Merlins Tower

Video: Helpdesk Support for using a Journal / Notebook

Posted on March 7th, 2007 by Merlin.
Categories: Anything Else, Communication, Journaling, Miquelrius, Moleskine, Notetaking, Tutorial, Video, Weird Stuff, YouTube.

As many of you well know things we take for granted were once new to someone at some point of time. This video skit is just about that fact. What if there was a help desk in the middle ages when the paper journal was first introduced to the monks that only used paper scrolls? How would you explain it to the end user? What would you say and do?

Would you know how to use it if you were used to using a paper scroll?

What were the advantages and disadvantages of using one?

I really enjoyed this video and had to share it. So sit back and enjoy - Warning this is in dutch  Norwegian (Thank you, JEM -  I stand Corrected - I just wrote was I was told it was) with English Subtitles but still worth it.

Middle Age Tech Support

Technorati Tags: helpdesk, help+desk, tech+support, Middle+Age, Paper+Scroll, Journal, Paper, Middle, Age, Video, Youtube, How+to, How, To, Funny, Cool+thing

2 comments.

New Product Found: Index card Holder

Posted on February 27th, 2007 by Merlin.
Categories: GTD, Gadgets, Hack, Notetaking.

I just happened to be browsing for a gift I need to purchase on Amazon and I happened to see this item and thought I would share this with everyone. It is called the Deluxe Hard Wood card Holder - The Current Price is $9.32 - Below is a Photo of the item.

I can see this being used as an inexpensive alternative to the Levenger Index card holder. This seems to have a nice angle and has 4 row that can hold quite a few cards. This can be a nice 3×5 Index card Tickler Device. Simple and Effective to use. And it doesn't look that bad either.

Technorati Tags: Index+cards, GTD, Notecards, Note+cards, 3×5, Cards, Card+holder, Levenger, Levenger+Products, Wooden

4 comments.

Backup your thoughts to Floppy Disk and Pencil???

Posted on February 23rd, 2007 by Merlin.
Categories: Art, Communication, Computing, Hack, Journaling, Notetaking, Office.

Yes, you read the title right. Now you can keep your notes save and secure between two floppies. The people at ThinkGeek.com have done it again and created a pretty cool item. They are calling it a Floppy Disk Journal. What they have done is to take two floppy diskettes and a small stack of paper cut to diskette size and put it all together with a plastic comb binder spine.

So, now you can use the power of the floppy again. They come in three different sizes (Floppy 3 1/2", 5 1/4" & 8") show this to some new computer users and they will not even know what this even is. It really has been a long time since I have used one of these diskettes. Almost everything I have is on cd, dvd, or a external hard drive.

The 3 1/2" was available in DD (Double Density) or a whopping 720k and in HD (High Density not High Def) which would hold about 1.44mb. In case you are interested Wikipedia has the history of Floppy Diskettes. Boy Times sure have changed. Now you can easily get 1GB, 2GB, or Higher in the form of a USB Flash Drive for under $50 and the smaller sizes under $20. I remember in the Late 80's going to a computer club and 3M stopping by to talk to us about their new 5 1/4 inch diskette and gave everyone at the meeting one floppy diskette in a really nice marketing folder. We where in awe as those diskettes cost about $25 to $30 a piece and not everyone even had a floppy drive back then. Many of the users were only using tape drives. Ah, those were the days. The day of black and white screens with colored plexiglass to make the screen easier to read and only 16k of memory in the computer. When you called up a BBS (Bulletin Board System) and waited sometimes hours to get a free line to connect. Just to see the latest ASCII Art and animation.

Technorati Tags: Floppy+Disk, Diskette, Disk, Floppy, HD, DD, DS, Flash, Drive, ASCII, ART, BBS, History, Journal

0 comments.

Online Tool: Visuword - Online Visual Dictionary

Posted on February 1st, 2007 by Merlin.
Categories: Communication, Freeware, GTD, Hack, Journaling, Notetaking, Office, Search Engine, Web Service.

Previously I wrote about the Visual Thesaurus and now I found another cool online word tool - VisuWord - They call it the online visual dictionary. I have to agree - I like how it interlinks the words and visually shows you which words are related and which ones are the same and which ones are opposite. This can be a fairly useful tool - Not something I will use everyday but can be quite useful to have in your arsenal of word tools. Like using a mind map but of words and their inter-relationship.

Technorati Tags: visuword, visual, word, words, dictionary, thesaurus, online, tool, online+tool, mind, map, mind+map, gtd, hack

0 comments.

Free Sample of Various Handwriting Font Styles Print and Italic

Posted on January 16th, 2007 by Merlin.
Categories: Anything Else, Art, Communication, Craft, Firefox, Freeware, Hack, Journaling, Notetaking, Office.

Did you ever wonder what we are talking about when you see the different styles of handwriting. Here is a link for homeschoolers and / or anyone interested in seeing the visual style of the various handwriting that is taught all over the world.

Draw Your World has sample sheets in the form of smaller images showing all the letters for all the forms of writing. From Getty-Dubay, D'Nealian Style, Palmer Handwriting Italic and Cursive,  Handwriting Without Tears, Zaner-Bloser Style. I am sure if anyone wants a small reference card these can be easily printed out. (I have not tried but looks like they should be large enough for reference) - These samples were printed out from the Starwrite Handwriting Software - Which if you want to try it out lets you try it unhindered for one time only. (So, make sure you get the most use from the first time you run it. Even Print it out to a PDF) From what I saw if you were homeschooling I would recommend trying this out and purchase if you like how it works, By the Way the program is only $39 at Starwrite Handwriting or $35 at Draw Your World.

