I’ve only had my GF for a few days, and already my forum bookmarks list is totally unmanageable. My fiftycough year old brain is really good at remembering that “somebody said something about this somewhere,” but when it comes to finding said information, it can take forever to find which thread had which cool snippet of information in it. Especially when there are multiple threads with multiple cool snippets!
So, I use my trusty external brain, Evernote. As I’m reading through the forums, when I come across something that strikes me as information I’m going to want to remember at some point in the future, I copy and paste it into an Evernote note. If it’s big and complex, I can include a link back to the pertinent thread.
As an example, I was reading stuff about acrylic this morning, working up the nerve to try some on my own. In the process, I started a list of “Acrylic Pearls” that looks something like this:
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The deeper the etch the better the refraction you get from edge lighting.
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On clear/transparent acrylic, the etched part is more opaque than the nonetched part.
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1/4" or 1/2" acrylic makes “better” LED lit signs/plaques/whatever than 1/8”.
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…using a light coating of cooking oil before cutting works wonders to keep the acrylic really clear.
…and so on.
Now, when I remember that somebody said something about acrylic that I wanted to remember, I can find it quickly by hopping over to Evernote and doing a keyword search on “acrylic.”
“His brain was filled with white knowledge, which is like white noise, only more useful.” -Neil Gaiman, in Neverwhere
