Kindle Notes Needs a Blood Infusion
The Kindle is an amazing product. Yet Amazon failed to build out great note, snippet and book recommendation applications.
Goodreads hasn’t changed much since Amazon bought the company in 2013. The Kindle-Goodreads integration is meager: it allows you to update % complete and whether your finish the book.
Amazon only offers basic Kindle notes and highlights functionality. You can access and search them through https://read.amazon.com/notebook or export a portion of them as an html file from the Kindle iPad application. The book publisher sets a limit on the amount of highlights you can export. Using the highlights outside of the notebook site is cumbersome. There are a few utilities out there, such as http://kindle-formatter.vercel.app/ to convert the Kindle html file to Markdown and Roam formats.
Amazon could have built a great set of products, combining GoodReads and Notes, that
- Allow for easy and pretty sharing of quotes and highlights on Twitter.
- Allow for sharing and discovering highlights from other readers you follow. Bookclubs can see each other’s highlights. Or you can quickly gather what avid readers and curators have highlighted in a book.
- Allow you to save all your highlights in a portable text format. My highlights are mine. I prefer to save my book summaries and highlights locally. I want to copy/paste them easily into a Google Doc, an email, or a blogpost.
- Allow for easy integration with various notebook applications, such as Notion or Evernote.
Readwise solves many of these problems. It brings highlights from several sources together and integrates them with popular notebook applications. You can also share quotes easily on Twitter in a pretty format.
However, at $5/month, Readwise joins my subscription hell.
Amazon should have built a number of these features into Kindle Notes from the get-go.
Matter, a new and great reader application for newsletters and articles, does a great job at this, and avoids “integration” applications. Matter provides snippet sharing, and allows you to export the highlights to Notion. You can also export all highlights in an article in Markdown format.
Amazon is great at logistics, package distribution, and Kindle devices. They are great at infrastructure software (AWS) and Alexa. I wonder if they have the same passion for consumer software.
November 26, 2021
The Times Are Really Good
One of the great Christmas presents I received in recent years was a subscription to the New York Times. Since last month, I am now also subscribed to the Los Angeles Times, after my son wanted it for this twentieth birthday. It also brings a California perspective to the US news.
I’ve been truly impressed by both newspapers, both about its content and how it is delivered. The New York Times iOS application is beautiful and functional. The story telling through the digital exposes are superb. The website becomes more than just a digital version of the print paper.
I read the LA Times ePaper daily on my iPad. I looks like just a photo of the print paper. However, it gives you a sense of reading the physical paper, and allows you click into the articles and share them with one click. Also the LA Times iOS application is well done.
One feature I am missing in both applications is the ability to highlight sentences. Therefore, I share interesting articles to Matter, where I can mark them up, save them for later, or share quotes on Twitter.
Both Times set themselves apart from our local newspapers, the San Francisco Chronicle and San Jose Mercury News, and from many other newspapers.
I don’t know how many people subscribe to the New York and LA Times, or how expensive their staff is. Hopefully, they can make the books balance and demonstrate there is life for the newspaper industry after all.
November 24, 2021
New Lingo
Recently, I came to learn two new terms, bikeshedding and yak shaving.
Bikeshedding
Cyril Parkinson, a British naval historian, is foremost known for Parkinson’s law, which states that work and meetings expand to fill the time allocated to it. A lesser known of his laws is the law of triviality, to describe how organizations tend to focus on trivial issues and put aside more complex matters.
Bikeshedding is another term for Parkinson’s law of triviality, describing our tendency to devote a disproportionate amount of our time to menial and trivial matters while leaving important matters unattended.
The term supposedly originated during nuclear power plant planning meetings when too much time was spent on the color of the bike shed, rather than on the construction and safety of the nuclear plant.
Bikeshedding occurs because trivial tasks are easier to comprehend than more complex issues; consequently, we feel more comfortable working on and discussing the simple issue.
It is important to be aware of bikeshedding because it helps identify instances in which a valuable resource — time — is being wasted on trivial matters. Bikeshedding means that we are operating at a suboptimal efficiency and may not complete everything that we have set out to resolve.
An awareness of bikeshedding is vital to countering its effects.
There are various techniques that can be used in order to ensure that a group or team is being efficient with the time they spend on each topic.