But if you are just looking for a few FREE graphics to print out check out Studio Arts Guide to Italic Handwriting. (Click on the image on the left column to display it on the right - At that point if you are using Firefox (Highly Recommended) or IE you can right click on the image and hit the save as to save the images to your hard drive and print out later on) They have a nice chart, font families, guide, practice sheets and more for your use.

You can also check out dnealian.com for some addtional samples and primer on the D'Nealian Style of handwriting - Very Similar to the Getty-Dubay Style. 

Technorati Tags: Italic, handwriting, font, art, calligraphic, word, free, palmer, zaner, bloser, cursive, getty, dubay, dnealian, getty-dubay, homeschool, practice, adult,

1 comment.

Free Handwriting Practice Paper

Posted on January 16th, 2007 by Merlin.
Categories: Craft, Freeware, Hack, Journaling, Notetaking, Tutorial, Web Service.

Greetings Everyone - a loyal reader Dave was kind enough to send this tip for  to me to share with the rest of the readers. It is where to get a PDF of handwriting practice paper. It is designed for children but can be quite useful when you want to practice your new found love of cursive or italic handwriting. Note if your printer can do it print it 2 per sheet to allow you a smaller line for more adult sized writing ** Great Tip Dave  - THANKS**

The Paper is available here - just save out the PDF file to your computer and you will be good to go. (Sounds like a Taco Bell Commercial)

Now I didn't print this our for myself by upon inspection this paper is similar to that is included in the back of the write now book. I can see using this when I get a new fountain pen and just want to play with how the nib works and writes without scribbling in my journal.

Technorati Tags: Fountain+Pen, Fountain, pen, Ink, writing, free, worksheet, pdf, print, practice, help, guide, cursive, handwriting, writing

1 comment.

Fountain Pen Care and Feeding: Handwriting Improvement

Posted on December 26th, 2006 by Merlin.
Categories: Communication, Craft, Hack, Journaling, Notetaking.

So, you received a fountain pen from Santa for Christmas and now you realize the reason you mostly use email for all of your communications as even you can not read your own handwriting even 5 mins after you wrote it down? Well in the continuation of the Fountain Pen Care and Feeding Series - Todays topic is how to use your fountain pen for the greater good or how to improve your handwriting. Bad Handwriting can be extremely bad for all (Check out this Article on how much damage bad handwriting does to the medical industry - Via CNN Or This article)

 I personally have used and like what I have learned from The Write-Now Course on Handwriting - Here is one of the many reviews on Amazon about this handwriting course:

It's Never Too Late to Change Your Handwriting,  Reviewer: A reader
Like so many others, I learned the standard "ball and stick" print style of handwriting and progressed to the "looped" cursive style when I was in grade school–and I got very high marks in penmanship. By high school I could write fastest in cursive, but I was taking notes so fast it became illegible. Somehow I made it through graduate school taking notes fast and figuring out what I wrote later. Ever since then, I've chosen the computer over handwriting as much as possible. (Not to mention the "looped" cursive isn't very masculine.)

Enter "Write Now". What a great book! "Write Now" teaches a style of handwriting called Italic (meaning "from Italy"). My first thought was that this was some "new" style and couldn't be as good as the "basics" I was taught. Turns out, what I was taught is the "new" style (19th century) and Italic is the more traditional (16th century). It is the style that was used by Leonardo Da Vinci and Michaelangelo.

Italic focuses on efficiency, ergonomics, legibility, and speed. It easily transitions from print to cursive to calligraphy with little change in the way you write the characters. "Write Now" is broken into three sections: 1) Basic Italic (print) 2) Cursive Italic and 3) Edged Pen Italic (calligraphy). With good explanations and illustrations, it is a pleasure to learn a new style of handwriting.

"Write Now" is geared towards adults (or teens) and presents a "cartoon's guide" to the history of handwriting throughout–a good reference even if you don't want to improve your handwriting. The author's are veteran educators and have produced an entire series of books on Italic handwriting to take kids from kindergarten through grade school. They are also in very high demand for in-house hospital seminars to those who most desparately need handwriting help–doctors. :-)

I recommend this book highly. My handwriting has already improved. I actually look for reasons throughout the day to use my new skills. If you're like me, don't pass this one up.

 But if you are not looking to purchase a book on how to improve your handwriting you can get some tips from the following websites such as the article "Handwriting Tips" on PaperPenalia.
Most of the other sites I found on Handwriting are usually geared towards youth such as "Draw Your World" Page on Handwriting. But still you can get some good information from it as well. 

But perhaps you thought a fountain pen was going to "Make you write Fancy" well that fancy handwriting has a name - Calligraphy - and actually requires a special nib or ink pen for Calligraphy Writing called an italic nib and comes in various styles. Yes, you can still use a regular pen or fountain pen and follow the instructions for italic handwriting (I again like the directions in the Write Now Book) But if you would like some additional instructions on Calligraphic Writing check out the PDF located at the bottom of Handwriting for Kids Page Or you can check out the Italic Handwriting Page from Studio Arts Page. But to learn more about Calligraphy and explore more web pages with Calligraphy (Which BTW Means Beautiful Handwriting) would be the 42 Explore Page.

TAGS: Handwriting Italic Penmanship calligraphy fountain pen fountain+pen writing free course info

3 comments.

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