Libb

Indeed. But I will remain on the older computer-less models. My latest acquisition is a Typestar 220, that is a replacing another but worse Typestar. Loving it ;)

:)

Thx, fixed

I don't trust brands, I trust their customer support.

Any device/product can fail, no matter how excellent it is. To me, what matters is how efficiently the issue is dealt with by the support.

Like, I trust Apple customer support and now, after approx. 40 years being their customer, their customer support is the sole reason I'm still buying Apple stuff (I don't like at all what they became and how they make their device unfixable on purpose, it's a shame for a company that so much pretend to care about being eco-friendly). I'm also a fountain pen user and a collector, but the brands I trust the most are not the most hyped and expensive, far from it, they're TWSBI and Lamy, because of their amazing customer support. Or, say, I mainly wear Merrell shoes for hiking (because they fit me well, obviously) because they have a fine customer support. And so on.

I have zero brand loyalty beyond that, and will not hesitate to change brand if they ever cut on their customer support.

This. We have not owned a TV since the very early 00s, when we realized they wanted us to pay in order to watch... ads. More and more of them.

First, thx.

Then, to answer your questions:

The Zettelkasten was devised to be constantly updated and searched and linked, be it analog or digital. My index is the key entry point, next to the my many bibliographical and authors cards and then I simply follow the links from one card to the other(s).

I can easily update any entry by adding more cards to it, with a sub-digit ID linking it to its parent.

I'm not a huge fan of videos, but you could do worse (much worse) than watch a few on Scott Scheper's channel (https://www.youtube.com/@scottscheper/videos) the only real downside imho, beside the sheer amount of videos, is how much he insists on being hostile to digital. Even though I'm an analog user myself I find his constant attacks tiring (not necessarily all wrong, but tiring) and counter-productive. The same with his book (a really excellent understanding of what an analog Zettel is and how one could use it, with way too much anti-digital remarks). A more neutral and not less interesting reading would be Bob Doto 'A system for writing' (https://bobdoto.computer/) — reading it this very moment and not yet finished, but I like what I've been reading so far. The kind of book I would likely offer to a newcomer.

As for cost. There are many options to reduce it to barely nothing (say, much less than the cost of a cloud subscription to host your files for a few decades):

• You may not use index cards but standard paper. Much cheaper. And it has another advantage: it will eat less space in your boxes since standard paper is thinner than index cards. For years, I was reusing the back of letters and documents, the back of my drafts and so on I cut to size (A6, aka 4x6 in the USA). I made thousands of cards for cheap, if not for free. My only expense was to buy a (used, cheap) office paper cutter (one of those guillotine-like thingy with a large blade that can easily cut 20+ sheets at once). So it was really quick and neat to make a bunch of new 'cards' from my recycled A4 sheets.
• You may buy index cards in bulk or even second hand. I've recently purchased 10.000 A6 (4x6) cards brand new still wrapped in packs of 100 from a shop that was closing down for less than... 40$, shipping included.

For storage, I have yet to find a decent filing cabinet. Living in France, I don't have access to the variety of new cabinets you have in the USA, or only at absurdly expensive prices. And used 4x6 filing cabinets are not that common. So, for the most part I've been using a (high tech) mix of shoe boxes (they work surprisingly well) and of those office index card boxes (plastic or metal boxes with a removable lid and optional separators). Both are ugly as fuck, that's for sure, but at least they do their job. One day, hopefully, I will get my hand on one of those nice and well-made cabinet :p

Edit: typos (part thx to Apple's autocorrect moronic decisions, part because I just suck at English ;)

Nope. I simply refuse to watch ads.

Either the website or their author will have provided the means to support them directly, or I won't. And if they try forcing ads on me, I quit using their website.

I'm fine with spending money to support content or services I appreciate. I refuse to waste a second of my life watching ads. That's the reason why we have not owned a TV since the early 00s: my spouse and I realized we were screwed as, at least here in France, we were supposed to pay for watching TV but still would have to watch ads, more and more of them for that matter. So, gone the TV.

it's not that uncommon, What you call role reversing is quite normal for many persons and is no reversal at all.

