After last Friday’s Sideboob about buying things I don’t need, specifically a single-use digital notepad (the reMarkable2) I thought it’d be a wheeze this morning to try writing a blog post, long hand, on my iPad.
I use an off-brand version of the remarkable and it has changed my life (for the better). But I don't use it any longhand to text conversion feature.
It's fantastic for not having a pile of notebooks with no sorting function. Instead there are folders of subjects and individual notes with subject headings. That has been enough for me to be massively more organised and appear to be a fully functional operative in my area.
Kindle scribe. Because it was super easy to purchase with the relevant accessories (pen and case). Plus it doesn't have an ongoing subscription for saving notes to the cloud.
One history school teacher wrote, “w’s poor handwriting militates against optimum performance.” And he used to mark me down significantly because of it, the bum!
I was randomly working with a chap who had a degree in Education. He said to me, you started school young.
I dunno. I have awful handwriting and always have, and I didn't start school young. I was told I needed to write slower and it would be neater. (Tbf, this was true, but who can slow down their writing without it being a conscious effort?)
I thought then, and think now, that it's readable and therefore there's no problem.
At first I was using "disposable" rather than "one purpose only" in my brain for "single use" and I thought we had come to the age of tech so cheap you use it once and then toss it away. Like a burner phone or the cameras from back in the day.
Write one email, toss away the tech.
Actually, that gives me an idea for a story (although PKD might have already written it)...
"Hard wristing" is especially laughable when you consider that the handwriting conversion software is almost certainly also using some sort of LLM-based word-prediction thing to narrow down the possibilities. Which means that the auto-corrector thought that "hard wristing" might be something that a human would say. In the context of a document that is clearly about writing and text. See: the "AIs" have not the slightest clue.
As I said in the ASB post, I still write by hand (on paper) several times per week, which helps justify my "nice pen" habit. Writing on paper also generally makes it a write-only exercise, as I hardly ever go back to read it. The results aren't searchable or email-able. The act of writing does help memory, I think. And if I'm the only one who tries to read it, I don't need to worry about AI misinterpretation...
Also: pen and paper are still (IMO) by far the best thing for drawing diagrams. I often take phone photos of my hand-drawn diagrams to cut-and-paste into subsequent typed up documents. I type a lot faster than I write, these days.
I use a pen fairly regularly but mostly for writing numbers. Words often look like a spider on acid had a go left handed. Still, I can read it, which is all that matters.
My mother has always maintained that I should have been a doctor with my handwriting, and that was before it atrophied with the rise of my keyboard use. She's a registered nurse so she'd know...
Remember those weird finger calluses on your writing hand developed during uni exam weeks… poor markers having to recalibrate their hieroglyphic reading skills with each new student’s offering.
I had occasion to go through my school reports from when I was 5-8 years old (going through the hoops of ADHD diagnosis at 51 is not easy for someone with ADHD) and apparently my handwriting was always fucking terrible.
"With great effort, PotatoShapedMan can produce legibile running writing"
"PotatoShapedMan's handwriting is of an acceptable standard only when he spends a lot of effort on it."
I mean, I could read it, mostly. So computers and printers (as much as I fucking hate printers) have saved me from my own terrible handwriting. I do still write stuff out, but it is mostly notes from gaming sessions when playing RPGs and they are not done tidily.
I also read, re-read, re-re-read and edit and correct everything I type. It's why I am so painfully slow at completing any fiction I write (see also ADHD), and computers have made that easier.
You can keep your pen. I'll step to the plate with a meaty mechanical keyboard any day.
My handwriting has been charitably likened to a drunken spider having fallen into an inkwell and then staggered home across the page. But I take longhand notes on the fondle slab (😘) with an Apple Pencil and Notability app. Which manages to convert my arachnoscrawl to text. Which is something of a miracle-at-Lourdes level event. May be worth a free trial?
Me too. I used to enjoy writing longhand. I’m not really a totally digital fellow, but I now find myself avoiding longhand at all cost. Even a short shopping list is typed in Notes on the phone. I only seem to write now if I am signing my name, maybe once every 6 months. I put the little stick (pen) in my hand. It feels strange. How do I start again?
I use an off-brand version of the remarkable and it has changed my life (for the better). But I don't use it any longhand to text conversion feature.
It's fantastic for not having a pile of notebooks with no sorting function. Instead there are folders of subjects and individual notes with subject headings. That has been enough for me to be massively more organised and appear to be a fully functional operative in my area.
Which one?
Kindle scribe. Because it was super easy to purchase with the relevant accessories (pen and case). Plus it doesn't have an ongoing subscription for saving notes to the cloud.
My handwriting was legible but kind of ugly.