One method to avoid bikeshedding is to have a separate meeting for any major, complex issue. If the topic is brought into a meeting with a long agenda, it can get lost under the trivial issues. However, if it is the main and only purpose for a meeting, it is difficult to avoid talking about it. Keeping meetings specific and focused on a particular issue can help counter bikeshedding. It may also be a good idea to have a particular person appointed to keep the team on task and pull back focus if the discussion does get sidetracked.
Another way of pulling the focus onto particular issues is to have fewer people present at the meeting. Bikeshedding is a big problem in group settings because simple issues entice multiple people to speak, which can drag them out. By only having the necessary people present at a meeting, even if a trivial issue is discussed, it will take up less time since there are fewer people to voice their opinion.
Yak Shaving
Yak shaving is programming lingo for the seemingly endless series of small tasks that have to be completed before the next step in a project can move forward.
Wikipedia’s definition shows both the negative and positive spin one can give the definition
- Any apparently useless activity which, by allowing you to overcome intermediate difficulties, allows you to solve a larger problem. “I was doing a bit of yak shaving this morning, and it looks like it might have paid off.”
- A less useful activity done consciously or subconsciously to procrastinate about a larger but more useful task.
It originated in the MIT media lab.
You see, yak shaving is what you are doing when you’re doing some stupid, fiddly little task that bears no obvious relationship to what you’re supposed to be working on, but yet a chain of twelve causal relations links what you’re doing to the original meta-task.
Be aware of the army of yaks that threatens your time and sanity.
Experienced developers will generally try to steer clear of yaks by rethinking the problem, analyzing different solutions, and picking the most efficient one.
October 31, 2021
The Search for a New Markdown Notes Application
I was a big fan of iAWriter until the recent deadlocks when using it together with DropBox to keep my files. After many months, the problem persists on both my iPad and iPhone. It clearly looks like a deadlock where the synchronization hangs, and the only remedy is a drawn out quit-restart-quit-restart sequence. Luckily no data is lost, yet the writing flow is interrupted.
I’ve been on the look out for an alternative solution. The requirements are few:
- Support for Markdown. It is an open and simple format. It is easy to read, easy to work with, and future proof.
- My data is my data. My files are my files. I want the Markdown files stored as files, and accessible outside of the of application. One reason is that I use Blot.im as a blogging platform, powered by Markdown files in a specific Dropbox directory folder. Many applications will wrap the files in their own (database) system to allow for faster searching, linking, graph diagramming, etc. Often, the data is no longer stored in Markdown files, and you are beholden to the application to access your data. Obsidian does a hybrid solution, where their “vaults” are an Obsidian owned folder where individual Markdown files are stored. The issues is that I have many Markdown files already and (on iOS) there doesn’t appear to be an easy way to point to existing file structure, let alone a Dropbox folder.
- Support for platform independent synchronization. I want a solution which I can use on many platforms. iCloud synchronization is popular, though only works on Apple devices, and makes it hard to make your files available on a work computer. Application specific synchronization is worse, as it ties me to the application. The only options I’ve found to be platform independent are DropBox, GitHub, and Google Drive.
In other words, I am seeking an application, which I can point to a file structure of Markdown files, and which supports DropBox (or GitHub, or Google Drive).
Recently, I revisited Bear, Obsidian, and explored FSNotes. None of them support my scenarios. They all try to do just that bit too much, requiring them to take control of my files.
Obsidian is a powerful knowledge base on top of a local folder of plain text Markdown files.
The start up experience on iOS is a clear tell of how complicated the synchronization game is . It is a mess.
1Writer to the rescue.
I am writing this post using 1Writer. It does exactly what I was looking for. It is a nice looking and simple application, that does one thing very well: editing Markdown.
Let’s hope it doesn’t suffer from the same DropBox synchronization deadlock. If it does, I know where the problem is and who to contact next.
October 9, 2021
Psyche
Belgium’s Rode Duivels dominated the French during the first half of the Nations League. After 45 minutes, it was 2-0 with wonderful goals from Carrasco and Lukaku.
During the second half, the momentum changed dramatically in favor of Les Blues. Ultimately, the French hammered the nail in the coffin, as they scored their third goal. 2-3!
“We failed on tactics.”, Jan Mulder
“We should have started with Vanaken, the man in form, over Tielemans.”
There are plenty of opinions why, yet again, Belgium fails when it is for all the marbles.
I think it goes beyond the tactics and the players. It is about the collective psyche. Belgians lack that killer instinct, that winner’s psyche. Sure there are plenty of amazing Belgian winners in many sport disciplines. They are talented and amazing athletes. Yet, when it comes down a small difference, when it comes to winning on character, we often lack the final punch.
