Does this mean arguments against verbose "boilerplate" languages are going to be given less credence?

https://typecast.munk.org/2023/04/24/how-to-properly-describe-the-condition-of-a-typewriter/

Demonstrate your Electric in 10 Minutes by Remington-Rand, Inc.<br /> A Sales Training Film<br /> Produced by Visual Aids Department Remington Rand Inc.

via Periscope Film

1940s REMINGTON RAND ELECTRIC TYPEWRITER SALESMAN DEMONSTRATION FILM 49734

Typing Technique and Typewriter Design by [[Will Davis]] and [[Dave Davis]]

As early as 1932 Royal salesmen would use poor typing technique on purpose to cause skipping and piling and then use proper technique on their own machine to show how much better their typewriters were compared to the others.

Some repair and service manuals had sections about tuning a typewriter to the level of technique of the user. These may have included 5-6 specific adjustments for allowance to a particular user's technique, as an example indicated in this video.

"pounded out" - used by a heavy handed typist and now skipping (mentioned possibly in an Ames Repair Manual)

In the mid-century, the service life of a standard machine was 1-3 years of continual (heavy) use. After this it would have been remanufactured or swapped out.

reply to u/NoDoctor4602 at https://old.reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/1fjrjns/ive_spent_a_few_days_searching_for_any_concrete/

In the mid to late-1950's and after several typewriter manufacturers made limited runs of gold plated typewriters for special anniversaries or for bonuses to salespeople. They're uncommon, but not rare. I've seen at least 6 or seven pop up on auction sites in the last 6 months. If you really want one, watch the lower end of Facebook Marketplace, ShopGoodwill, Craigslist, et al. where one will assuredly pop up for a much more reasonable price. I'm not sure if it was this one or another I've seen since April, but one of these went up for sale on ShopGoodwill.com recently and sold for about $600. A week later it was listed on eBay for several thousand just like this one. Given the timeframe, I doubt they spent any time cleaning, oiling, or adjusting it in any fashion—it was a pure flip. I've also seen this recently with Royal typewriters with a less common, but highly collectible Vogue typeface: a Royal P sold for about $900 there and was listed on eBay shortly after for over $1,500 with no indication that it was cleaned or adjusted. (If you watch some of the sites carefully, you can pick up a Vogue machine for under $100 easily enough depending on the type and condition.)

In my mind, as a collector, I'd try to find one in the wild and clean it up or I'd want it in stunning restored condition for over $2k. You might be just as well off picking up a working model for $100-$150 and gold plating the pieces yourself. It would probably be cheaper in the long run and you'd have a better machine in better condition. Some sucker with money to burn will eventually buy a Gold Olympia SM3 for over $2,000.

Here's a vew posts/videos as examples of gold plated machines:<br /> - A video of another Gold Olympia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnUHgyABjw0<br /> - Royal QDL https://typespec.com/weve-got-gold-in-them-thar-hills/<br /> - https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kasbah-mod-typewriters_n_1453776

If you're looking for something great that you'll use, I recommend visiting a repair shop that has some stock to try out some machines to see if you'd like their touch/fee/aesthetics first. Visiting a type-in or two might give you some experience with a wide variety of typewriter models as well. Then try to find a rare or exceptional version that's worth putting some money into. Why put so much into an Olympia if it turns out you're an Olivetti, Royal, or Smith-Corona person? https://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/tw-repair.html (I desperately love Royals, but Smith-Coronas and Remingtons are much more forgiving of my mediocre typing technique, a fact which pains me dearly and cost a few hundred dollars and some sweat equity in cleaning and tuning machines to discover). Incidentally, I'll mention that for about $2,000 you could easily purchase a wide variety of about two dozen machines (even with shipping) and be able to get something truly exceptional in terms of condition and function.

