7 ms·

Thoreau 2.0

331 points by anu_gupta 13y ago

alexpopescu 13y ago
> This is a picture of me in 2009, right around when I started Pinboard. I'm standing on a balcony in Botosani county, Romania, in the poorest county in the European Union. I had no idea (based on his name) that Maciej started Pinboard in Romania.
- ccozan 13y ago
  Neither do I. Impressive. Never used Pinboard, but I'll take a look. PS. And actually Bulgaria is the poorest, Romania does better.
  - RexRollman 13y ago
    I am not a Pinboard "user" but it is a great way to find stuff to read. The system has a very nice url system. For example: https://pinboard.in/t:minimalism https://pinboard.in/t:minimalism
    - kmfrk 13y ago
      Indeed, and it'll be grown increasingly into a platform for subscription-based consumption, when the Pinboard Reader is launched. You can basically create your own reddit feed of tags, even if you don't intend to use the bookmark feature - which is quite excellent.
      - jfb 13y ago
        As a long time pinboard user, I devoutly hope not. It's a great service for antisocial people like me, and I'd be disappointed were it to develop that "social" layer of oily mucus.
        kmfrk 13y ago
        You can already subscribe to tags. It's not social in a sense that you can interact directly with others, but it does have a secret feature of sharing your bookmarks with others by making them public.
    - mjs 13y ago
      I'm a pinboard.in user, but I actually find the URL scheme annoying, at least compared to delicious. I find it much easier to type http://delicious.com/username/tag http://delicious.com/username/tag than http://pinboard.in/u:username/t:tag http://pinboard.in/u:username/t:tag
      - jarek 13y ago
        The argument has been that by specifying what each URL part is, you can build a link to https://pinboard.in/t:minimalism https://pinboard.in/t:minimalism in the first place. Is delicious.com/minimalism the tag minimalism or the user minimalism? And what is delicious.com/settings? In practice, delicious gets around this by making all-user tags accessible at http://delicious.com/tag/iphone http://delicious.com/tag/iphone, but then you can't have a user named "tag". Or "tools", or "help", or "about", or "terms", and there's probably more and they might change every now and then.
  - omilu 13y ago
    wow your in for treat, pinboard is fantastic
  - strivesc 13y ago
    Bulgaria didn't have as high a standard of living as Romania at the time, 2009, but Botosani county on Romania's Moldovan border was the poorest county in the EU. Whether or not it still is, I do not now.
  - shock 13y ago
    He is referring to Botosani county being the poorest in EU, not the count_r_y Romania. Fell for it too :)
- kijin 13y ago
  A Polish immigrant to America starts a one-man business while traveling (staying? working?) in Romania, gives it an Indian TLD, and moves back to America to work on it full-time. And only a short while ago I'd been reading his blog about Argentinian cuisine. 50 years ago, people would have found this mind-boggling. The Internet truly is global.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
- sdevlin 13y ago
  > Is the Thoreau in the Thoreau 2.0 picture wearing Google Glass glasses? As I understand Thoreau, he would today look exactly as he looked then. He surrounded himself with vegetables, beans, trees, critters, and such. Maybe a t-shirt or other more casual clothing than the high-collared stuff in his photograph, but I don't see him using any latest technology. Rather I see him shunning it. I would expect Thoreau would look and act the same if her lived a thousand years from now or a thousand years ago -- connecting with and valuing bean fields, ponds, winter animals, farms, and other parts of nature where people live harmoniously with it. I'm fairly confident that was a joke.
  - greenyoda 13y ago
    I also thought it was a joke, comparing the "contraceptive properties of the neckbeard" with the contraceptive properties of wearing Google Glass.
kennon42 13y ago
If you liked Maciej's talk, you should definitely check out his blog: http://idlewords.com http://idlewords.com Warning: kiss the next several hours goodbye because he's simply an outstandingly interesting and funny writer - imagine something like a cross between Bill Bryson and Douglas Adams and you wouldn't be too far off the mark.
pixelmonkey 13y ago
