Strava for all

Funny article in Wired about Strava and an interesting battle for first place in what they call a segment. And the segment is not somewhere outside but in Denver’s airport. I agree with writer David Howard that Strava is one of the last good social apps. And it is all about analog, real-world activities.

I mentioned Strava before in an article on cheap tools. I am using (the free version) to keep track of my hikes after initially using it for my road cycling activities (I stopped after rupturing my tendon). Since my first bike ride on 27-8-2012, Strava has recorded almost 200 activities for me. (You can follow me.)

RSS update

Earlier I wrote that today there are excellent search engines as an alternative to Google search. To repeat the argument against Google search use: with Google search, in addition to being an Internet user, you are also part of the commercial product a product of Google, with all the consequences for reliability of results.

newsblur image

Another way to consume content from the Internet is through RSS feeds. Google doesn’t like that either, because with that, they can’t show you ads either. I switched to Newsblur after using locally installed QuietRSS for a while. I was missing the shared nature of the web, so I switched back to a tool with a web interface. Newsblur is good and has a fair price, but there are excellent other alternatives out there.

Over notities

In de Correspondent las ik het interessante “Note to self: Hoe notities maken je leven verrijkt”.

Ik maak ook al jarenlang notities. In verschillende vormen.

Voor mijn werk, IT pipo, maak in aantekeningen tijdens gesprekken, vergaderingen en ook schrijf ik vaak dingen op em problemen voor mezelf helder te krijgen.

Ik bewaar al deze notitieboeken. Ik heb een hele plank vol. Vanaf ongeveer 1998 ben ik ze gaan bewaren.

Van de ontwerptekeningen in deze notitieboeken maak sinds kort kunstwerkjes.

Ook maak ik veel aantekeningen terwijl ik boeken lees, als ik iets meemaak, op vakantie, op reis, of als een soort journalling (maar zonder het ritueel). Ik markeer teksten en zaken die ik wil onthouden. Die schrijf ik dan later in een tekst in Evernote. En soms publiceer ik ze hier.

Ik heb ook lijstjes van boeken die ik ooit nog wil lezen, films die ik wil zien, en andere lijstjes. Ik heb een speciaal notitieboek in Evernote met lijstjes.

Scott Young’s blog

One of the blogs I read regularly is the one by Scott Young. Scott got some fame by arranging his university degree online, for a few thousand dollars. Especially in the US, where the costs for a college degree has gone totally out of hand, this was unheard of.

Scott has been writing his blog for a very long time now, and/but keeps coming with interesting thoughts on learning and other things.

Scott also wrote the book Ultralearning about effective learing.

A Piece of Art – podcast

Abbi Jacobson must be a tireless centipede.  Amongst all the things she does, she hosted the podcast A Piece of Work, about modern art. The Moma and the podcasting company WNYC Studios produced this fantastic series. 

Wikipedia (May 2020) tells us Jacobson is planning to do another series. Let it come.

Maria Popova’s Brainpickings

Brainpickings, the beautifully intense mind sprout by Maria Popova. She write about books, philosophy, writers, thinking, tenderness, music, art, love, the beauty of life, and more I can safely say.

Maria Popova: why we need an antidote to the culture of ...

All these beautiful essays…

Started as a simple email list, the site has grown into a monumental achievement showcasing the richness of what the Internet can bring humanity.