Let’s start with L’Equipe’s headline going into this game capturing the mood among the French. It is frying time! You won’t see that headline in Belgium.
Nothing is coming home to Belgium, nor do we crown ourselves champions at the beginning of the tournament. That’s a classic Dutch move.
The Dutch, the Italians, the Brazilians and the French share that same cocky attitude. It gives them the extra few percent to win. That collective psyche is what we saw on display today. It is also what we saw on display when the French cycling team trumped the Belgian favorites going into the world championship cycling this year. It is about the attitude.
October 7, 2021
Mudfest 2021
Paris-Roubaix 2021 turned out a true mudfest. What is already a race of luck, became a race of the luckiest. As much as I enjoy the Paris-Roubaix scenes, I don’t consider Paris-Roubaix a fair race. It is spectacle where it is not necessarily the strongest who wins. It is the strongest-luckiest who wins. Today, Sonny Cobrelli was the luckiest and baddest bastard of them all. He didn’t steal the victory.
Yves Lampaert wasn’t as lucky. He came in 5th after he had suffered 3 punctures. When Johan Musseeuw came in second after Servais Knapen in 2001, he did so after 5 punctures. Five! Hard to call it a fair race.
It was great listening to the live radio coverage, while I was out on the gravel paths on my bike. I didn’t do 163 miles as the riders in the hell of the North. I did a mere 33 miles this morning.
October 3, 2021
The Final Cycling Weekend of the Year
This is the final weekend of 2021 of any importance in the world of cycling. We are ending with a bang: Paris-Roubaix, the hell of the North, an exclusive affair only reserved for the strongest.
But first,
Remco’s Public Relations Team Earned Their Keep
Remco has a serious image problem. During the world championship, he and his PR team provided an answer. He worked for the Belgium team. He forewent his own chances. He pulled hard.
Merci Remco, Merci.
And yet, his participation in the Extra Time Koers television show, provided yet again more fodder for the tabloids.
Did he pull too early, so he didn’t have to ride against his teammate, Julian Alaphilippe? Did he disobey team directives by pulling too early? Did he try to sway the team coach on Saturday morning by asking clarifications on the team strategy?
Who cares!
Jose De Cauwer said it best: let’s have a beer or coffee to talk it over … and move on. Indeed, move on! The Belgian team didn’t win. That’s cycling.
There is still a lot of work ahead to turn Remco into Mr Sympatico.
Paris Roubaix, the Hell of the North
This weekend is a rare (covid-19) fall edition of Paris Roubaix. The race is always hectic and chaotic. It is a test of the equipment, as much as it is about the riders. You need to be strong and have a lot of luck to win this race. Because of it, Paris-Roubaix isn’t my favorite race. Nevertheless, it is heroic.
To get into the mood, this Friday evening, I am watching the 1976 documentary, A Sunday in Hell. The documentary provides a rare behind the scenes of what the race was in the 70s, among the GOAT, Eddy Merckx, Monsieur Paris-Roubaix, Roger de Vlaminck and many others.
And then there is always Tommeke! (Does he also carry the title Monsieur Paris-Roubaix? He is worthy of it.)
One last time this year waking up very early California time to watch pro-cycling.
October 1, 2021
Val
Val is the best documentary I watch all year. It tells the story of Val Kilmer, as narrated by his son, and through his movies and the many home movies he amassed.
It is amazing how much of his personal life, and life on set, Val captured with a camera. He was TikTok before TikTok was popular.
As an eighties kid, I grew up with Ice Man. He was the cold jock in Top Gun. The anti-hero.
You can be my wingman any time.
As a geek, Anthony Edwards (Goose) was my pilot. Goose was Revenge of the Nerd’s Gilbert, Gilbert was Goose.
I just wanted to say that I’m a nerd, and I’m here tonight to stand up for the rights of other nerds. I mean uh, all our lives we’ve been laughed at and made to feel inferior. And tonight, those bastards, they trashed our house. Why? Cause we’re smart? Cause we look different? Well, we’re not. I’m a nerd, and uh, I’m pretty proud of it.
Then, a friend at high school introduced me to the music of The Doors. I went from dark New Wave music to the mesmerizing sounds of The Doors. I wasn’t a big movie going guy, but I had to watch the movie The Doors. Val Kilmer was the spitting image of Jim Morrison in the movie. It has been one of his best performances. (I never got to watch his stage performance of Mark Twain.)