I thought this section was particularly good: """ He was obsessed with how complexity can creep into unexpected corners of your life, disguised as necessity. He gives the example of a farmer who convinces himself he must eat meat in order to stay strong. Since meat is expensive, the farmer tills more land in order to afford it. And the harder he works, the hungrier he gets, in a vicious spiral. [...] What I had thought was a convenience had actually been the foundation for a little pyramid of anxieties. [...] I'm intrigued by this idea of complexity being something adversarial, that sneaks into your life, like a cockroach, and you have to fight to eradicate. """ Doesn't just apply to life, but also to software and startups. I've been running a tech startup about as long as Maciej (though with a very different path / business), and I sometimes wonder about the complexities we now take for granted, 4 years in. Not just complexities of our business, but also the infrastructure we've re-built, re-factored, re-architected, etc. over the years and our own understanding of the problem space we've "mastered". We've assembled this tapestry of tools, technologies, processes, cultural practices, customers, partners, etc. And as software engineers, we have "simply accepted" a certain level of complexity. When the company first started in 2009, it was just two guys sending keystrokes into a fresh vim buffer. No "funding", no "process", no "brand" -- just creation. I think this is what creates nostalgia for the early days of a company's life -- it's the purity and simplicity of it. I wish I had gotten Maciej's advice earlier and kept a journal.
jamesbritt 13y ago
Some info about Henry David Thoreau, including how to correctly pronounce his last name. http://www.walden.org/thoreau http://www.walden.org/thoreau
- Simucal 13y ago
  This movie is great. There is a sequel I've been meaning to watch.
ansimionescu 13y ago
As a Romanian I feel compelled to say that we're far from the poorest economy in EU/Europe. Romania is still a standard Eastern European/post-communist hellhole (although slowly improving), but not _that_ poor.
- aristidb 13y ago
  Right, Bulgaria is poorer.
- random2 13y ago
  He did say "county" not "country", although it seems a typo. However based on Wikipedia data (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_European_Union http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_European_Union) Romania and Bulgaria are the poorest countries in Europe by GDP per capita at only 2% difference(47% vs 49% of EU GDP - 12,100 vs 12,600 euro respectively). Compared to Hungary (14,700 euro), I'd say we're (I'm also Romanian) not far, but rather close to being the poorest economy in EU and we're also the 9th poorest in Europe (http://www.techscio.com/the-poorest-country-in-europe/ http://www.techscio.com/the-poorest-country-in-europe/). That being said, I didn't know Maciej built Pinboard in Romania, that's pretty cool, I'd say. I wonder what was he doing in Botosani :)
ansimionescu 13y ago
As a Romanian I feel compelled to say that we're far from the poorest economy in EU/Europe. Romania is still a standard Eastern European/post-communist hellhole (although slowly improving), but not _that_ poor.
graeme 13y ago
For those who do journaling: how do you do it? Paper? Software? Either way, what kind of system do you have for organizing your notes?
- bcl 13y ago
  gpg encrypted vim file.
- Arun2009 13y ago
  I have a wordpress blog hosted on my PC. I backup the journal onto a remote drive service every night.
- celwell 13y ago
  This is actually one of the things that has kept from journaling. I can't write by hand fast enough, and I'm sick of the brightness of a laptop screen by the end of the day. I know, pretty lame excuses.
- FreezerburnV 13y ago
  I actually use a nice paper journal (with awesome leather Portal cover sleeve, so I can replace the book inside) and a fountain pen, in general. As well as just starting to adopt this system (which was on HN recently): http://www.bulletjournal.com/ http://www.bulletjournal.com/ The main things I've learned is that indexing is incredibly important. Number your pages, and keep at least one page in the front of the journal for referencing what pages belong to what category. Don't overthink the categories, sometimes broad is good. Most often I just use "Random thoughts/writing" or "programming". It might seem odd to keep an actual, physical paper journal in this day and age. But for some reason, the tactile nature of it just feels right. I have more motivation to pop open my paper journal and physically write some things than I do to pop open VIM, or Evernote, or Simplenote, or whatever. Even on a phone or a tablet. (especially so, in fact) On top of that, there's less of a chance of a paper journal being stolen, you never have to worry about internet connectivity (Evernote, non-premium), or battery life, or having to fight a multitasking system... the list goes on. I've had times where I just want to take a quick note and I end up fighting something auto-opening, or already being open, or waiting for a new note, that I just get frustrated and end up back with real paper. I haven't found anything that is as flexible or works as well to date. (I also HEARTILY recommend you get either blank paper, or graph paper. particularly graph paper. I have a huge notebook I carry around of graph paper, and it has proven invaluable for so many things. from diagramming software code flow, to diagramming an interface, or even just plain writing notes. this is what I use: http://www.jetpens.com/Maruman-Mnemosyne-Imagination-Notebook-A4-8.3-X-11.7-5-mm-X-5-mm-Graph-70-Sheets/pd/4076 http://www.jetpens.com/Maruman-Mnemosyne-Imagination-Noteboo... It's good for carrying in a bag/backpack for serious needs, not as great for a journal. I tend to have both with me)