Incidentally, the higher prices of $250-600 for repaired/refurbished/restored machines being sold by repair shops are usually what Harry Beercan is using as a pricing guide when he's selling his grandmother's musty, broken, old typewriter online not knowing that several hundred dollars in labor and parts has been calculated into the selling price.

aka u/repsychlerman on Reddit

via https://new.reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/1f5hpq2/just_listed_my_first_typewriter_on_ebay/

see also: Barnouw, Erik (1993), Documentary a History of the Non-fiction Film (PDF), New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 241–242, retrieved March 30, 2020

The 1957 Groma Kolibri by [[Typewriter Chicago]]

Another sexy sales video by Lucas Dul, this time for the Groma Kolibri portable out in the woods and backed by a lovely piece called Ashitaka and San by Joe Hisaishi.

Royal HHE Typewriter Demo of Features and Functions by [[Cincinnati Typewriter]]

Orange and black typewriter painted when they thought Bengals were going to Super Bowl.

Sadly didn't get the purpose of the numbered guides... presupposed they were in millimeters, but knew it wasn't that.

Very shaky video... nauseating.

Didn't differentiate between permanent and temporary variable line levels. Didn't get the way these work at all.

Missed subtleties of Magic Margin, but did well enough.

"strikers" instead of slugs or hammers

Painted the colors on the bichrome wrong.

Only partially understands touch control. Definitely doesn't know how to adjust them.

Definitely don't use this as an example.

Seems like an amateur painting and (maybe) cleaning up typewriters from home. I don't think I'd trust him based on this video.

1954 Royal HH, repainted | Typewriter Tutorial by [[Jot & Tittle Vintage Typewriters]]

Pseudo-professional explaining the functionality of a Royal HH (sales video)

took her two tries to get the proper ribbon reversal... <br /> didn't get/understand the touch control function<br /> Not original spools<br /> Doesn't understand card fingers<br /> At least knew "stencil", but didn't explain it beyond "it won't type"<br /> Didn't have a specific size for the large carriage<br /> Had issue with ribbon tension<br /> Couldn't get the hood button several times

"I wouldn't write a long book on here." What the hell is she talking about? This was the entire purpose of this machine.

https://www.tampatypewriter.com/<br /> Proprietor: Jack<br /> https://www.instagram.com/tampatypewriter/

for - new music sales model - direct to consumer - helps mitigate AI music

Holy shit.

If EVs are making half the cars sold in China, then are more EVs are being sold in China than cars and trucks in the USA ?

I was in a vintage shop about 30 minutes from downtown Los Angeles earlier in the week and the proprietor had a mostly functioning 1950 Smith-Corona Sterling for sale for a roughly equivalent US $150. (One key was disconnected, but fixable, and some keys were sticky, the ribbon was disintegrating, it was incredibly dirty, with a case in very poor condition.) The Sterling was similar to the Silent, but without some of the extra bells and whistles. She wouldn't accept an offer of $40 for it, which I thought was a reach for the dreadful condition it was in. Her reasoning was that she was sure that someone (read: a sucker) would pay the $150 for it. At a yard sale it might be worth $5. Cleaned up a bit maybe $30. In online platforms they're going for a bit more, but you're also saving yourself some level of "shoe leather" in the work of searching for the exact model you want.

I've been specifically watching this model and a few related ones for a few months, and machines of indeterminate condition (though in my experience they're usually reasonably functionable or easily fixable), like this go for about $50 on ShopGoodWill.com (as auction items). There are usually about 4-5 per week which come up as this was a popular model in the 50s. You can probably find similar prices on eBay, though sellers there usually have a little more information about the working condition. They're definitely common enough that you could easily wait for the exact color options and typeface (pica or elite) that you're looking for, and could also probably purchase two for the price he's asking (including shipping.) I've been watching for a similar mid-50s Smith-Corona Clipper with similar colors and elite type for a while and just bought one online last week for $35. Patience definitely pays off.