I read all the poems of Morrison, and became a huge Doors fan, 15 years after Jim Morrison’s death. Somewhere I have a picture of me at his grave in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris.
I am the Lizard King
I can do anything
I can make the earth stop in its tracks
I made the blue cars go away
The documentary doesn’t go into a lot of details about his throat cancer and his tracheostomy. Yet, they don’t shy away from it, as Val is featured multiple times, having difficulty to communicate.
Of course, this is his documentary. There is always another side to the story. The New York Times sketches a more balanced picture of the actor - Cancer has taken his voice, but the unlikeliest movie star in Hollywood history still has a lot he wants to say.
His casting problem was solved for him when no one wanted to work with him anymore. The roles went to people who, presumably, were not known for unkindness toward movie crews; the phone stopped ringing. In his book, he sums up this period like this: “In an unflinching attempt to empower directors, actors and other collaborators to honor the truth and essence of each project, an attempt to breathe Suzukian life into a myriad of Hollywood moments, I had been deemed difficult and alienated the head of every major studio.”
By watching the documentary, I learned that Val Kilmer is a lot more than Top Gun and The Doors. He is an artist and “filmophile”. Living modestly, filming, writing, and painting.
September 25, 2021
The World Championship Week Continues
A few comments leading into the apotheoses on Sunday with the Men’s race.
King Ganna
It was no surprise that Filippo Ganna won the world championship time trial. It was close. Wout only lost by a handful of seconds. My prediction for number 1 and 2 was not difficult. Remco Evenepoel winning bronze was a happy surprise, and surely boosts his morale.
Remco Has a Serious Image Problem
Remco Evenepoel is seen as the lone wolf, the rule-breaker and the anti-team player.
Sven Vanthourenhout, the coach of team Belgium:
If I doubted even 0.01% about Evenepoel, I would not have selected him.
It’s odd that you have to make such as statement.
Also Eddy Merckx commented critically:
If there is only one leader, you really shouldn’t take Evenepoel. He rides mainly for himself; we saw that at the Olympics.
Remco responded arrogantly and hinted that Eddy Merckx held a grudge against him for not joining Axel Merckx bicycle team.
Given the stink around him, his answer should have been smart, succinct and humble: “Sorry to hear that. I will show my worth to the team and in support for Wout.” And then put his legs where his mouth is and support the team.
Remco’s PR team has its work cut out for him.
There is only one way to make this right: as long as Wout is in the race, Remco must follow the team orders and support Wout. That’s it. No opportunistic break away. Even if he were to win the rainbow jersey with a selfish breakaway, it would be a Pyrrhic victory.
Only the Best Wout Can Win This
As we saw in the U23 men’s race, a lot can happen in the race where it may not be hard enough to break the peloton. Quite a few others can snag the victory from team Belgium and Wout Van Aert.
I predict it will be one of the shadow favorites who will snag the gold. They include Mathieu Van Der Poel and Tom Pidcock. Both riders have been quietly preparing for this race. Both have a strong finish.
Still, Go Wout!
Helmet Off to Otto-Jan and Elodie
In De Tijd van ons Leven two amateur time trialist trained to not finish last. It was a great and fun show to watch. 
The results: Otto-Jan put beat out Christopher Simons of Ghana. Otto-Jan held an average of 41.58km/hr. Elodie came with an average of 34.64km/hr very close (41 seconds) to Pakistani Jan Asma.
Helmet off to both.
September 21, 2021
The Rainbow Is Coming Home
Tomorrow morning starts the cycling world championship week. Hundred years of rainbow colors! And this year, it is happening in Flanders.
Tomorrow is the Men’s Time Trail race, 43.3km from Knokke to Brugge.
Here’s my prediction.
- Filippo Ganna
- Wout Van Aert - I’ll be rooting for him. A second spot will fan his hunger for a week later.
- Stephan Kung, current European Time Trial champion. He is in form.
Remco will put on a solid performance, but won’t be on the podium, nor is Primoz Roglic or Rohan Dennis.
Sadly TV-maker Otto-Jan Ham won’t beat the slowest rider, and thus fail in his attempt. Elodie on the other hand does have a chance. The Flemish TV show “De tijd van ons leven”, where they train to be time trialists, has been great entertainment. Yet, it shows how hard cycling is, and that it takes a lot to be a professional rider. Geen pannekoeken!
September 18, 2021