dot 13y ago
if you're inspired by Thoreau, I recommend you check out Dick Proenneke's little film "Alone in the Wilderness". First 10 minutes here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYJKd0rkKss http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYJKd0rkKss
gavinpc 13y ago
In the spirit of the OP's message, I am bookmarking this page, with Ctrl+D.
throwawaw 13y ago
Wow, he's a really good writer. I didn't expect that to be such a pleasure to read.
- simonw 13y ago
  If you liked that, check these out: The Alameda-Weehawken Burrito Tunnel: http://idlewords.com/2007/04/the_alameda-weehawken_burrito_tunnel.htm http://idlewords.com/2007/04/the_alameda-weehawken_burrito_t... A Rocket To Nowhere: http://idlewords.com/2005/08/a_rocket_to_nowhere.htm http://idlewords.com/2005/08/a_rocket_to_nowhere.htm Scott and Scurvy: http://idlewords.com/2010/03/scott_and_scurvy.htm http://idlewords.com/2010/03/scott_and_scurvy.htm And everything else on http://idlewords.com/ http://idlewords.com/ (The pinboard blog is great too, I particularly liked http://blog.pinboard.in/2011/10/the_fans_are_all_right/ http://blog.pinboard.in/2011/10/the_fans_are_all_right/)
  - radiowave 13y ago
    Agreed. I don't believe there's any other blog that I've so consistently enjoyed reading as idlewords.
    - vithlani 13y ago
      Seconded. (Thirded? Fourthed?) Anyways, the man has a way with words.
  - lfittl 13y ago
    And if you like languages, don't forget: Why Arabic Is Terrific http://idlewords.com/2011/08/why_arabic_is_terrific.htm http://idlewords.com/2011/08/why_arabic_is_terrific.htm
- gammarator 13y ago
  It's a very different style of writing, but his twitter feed is hilariously sarcastic: https://twitter.com/pinboard https://twitter.com/pinboard
tptacek 13y ago
He's got something interesting to say about the event itself, too: https://blog.pinboard.in/2013/09/xoxo_talk_notes/ https://blog.pinboard.in/2013/09/xoxo_talk_notes/
- kafkaesque 13y ago
  And this was my initial reaction when I started reading his presentation. I made that "Huh?" face. I kept reading, but half-way through, I skipped portions of it. My problem: his presentation sounds too contrived. My background is in literature; meaning, I am obsessed with literature and reading and its where most of my knowledge rests. I love Thoreau. I'm a hiker. I'm learning to program. I really like computers and technology. But I rarely, if ever try to unite the two. Sorry, it just doesn't work. One things computers try to do is make things scale, as I understand it; understand and organise things with massive computer power. I'm not saying this is a bad thing. But Thoreau wanted the opposite. I'm sure the presenter meant well, and his heart was in the right place, but have a close look at the words he uses. They're buzzwords to try to relate to an audience who is further apart from Thoreau's ideology than he might've wished. He is "rebranding" Thoreau. Thoreau is not a 'content creator', because that word has certain connotations nowadays, which do not apply to him. Yes, this might be semantics, but this type of updated/21st century diction to try to relate/appeal to a new audience sounds contrived. I applaud his efforts, because at least Thoreau serves as a way to balance out technologists' lives. But because he was so extreme, all this sounds like yoga instructors talking about living a better life sipping on their Starbucks coffee and buying expensive Yoga mats. I mean, sure, it's really good that you have recognised the worth of many nonmaterialistic things, but you're not really helping if most of your life is materialistic. Note I'm not forcing anyone into doing away with their material- and technology-driven lives. All I'm saying is Thoreau's ideology and the modern person are not compatible, unfortunately. And because of that, all we can do is sit around and study his writings conceptually, abstractly, without gaining the experience he wanted everyone to have. Few of us could stand 2 years of living the way he did, yet the presenter actually feels the need to tell his audience, (I'm paraphrasing), "Sure! Thoreau ONLY did it for 2 years, and he had mom and sister come out once a week to help!" Um...how long would the average person be able to stand it? The OP says it is easy to take Thoreau out of context, because he is so quotable, yet continues to do this very thing! "Moreover, you must walk like a camel, which is said to be the only beast which ruminates when walking. When a traveler asked Wordsworth's servant to show him her master's study, she answered, 'Here is his library, his study is out of doors.'" He doesn't mean that