Grad Students Represent: Note Taking / References on OS X

Good explanation of what makes Quicksilver so useful.

I subscribe to a lot of email discussion lists for the various secret yet high profile projects to which I contribute. Most of these lists are active, with five to ten new threads every day, each consisting of several messages. Even when the lists stay on topic, most of the time, my contribution to (and interested in) the conversation only lasts a few messages.

This creates a problem for me, as I am a neurotic email checker. Constantly seeing a stream of new messages that I am not reading makes me feel stressed out. I do not feel like I have to read them, but I do feel like SOMETHING must be done. But I cannot silence the threads by reading the messages, or by deleting them -- as soon as a new message comes in, the thread will be back, bolding up my inbox again.

MP3: The Richard Scarry Book of the Future

43folders.com – Vocational wheel in the sky keeps on turning. Where do we find the skills we need to succeed today, and why do they call it "Nursing?"

Association for Psychological Science: 'To be or, or ... um ... line!'

Given my own undependable memory and the hand-hewn props I rely upon to shore it up, I was intrigued by this article/press release from last year on how actors are able to remember their lines (via BB):

According to the researchers, the secret of actors' memories is, well, acting. An actor acquires lines readily by focusing not on the words of the script, but on those words' meaning — the moment-to-moment motivations of the character saying them — as well as on the physical and emotional dimensions of their performance.

I finally had a chance to visit the Darwin exhibit at the Field Museum here in Chicago a few weeks ago, and it inspired me to read his autobiography, which had been gathering dust on my bookshelf (but placed at eye level, so visitors can see how smart I am, natch).

It has some fascinating bits about his work habits that will be of interest to the 43 Folders crowd, including this:

Elegant app for writers.

Phil's cool trick reminds me that I do love me some Post-it notes. How do you use 'em?

• Best. Paper. Ever. - Miss Conduct's Blog - Advice column with manners and etiquette information - Boston.com - "Thus, when we conclude someone is 'simply a bastard,' we feel both relief (because we have finally hit on a way of interpreting their behavior that makes sense) and guilt (because we feel we ought to have done better)."
• Research Brief: Minorities Dominate Use of New Media - "According to the analysis, minorities have a higher regular usage of new media than Whites across all media types. They are more likely to use iPods, text on cell phones, play video games, use video/picture phones, instant messaging online and watch video on cell phones."
• The Web Developer's SEO Cheat Sheet - Very handy printable guide with white-hat advice and best practices for pleasing Google without spreading unnecessary cheese. - [via Global Nerdy]
• Research Brief: Online Video Viewing Surges - In March, "84.8 million viewers watched 4.3 billion videos on YouTube.com (50.4 videos per viewer)." Damn. Could you ever have imagined this, even 5 years ago?
• Video Road Hogs Stir Fear of Internet Traffic Jam - New York Times - Related: "Last year, by one estimate, the video site YouTube, owned by Google, consumed as much bandwidth as the entire Internet did in 2000."
• XBMC For Mac: XBMC Turns Your Mac into the Ultimate Media Center - Wowzers! Nice work, Gina. This looks like a go-to solution for using OSXBMC to turn a Mac Mini into a pain-free media center.
• Hacking the Kindle part 3: root shell and runtime system - Oh, sweet fancy Moses: here are some inexplicably undocumented key commands that will so improve yr Kindle world. Kiss me, ragged-right justification! (BTW: ♥ my new Kindle, and am collecting my favorite time- and money-saving tips for a future post)
• 8 fonts you probably don’t use in css, but should - Personally, I'm not so big on Copperplate or Impact, but I'm a fool for Gill Sans. Nobody asked me, but I'd also add Mac-friendly faves Hoefler Text, Futura, and American Typewriter. [via anarchaia]
• We're sorry this is late; we really meant to post it sooner - "Most people's New Year's resolutions are doomed to failure...Most self-help books have it completely wrong when they say perfectionism is at the root of procrastination...Procrastination can be explained by a single mathematical equation" In keeping with my return to posting here, yes: that's meta-research on procrastination. Swish.

And, in passing, a personal note: many thanks to you for your patience while I took some time to see to other projects; my more normal (which is to say, irregular, by most “pro blog” standards) habit of posting to 43f when I have something to share or say restarts now. I’m grateful for your hanging with me.