I would only go as high as $150 on that machine if I knew it was well functioning and had a brand new platen in the last several years. You can tell him that most of the expensive machines in the range he's asking for are all fully functioning, have been well maintained and/or recently serviced, and often have new platens, rubber rollers, and feet replaced. He'll know that this isn't the case with his and may come down in price. They're likely pricing it based on other listings they see and not pricing it based on actual sales. If it's their only machine, wait things out until they see that there aren't any takers. If it's a vintage shop, simply move on.

The Smith-Corona Silents from this time period are really spectacular and solid machines, so good luck in your search for the perfect one.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/375385572993

Sold, presumably for $600 on 2024-04-20 with free shipping. This had previously been listed and relisted for 1000 reducing 100 every few weeks until now.

Taylor Swift effect with her new album drop perhaps?

https://shopgoodwill.com/item/196139225

Beware of Mental-Itis! Industrial. The Calvin Company, 1937. http://archive.org/details/0800_Beware_of_Mental-itis_06_00_55_00.

(13:39) Hands flipping through a card index with overlapping dialogue about prospects

https://archive.org/details/0800_Beware_of_Mental-itis_06_00_55_00

Nick Milo sales page (LYT)

https://shopgoodwill.com/item/191956978<br /> 2024-03-02 sold $102.00 !! 4 bids

https://shopgoodwill.com/item/192328912<br /> 2024-03-02 sold<br /> $9.99 fair<br /> 1 bid

https://shopgoodwill.com/item/192255013<br /> 2024-03-02 sold<br /> $112.00<br /> 8 bids<br /> (broken space bar)

https://shopgoodwill.com/item/192125668 <br /> 2023-03-02 sold<br /> $18.00 (opening price)<br /> 1 bid

https://shopgoodwill.com/item/192239320<br /> 2024-03-02 sold<br /> $31.00<br /> 11 bids

https://shopgoodwill.com/item/191848428<br /> 2024-03-02 sold<br /> $26.00<br /> 5 bids

https://shopgoodwill.com/item/192242999<br /> 2024-03-02 sold<br /> $16.00<br /> 3 bids

https://shopgoodwill.com/item/192251351<br /> 2024-03-02 sold<br /> $18.00<br /> 5 bids

https://shopgoodwill.com/item/192252614<br /> 2024-03-02 sold<br /> $36.00<br /> 2 bids

https://shopgoodwill.com/item/192152257<br /> 2024-03-02 sold<br /> $23.50 3 bids

https://shopgoodwill.com/item/192262866<br /> 2024-03-02 sold<br /> $23.00<br /> 4 bids

https://shopgoodwill.com/item/192239575<br /> 2024-03-02 sold<br /> $402.00 31 bids

2024-03-01<br /> $53.99<br /> https://shopgoodwill.com/item/192321322

2024-03-01<br /> $67.99 sale<br /> https://shopgoodwill.com/item/192324052

https://www.ebay.com/itm/166584466393

2024-02-06: 15 drawer (5x3) card catalog offered for starting bid of $200. 3 piece sectional with top, drawers and simple table base with spindle legs. Appears to be in maple with polished steel fittings.

Manufacturer: none listed<br /> Location: Local pick up from Niagara Falls, NY

Condition: the finish on this is shot and is either cracked, peeling, or generally non-existent on the outside. Missing two rods. Finish on the wood inside appears solid.

Cost per drawer: - opening bid of $200: $13.33

This was later relisted at https://www.ebay.com/itm/166595950156 and ultimately sold for $255.00.

Cost per drawer: $17.00

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/945071177181845/

2024-02-01 Listed Shaw-Walker four drawer side table for $95 and it sold within a day for local pick up.

Cost per drawer: $23.75

I inquired about this, but missed out on it by just a few hours. I totally want a pair of these as end tables for a couch or a cozy club/reading chair.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/694743405502203/

Seller description: 1902 Shaw Walker Card Catalog and File Cabinet 3 piece stackable $765 Listed 19 weeks ago in San Bernardino, CA Details

Condition
Used - Good
Color
Brown
Material
Wood

Super nice old antique card catalog Stackable Oak wood Very few marks for its age 1902 original tags inside it Simply elegant piece No missing pieces no scratches 76 t 16 w 19 d

Jeanie Lowry listing from October 2023 and sold in late 2023 potentially for $765 or less.