you need to go and collect data electronically on people or go on a Google car and photograph every single major street to store it, analyse it, and show it to the world on a computer. If you believe this is what he is saying, this is called "reappropriation". Lastly, let me quote again from his book titled Walking--a recommended read because it is short, yet illustrates his ideology. "In short, all good things are wild and free. There is something in a strain of music, whether by its wildness, to speak without satire, reminds me of the cries emitted by wild beasts in their native forests. It is so much of their wildness as I can understand. Give me for my friends and neighbors wild men, not tame ones. The wildness of the savage is but a faint symbol of the awful ferity with which good men and lovers meet." Stop trying to tame Thoreau's ideas. Let's not try to make ourselves feel better by saying we have some things in common with him or stretching his ideas. I go into nature to get away from my computers and society and everyone else. It is my own personal struggle or inner conflict. I don't need to try to convince others of how good we can have it if we just adopted Thoreau's ideas, because by our current standards, he would be considered an extremist. In that same passage above, Thoreau goes on to talk about how domesticated animals need to reassert themselves. Please, let's not dilute Thoreau just to make us feel better, because (1) most people who don't agree with him will not feel better about it; and (2) most people who want to agree with him will find that they cannot adopt his ideas or lifestyle. I think the HN crowd is too smart to adopt some half-assed idea. They'd rather come up with their own idea or take on how to find a balance between technology, nature, and tackling startup culture.
dominotw 13y ago
Now I have portlandia song stuck in my head. Dream of the 90's is alive in portland...portland.
justinator 13y ago
I'm not trying to be snarky, but, "Being an Entrepreneur", and, "Be very much like Thoreau"are two very disparate goals. I would very much like everyone to read Walden - it's a wonderful, incredible, life-changing book. But the feeling I get at the end is not, "Man, I should start a business, where people can post up images of things they want! And then other people can see if they want them! And then, then! We can advertise!" The feeling you get, after reading the book - well, the feeling I got was more, "I'm still in this system, I want out, I can't, the world is truly monstrous". We can all live in our own little cabins in the woods for a little while, we can all do our own little civil disobedience - but like young adults, most of us grow out of it, because to hold this course is very hard and greed is a very easy trap to fall into. If you like Thoreau, one of the most obvious path to take would then be Emerson and his essays. They're all wonderful, but I don't know what lessons you learn from them can be applied to "start a business with someone elses money that hopefully goes public", except that that itself is a fool's errand. I don't know what either would say about social media or whatever it's called know, execept that it's simply abstracts the real nature of actual interaction, into something that's lost the important parts of it. What would Thoreau say about working so long hours typing away at a keyboard? He would say that's the worst thing at all: work only as much as you want, and no more. That's a whole chapter in Walden. How many people here, truly do that? Things to think about. and also, what a lame title for a talk - there already WAS a Walden Two, and, for a sci-fi book, it's not half bad. Kinda weak, but worth a read [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walden_Two http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walden_Two And it itself was a take on how to bring Thoreau idea into a community setting. It's a little more than, "Write journals!", and "Know Yourself!". This talk - trying to take a masterpiece book, and apply it to your life, and trying to talk about it in bite-sized chunks.... it's not working for me. Show me, don't tell me.
- greenyoda 13y ago
  "Being an Entrepreneur", and, "Be very much like Thoreau" are two very disparate goals. But it sounds like Maciej's goal was not to be an entrepreneur, but to be able to support himself running a one-man business. Being self-reliant that way instead of depending on a job in someone else's company might be quite in agreement with the simple life that Thoreau advocated.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
bbg 13y ago
persevere
lotsofcows 13y ago
Very nicely written. Funny and interesting. I liked the mention of the slightly less scrupulous side of Thoreau too - he also mentions dining with friends quite a lot; his financial figures don't add up; and his attitude toward the poor was not as enlightened as one would expect from an intelligent, educated, clever man.

