Wiser Web Wednesday – a semi-regular link to posts of interest from around the web, by those far wiser than myself:

 

Mark Hodder Presents
For the past year or so, I have done all of my writing in Ulysses, switching between the Mac and iPad versions at will, with iCloud providing a seamless transition between the two by reliably syncing my work.

Although largely a piece extolling the virtues of Ulysses, there is also a glimpse into the workings and workflows of an author — something I always find particularly fascinating:
This Writing Malarky: How I Work



The New York Review of Books
Elmore Leonard produced forty-five novels in fifty-nine years. That is some career. There were certainly few better than those I was fortunate enough to pick up and read, beginning with 1988’s Freaky Deaky, through Get Shorty (1990); Rum Punch (1992); Out of Sight (1996); Cuba Libre (1998) and Be Cool (1999).

A little back story on the man behind so many marvellous words:
The Elmore Leonard Story

 

Macdrifter
I too have migrated my Zite feed to Flipboard in the last few weeks, however have been an active Flipboard user for quite some time now. I use my own “Magazines” as read-it-later type services, enjoying the format when I go back and read what I “flip” in there. Probably worth a post at some point, however it would no doubt be somewhat less elegant than this one:
Migrating Zite to Flipboard

Incidentally, my Flipboard magazines unsurprisingly run across two categories — drum roll please: coffee, and pen & paper. What? How could you possibly have guessed?:
Brew – Ways of Coffee
Analogue Station – Pens, Paper & Other Capers

 

Alt. Haven
A first paper review? You’d never know it, as Junee’s concise yet informative piece flows as well as any. As for the subject matter, the good old Tomoe River paper really does take some beating, and the form factor of these Backpocket journals looks pretty impressive as well.
Review: Blank and Write Backpocket Journal Tomoe River Edition

 

The Gentleman Stationer
Another Kakuno review and another happy reviewer — certainly no surprise to me. As far as the price point and value for money are concerned, this probably sums it up (a statement you won’t read in a Visconti review):

…so I dropped it into my cart when I was doing my weekly household shopping

Also, I’d agree — there are other “beginner” pens far more “child-like” out there, and I happily abscond with my son’s intermittently:
The Pilot Kakuno: Another Excellent Option for Newbies

 

Gorgeous.Ink
It is posts such as these which confirm my embrace on the superficial nature of my own — and I’m certainly not complaining. One of the main reasons I write here is to learn, most often from posts like this one. Being somewhat of a Pilot fan – I of course very much enjoyed this one from Paul:
Pilot Pens and the Super Quality Nib & Feed System

 

Crónicas Estilográficas
Here I refer you to my comments immediately above. I love these posts — always so much to learn (did I say that already?):
Of Nibs and Models. Pilot

 

Tools & Toys
A Josh Ginter pen review for Tools & Toys is always worth reading — and ogling. I have a couple of Kaweco Sports — both of the plastic variety and have been eyeing those of metal construction for some time, and the Brass looks mighty attractive.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again about Josh’s posts: Great review. Fantastic photography:
The Kaweco BRASS Sport Fountain Pen Review

 

Field Notes Brand
The Fall 2015 Colors Seasonal release is here, with another great video well worth watching. For the first time, Field Notes have made their own paper. Looking forward to the reviews.

Let the Tweets begin:
“Shenandoah” for Fall 2015

 

Coffee Strides
I offer this link for obvious reasons, however with minimal basis for comment. As I’ve said many a time — my coffee thoughts and opinions are formed squarely as a consumer, having never worked in the industry. That said, gender equality across an entire industry is both a serious matter, and something worth striving for.

And personally I am not a fan of calling out a high ranking female competitor for being female. Who cares if you are the highest ranking female? The point is to understand why, in general terms, women are not competing as much as men and why, when they compete, they do not seem to win.

