Things That Improve Your Life

[subbes]

Noodler's just released a new line of piston-fill brush pens if that's your sort of thing. I can't be doing with brush pens.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Wow. Is that because you have incredibly cool handwriting, or because your pen is so expensive? I was never able to make my writing look cool with nibbed pens when I tried.

In other news, the Productivity Owl is keeping my ass in order, but not giving me any respect...

Admittedly, I still absent-mindedly go to websites that I've blocked, only to get told off.

[subbes]

It is a combination of my writing and the pen. The line width variation rom the pen hides a multitude of sins in my writing.

[tegan]

I'm not sure if this is just supposed to be about life-improving products or what, but I've definitely got a life-improving activity. A few years ago I started the habit of leaving a fifty percent tip at restaurants. I make someone's day better, I almost invariably get better service after doing it a few times, and in the long run I spend much less money at restaurants since I always take into account how expensive it'll be. I make exceptions for special occasions. It sounds bonkers but it's totally worth it.

On the subject of food: get a fruit bowl and a banana hook. Fruit goes out in the open, candy and chips go in a cupboard way above or below eye level. If you get a craving for something unhealthy, wait at least ten minutes before actually eating/buying it. You'll probably forget about it.

[Armchair General]

Subbes I totally want one of those there pens for my doctory writing - recommend me a pen that writes easily, is durable and doesn't cost the earth - I'm thinking up to around £50. I will write to you and thankyou for it, howzat for incentive!

[subbes]

The basic recommendation for a starter fountain pen is the LAMY Safari. They do look a little janky (they're made of ABS plastic, for instance) but they're durable. The section is designed to "train" your hand into a good "tripod" grip, so if you grasp your pen in an unconventional manner, it may not be the pen for you. The nibs are hot-swappable, and new nibs will cost you about £3, which is great if you might want to experiment with different line widths (I suggest you start with a M). If you have an unconventional grasp, let me know and I'll investigate alternatives in the same price range (the TWSBI Diamond is a common suggestion but it's at the upper end of your price range).

If you want a pen with line variation, the selection gets a little more tricky. I won't go into the details on that unless you really want them.

[ThunderPeel2001]

I'm not sure if this is just supposed to be about life-improving products or what, but I've definitely got a life-improving activity. A few years ago I started the habit of leaving a fifty percent tip at restaurants. I make someone's day better, I almost invariably get better service after doing it a few times, and in the long run I spend much less money at restaurants since I always take into account how expensive it'll be. I make exceptions for special occasions. It sounds bonkers but it's totally worth it.

On the subject of food: get a fruit bowl and a banana hook. Fruit goes out in the open, candy and chips go in a cupboard way above or below eye level. If you get a craving for something unhealthy, wait at least ten minutes before actually eating/buying it. You'll probably forget about it.

Nice!

[Erkki]

For instance, I just came across a rather nifty bit of software that changes the look of your monitor to match the time of day, thus (in theory) helping your body adjust better to nighttime.

http://stereopsis.com/flux/

I haven't found time to read this whole thread, but this particular thing is great! I've been using it for more than a week and I like it!

I think SleepCycle phone app was also mentioned. I've tried that in the past, but I'm not sure it actually helped me in any way. I might give it another try.

I don't know if it's been mentioned, but one of the biggest uses for my smartphone is Twitter + Instapaper combo. I suppose any alternatives would work as well. I almost never click on a link on twitter, instead I click "Read Later" and when I have time I'll read the things without the ads or other clutter. Of course, this means I'm not likely to go back, find the tweet and retweet it if I liked what I read

[ThunderPeel2001]

Huh, Instapaper sounds quite useful! I think I've heard the name before, but never really took it in.

[I_smell]

In February 2009 I won a Wacom tablet in a contest. The contest was to draw Ed McMillen naked, and it's his old Wacom that he'd already had for presumably at least a year. Not sure why I won, I wasn't the best or anything.

So now this thing is really old, and I'm still using it. Literally every day, I use it instead of the mouse. It would've been an unwise purchase back when I was in college or whatever, but I've animated many cool things on it since that would've probably come out weird and stupid if I was still mousin' it up.

Also just having a phone and facebook- cos oh my god if I didn't have that, how the hell would I speak to anyone!!!!

New Years? Birthdays? I'd just be sittin here WONDERING what everyone else was doing!

[tegan]

I've had a couple of Wacom tablets and yeah, they're incredibly useful. I don't usually use mine for anything other than drawing, though. At any given time I'm rocking only two thirds of the Impractical Desktop Accessories Suite.

...I have a very strong sense of style.

Also, I learned something today: going through the menus on your TV and relabeling all of the inputs to what they are makes life so much simpler. Now I know which component input is for Wii and which one is for PS2 and Xbox!

[Nachimir]

I also use an Arc Touch mouse; it does primarily appeal to my sense of aesthetics, but that it folds flat counts for a lot when I cycle most places.

[Erkki]

The Arc Touch Mouse is great! Been using it at work and I even got used to the weird scroll bar. Still use an old IntelliMouse Explorer with a broken button at home. The button double clicks sometimes instead of a single click, which is sometimes annoying, so I've been thinking of getting a new mouse for ... 2 years. Really should get one.