One history school teacher wrote, “w’s poor handwriting militates against optimum performance.” And he used to mark me down significantly because of it, the bum!
I was randomly working with a chap who had a degree in Education. He said to me, you started school young.
I did. I started grade one on my 5th birthday.
How did you know that, I asked.
From your handwriting, he said.
I dunno. I have awful handwriting and always have, and I didn't start school young. I was told I needed to write slower and it would be neater. (Tbf, this was true, but who can slow down their writing without it being a conscious effort?)
I thought then, and think now, that it's readable and therefore there's no problem.
At first I was using "disposable" rather than "one purpose only" in my brain for "single use" and I thought we had come to the age of tech so cheap you use it once and then toss it away. Like a burner phone or the cameras from back in the day.
Write one email, toss away the tech.
Actually, that gives me an idea for a story (although PKD might have already written it)...
do I want to know what is produced when I enter 'hard wristing' into a search engine or even worse an 'AI' writing tool.
Kagi also gives this entry first and also highlights the problem with limp writsting when it comes to handguns
Duck Duck Go has your blog entry show up first.
Wouldn't these things tend to indicate that this is the first use of the phrase "hard wristing" ever, so why is AI content to make it so?
surely hard wristing has an entry on urban dictionary? lol
Used in a sentence... "Simon's first attempt at hard wristing resulted in only a dislocated elbow and a ruptured testicle."
hahaha. Not as young as i used to be
"Hard wristing" is especially laughable when you consider that the handwriting conversion software is almost certainly also using some sort of LLM-based word-prediction thing to narrow down the possibilities. Which means that the auto-corrector thought that "hard wristing" might be something that a human would say. In the context of a document that is clearly about writing and text. See: the "AIs" have not the slightest clue.
As I said in the ASB post, I still write by hand (on paper) several times per week, which helps justify my "nice pen" habit. Writing on paper also generally makes it a write-only exercise, as I hardly ever go back to read it. The results aren't searchable or email-able. The act of writing does help memory, I think. And if I'm the only one who tries to read it, I don't need to worry about AI misinterpretation...
Also: pen and paper are still (IMO) by far the best thing for drawing diagrams. I often take phone photos of my hand-drawn diagrams to cut-and-paste into subsequent typed up documents. I type a lot faster than I write, these days.
I use a pen fairly regularly but mostly for writing numbers. Words often look like a spider on acid had a go left handed. Still, I can read it, which is all that matters.
My mother has always maintained that I should have been a doctor with my handwriting, and that was before it atrophied with the rise of my keyboard use. She's a registered nurse so she'd know...
Remember those weird finger calluses on your writing hand developed during uni exam weeks… poor markers having to recalibrate their hieroglyphic reading skills with each new student’s offering.
Yes!
I had occasion to go through my school reports from when I was 5-8 years old (going through the hoops of ADHD diagnosis at 51 is not easy for someone with ADHD) and apparently my handwriting was always fucking terrible.
"With great effort, PotatoShapedMan can produce legibile running writing"
"PotatoShapedMan's handwriting is of an acceptable standard only when he spends a lot of effort on it."
I mean, I could read it, mostly. So computers and printers (as much as I fucking hate printers) have saved me from my own terrible handwriting. I do still write stuff out, but it is mostly notes from gaming sessions when playing RPGs and they are not done tidily.
I also read, re-read, re-re-read and edit and correct everything I type. It's why I am so painfully slow at completing any fiction I write (see also ADHD), and computers have made that easier.
You can keep your pen. I'll step to the plate with a meaty mechanical keyboard any day.
Yep. I routinely type everything these days.
The only thing I do less than handwrite these days is print stuff out
All the fecal references remind me of an old joke from my primary school years.
Did you hear about the constipated writer, he worked it out with a pencil.
so glad someone brought this old chestnut up. One of my favourites that takes up residence in the forefront of my brain.
PS are the graphics yours? They are excellent!
My handwriting has been charitably likened to a drunken spider having fallen into an inkwell and then staggered home across the page. But I take longhand notes on the fondle slab (😘) with an Apple Pencil and Notability app. Which manages to convert my arachnoscrawl to text. Which is something of a miracle-at-Lourdes level event. May be worth a free trial?
I bought Notability many years ago. But I’m guessing they’ve moved on to a subscription model now. I’ll check it out.
$22.99 per year. Not dreadful, and tax deductible if used for work ☺️
Me too. I used to enjoy writing longhand. I’m not really a totally digital fellow, but I now find myself avoiding longhand at all cost. Even a short shopping list is typed in Notes on the phone. I only seem to write now if I am signing my name, maybe once every 6 months. I put the little stick (pen) in my hand. It feels strange. How do I start again?