331 points by anu_gupta 13y ago

> This is a picture of me in 2009, right around when I started Pinboard. I'm standing on a balcony in Botosani county, Romania, in the poorest county in the European Union. I had no idea (based on his name) that Maciej started Pinboard in Romania.

ccozan 13y ago
Neither do I. Impressive. Never used Pinboard, but I'll take a look. PS. And actually Bulgaria is the poorest, Romania does better.
- RexRollman 13y ago
  I am not a Pinboard "user" but it is a great way to find stuff to read. The system has a very nice url system. For example: https://pinboard.in/t:minimalism https://pinboard.in/t:minimalism
  - kmfrk 13y ago
    Indeed, and it'll be grown increasingly into a platform for subscription-based consumption, when the Pinboard Reader is launched. You can basically create your own reddit feed of tags, even if you don't intend to use the bookmark feature - which is quite excellent.
    - jfb 13y ago
      As a long time pinboard user, I devoutly hope not. It's a great service for antisocial people like me, and I'd be disappointed were it to develop that "social" layer of oily mucus.
      - kmfrk 13y ago
        You can already subscribe to tags. It's not social in a sense that you can interact directly with others, but it does have a secret feature of sharing your bookmarks with others by making them public.
  - mjs 13y ago
    I'm a pinboard.in user, but I actually find the URL scheme annoying, at least compared to delicious. I find it much easier to type http://delicious.com/username/tag http://delicious.com/username/tag than http://pinboard.in/u:username/t:tag http://pinboard.in/u:username/t:tag
    - jarek 13y ago
      The argument has been that by specifying what each URL part is, you can build a link to https://pinboard.in/t:minimalism https://pinboard.in/t:minimalism in the first place. Is delicious.com/minimalism the tag minimalism or the user minimalism? And what is delicious.com/settings? In practice, delicious gets around this by making all-user tags accessible at http://delicious.com/tag/iphone http://delicious.com/tag/iphone, but then you can't have a user named "tag". Or "tools", or "help", or "about", or "terms", and there's probably more and they might change every now and then.
- omilu 13y ago
  wow your in for treat, pinboard is fantastic
- strivesc 13y ago
  Bulgaria didn't have as high a standard of living as Romania at the time, 2009, but Botosani county on Romania's Moldovan border was the poorest county in the EU. Whether or not it still is, I do not now.
- shock 13y ago
  He is referring to Botosani county being the poorest in EU, not the count_r_y Romania. Fell for it too :)
kijin 13y ago
A Polish immigrant to America starts a one-man business while traveling (staying? working?) in Romania, gives it an Indian TLD, and moves back to America to work on it full-time. And only a short while ago I'd been reading his blog about Argentinian cuisine. 50 years ago, people would have found this mind-boggling. The Internet truly is global.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

sdevlin 13y ago
> Is the Thoreau in the Thoreau 2.0 picture wearing Google Glass glasses? As I understand Thoreau, he would today look exactly as he looked then. He surrounded himself with vegetables, beans, trees, critters, and such. Maybe a t-shirt or other more casual clothing than the high-collared stuff in his photograph, but I don't see him using any latest technology. Rather I see him shunning it. I would expect Thoreau would look and act the same if her lived a thousand years from now or a thousand years ago -- connecting with and valuing bean fields, ponds, winter animals, farms, and other parts of nature where people live harmoniously with it. I'm fairly confident that was a joke.
- greenyoda 13y ago
  I also thought it was a joke, comparing the "contraceptive properties of the neckbeard" with the contraceptive properties of wearing Google Glass.

kennon42 13y ago

If you liked Maciej's talk, you should definitely check out his blog: http://idlewords.com http://idlewords.com Warning: kiss the next several hours goodbye because he's simply an outstandingly interesting and funny writer - imagine something like a cross between Bill Bryson and Douglas Adams and you wouldn't be too far off the mark.

