Member Reads Sept 9 2023

If you’re reading this and you’re not a member, it’s a free sample of the type of content members get weekly. Cars – More a Nightmare Than You Thought Of course we now expect Chrome (aka Google) to track you but did you know that modern cars are tracking you as well? According to … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

Some Vision Pro Excitment Feel Dystopian

While listening to The Talk Show Episode 3841 John Gruber and Michael Simmons raved about the meditation features of the upcoming Vision Pro being able to gain you some peace in the midst of a busy world. To me the excitement makes me think of the dystopian future we seem to be h … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

Worker Shortage…pay them more

This week I read that the school district my children are in has a shortage of 59 teachers. Then a day later you read that another rural district in the same province didn’t have an issue with finding teachers once they started paying them more. Almost every time I see a “shortag … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

PKM Weekly Sept 3 2023 – Issue 086

If you get value out of this newsletter consider supporting it by becoming a member. You can either get my weekly thoughts or all my courses and my weekly thoughts. You could also purchase a course if that fits your needs better. You can get this in your inbox by signing up. Writ … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

Member Reads Sept 2 2023

This week we discuss the need for a Twitter replacement, what employees want with remote work, how the purpose of hazing rituals is about breaking down your sense of bodily autonomy so that you just “go with” the terrible things others will do later, and we finish with a discussi … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

Don’t Write Code So Fast

Most times when confronted with a “tricky” or new coding issue the best option is not to just start writing code figuring you have the correct path in mind. Stop and think about it. Do a bit of research. Try a bit of code and then think about how it will work out if you […] | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

PKM Weekly for August 27 2023 – Issue 085

If you get value out of this newsletter consider supporting it by becoming a member. You can either get my weekly thoughts or all my courses and my weekly thoughts. You could also purchase a course if that fits your needs better. You can get this in your inbox by signing up. How … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

Member Reads for August 26 2023

In this weeks edition of interesting stuff for members we look at what it means to make a political statement. Then we talk about how people get run over by cars, even when everyone is following the law and how street art may help save some pedestrians. Next we take a look at the … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

What is a Political Statement

The more I think about people calling certain events/statements “political” the more I think that it’s only political when the statement/thing is something you don’t agree with. The very fact that you called something “political” is a political/moral statement. When I see people … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

Manufacturing Happy Citizens – Research With Me

Today we’re going to look at another book, this time about the positive psychology movement and it’s relationship to consumerism and capitalism. Purchase Manufacturing Happy Citizens | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

PKM Weekly August 20 2023 – Issue 084

This week we’re going to try something different for PKM Weekly. Over the last few months I’ve seen a big change in the content available for many tools. I’ve been able to find content for Obsidian easily, and logseq sometimes. Most other note tools I’m not finding much about. So … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

Member Reads for August 19 2023

In this weeks member reads we have a look into building your own solar generator. I talk about the catch-22 of waiting until you find the right tools to get started on something, what is self-serving bias, and why you should let kids fail. If you want to read this whole post beco … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

Goodby Grammarly

So Grammarly is training AI based on my writing, and you’re writing too if you use Grammarly. While I bet there is a way to optout of this, I’m pretty tired of companies taking my writing without compensation and then allowing me to pay them to use the AI trained on writing I’ve … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

Can Joplin Replace DEVONthink

Today we’re taking a live look at Joplin for note-taking. Ultimately I’m looking for a DEVONthink replacement. I’m now in a mixed operating system environment and DEVONthink doesn’t support anything but macOS. Some highlights from the video. Joplin supports embedded PDFs but you … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

PKM Weekly August 15 2023 – Issue 082

If you get value out of this newsletter consider supporting it by becoming a member. You can either get my weekly thoughts or all my courses and my weekly thoughts. You could also purchase a course if that fits your needs better. You can get this in your inbox by signing up. Bigg … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

Reads for August 16 2023

In this members newsletter we talk about the rug-pull that is Uber (and really it’s most tech companies), how the routines of others probably don’t suit you, paying taxes at the higher end of income, and opting out of the capitalist dream of endless purchasing. If you want to rea … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