[Nachimir]

Been using it at work and I even got used to the weird scroll bar.

Sometimes, I find the flush capacitive scroll bar and double tapping it to middle click are… sub-optimal for games ¬¬

Not so much I want a different mouse though.

[SiN]

Oh, if we're talking peripherals: I've found having a mouse *and* trackpad is super-handy. When my MacBook Air is "docked" I have a full-size wired Apple Keyboard flanked with an old Microsoft Intellisense mouse* to the right, and a Magic Trackpad to the left. I find myself using the mouse for pointing operations, and the trackpad for scrolling (and the occasional gesture). Also handy when sipping on tea (with the right hand) to continue scrolling (with the left hand).

* I bought this mouse in 2004 on a whim when I got a laptop and realized I'd need a USB mouse to play Doom 3. Honestly the best mouse I've ever owned. It has exactly THREE buttons: left, middle/scroll wheel and right. THAT'S IT.

[tegan]

If I played any serious PC games I would seek out an alternative to the Arc Touch, but otherwise it's probably the nicest mouse I've ever used.

Another nice thing: everything on my desktop is easy to turn off. The Arc Touch folds flat, my monitor (Samsung Syncmaster PX2370) has a touch panel for power, and the blue light on the side of my keyboard is actually a sleep button that needs to be pressed in sideways instead of being pressed down. It's great; it's always there for when I need it but I almost never press it by accident thanks to the way it's designed.

[elmuerte]

I recently bought a Boogie Board (The Original). It's amazing it's like writing on a small whiteboard, except that you cannot easily make partial corrections, also the contrast is not as good. The lifetime is also much less than a small whiteboard. Even though it's electronic you cannot export what you have written, there is a much more expensive version that does allow it. Compared to a whiteboard it is also much much more expensive (regular price for the small one is about 40 euros). But other than that, it is amazing

[I_smell]

OH- fucking sticky notes. A couple years ago I had my first office job, and the guy next to me would put yellow post-its on the corner of his monitor. I now use that for dozens of everyday life things that normal people seem to miraculously just remember.

It sounds like a goofy old-school thing that someone in a sitcom would do, but whatever I'm here actually doing it.

[The_Greyhound]

My kindle dx is awesome. They stopped making it, too - glad I got the larger screen while I could

[Nachimir]

OH- fucking sticky notes. A couple years ago I had my first office job, and the guy next to me would put yellow post-its on the corner of his monitor. I now use that for dozens of everyday life things that normal people seem to miraculously just remember.

We all totally did that at the last company I worked for.

Oh, I cannot believe I didn't put this here until now: A hackspace. I used to rent a 400 square foot studio, split with two other people, for about £240 a month. We didn't have many tools or workbenches, but it was somewhere to work. A few years ago I ditched it to help set up a hackspace, and now have access to all kinds of crazy tools and facilities at a 4,300 square foot workshop and studio, which also basically has a 140-member brains trust for solving problems and teaching skills.

[The_Greyhound]

Good pens, ink and paper improve my life.

You may or may not want to take it to the same extent as I do (I have spent $140 on a pen).

can you tell us something about quality paper? I have some fountain pens but i know basically nothing about paper

[Forbin]

Relating to hard disk usage, I like using JDiskReport. I haven't tried tried WinDirStat, but from screenshots it looks a bit cluttered. JDiskReport also is in java so it works pretty much everywhere.

I've also been using mytvrss.com for a while, and they've switched over to a more robust followshows.com. Whenever I'm interested in a show I just follow it, and it'll keep me up to date when new episodes are going to air. I use the RSS feed primarily, but the tracker is pretty good at showing me how many episodes I'm behind on shows that I used to watch. I guess it's not new to people who used PVRs this way, but it's completely altered the way I watch TV. I spend almost no time watching shows I don't want to, and catch up on them when I do have free time. Meaning I watch less TV, but what I watch is better.

A cool site I use to find software: http://www.alternativeto.net

Search for programs you want to find an alternative, how many people like it compared to the one you were searching for, as well as pictures, comments and reviews.

Techzilla daily tips are a gold mine for this kind of stuff. http://www.youtube.com/user/TEKHD/

[elmuerte]

I like the treemaps from windirstat. much better than the most useless visualization called piechart

[subbes]

Quality paper: Rhodia or Clairefontaine are all I use. I use a Rhodia top wire-bound notebook for my day-to-day to-do lists and notes, and Clairefontaine Triomphe paper for letters. They're glassy-smooth, which means that it's like writing with a hot knife on butter. Ink takes longer to dry (so be careful not to smudge if you're a left-hander), but there's zero bleeding, feathering, or show-through.

Would the Arc Touch mouse work with a Mac? I notice the Amazon description does nto say so, but I suppose it would be silly of MS to advertise it.

[Erkki]

I like the treemaps from windirstat. much better than the most useless visualization called piechart

Word! Although I mostly use the list view to find the biggest things in a folder (e.g. steamapps) to delete.