Sectional Shaw-Walker modular card catalog and filing cabinet. 3 sections of 2x3 drawers for 3x5" cards and one section of 2x1 along with a two 8.5x11" filing drawers and a writing desk pullout section.

22 total drawers but 20 for index cards

Cost per drawer: $34.77 (sold)

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1020494389229110/

Solid Gaylord Bros. 60 drawer card catalog for pick up in San Bernardino, CA by Jeanie Lowry on Facebook. Reasonable shape despite some dings, especially to the wood facia at the bottom. One metal drawer pull shorn off, but looks like it had all it's rods as well as three writing drawers in the middle.

2023-01 Listed for ??<br /> Sold sometime in early 2024 presumably for $525

Seller description: Beautiful Vintage 1950’s Bro Dart Card Catalog Vintage 60 Drawer Card Catalog One drawer handle has the hook missing 3 of the slide in bars missing Some wear on the bottom panel Drawers are strong with brass handles and screws 60 inches tall 40 1/2 wide 17 1/2 deep Drawers are 5 1/2 inches wide Very heavy Great piece would look so great in a retail setting

Cost per drawer: $8.75

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/406045722112862/

2024-02-01 Originally listed for 1,100 or so and slowly decreased to $990 on 2024-02-17 at which point it was listed as "not in stock", so unsure if actually sold.

Gaylord Bros. 25 drawer modular card catalog in 4 sections including top and table/legs and two drawer sections of 5x2 and 5x3. in reasonable but somewhat rough condition. for pick up in San Bernardino, CA from Jeanie Lowry

Offered as part of a Facebook garage sale which included a similar 30 drawer catalog with pull out writing desks and a handful of metal card filing cabinets meant for punch cards.

1960’s 25 Drawer Card Catalog Hard to find item In great shape 40 1/2 T, 33 W, 17 D

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1511212389452724/

60 drawer wooden card catalog in a very long 12x5 configuration offered for sale at $800 on Facebook marketplace in September 2023. Sold in the fall for unknown price, though likely close to 800.

Cost per drawer: $13.33

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/7016702761714807/

2023-09 36 drawer wooden card catalog (no manufacturer; looks custom) offered for $850 and sold sometime in the fall 2023. Rough, but rustic shape. Possibly a modular unit of two 6x3 sections with a custom top attached.

Cost per drawer: $23.60

Modula and Oberon should have been codenames rather than independent projects.

https://www.iamhaileyrene.com/book/

Apparently a sales funnel using Greenlamp.

Greenlamp https://www.greenlamp.com/

This is Scott Scheper's marketing funnel platform. I suspect he's not building it but has others like Hailey Rene building it for him.

Cross reference Hailey's title in this video. See: https://hypothes.is/a/QuCGZKA-Ee6gXpeJSD_4zw

https://www.ebay.com/itm/305300436363

Vintage Imperial card catalog for 5 x 8" index cards

Listed for auction in December 2023. After 14 bids, sold for $158.50 on 2023-12-11. Seems rare for these to actually sell by auction.

Cost per drawer: $39.63.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/166417242257

72 drawer library card catalog listed for sale on 2023-11-05 for $850.00 with local pick up only in Asheboro, NC. Mid century modern in Maple with plastic drawers. Heavily used and some damage visible, but functional shape. Two sections separated by 3 writing drawers. Likely from 70s.

Cost per drawer: $11.80.

2023-11-29 relisting: https://www.ebay.com/itm/126210967207

2023-12-06 delisted https://www.ebay.com/itm/166481183026 Indicated that it was no longer available, so potentially sold for the $850 (or less)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/166462302430

This Yawman & Erbe multi-drawer piece sold for $250 by auction on eBay o/a 2023-12-03. A variety of filing drawers, but doesn't appear to have been specifically for index cards.

