What Is This?
Second Brain
My “first brain” gets tired if it thinks about one thing for more than ~5 minutes, which means that the attention required to complete a full blog post is rare. Hence, this is:
- Partially a shameless ripoff of Cosma Shalizi’s notebooks, and
- Partially an attempt to force Obsidian to be a Personal Information Management engine, Where I’ll post the fleeting thoughts that pop up as I read books and make connections between things 🙈.
To some extent they’re separated into categories, but there are two things that Obsidian+Quartz gives me that I’m hoping will help organize my otherwise-chaotic ADHD brain: Ontology and Cross-References.
Ontology
At some point between high school/beginning of undergrad, I had my mind completely blown by Object-Oriented_Programming. To me it was like, discovering the internal language that my brain had been using my whole life to store/organize information.
So far, the main issue with Obsidian is just… it’s designed around a bunch of Markdown (.md format) files, which is great for a ton of reasons, but it just doesn’t exactly match the OOP way of thinking that fires so many serotonins in my brain. It’s the closest thing I can find, though, especially when combined with the Metadata Menu and Dataview plugins!
Cross-References
Though there are a few top-level categories[^1], the exciting part is when there’s a Crossover in Categories, like my main math interest (Insolubility of the Quintic) being solved by a 20-year-old Evariste Galois, who had just recently been released from prison for his participation in the July Revolution 😱. Or, even more straightforwardly, how I put Bertrand Russell in the Math category because I linked to him in the context of Axiomatization of Mathematics, but he also led a super inspiring campaign to hold the US accountable for War Crimes in Vietnam (the Russell-Sartre Tribunal)!
I’m… still figuring out how in-text citations like @wood_chechnya_2007 work, so bear with me on that part!
Notebook Index
| Page | Last Updated |
|---|---|
| July Revolution | 12:39 AM - August 22, 2024 |
| Set | 12:38 AM - August 22, 2024 |
| Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorem | 12:37 AM - August 22, 2024 |
| Object-Oriented Programming | 12:36 AM - August 22, 2024 |
| Triple Quotes | 12:33 AM - August 22, 2024 |
| CunninLynguists-Nothing_to_Give | 9:22 PM - August 18, 2024 |
| Brain Cell | 9:15 PM - August 18, 2024 |
| CunninLynguists | 9:02 PM - August 18, 2024 |
| Group | 12:44 AM - August 12, 2024 |
| Galois Theory | 12:34 AM - August 12, 2024 |
| Self-Help Summer 2024 | 12:12 AM - August 12, 2024 |
| Insolubility of the Quintic | 10:43 PM - August 09, 2024 |
| Russian Imperialism | 10:42 PM - August 09, 2024 |
| Chipmunk_Soul | 10:42 PM - August 09, 2024 |
| Camron-Oh_Boy | 10:39 PM - August 09, 2024 |
| Cam’ron | 10:35 PM - August 09, 2024 |
| Teddy Faley | 10:31 PM - August 09, 2024 |
| NENE | 10:30 PM - August 09, 2024 |
| NENE-アツい | 10:23 PM - August 09, 2024 |
| 2024-08-09 | 10:15 PM - August 09, 2024 |
| Principia Mathematica | 6:42 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Evariste Galois | 6:40 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Alfred North Whitehead | 6:40 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Bertrand Russell | 6:40 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Caribbean | 6:40 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Chechnya | 6:39 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| July Monarchy | 6:35 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| """Terrorism""" | 6:34 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Soviet Union | 6:34 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Second Indochina War | 6:34 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Russell-Sartre Tribunal | 6:33 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Rhodesian UDI (Unilateral Declaration of Independence) | 6:33 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Quantification | 6:33 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Population Transfers | 6:33 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Occupied Namibia | 6:33 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Lenin | 6:33 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Lao People’s Democratic Republic | 6:32 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| First Chechen War | 6:32 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Decolonization | 6:32 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Zimbabwe | 6:31 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Apartheid Rhodesia | 6:31 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Cold War | 6:31 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| France | 6:31 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| French Revolution | 6:30 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Ian Smith | 6:30 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Zimbabwe African People’s Union | 6:30 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Zimbabwe African National Union | 6:30 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| SWAPO (South West African People’s Organization) | 6:30 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Cuba | 6:29 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Apartheid South Africa | 6:29 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Occupied Namibia | 6:25 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Ukraine | 6:25 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Russian Federation | 6:24 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Ingushetia | 6:23 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Anti-Apartheid Struggle | 6:19 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Southern Africa | 6:19 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Angola | 6:17 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Fidel Castro | 6:15 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Page | Last Updated |