Research With Me – The Good Enough Job

Today we’re going to look at my notes from The Good Enough Job by Simone Stolzoff. Some highlights of the topics the book addresses: During the video, I show you how I take notes. How I turn some notes into writing ideas for my members newsletter and how I clean up my vault as I … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

PKM Weekly August 6 2023 – Issue 081

If you get value out of this newsletter consider supporting it by becoming a member. You can either get my weekly thoughts or all my courses and my weekly thoughts. You could also purchase a course if that fits your needs better. You can get this in your inbox by signing up. Bigg … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

Should I still Read Liberal Facism

What do you do when a book on your shelf you haven’t read turns out to be a political hit-piece that has no solid backing and ignores most of history? Today I discuss Liberal Fascism, which sits on my shelf and I’ve learned is a thinly veiled poorly researched hit-piece on the le … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

Maybe the Friction of Mastodon is a good thing

Matt has a good point. As I’ve thought about before, I’m learning that I’m personally more excited about ActivityPub than I am about Mastodon specifically. I’m excited about the idea of being able to use Ivory to log into my Mastodon account and talk to people using Micro.blog, T … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

The Dilemma of Content Creators

From Sebastien Dubois: The one part I’m disappointed about is the MRR of this newsletter. As I write edition after edition, week after week, I notice how little progress I manage to make. You are now 800+ subscribers, and I’ve only managed to convince 6 of you (❤️) that my work i … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

People Really Don’t Want to Work in the Office

So it turns out that people like flexible work and don’t want return-to-office policies mandated. I’m baffled that companies were caught off guard by high attrition rates when they mandated return-to-office policies. Employees got a taste of what autonomy is like and realized tha … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

Bear 2.0 First Look

Today we’re going to take a first look at Bear 2.0 released by Shiny Frog software. Bear is an excellent note-taking application for macOS, iPadOS and iOS. That means if you use Linux or Windows…you’re out of luck when it comes to this beautiful application. During this first loo … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

PKM Weekly July 30 2023 – Issue 080

If you get value out of this newsletter consider supporting it by becoming a member. You can either get my weekly thoughts or all my courses and my weekly thoughts. You could also purchase a course if that fits your needs better. You can get this in your inbox by signing up. Bigg … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

What is Conspirituality

This member’s post looks at the book Conspirituality and how yoga gurus turn into COVID denying conspiracy warriors. To read the whole post become a member. Members get my courses included.. | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

Hrm – can you even trust books?

So Dan Ariely seems to have fudged data that went into his books? Between this and If Books Could Kill I really wonder if I can trust any of the books that I read. At the very least I am far more skeptical of any claims made in books, but unfortunately I’m not always equipped […] | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

The long note task system avoids “due bombs”

Two interviewees described this approach as “like paper, but with links.” Many note-centric people I talked to appreciate that notes avoid the ceremony of GTD-style task-tracking tools, and the overwhelm that can come from “due bombs” and other anti-patterns in systems like this. … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

One book per month – Field Notes Bullet Journal

Love this short report on how Greg is using his Bullet Journal via Field Notes books. I do have TickTick as my regular task manager…in theory. In reality, I write down what I need to do in a notebook at my desk and then do it. The only hard part is tracking links to things […] | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

The Dictators Dilemma andMath Can’t Be Racist

I enjoyed this post at Pluralistic. Specifically showing how putting bad data into AI yields bad results, which then slurps up the results and puts out more bad data. | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

My Top Tool for Making Note Connections

My vault has just over 4k notes in it, and there is no way I can know what each note is. In fact, I’ve likely forgotten most of the notes in my vault, which is fine because they’re remembered in my vault for me. But this does bring up a problem, how do I go […] | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

PKM Weekly July 23 2023 – Issue 079

If you get value out of this newsletter consider supporting it by becoming a member. You can either get my weekly thoughts or all my courses and my weekly thoughts. You could also purchase a course if that fits your needs better. You can get this in your inbox by signing up. Bigg … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

New Isn’t Better and You’re Not the Exception

New isn’t necessarily better, it is only new – Path Less Pedaled So Bear 2.0 is out, and I’m not trying to say it’s a bad application. If it works for you…use it and don’t worry about what other people say about any other tool. Keep taking notes in the app that works for you. […] | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