Cost per drawer: $8.93

Better still: separate messages by double linefeed (i.e., a blank line in between each one). It only costs one byte and it means that human-readable JSON is also valid in all readers—not just ones that have been bodged to allow non-conformant payloads under special circumstances (debugging).

https://offerup.com/item/detail/aa30b5cf-993e-3077-9c86-5b36b7d7fee9?q=library+card+catalog

Offered circa July 2023 for $200 and sold circa September 2023.

Gaylord brothers three piece modular library card catalog circa 1950's. Acquired by seller prior to a school demolition. Top cover appears to be homemade and covered with cloth. Other pieces are standard 5x3 grouping of 15 drawers and lower table unit. Missing all the catalog rods.

cost per drawer: $13.30

Market analysis of library card catalogs in 2023.

As card catalogs lost their functionality in libraries and were de-acquisitioned there was a wave of nostalgia which caused people to purchase them, often in auctions, at higher than expected prices. Once they had them, most of these purchasers realized that they didn't have functional uses in their homes for them (beyond wine or liquor bottle storage, small crafts, or use as a zettelkasten, which seem to be the only reasonable upcycling use cases I've seen and the last seems to be very rare and niche). They sit and take up space for very little value in return beyond some esthetic beauty and nostalgia. As a result many soured on their ownership. Most owners naturally want to recoup their original purchase price thinking that relative rarity will save them.

Combined with this there was a resurgence in mid-century design esthetic which had some furniture restorers and designers buying and doing full (and very pretty) expensive restorations of older 20s - 40s versions which sold at auctions for $4,500 and up. Given the rarity of some of these older, fine furniture versions along with the work in restoration and the limited market only those who had a tinge of nostalgia and money to burn made purchases which resulted in a limited number of actual sales.

These two factors mean that almost all of the listings for library card catalogs are heavily overvalued on eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Craig's List, Etsy, etc. The fine furniture restorations have set an artificially high price point which some feel theirs must match as well. The difference in quality however is stark. Because of their size and lack of functionality, there is a relative glut of them on the market which all bear inflated prices. Those who originally spent inordinate amounts for them, feel they will still have that same value to others, so they list them online for inflated prices.

I've been closely watching the online "market" for them for over a year and see the same several dozen or more listed across the country usually in the range of about $30-$60 per drawer. Many are listed as local pick up only, which further hampers the overall market. This also brings up the issue of shipping a 60 drawer card catalog which can easily run in the $800-$1,500+ range which usually requires additional shipping logistics involved with freight. Most catalogs are already overpriced, but adding an additional $1000 tax on top is a bridge too far for all but the highest end of the market. Some platforms like Etsy and eBay which take cuts of the final sale also add to the cost of the sale.

In the year and a half or more that I've been watching, I've only seen a handful of actual sales, all of which were local, and many of which were in the Los Angeles area. All of these sales have been for listings which eventually were reduced down to the $15 per drawer range. One local sale was in Wisconsin was for $10 per drawer (a 30 drawer file) and another in Los Angeles was for $12.50 per drawer (on a 20 drawer file).

A note on condition

Outside of a small handful of fine furniture listings in the $4,000+ range, most ex-Library card catalogs are generally very well worn and not in great condition which makes them less valuable as decoration pieces. In fact, many are often missing their original card catalog rods, have dents, dings, or other cosmetic issues. Some are missing drawers or have replacement drawers which don't match. Some may be slightly mismatched having been purchased in different eras as modular pieces and put together. Frequently they have been modified from their original states to include inserts or other material to fill in the holes which where almost standard in the bottoms of the drawers.

Advice

If you're in the market, know that it is tremendously inflated, a fact which most sellers are aware of as they've got them listed, some for many years, not resulting in actual sales. If you really want one and find it in a reasonable condition, I highly recommend making an offer for it at about $10 per drawer and potentially go up to $15. Anything higher than that is overpaying based on actual recent market conditions. If you have the money to burn, feel free, but keep in mind that like many others in the past, once the initial nostalgia has passed, you've probably got a large piece of relatively non-functional furniture in your home.