Some interesting thoughts here:
Why Women Do Not Compete in Coffee Competitions

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Wiser Web Wednesday – a semi-regular post to links of interest from around the web, by those far wiser than myself:

 

Perfect Daily Grind
A little too late for a career change? Perhaps, however if I were to do it, a reasonable pathway might be something like this:
How YOU Can Make a Career Out of Coffee Roasting

Daily Coffee News
Of course the link above just wouldn’t do without this follow-up. The first in a four-part series by the Craft Coffee Institute’s Andrew Russo on launching a small commercial roasting operation:
Roastery Planning and Pitfalls Part 1: Equipment

The Sweet Setup
Although not exactly pushed for space on my Mac at home, unnecessary files such as these are always high on my list to clear out:
Quick Tip: Control how many backups Day One stores

Reckoner
What’s not to love about an article on backup strategies that begins with:

But most of you are playing fast and loose with valuable 1s and 0s. You’re pretty much Vincent D’Onofrio in Full Metal Jacket.

Of course the moral of the story being the vital importance of backing up your data in the form of three different copies, in two formats, with one copy in the cloud: aka the 3-2-1 strategy. Anthony Agius as only he can:
How I Keep My Precious Data Safe

The Pen Habit
I of course read the DC Pen Show wrap ups as I’m sure many of you did, and thoroughly enjoyed them all. I was surprised to learn this was Matt Armstrong’s first pen show, however far from it that he wrote such a great series of posts on the experience:
2015 DC Pen Show Report – Thursday and Friday
2015 DC Pen Show Report – Saturday and Sunday
2015 DC Pen Show: Wrap-up

Art of Manliness
I have been known to share the occasional podcast recommendation on these pages, however for a quite a few more suggestions, the Art of Manliness will happily help you out:
24 Podcast Suggestions for Men

Gear Patrol
Gear Patrol with the morning routines of some notable individuals, including DDC’s Aaron Draplin:

Wake up, check for heartbeat.

If its bacon and eggs. I love a coke with ice

Fuel for Field Notes indeed:
How 9 Notable People Eat Breakfast

On Fountain Pens
Maybelline shares her five fountain pen recommendations for beginners. One through three on the list I own, and would certainly agree with their inclusion here. The Ohto I’ve not tried, and aren’t quite taken with the design, whereas the Plasir is a great looking pen, and if it writes as well as the Preppy, is on my list of future purchases:
5 Fountain Pens for Beginners

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Wiser Web Wednesday – a semi-regular link to posts of interest from around the web, by those far wiser than myself:

 

Jim Seven
A considerable number of posts have popped up in my social media feeds highlighting one of the section headings from this report on a survey of commercial and home user espresso by James Hoffmann:

The Ristretto is Dead

Perhaps more telling though is another one:

A Death of Diversity

I dutifully responded to the survey from the home user perspective, subsequently learning from the results I am perhaps either part of a shift towards best practice or simply following a convenient majority rule:

I don’t believe we all have the same tastes, same ideals, and same goals for our espresso. I don’t believe, even for a second, all consumers want the same thing.

I guess I can at least take heart in the fact that when brewing at home, generally the only “consumer” is myself:
The State of Espresso in 2015

Perfect Daily Grind
I wholeheartedly agree:

…what’s not to like about fika?

A short history of coffee, snacks, and conspiracies in Sweden:
Fika: The Social Ritual of Coffee

Macdrifter
If you scan a lot, a little, or somewhere in between – Scanbot (iOS or Android) is definitely worth a look, and has been one of my most used apps for about a year now. Version 4 brings a workflows feature, allowing a single tap for customisable common actions, or selection of upload destinations from an ever-increasing number of on-line storage services. Extremely handy indeed.

A nice round-up of a fantastic app:
Scanbot 4 With Workflows

Productivityist

You can’t multitask. If you tell yourself you can, you are lying to yourself.

It’s amazing we still need reminding of the productivity drop off with multitasking. I guess it’s because there are so many who still grandstand about how good they are at it.

Focus. One of my favourite words that:
Essentialism: Focus on Less Tasks to Get More Work Done

The Pen Addict
Many have felt it, and those who haven’t — well unfortunately there’s still time. The trials and tribulations of growing a pen collection — and no doubt not confined to pens alone. Susan has taken a hit or two, for the collective pen buying team, and we would all do well to learn from her experiences:
Buyer’s Remorse, Impulse Buys, and Shady Sellers: The Vagaries of Buying Fountain Pens Online

Brett Terpstra
There is every likelihood this site might never have hit its stride without Markdown, and although my use does not really stretch towards the edges of its capabilities nor compatibilities, it nevertheless remains very much of interest to me. It is, after all, how every post is written, and I use it every day.

