A folder full of trivia
At art school during the 1990s, in the pre-inernet and Google Image days, I kept files of pictures, torn from magazines, for reference. If I needed to illustrate a particular type of tree, then I’d leaf through my nature file and pick out a picture that came close to what I need.
When I started using PCs that practice continued, this time with folders holding .rtf format files. I kept notes in them. Then about 15 years ago, I discovered Zim-wiki, and started throwing in anything interesting I read, with a link back to the source1.
That folder still exists. About 1500 files with notes (mostly copy pasted) on things like taoist stories, physics experiments, stuff about the brain, military stories, recipes, jokes and so on. Anything that caught my attention. If I remembered it long enough, it went into the wiki.
Then Markor came along, and now I carry all those notes on my phone. It’s nice to know that if I ever need to look up something I’ve read about I can pull it up, except now we have A.I and having all those notes with me don’t mean much anymore.
I feel like I should end this post with some witty line on missed opportunities but I’m just too bummed to think one up.