Just don't fall for the trap of thinking people need to be this or that, depending their gender. More often than not, people are a mix. Which make them so much more interesting to meet and learn to know. Imho ;)

My spouse (we're both 50+ and have been together for 25 years) is assertive and not the romantic kind (if you want to get slapped in the face try offering her flowers) but I am romantic (like, really) and ,yep, I do like flowers (I'm the one buying flowers to decorate our place). It happens I'm also as assertive as she is and we both have or had jobs with lots of responsibilities — 'had', because in my case I retired a few years ago from that job and decided to live a much simpler life, whereas my wife still works for a large corporation and still works with a small army of people).

Then, next to that, there is also the more or less extreme version of... let's call it 'gender role reversal' for lack of a better word whereas one should in reality understand a 'gender cliché reversal'. Where the supposed 'male figure' will be a dominant woman and the 'feminine one' will be a weak/gentle/soft male. More often than not, it will err on the side of fetishism eroticism and, that should not be a surprise, there is also a lot of erotica/sex business around that kind of role 'reversal' for the obvious reason that it sells. Which means that enough people are into it to make it a profitable business... much more people (male and female) than will dare to admit it ;)

So, what do you think? Have you seen relationships like this in the wild? Have you known about these dynamics, or are they unfamiliar to you? I’d like to know your thoughts!

If I could give you an advice iy would be to go meet different kind of people. Imho, it would help you realize men are not just 'male' and harsh and women are not just 'soft' and romantic.

Those fantasies not only showed me how wonderful a relationship would feel, but also that I myself would want to be very affectionate and adaptive to my partner’s needs, not just my own.

Isn't it what a (working) relationship is supposed to be for both parties in a couple? Be affectionate and attentive to the other's needs not just one's own?

Don't be afraid of your 'fantasy'. Imho, don't be afraid to not call it a fantasy. The moment you try to meet people for who they are and not who you want them to be you will be surprised how... rich (and understanding) some of them can be. Not all of them.

As much as I can, I will use analog tools instead of digital.

• I keep a paper agenda.
• My to-do is paper too.
• I draft all my papers longhand.
• I sketch using pen and paper.
• I do all me y research using an analog Zettelkasten (a fancy word to designate a large pile of index cards stored in boxes). I've tried using the digital modernized version of that Zettelkasten (a concept that was formalized between the 1960-90s) using an app like Obsidian but it absolutely did not work for me. Paper suits me best.

No notifications, no update/upgrade, no recharging, no bugs and no temptation to go check something online every few seconds. 100% focus.

I'm not saying that analog is better than digital, just that it works best for me and since the better I work the faster I do the work and the less I have to work. The happier I am ;)

Je plussoie le conseil de voir un nutritionniste.

Mais un bon, te contente pas du premier que tu trouves et surtout pas d’un de ces clowns qui te donne des trucs tout fait parce qu’il a pas le temps de t’expliquer et de t'accompagner, parce qu’il veut surtout ta carte bleue et pouvoir passer au pigeo… patient suivant. Trouves-en un qui va vraiment t’aider à piger où se cache le sucre (tu seras surpris, c’est carrément flippant), c’est quoi le métabolisme, etc. Un qui te donnera des conseils pratiques par rapport à ta situation réelle. J’en ai testé 4 avant d’en trouver 1 qui soit réellement utile (et je suis resté son patient depuis ce temps).

Consulte aussi un médecin généraliste si tu ne le fais pas déjà, pour faire un bilan de santé global. Le sucre est vraiment une énorme saloperie qui peut te bousiller la santé sans faire de vagues jusqu’à ce que… ce soit trop tard.

La volonté est importante, mais pas toute seule. La volonté suffi rarement.

Le sucre est une addiction. C’est une drogue qui provoque des réactions chimiques similaires aux ‘vraies’ drogues dans le cerveau et qui va créer un sentiment de dépendance. Comme la cigarette, l’alcool et… les drogues. Si tu peux vraiment pas te passer du sucre, t’es drogué. Commencer par accepter ça est très important. J’étais drogué au sucre, aux cigarettes et à l’alcool.