Given the choices in cloud syncing text editors these days, Markdown formatted text is the perfect marriage of readability, portability and future proofing. Some level of consistency in its application will go along way towards a life of writing pleasure:

This post isn’t about proposing any standard or new flavors, it’s just about common sense guidelines that allow you to work with any processor.

Use whatever Markdown flavor you like (or need), just keep these notes in mind to save yourself some pain. Now go write.

Who better to provide their two cents on the subject than Brett Terpstra:
Write better Markdown

Pens! Paper! Pencils!
Yes, a TWSBI Eco review also graced these links last week, however these WWW posts are as much my stream of consciousness as links I’d like to share with you, and I am indeed interested in reading opinions on the Eco from those I trust.

The question of durability can of course not be answered in these early reviews, but at this price point, by the time it is, you could have already had your money’s worth:
TWSBI Eco Fountain Pen Review

The Well-Appointed Desk
Though hopeless at it, sketchnoting has always fascinated me. Well Peter, I guess that is why workshops exist – funny that. Ana sums up the idea nicely:

The idea behind sketchnoting is that simple drawings, bold lettering, icons and symbols can help improve your note-taking and thereby improve your understanding and memory retention from a lecture, class, presentation or meeting.

And of course also sums up the workshop nicely:
Recap: Sketchnotes Workshop with Mike Rohde

Three Staples
Jinnie earning the full three out of three staples (again) for another fantastic post.

Item Numbers. This is some next-level Field Notes nerdery you’re about to witness. All in good fun, of course.

Field Notes. Nerdery. Fun.

Jinnie, you had me at “FN-##”:
Field Notes: Item Numbers

Sprudge
Even if you consider a post title with the words ”weird, delicious uncle” a little weird in itself, the content here certainly isn’t. Hailing from Finca Inmaculada in the municipality of Cali, Colombia, is the Eugenioides species of coffee.

Flavours? Well… various tasters from around the world have come up with:

…genmaicha tea, purple yam ice cream, rose milk, brown butter, marshmallow, jabuticaba, Sugar Smacks cereal, lychee, popcorn, basil, sweet tea, jackfruit, cream, and raisin bran.

Also with about half the caffeine content of the average Arabica bean, it is apparently very hard to grow, and quite low in yield. In praise of diversity — oh… and weirdness:
Meet The Species Eugenioides, Coffee’s Weird Delicious Uncle

Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine
Researchers report on some very encouraging insights from working with small farm owners and their workers, not the least of which:

…simply the act of delivering these kits and having discussions with farmers at origin about their needs and desires yielded critical intelligence about how best to assist in production and processing in other ways going forward

Encouraging stuff:
Sustainable Harvest Presents Initial Findings of Fermentation Research Project at Origin

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Wiser Web Wednesday – a semi-regular link to posts of interest from around the web, by those far wiser than myself:

 

Market Inspector
Although published earlier in the year, I became aware of this list after it was shared by Bean Brewding recently. I have a little browsing to do:
Our Selection of the Best Coffee Blogs – 2015

The Australian – Life
From what I have read, there has long been disagreement over whether Australian grown coffee is of high quality. For every opinion saying it is, there is of course another disputing that fact, and this article is no different. Coffee can certainly be a viable crop, though economically viable? Perhaps another matter:
Australian coffee and chocolate: can they ever be viable?

Vimeo – Pilot Coffee Roasters
Although not to the letter of how I brew mine, I’ve always been a sucker for a well produced coffee how-to video, and this series up on Vimeo from Pilot Coffee Roasters fits the bill nicely. Be sure to check out the Chemex and Aeropress Guides as well:
How to Best Brew a Pourover

Fourfiftytwo
Heidi at fourfiftytwo reviews that iconic instrument — the Lamy 2000, and does a great job. The most interesting thing I find in reading Lamy 2000 reviews is the descriptors used by those who write about it. In saying that, I think this sums it up pretty nicely:

The Lamy 2000 is understated, timeless, sleek, and a joy to write with.

Not sure when, however I’m sure to tackle putting a few words together about the one in my collection — eventually:
Lamy 2000

The Gentleman Stationer
With so many great blue inks out there, how could I resist taking a look at this post from Joe. To concur on the sentiment of best ever I’d have to see it in person, however I must admit, I certainly like what I see in these images:
Ink Review: Bung Box Sapphire (or, the best blue ink ever!)