pixelmonkey 13y ago

I thought this section was particularly good: """ He was obsessed with how complexity can creep into unexpected corners of your life, disguised as necessity. He gives the example of a farmer who convinces himself he must eat meat in order to stay strong. Since meat is expensive, the farmer tills more land in order to afford it. And the harder he works, the hungrier he gets, in a vicious spiral. [...] What I had thought was a convenience had actually been the foundation for a little pyramid of anxieties. [...] I'm intrigued by this idea of complexity being something adversarial, that sneaks into your life, like a cockroach, and you have to fight to eradicate. """ Doesn't just apply to life, but also to software and startups. I've been running a tech startup about as long as Maciej (though with a very different path / business), and I sometimes wonder about the complexities we now take for granted, 4 years in. Not just complexities of our business, but also the infrastructure we've re-built, re-factored, re-architected, etc. over the years and our own understanding of the problem space we've "mastered". We've assembled this tapestry of tools, technologies, processes, cultural practices, customers, partners, etc. And as software engineers, we have "simply accepted" a certain level of complexity. When the company first started in 2009, it was just two guys sending keystrokes into a fresh vim buffer. No "funding", no "process", no "brand" -- just creation. I think this is what creates nostalgia for the early days of a company's life -- it's the purity and simplicity of it. I wish I had gotten Maciej's advice earlier and kept a journal.

jamesbritt 13y ago

Some info about Henry David Thoreau, including how to correctly pronounce his last name. http://www.walden.org/thoreau http://www.walden.org/thoreau

Simucal 13y ago
This movie is great. There is a sequel I've been meaning to watch.

ansimionescu 13y ago

As a Romanian I feel compelled to say that we're far from the poorest economy in EU/Europe. Romania is still a standard Eastern European/post-communist hellhole (although slowly improving), but not _that_ poor.

aristidb 13y ago
Right, Bulgaria is poorer.
random2 13y ago
He did say "county" not "country", although it seems a typo. However based on Wikipedia data (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_European_Union http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_European_Union) Romania and Bulgaria are the poorest countries in Europe by GDP per capita at only 2% difference(47% vs 49% of EU GDP - 12,100 vs 12,600 euro respectively). Compared to Hungary (14,700 euro), I'd say we're (I'm also Romanian) not far, but rather close to being the poorest economy in EU and we're also the 9th poorest in Europe (http://www.techscio.com/the-poorest-country-in-europe/ http://www.techscio.com/the-poorest-country-in-europe/). That being said, I didn't know Maciej built Pinboard in Romania, that's pretty cool, I'd say. I wonder what was he doing in Botosani :)

ansimionescu 13y ago

graeme 13y ago

For those who do journaling: how do you do it? Paper? Software? Either way, what kind of system do you have for organizing your notes?

bcl 13y ago
gpg encrypted vim file.
Arun2009 13y ago
I have a wordpress blog hosted on my PC. I backup the journal onto a remote drive service every night.
celwell 13y ago
This is actually one of the things that has kept from journaling. I can't write by hand fast enough, and I'm sick of the brightness of a laptop screen by the end of the day. I know, pretty lame excuses.
FreezerburnV 13y ago
I actually use a nice paper journal (with awesome leather Portal cover sleeve, so I can replace the book inside) and a fountain pen, in general. As well as just starting to adopt this system (which was on HN recently): http://www.bulletjournal.com/ http://www.bulletjournal.com/ The main things I've learned is that indexing is incredibly important. Number your pages, and keep at least one page in the front of the journal for referencing what pages belong to what category. Don't overthink the categories, sometimes broad is good. Most often I just use "Random thoughts/writing" or "programming". It might seem odd to keep an actual, physical paper journal in this day and age. But for some reason, the tactile nature of it just feels right. I have more motivation to pop open my paper journal and physically write some things than I do to pop open VIM, or Evernote, or Simplenote, or whatever. Even on a phone or a tablet. (especially so, in fact) On top of that, there's less of a chance of a paper journal being stolen, you never have to worry about internet connectivity (Evernote, non-premium), or battery life, or having to fight a multitasking system... the list goes on. I've had times where I just want to take a quick note and I end up fighting something auto-opening, or already being open, or waiting for a new note, that I just get frustrated and end up back with real paper. I haven't found anything that is as flexible or works as well to date. (I also HEARTILY recommend you get either blank paper, or graph paper. particularly graph paper. I have a huge notebook I carry around of graph paper, and it has proven invaluable for so many things. from diagramming software code flow, to diagramming an interface, or even just plain writing notes. this is what I use: http://www.jetpens.com/Maruman-Mnemosyne-Imagination-Notebook-A4-8.3-X-11.7-5-mm-X-5-mm-Graph-70-Sheets/pd/4076 http://www.jetpens.com/Maruman-Mnemosyne-Imagination-Noteboo... It's good for carrying in a bag/backpack for serious needs, not as great for a journal. I tend to have both with me)