|---|---|
| 101 Coping Skills | 7:23 PM - July 05, 2025 |
| tf-idf | 4:42 AM - May 06, 2025 |
| Chechnya | 7:29 PM - April 02, 2025 |
| @horne_white_2019 | 8:39 PM - March 21, 2025 |
| @sartre_existentialism_2007 | 10:33 AM - January 21, 2025 |
| What Do All The Flags Mean? | 9:58 PM - January 04, 2025 |
| @louis_imperialism_1977 | 11:54 PM - December 26, 2024 |
| @may_southern_1973 | 11:47 PM - December 26, 2024 |
| @wedeen_ambiguities_2015 | 11:42 PM - December 26, 2024 |
| Zotero_LitNote | 11:36 PM - December 26, 2024 |
| Office_of_Public_Diplomacy | 11:34 PM - December 26, 2024 |
| @grandin_empires_2006 | 11:33 PM - December 26, 2024 |
| Greg_Grandin | 11:32 PM - December 26, 2024 |
| El_Salvador | 4:57 AM - December 23, 2024 |
| Palestine | 9:07 PM - November 15, 2024 |
| July_Revolution | 12:39 AM - August 22, 2024 |
| Set | 12:38 AM - August 22, 2024 |
| Gödel’s_Incompleteness_Theorem | 12:37 AM - August 22, 2024 |
| Object-Oriented_Programming | 12:36 AM - August 22, 2024 |
| Triple_quotes | 12:33 AM - August 22, 2024 |
| CunninLynguists-Nothing_to_Give | 9:22 PM - August 18, 2024 |
| CunninLynguists-Brain_Cell | 9:15 PM - August 18, 2024 |
| CunninLynguists | 9:02 PM - August 18, 2024 |
| Group | 12:44 AM - August 12, 2024 |
| Galois_Theory | 12:34 AM - August 12, 2024 |
| Self-Help Summer 2024 | 12:12 AM - August 12, 2024 |
| Insolubility_of_the_Quintic | 10:43 PM - August 09, 2024 |
| Russian_Imperialism | 10:42 PM - August 09, 2024 |
| Chipmunk_Soul | 10:42 PM - August 09, 2024 |
| Camron-Oh_Boy | 10:39 PM - August 09, 2024 |
| Cam’ron | 10:35 PM - August 09, 2024 |
| Teddy_Faley | 10:31 PM - August 09, 2024 |
| NENE | 10:30 PM - August 09, 2024 |
| NENE-アツい | 10:23 PM - August 09, 2024 |
| 2024-08-09 | 10:15 PM - August 09, 2024 |
| Principia_Mathematica | 6:42 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Evariste_Galois | 6:40 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Alfred_North_Whitehead | 6:40 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Bertrand_Russell | 6:40 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Caribbean | 6:40 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| July_Monarchy | 6:35 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Terrorism | 6:34 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Soviet_Union | 6:34 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Second_Indochina_War | 6:34 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Russell-Sartre Tribunal | 6:33 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Rhodesian_UDI | 6:33 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Quantification | 6:33 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Population_Transfers | 6:33 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Occupied_Namibia | 6:33 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Lenin | 6:33 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Lao_Peoples_Democratic_Republic | 6:32 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| First_Chechen_War | 6:32 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Decolonization | 6:32 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Zimbabwe | 6:31 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Apartheid_Rhodesia | 6:31 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Cold_War | 6:31 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| France | 6:31 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| French_Revolution | 6:30 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Ian_Smith | 6:30 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| ZAPU | 6:30 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| ZANU | 6:30 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| SWAPO | 6:30 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Cuba | 6:29 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Apartheid_South_Africa | 6:29 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Namibia | 6:25 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Ukraine | 6:25 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Russian_Federation | 6:24 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Ingushetia | 6:23 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Anti-Apartheid_Struggle | 6:19 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Southern_Africa | 6:19 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Angola | 6:17 PM - August 06, 2024 |
| Fidel_Castro | 6:15 PM - August 06, 2024 |