It's not common, but some government auction sites will list card catalogs for auction from time to time. Because they actively want to sell them these can be purchased in the $2-10 per drawer range or less. Often they tend toward the larger 60+ drawer range, aren't in good condition, or need to be picked up and shipped to your final destination, usually within a few days of purchase as the original owners don't or explicitly won't handle shipping. These are likely to need some restoration work to be decorative pieces in many homes.

If you want something brand new, you can check out Brodart, which is the only remaining card catalog manufacturer/sales firm I'm aware of in the United States. Their systems are modular, so you can pick and choose what you'd like to have. The only caveat is that they start at $1,700 for their smallest 9 drawer model and can go up to $11,648 (plus shipping) for a full 60 drawer model. The other potential drawback, for some, is that they are made of a mixture of wood, metal and plastic versus the all wood and metal fittings of older vintage models.

If you're in the market primarily for nostalgic reasons, then you might also consider looking at some of the older desktop wooden card catalogs which are often much less expensive, take up far less space, and can be wonderfully decorative. Some of the smaller two to six drawer desktop models have the benefit of potentially serving as recipe boxes or paper rolodexes, zettelkasten, or simply small office storage. Here again, the online markets are likely to be heavily overpriced with 2 drawer models being continually listed at $150 and 4 drawer models in the $250-400 range. These sellers know that these prices don't result in actual sales as they've been sitting on them for long periods of time (presumably hoping to get lucky). Here I'd recommend you make offers in the $20-30 per drawer range to see what you can find. Another benefit is that these smaller models are far cheaper to ship across the country. For additional advice on these, see: The Ultimate Guide to Zettelkasten Index Card Storage.

https://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Notes-Write-Allosso-ebook/dp/B0B7FSQP35/

Dan Allosso purchased a 30 drawer card catalog (three sections of 5 x 2 without any base) for $300 in 2022.

It's pictured on the cover of his book "How to Make Notes and Write".

Purchased at $10 per drawer.<br /> local sale

Price mentioned at the end of Dan Allosso Book Club 2023-09-16.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/285357243415

Gaylord Bros. 20 drawer library card catalog<br /> listed for $495 in July 2023<br /> $24.75 per drawer

Reduced to $295.00 in September 2023<br /> $14.95 per drawer

Acquired on 2023-09-16 for $250<br /> $12.50 per drawer<br /> local sale

• writing that people want an answer to
• law of inertia/harder to be in motion when inert (my trails as making motion easier, also making it interesting)
• ghostwriting for free (extracting/repurposing content that a creator is already making)
• be compensated on outcome, not time/effort (look at upside)
• Gary Halbert as Hemmingway in advertising
• Ghostwriting as different from ghostthinking
• writing as business (not what I want, but what others want)

Good and sensible.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Memoirs_of_U._S._Grant

Early precursor to the sort of publishing and marketing work of James Patterson?

Much like its predecessors (Park Sherman Co.) 3x5 Life offers co-branded products to corporations.

Did Memindex do this sort of co-branding? I feel like I've seen something to indicate it.

This could be trivially solved by extending the syntax to include some notation that has the semantics of a well-defined reference but the ergonomics of a quoted string. So if the notation used the sigil ~ (for example), then ~"Bob" could denote an implicitly defined entity that is, through some type-/class-specific mechanism associated with the string "Bob".

Link to: https://hypothes.is/a/lV19ytGBEe2ynWMu34UKUg

This depreciation is done at the lowest level of exchange and caused the system to collapse rather quickly. What level is our current exchange done at such that the inequalities are pushed up multiple levels making the system seem more stable? How is instability introduced? How could it be minimized?

Our current system is valued both by time and skill (using the measure of payment per hour).

Compare this with salespeople who are paid on commission rather than on an hourly basis. They are then using their skill of sales ability and balancing time (and levels of chance) to create their outcomes, but at the same time, some of their work is built on the platform that sales management or the company provides. Who builds this and how do they get paid for it? Who provides sales leads? How is this calculated into the system costs?