dot 13y ago

if you're inspired by Thoreau, I recommend you check out Dick Proenneke's little film "Alone in the Wilderness". First 10 minutes here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYJKd0rkKss http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYJKd0rkKss

gavinpc 13y ago

In the spirit of the OP's message, I am bookmarking this page, with Ctrl+D.

throwawaw 13y ago

Wow, he's a really good writer. I didn't expect that to be such a pleasure to read.

simonw 13y ago
If you liked that, check these out: The Alameda-Weehawken Burrito Tunnel: http://idlewords.com/2007/04/the_alameda-weehawken_burrito_tunnel.htm http://idlewords.com/2007/04/the_alameda-weehawken_burrito_t... A Rocket To Nowhere: http://idlewords.com/2005/08/a_rocket_to_nowhere.htm http://idlewords.com/2005/08/a_rocket_to_nowhere.htm Scott and Scurvy: http://idlewords.com/2010/03/scott_and_scurvy.htm http://idlewords.com/2010/03/scott_and_scurvy.htm And everything else on http://idlewords.com/ http://idlewords.com/ (The pinboard blog is great too, I particularly liked http://blog.pinboard.in/2011/10/the_fans_are_all_right/ http://blog.pinboard.in/2011/10/the_fans_are_all_right/)
- radiowave 13y ago
  Agreed. I don't believe there's any other blog that I've so consistently enjoyed reading as idlewords.
  - vithlani 13y ago
    Seconded. (Thirded? Fourthed?) Anyways, the man has a way with words.
- lfittl 13y ago
  And if you like languages, don't forget: Why Arabic Is Terrific http://idlewords.com/2011/08/why_arabic_is_terrific.htm http://idlewords.com/2011/08/why_arabic_is_terrific.htm
gammarator 13y ago
It's a very different style of writing, but his twitter feed is hilariously sarcastic: https://twitter.com/pinboard https://twitter.com/pinboard

tptacek 13y ago

He's got something interesting to say about the event itself, too: https://blog.pinboard.in/2013/09/xoxo_talk_notes/ https://blog.pinboard.in/2013/09/xoxo_talk_notes/