Quand tu réalises que tu es addict, tu comprends aussi que c’est très facile de faire ‘juste un petit écart, juste cette fois’ et puis un autre et puis de retomber dedans pour de bons (avec en plus la rage et la honte d’avoir échoué, qui ne va pas aider). Autant éviter ça en ne comptant pas que sur ta volonté.

Se former et s’informer est plus important imho et, comme suggéré par ailleurs, avoir un but.

Quel but? Je ne sais pas, genre ne pas crever, ne pas te faire amputer d’un pied, ou des deux, ou perdre la vue ou, si t’es un homme, ne plus avoir d’érections? Ou encore bousiller ses reins ou son coeur et, au bout du compte, crever bien avant l’heure… qui sont toutes des conséquences possible mais très très réelles (discuter avec un médecin généraliste te donnera une bonne idée de tout ça).

Pour t’aider, tu peux aussi te forcer à rendre des comptes et te récompenser.

C’est ce que je faisais: pour chaque ‘juste cette fois’ à laquelle je résistais, je m’accordais un autre petit plaisir (rien de cochon, hein ;) et pour chaque ‘rechute’ j’en parlais avec ma compagne ouvertement: lui avouer chaque écart m’a vraiment beaucoup motivé à… ne plus en faire. Et ne plus en faire me motivait encore plus parce qu’on pouvait alors parler elle et moi de toute autre chose que de comment j’étais faible et comment j’arrivais pas à aller mieux.

Très vite aussi, tu devrais voir l’impact sur ta santé et ta forme.

Pour moi, cétait fou. D’abord je mangeais des meilleurs produits (frais et pas industriels) et c’est vite devenu une grosse source de réjouissance en soi de retrouver un goût et des papilles fonctionnelles. Je me suis vite retrouvé que j’étais en meilleure forme physique. J’ai perdu un paquet de kilos. Etant en meilleure forme, j’ai recommencé à bouger, ce qui a encore booster ma forme et ma perte de poids. Aujourd’hui, je suis ouvertement accroc à la marche à pieds. Par contre, je n’ai aucun désir de m’empiffrer de sucre, ni de fumer, ni de boire. Je suis trop heureux sans tout ça.

Thx for the clarification.

For the last two days lots of Mozart, and also Pink Floyd.

I actually have a sit stand desk. And do use it some. But I have some issues with my hips and SI joints. Standing without walking gets painful pretty fast.

It can sure get painful quickly. A few things worth considering:

• Do you use one of those dedicated mat to stand on? I don't know the English name for those, but they do sell padded mats made to stand up on them. They help increase the duration of my standing position. Even more so if you also regularly switch your weight form one leg to the other, or just move on that mat. Get a good mat as it will help more.
• Don't force yourself to make long standing sessions, make them shorter but more frequent? Standing should not hurt.
  For me (50+ dude that was in really poor shape and health when I started), what matters is to regularly get my ass out of that chair for 10 or 15 minutes, sometimes more but as long as I have my 10 minutes I'm happy. Be it to stand at the desk or to do stuff around the office/home. It's the regularity, making it into a habit, that I find the most helpful. At the beginning I used a timer to remind myself to stand up and, yep, it was a pain to get constantly interrupted by that stupid alarm but since it seemed to help my back (edit: and knee and feet) a little I kept on using it up until the day I realized I needed it no more. I don't think about it, I just regularly move my ass out of that chair — ad I use one of those mats I mentioned.

I don't know about your specific situation so this may not apply at all, but getting back into walking also helped me immensely (as does help wearing good shoes: the day I switched to better walking shoes my endurance skyrocketed). That and healthier eating habits were key in me getting back into some kind of shape and health despite starting real low: I barely could walk at all.

Not exaggerating, I celebrated like if I was Armstrong stepping on the Moon, the first time I managed to walk down and back our street without being exhausted and without my joints, back and feet hurting so much for the next few days that I had to lay down (it was that bad). Nowadays, I walk up to 10 km daily, never less than 6. Sure, I'm no athlete and my health issues won't go away ever but what matters is that most of my chronicle pains have vanished almost entirely, even the most enduring ones that plagued me for... decades. And I can move around and use my body almost normally. I also lost a hefty chunk of fat, which is a neat bonus ;)

Sorry for that too long reply to your comment. It's just something I consider so worth talking about ;)