How do these ideas fit into the Bullshit Jobs thesis?

https://elizabethfilips.podia.com/validation-cohort-muse

Elizabeth Filips is running a validation cohort for a course (presumably called MUSE, the marketing name for her "system" as well) on how to take notes and build a zettelkasten (or a second brain—there's evidence that she's taken Tiago Forte's course). She's got some indications that she's using a zettelkasten-like method for creation, but her burgeoning empire also appears to be firmly centered in the productivity porn space. I'm curious how she views her Muse system being different from a zettelkasten?

She's got an incredibly focused sales funnel web presence here.

Forte's book is a pathway that acts as just another part of his sophisticated sales funnel.

Larry makes a similar analogy (pass by value vs pass by reference) to my argument about why patches are actually better at the collaboration phase—pull requests are fragile links. Transmission of patch contents is robust; they're not references to external systems—a soft promise that you will service a request for the content when it comes. A patch is just the proposed change itself.

reply to u/theinvertedform at https://www.reddit.com/r/Zettelkasten/comments/zkguan/is_zettelkasten_gamification_of_notetaking/

Social media and "influencers" have certainly grabbed onto the idea and squeezed with both hands. Broadly while talking about their own versions of rules, tips, tricks, and tools, they've missed a massive history of the broader techniques which pervade the humanities for over 500 years. When one looks more deeply at the broader cross section of writers, educators, philosophers, and academics who have used variations on the idea of maintaining notebooks or commonplace books, it becomes a relative no-brainer that it is a useful tool. I touch on some of the history as well as some of the recent commercialization here: https://boffosocko.com/2022/10/22/the-two-definitions-of-zettelkasten/.

how important is the concrete syntax of their language in contrast to the abstract concepts behind them what I mean they say can someone somewhat awkward concrete syntax be an obstacle when it comes to the acceptance

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2022/11/17/at-the-joan-didion-estate-sale/

The API says there are 51 annotations on this page!! (none visible but mine at the moment)

This same sort of repetition is seen in the success of salespeople. Can they repetitively make the same (or slowly improving) pitches day after day without getting tired of hearing "no" to eventually the appropriate number of yeses they need to make a living.

This is where it starts getting ridiculous.

First, rather than social.stephenfry.com, stephenfry.com should be sufficient. Look at email. I can set my MX records to point wherever I want. I don't actually have to have a server with A records to field the email traffic.

Secondly, the @stephen part is superfluous, too! This is something where Mastodon et al had years (decades!) of hindsight to take care of this, and they still messed it up.

This is interesting for itself.

(reference: Sicker in the Head)

It's also interesting because it's an example of regular rehearsal that actors, comedians, storytellers, performers and even salespeople often do to slowly hone and improve their performance or pitch. Each retelling and the response it gives provides subtle hints and clues as to how to improve the story or performance on the next go round, or at least until the thing is both perfected and comes out the same way every time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s4xx_muNcs

Don't recommend unless you have 100 hours to follow up on everything here that goes beyond the surface.

Be aware that this is a gateway for what I'm sure is a relatively sophisticated sales funnel.

Motivational and a great start, but I wonder how many followed up on these techniques and methods, internalized them and used them every day? I've not read his book, but I suspect it's got the usual mnemonic methods that go back millennia. And yet, these things are still not commonplace. People just don't seem to want to put in the work.

As a result, they become a sales tool with a get rich quick (get smart quick) hook/scheme. Great for Kwik's pocketbook, but what about actual outcomes for the hundreds who attended or the 34.6k people who've watched this video so far?

These methods need to be instilled in youth as it's rare for adults to bother.

Acronyms for remembering things are alright, but not incredibly effective as most people will have issues remembering the acronym itself much less what the letters stand for.