Foxconn industry investment was a can

Unsurprisingly, subsidies given to Foxconn were a terrible deal for citizens. The jobs never materialized in real ways. Governments spent millions preparing power and roads for a building that never showed up. People’s houses were stolen to get the land that Foxconn wanted. We sh … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

Obsidian Graph Analysis Plugin

One of the big things you need to do with your notes is look for connections between a single note and the other notes in your vault. This is where it’s helpful to get outside tools to help you analyze your notes, and where I recommend Graph Analysis. Graph Analysis Setup To star … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

PKM Weekly July 16 2023 – Issue 078

If you get value out of this newsletter consider supporting it by becoming a member. You can either get my weekly thoughts or all my courses and my weekly thoughts. You could also purchase a course if that fits your needs better. You can get this in your inbox by signing up. Bigg … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

The thing Christian’s miss

Christians often talk about the “love” they are supposed to bring to the world, but I mostly see hate. If you want to read this whole post become a member. Members get all my courses included.. | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

When to Use Multiple Obsidian Vaults

I’ve been asked recently when I would recommend using multiple vaults in your Obsidian setup. The best way I can think to help you make a decision is to tell you why I use multiple vaults. My Other Vaults I have two other main vaults, and only one that I use regularly. The vault … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

PKM Weekly July 9 2023 – Issue 077

If you get value out of this newsletter consider supporting it by becoming a member. You can either get my weekly thoughts or all my courses and my weekly thoughts. You could also purchase a course if that fits your needs better. You can get this in your inbox by signing up. Bigg … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

Discord is Bad for User Communication

Lately I’ve noticed a trend of companies not having a forum for users to help other users, and instead the turn to Discord. I found Remnote doing this recently and it feels like another step in a terrible direction and I’m not the only one to feel this way. This is usually a memb … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

Find Orphaned Notes in Obsidian with the Dangling Links Plugin

We’ve all created notes that have no links to anything else before. Off they go into the ether rarely to be seen again. Today we’ll look at how the Dangling Links plugin can help you find those notes so you can do something with them. Setting Up Dangling Links To install the Dang … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

PKM Weekly July 1 2023 – Issue 076

If you get value out of this newsletter consider supporting it by becoming a member. You can either get my weekly thoughts or all my courses and my weekly thoughts. You could also purchase a course if that fits your needs better. You can get this in your inbox by signing up. Bigg … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

You Learn Nothing on the Internet

Yes, the internet has lots of good information, but for most people most of the time you learn nothing with the internet. If you want to read this whole post become a member. Members get all my courses included.. | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

In the name of AI Google is making its bad search worse

According to David Pierce writing in The Verge, you’ll be getting Google’s AI, called Bard, at the top of your search results soon. So now you’ll have an AI summary, then a list of SEO crap articles about the topic. You’ll have to dig even further to find anyone real that has an … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

4 Mistakes Beginner Note Takers Make

Today we’re going to look at the mistakes beginner note-takers make, though they’re not limited to beginners really. As I’ve coached more people on their note process I see many people falling into these traps in their PKM system. They learn these bad habits then never recognize … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

PKM Weekly June 24 2023 – Issue 075

Note: The overwhelming majority responded with approval to dump reddit links going forward. Unless something major changes, you are unlikely to find them here. If you’re looking for lemmy communities Alex pointed me to this lemmy tool. You can find me on lemmy.ca here. I’m follow … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

What Does it Mean to Be a Man?

Today we discuss what it means to be a man from a left-leaning political perspective. If you want to read this whole post become a member. Members get all my courses included.. | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

Systems before Tools

I always say that a good system/process is far better than whatever tool is “hot” in your industry. It would seem that CJ Chilvers agrees with me. He says that you shouldn’t believe in goals, you should believe in process. Stick to the process day in day out, and the goals will k … | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago

I agree with this take on Facebook and Federation

Measured reasonable take from Fosstodon. I’d look at Facebook joining the Fediverse as a person having 2 strikes against them. The slightest misstep and they’re gone. Like the OP, I hate Facebook. I also try to avoid it at all costs. | Continue reading


@curtismchale.ca | 1 year ago