43 Folders

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Merlin’s weekly podcast with Dan Benjamin. We talk about creativity, independence, and making things you love.

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”What’s 43 Folders?”
43Folders.com is Merlin Mann’s website about finding the time and attention to do your best creative work.

Our Most Popular Posts

Getting organized with OSX labels

Shawn Medero suggested the subject of using OSX labels to get organized.

Here’s a quick tip: think of labels less as ornamentation or overly-specific vertical tags. Think of your labels as a system of functional markers that complement your existing organizational system—that provide information you might want during a search, backup, or time-based script events and reviews as an example.

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Say hi to MoleskineUS

Short version

I’m pleased to announce that MoleskineUS is our new partner for Moleskine notebooks.

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Announcing the 43 Folders Job Board

I've recently added a 43 Folders job board, and I wanted our first post about it to feature family, so I asked some friends to post open positions in their organizations.

We also carry jobs posted from selected other sites, so there's already plenty to browse. Want to be an iPhone Engineer at Apple? How about working for The Motley Fool? Maybe just make a quick $1,000.00 on a referral? Well, dig in.

And for the folks out there who need to put butts in Aerons, it's fast and easy to add your own organization's jobs to the board. Plus your job may be featured in posts here on the site highlighting the more interesting-looking positions that have been added. (Hint: Check the footer of posts in the 43f RSS feed for news about a substantial launch week discount -- ends 7/20, so act soonly)

Thanks for the interest everyone has expressed in us adding a job board -- whether you're looking or hiring, I hope you'll find it useful and vocationally satisfying.

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ASCII BBS file of household tips

quickfix.txt

While Googling the best way to fix a slamming door, I came across this great ASCII file of "all-time best hints for making household repairs." It's cribbed from a mid-90s issue of Mother Earth News, and has a bunch of great little tips.

  • To cut down on slamming noise, put tabs of leftover peel-and-stick foam weather stripping at several spots all around the doorstop...
  • A squeaky floor is usually caused by two or more boards rubbing against each other. Silence the noise by sprinkling talcum powder over the boards and sweeping it into the cracks...
  • When drilling into the ceiling, poke a hole through the center of a throwaway aluminum pie pan. Hold the pan over the area to be drilled, and poke the bit through. This way the pan will catch most of the dust.

The file's part of the survival section of the awesomely old-school textfiles.com, which is a large collection of old text files from BBSs in the 80s and 90s. So fun. Don't miss the sections on mass media, internet, and anarchy.

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TOPICS: Links, Tips

if you like cool Mac OS X icons ...

if you like cool Mac OS X icons ...

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TOPICS: Mac OS X

Robert Daeley: Do Zen Monk Robes Have Pockets?

Robert considers the vast amount of stuff most of us carry around every day—where can we lighten our loads and empty our pockets?

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TOPICS: Life Hacks, Lofi, Tips

Roger von Oech's 'Creative Think' home page

Cool home page for Creative Think. Oblique Strategies-like tips. Reload for more.

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'white noise' sound files to reduce distraction?

"white noise" sound files to reduce distraction?

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Please subscribe to the fancy Feedburner RSS feed

If you dig reading 43F in RSS or Atom format, please make sure you’re currently subscribed to the FeedBurner link. It looks like this:

http://www.43folders.com/feed/

That’s a “smart feed” so you’ll apparently get either RSS or Atom depending on your reader’s preferences. Please don’t ask me to explain how this bit of computer magic works; I don’t actually understand how the water gets in my house, so XML is a bit of stretch for me.

Anyhow, if you’re currently getting the feed through the “www.43folders.com” or “merlin.blogs.com” links, please make sure to resubscribe today then you can delete the old feed from your reader. Cuz they ain’t getting updated no more. Handy, one-click subscription buttons follow:

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TOPICS: Admin
 
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The Podcast Feed

Cranking

Merlin used to crank. He’s not cranking any more.

This is an essay about family, priorities, and Shakey’s Pizza, and it’s probably the best thing he’s written. »

Scared Shitless

Merlin’s scared. You’re scared. Everybody is scared.

This is the video of Merlin’s keynote at Webstock 2011. The one where he cried. You should watch it. »