There seems to be an over-fondness for acronyms for people selling systems like this. (See also Tiago Forte as another example.)

an impedance mismatch, between what the Web is (infrastructure for building information services that follow the reference desk model—request a document, and the librarian will come back with it) versus what many Web developers want to be (traditional app developers—specifically, self-styled product designers with near 100% autonomy and creative control over the "experience")—and therefore what they want the Web browser to be (the vehicle that makes that possible, with as little effort as possible on the end of the designer–developer)

Come be a part of my sales funnel!!!

ugh... This should generally be sacrilege, but it's even worse when having a solid index (which is roughly the purpose that tags support) is an important part of any commonplace book, especially since John Locke, which a resource Forte has cited elsewhere in his book.

We're 13% into the book already and still being sold on the why we need this... Can we move it along please? Perhaps some will need the "why" story, but in a book about productivity...

This is part of the reason why I advocate for language skins for comparatively esoteric languages like Ada.

As of 2022, there are more than 2 million realtors in the United States, not all using real estate marketing automation. Craig Eaton, owner of Eaton Realty, believed that real estate companies could keep up with trends without automating real estate marketing. But as the number of competitors increased, Craig had a constant flow of customers. After integrating real estate marketing automation, Eaton Realty processed over 500 leads in the first month. This required full-time work from multiple agents, which may have had a minor impact. This was one of the best examples of how real estate marketing automation can save business costs and have a positive impact on the process.

When manufacturers, like Pietra, help influencers manufacture their own product lines, we've taken another step from big celebrities having their own product lines (think Martha Stewart cookware and other lifestyle plays her company has made).

This is splitting the difference between the Tupperware parties of old where you're empowering your users to sell your product and having celebrities sell your product.

What is the next step along this evolutionary path of breaking down the sales funnel? Can it be disintermediated further?

Another example of this are the thousands of small Etsy shops that are churning out products as intermediaries. An example of this is the proliferation of sticker companies that are selling somewhat custom designs for 2-3x the going rate and adding a rather large mark up for themselves. In this case there are at least some modest creative pieces being added in the value chain, but at what overall cost?

Will everyone be a manufacturer? When does it all become Amway?

Bringing a customer experience as a result of a successful sale, attracts new customers and security for the product. Smart strategy.

They brought back insights that enabled them to distinguish their mill. They began to wrap their lumber in plastic and paint the ends in a distinctive color. They learned to load the lumber onto railway cars in a way that made it easier to unload. Buyers soon found that they were dealing with field and telephone sales personnel who not only understood their problems but also frequently anticipated them. In customers’ minds, Weyerhaeuser’s lumber became different from any other. It became a branded item in an ocean of undifferentiated offerings.

visit your clients like a human to human connection

So, yes, a ringing endorsement then....

Bill Hicks would have approved of this.

Planetizen - Urban Planning News, Jobs, and Education. ‘Arts Performances Take to the Streets’. Accessed 6 March 2021. https://www.planetizen.com/news/2020/12/111501-arts-performances-take-streets.

Training and onboarding new employees in a remote environment is essential. Video training improves retention from 10 to 65%. Improving retention for new employees provides quicker ramp up time and lowers defection rates. Rating 7/10

COVID-19 and the Labor Market. (n.d.). IZA – Institute of Labor Economics. Retrieved October 10, 2020, from https://covid-19.iza.org/publications/dp13575/

Berg, N., & Berg, N. (2020, September 11). The rise of ‘dark stores’—And how they could save struggling retail. Fast Company. https://www.fastcompany.com/90549066/the-rise-of-dark-stores-and-how-they-could-save-struggling-retail

Bodenhorn, Howard. ‘Business in a Time of Spanish Influenza’. Working Paper. Working Paper Series. National Bureau of Economic Research, July 2020. https://doi.org/10.3386/w27495.

Barrero, J. M., Bloom, N., & Davis, S. J. (2020). COVID-19 Is Also a Reallocation Shock (Working Paper No. 27137; Working Paper Series). National Bureau of Economic Research. https://doi.org/10.3386/w27137