a fairly structured one (which is helpful for some searches).

rollcat 2y ago

> Don't expect a computer to organize you. If you have a messy desk, you will have a messy computer. That's why Google and GMail got so successful. Don't sort; search.

apozem 2y ago
I love using note-taking apps for this reason. They are a bottomless bucket into which you can throw unlimited unorganized thoughts. When you need them later, simply search.
- jagaerglad 2y ago
  which do you recommend? I do "note to self" in messaging apps and the search is alright but I guess there are better alternatives
  - rollcat 1y ago
    I use Notes.app on Mac & iPhone. Haven't found anything I like that would also work on Linux/BSD.
  - apozem 1y ago
    I've tried tons and ended up on Notion. Works on every device, syncs well, supports rich embeds and easy publishing to the web. It really depends on your preferences. Anything works as long as it has cloud sync and half-decent search. Some apps I've tried and liked: Apple Notes, Simplenote, Bear, Obsidian and Craft
ThrowawayTestr 1y ago
And there's Everything for Windows

al_borland 2y ago

For a long time, this was certainly true, and still is to an extent. I do find that software is beginning to do a good job of automatically organizing content when it has enough metadata to do so. Photos are the best example of this I’ve see. I use Apple Photos, and from the effort I put in (none), it’s just a large shoebox full of pictures. However, the software organizes everything by date, location, type, subject, etc, all at the same time. This makes it pretty effortless to find anything very quickly. Trying to create this level of organization manually would be borderline impossible, and require a person devoting to their life to organizing this one specific aspect of their life. There was recently a death in the family and everyone was looking for photos. I was able to pull up every picture of this person I had, spanning nearly 20+ years, in seconds. Others who didn’t use the software effectively spent hours and days manually scrolling through their photo grid. I attempted to tell them how they could make it easier, but they weren’t in the mood to deal with technology lessons, understandably so, so I didn’t try and press it.

andy99 2y ago
Others who didn’t use the software effectively spent hours and days manually scrolling through their photo grid. I attempted to tell them how they could make it easier, but they weren’t in the mood to deal with technology lessons, understandably so, so I didn’t try and press it. Doesn't that demonstrate the point?
- al_borland 2y ago
  They spent years actively avoiding letting the software do its thing in several ways. In many cases putting forth more effort to avoid letting the software make their life easier. Their rejection of technology is what led to the struggle. For example, I clicked a button 16 years ago for face detection, and in 16 years they didn't do that and didn't want to. I use iCloud photo library so I have access to all my pictures everywhere, while they have fractured libraries on various hard drives (that I don't think are backed up anywhere else). Turning on face detection any time in the last 16 years and keeping their library together, solves the problem and creates less work. And sure, I end up paying $2.99/month for extra storage, but that seems cheap when factoring in the time they spend trying to avoid it, not to mention the calls I've gotten when they think a drive isn't working and they are crying, because they think they just lost everything. I'd pay the $3 for them if it meant never getting a call like that again, where I'm bracing to hear someone died, because they are crying so much they can't get the words out. Several times when I pulled up pictures they have asked me how I'm able to do it so quickly. It's not exceptional organization or effort on my part, I'm simply using the software. I took 10 minutes, one time, to play around with the new Photos app when they revamped it, instead of just complaining that it changed, like most of the internet. There is no magic. Learn how the tools work, and use the tools. When you do that, the organization can often take care of itself.

exe34 1y ago

I can't find/grep on my desk. My messy computer is much easier to handle!