kafkaesque 13y ago
And this was my initial reaction when I started reading his presentation. I made that "Huh?" face. I kept reading, but half-way through, I skipped portions of it. My problem: his presentation sounds too contrived. My background is in literature; meaning, I am obsessed with literature and reading and its where most of my knowledge rests. I love Thoreau. I'm a hiker. I'm learning to program. I really like computers and technology. But I rarely, if ever try to unite the two. Sorry, it just doesn't work. One things computers try to do is make things scale, as I understand it; understand and organise things with massive computer power. I'm not saying this is a bad thing. But Thoreau wanted the opposite. I'm sure the presenter meant well, and his heart was in the right place, but have a close look at the words he uses. They're buzzwords to try to relate to an audience who is further apart from Thoreau's ideology than he might've wished. He is "rebranding" Thoreau. Thoreau is not a 'content creator', because that word has certain connotations nowadays, which do not apply to him. Yes, this might be semantics, but this type of updated/21st century diction to try to relate/appeal to a new audience sounds contrived. I applaud his efforts, because at least Thoreau serves as a way to balance out technologists' lives. But because he was so extreme, all this sounds like yoga instructors talking about living a better life sipping on their Starbucks coffee and buying expensive Yoga mats. I mean, sure, it's really good that you have recognised the worth of many nonmaterialistic things, but you're not really helping if most of your life is materialistic. Note I'm not forcing anyone into doing away with their material- and technology-driven lives. All I'm saying is Thoreau's ideology and the modern person are not compatible, unfortunately. And because of that, all we can do is sit around and study his writings conceptually, abstractly, without gaining the experience he wanted everyone to have. Few of us could stand 2 years of living the way he did, yet the presenter actually feels the need to tell his audience, (I'm paraphrasing), "Sure! Thoreau ONLY did it for 2 years, and he had mom and sister come out once a week to help!" Um...how long would the average person be able to stand it? The OP says it is easy to take Thoreau out of context, because he is so quotable, yet continues to do this very thing! "Moreover, you must walk like a camel, which is said to be the only beast which ruminates when walking. When a traveler asked Wordsworth's servant to show him her master's study, she answered, 'Here is his library, his study is out of doors.'" He doesn't mean that you need to go and collect data electronically on people or go on a Google car and photograph every single major street to store it, analyse it, and show it to the world on a computer. If you believe this is what he is saying, this is called "reappropriation". Lastly, let me quote again from his book titled Walking--a recommended read because it is short, yet illustrates his ideology. "In short, all good things are wild and free. There is something in a strain of music, whether by its wildness, to speak without satire, reminds me of the cries emitted by wild beasts in their native forests. It is so much of their wildness as I can understand. Give me for my friends and neighbors wild men, not tame ones. The wildness of the savage is but a faint symbol of the awful ferity with which good men and lovers meet." Stop trying to tame Thoreau's ideas. Let's not try to make ourselves feel better by saying we have some things in common with him or stretching his ideas. I go into nature to get away from my computers and society and everyone else. It is my own personal struggle or inner conflict. I don't need to try to convince others of how good we can have it if we just adopted Thoreau's ideas, because by our current standards, he would be considered an extremist. In that same passage above, Thoreau goes on to talk about how domesticated animals need to reassert themselves. Please, let's not dilute Thoreau just to make us feel better, because (1) most people who don't agree with him will not feel better about it; and (2) most people who want to agree with him will find that they cannot adopt his ideas or lifestyle. I think the HN crowd is too smart to adopt some half-assed idea. They'd rather come up with their own idea or take on how to find a balance between technology, nature, and tackling startup culture.

dominotw 13y ago

Now I have portlandia song stuck in my head. Dream of the 90's is alive in portland...portland.

justinator 13y ago

I'm not trying to be snarky, but, "Being an Entrepreneur", and, "Be very much like Thoreau"are two very disparate goals. I would very much like everyone to read Walden - it's a wonderful, incredible, life-changing book. But the feeling I get at the end is not, "Man, I should start a business, where people can post up images of things they want! And then other people can see if they want them! And then, then! We can advertise!" The feeling you get, after reading the book - well, the feeling I got was more, "I'm still in this system, I want out, I can't, the world is truly monstrous". We can all live in our own little cabins in the woods for a little while, we can all do our own little civil disobedience - but like young adults, most of us grow out of it, because to hold this course is very hard and greed is a very easy trap to fall into. If you like Thoreau, one of the most obvious path to take would then be Emerson and his essays. They're all wonderful, but I don't know what lessons you learn from them can be applied to "start a business with someone elses money that hopefully goes public", except that that itself is a fool's errand. I don't know what either would say about social media or whatever it's called know, execept that it's simply abstracts the real nature of actual interaction, into something that's lost the important parts of it. What would Thoreau say about working so long hours typing away at a keyboard? He would say that's the worst thing at all: work only as much as you want, and no more. That's a whole chapter in Walden. How many people here, truly do that? Things to think about. and also, what a lame title for a talk - there already WAS a Walden Two, and, for a sci-fi book, it's not half bad. Kinda weak, but worth a read [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walden_Two http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walden_Two And it itself was a take on how to bring Thoreau idea into a community setting. It's a little more than, "Write journals!", and "Know Yourself!". This talk - trying to take a masterpiece book, and apply it to your life, and trying to talk about it in bite-sized chunks.... it's not working for me. Show me, don't tell me.

greenyoda 13y ago
"Being an Entrepreneur", and, "Be very much like Thoreau" are two very disparate goals. But it sounds like Maciej's goal was not to be an entrepreneur, but to be able to support himself running a one-man business. Being self-reliant that way instead of depending on a job in someone else's company might be quite in agreement with the simple life that Thoreau advocated.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

bbg 13y ago

persevere

lotsofcows 13y ago

Very nicely written. Funny and interesting. I liked the mention of the slightly less scrupulous side of Thoreau too - he also mentions dining with friends quite a lot; his financial figures don't add up; and his attitude toward the poor was not as enlightened as one would expect from an intelligent, educated, clever man.