Day: 29 December 2016

It’s routine, not time, that makes you old?

It’s routine, not time, that makes you old says Janet Street-Porter

I have tried to get into a routine for many years, but its just not worked for me. Maybe it just isn’t me or I think the whole thing is a little dull, incompatable with my life outlook and unconventional thinking.

My mum was reading a story in the daily mail about Janet Street-Porter and how shes do her own thing and ignoring what society thinks. She even mentions the F word, familiarity

Familiarity extends to so many aspects of our lives, from choosing the same telly dramas, playing the same old CDs we bought years ago, and going to the same shops for food and even clothes.

Another reason why routine is so attractive is that we worry life will not come up to expectations. Why go out and meet new people (always a frightening experience) when we’ve got a full complement of old pals already?

Only by taking a deep breath and talking to a stranger do you give yourself the chance to find out something new. Of course, you can chat on social media, but the physical experience is the most rewarding.

I have had similar conversations with multiple people about this type of thing, and always walk away thinking routine is quite corrosive. I understand its harder once you have a family but its worth doing and maintining as you get older, as Janet makes clear.

 

Replacing Evernote with …?

Dead evernote

I’ve been slowly replacing lots of the apps I’ve used in the past. I already wrote a few posts about it. But the big one is replacing Evernote. Now I’m not jumping on the bandwagon but frankly its always drove me a little nuts the lack of linux support. Especially with frameworks like Electron. Its a bit of kick in the teeth and although their webapp has gotten much better, the lack of offline support makes it a killer for everyday use. Yes there is Nevernote, which become Nixnote but Java!

So I tried switching to something else. I landed on Simplenote as its got clients for every platform and it actually syncs across them all like Evernote. This I thought was perfect then somewhere between deciding to move and actually exporting my data out of evernote (thanks to Wine – Windows emulator for Linux); Simplenote removed (?) the ability to import data from evernote exports. Yes I could do some horrible automation but it would be a real pain.

To my mind, their is two parts. The syncing part and the editing part. Most of the note taking apps seem to combine both parts. This is why I liked Tomboy notes but the client was poor.

So I’m looked for something which seperates both parts and can be replaced easlily enough (open enough to do this too). It also needs clients for Linux and Android (web would be a plus). Attachments, encryption, dataportability, etc are high on my list. These are quite different from what Tom is looking for I feel. For example I never used the evernote clipper and have other native solutions for that.

I found these and might give them a try…

  • Laverna needs a Android client, which they are working on. Uses Dropbox or something else for syncing.
  • Standard notes also needs a Android client before I use it, uses a opensource server to sync but its very early days. Although its interesting to hear the developers thoughts on Evernote. Thats a whole lot of puff but standard note does look promising.
  • Turtl has all the clients I need but uses its own sync server, however its opensource and I can later run my own (noticed theres a docker image). I’m currently trying this one out and its working quite well, but I’m still waiting for inport support of my evernote data.

I also found while browsing around Tagspaces, which isn’t stictly a note taking app but has potential to be so much more. Clients for every platform, opensource and can be selfhosted or synced via dropbox, etc.

Sure to update people once I find something which can replace evernote.