Eclectidbits
With much discussion around the possible success (or not) of this entry-level piston filler from TWSBI, reviews are now beginning to appear. Upon first sighting the Eco when images began to surface, I remember thinking — I’m not sure if I like the look of that. So again, I’ll leave it to another reviewer to hit the nail squarely on the head:

The TWSBI Eco is not a looker; but there is something about its utilitarian stance that is very appealing

Indeed:
TWSBI Eco Review – smiling!

Too Many Inks
On a blog which could just as well be titled Too Many Birds, some great photos of what amounts to (if my calculations are correct) a little more than half of the Pelikan pens in David’s collection. Simply stunning looking pens masterfully grouped for these images:
Pelikan Pen Porn

Ed Jelley
Although I’m not likely to seek these out online to add to my own collection, I do appreciate the combination of two of my biggest passions. And the white staples? Love it:
Field Notes Starbucks Reserve “Coffee Origins” Review

Banana Moon
…aka Ian Hedley on Instagram. You will easily find Ian’s Instagram account through his blog Pens! Paper! Pencils!. Given the enjoyment I get from this very talented man’s sketches regularly gracing my Instagram feed — I thought you might too:
banana moon

My Productive Mac
Now almost through my reading of the new edition of David Allen’s Getting Things Done, and an avid Omnifocus user, I still read posts such as these. I do find it interesting how others use both the GTD system and Omnifocus:
My OmniFocus Contexts Explained

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Wiser Web Wednesday – a semi-regular link to posts of interest from around the web, by those far wiser than myself:

 

Study Hacks – Cal Newport
An interesting yet valid way to approach your productivity efforts throughout the day. In many ways it is very easy to consider that you’ve failed when things get unavoidably off track – despite the cause often being exactly that – unavoidable.

… judge your day on how well you executed your productivity process, not the details of what you actually produced

Just remember the above quote does not say: “fiddled with your productivity process”. Interrupted? Rework the plan and get going again — as soon as possible:
Deep Habits: Process Trumps Results for Daily Planning

The Ink Blob
While I wouldn’t say it is the best notebook ever (simply because I’d like to think I haven’t found that yet). I was however certainly impressed with my recently filled Rollbahn:
The Best Notebook Ever – A Rollbahn Notebook Review

Nib & Ink
It becomes very easy to exclude all else once you travel down the fountain pen path, however there is an awful lot of great stuff out there — and not all of it has tines on the end:
Review: Schmidt EasyFlow 9000 Refill

Fountain Pen Economics
As far as I am concerned, there is no right or wrong answer as to whether the input of time and effort into a blog is worthy of reward — only your answer. To those seeking a return, I sincerely wish you every success:
Blog Monetisation

On Fountain Pens
Although popular in Germany from what I understand, Online fountain pens seem fairly scarce locally. Having recently come into possession of a model not dissimilar to the subject of Maybelline’s review, I too am impressed with the nib and ease of everyday writing:
Online Vision Fountain Pen

Finer Things in Tech
The slide up banner in Pocket routinely greets me upon opening the iOS app, as chances are reasonably good the most recent addition to my clipboard was a URL. Although on occasion I’ve wished it wasn’t there, I don’t believe I’ve ever even swiped down to dismiss it. So I’d have to agree — it really isn’t intrusive in any way. I for one wouldn’t be disappointed to see it used in other apps:
iOS and Mac devs: Pocket’s non-intrusive “slide-up” banner is a great option for user prompts

Five Senses Coffee
I’ve been reading more and more on espresso brewing parameters recently, which of course include extraction.

Extraction time is a rough indicator of the total amount of content being removed from espresso, but it doesn’t exist in a void and it’s important to understand the other factors interacting with this variable

Some food for thought here:
Contact for content – Exploring Time During Espresso Extraction

Cat and Cloud Coffee Podcast
One of my favourite episodes of this coffee-related podcast so far. I find it’s often the Q&A (someone actually asking what everyone wants to know) or unplanned discussion which provides the greatest opportunity to pick up valuable snippets of knowledge:
Episode 9: Truby and Baca answer your questions

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