toolbox

I have a commonplace book hobby of writing essays. I often find neat things in the process, but they can't fit on that essay for several reasons:

1. My essays are designed to be as "evergreen" as possible, meaning that neat software tool will effectively date it, so I don't want to put it on there.
2. The tool will often permute or devolve into something else. I don't want to be associated with a high-ranking technical idiot who made a few terrible decisions.
3. My humanity means my memory isn't reliable at memorizing trivia, so I have to put these tools somewhere, especially if I may find them useful someday.
4. As of me writing this, I'm using WordPress. This set of files is more easily searchable than the WordPress back-end.

The definition of "tool" is more complex than first impulses may dictate:

1. Every tool revolves around human purpose, which is a concept created as a relative human value derived as the difference between perceived reality and what is imagined to be possible.
2. Our cognitive bias, specifically "law of the instrument", means we're stuck always interpreting a tool according to what we're presently working on.
3. Hacking can involve using anything for a purpose it wasn't intended for.

Why

When we're familiar with computers, we often forget it can do more than we expect. Fortunately, clever software developers keep build things that expand our horizons and break our expectations.

I'm convinced this toolbox is a critical part of my life's purpose. Extra information management tools are necessary to more deeply stay effective in the Over-Information Age.

Even if the tools are no longer valid, I'm convinced someone will build a replacement. Please feel free to PR or notify any updates.

Convention

Since I'm building this for myself and the people who read my essays, all of the tools are grouped by essays I've drafted:

A. The initials are a reference to one of my essay pages, separated by an underscore.

B. The lowercase reference is the URL slug.

• e.g., AL_memory becomes https://adequate.life/memory.

C. Additional parenthesis if the slug doesn't give enough context.

• e.g., AL_success-4(Productivity) is https://adequate.life/success-4, but the slug needed clarification.

D. When it applies to multiple domains, I combine them in the file name.

• e.g., AL_writing+TT_fast(Text Automation) refers to both writing and using computers quickly.

E. For brevity's sake, I constrain it to 2 essays max.

• e.g., The widely popular VLC media player fits into NAG_information and TT_speakers-mic with plugins that make it TT_torrent, TT_os, and TT_social-media, but I'll just put it under NAG_information and roll up the rest of the red string for later.

Omissions

For brevity, I've tried to omit some things.

1. If the site is interpreted as suspicious by government authorities (e.g., for piracy), it won't likely stick around, though some future iteration of it will float out there somewhere.
2. Many tech startups curate "kitchen sink" tools that do many things, but that tool will be repurposed a few times once they've found their market or were acquired by a FAANG corporation.
3. Quick-reference sheets are great, but should still be useful later on. Some protocols move around constantly, while others stay nearly the same and simply accrue more features.
4. Independent developers make stuff all the time, sometimes simply to learn. If I find it somewhere and it's not very popular, it's likely not mature enough to add to the toolbox. There may be exceptions to this if there's nothing else in that space.

I also try to bias against a few groups:

• The built-in tools. If I need them, they're in the computer already, and if it's that important I'll reference them on my tech essays.
• Software that's basically a variety of the built-in tools. A simple checklist app, for example, is basically a proprietary text editor minus the built-in features or portability of Microsoft's Notepad.
• Most mega-corp tools. They already pay for plenty of advertising and are literally the first thing on a search engine.
• Paid tools when they cost enough that it makes me pause to consider my budget. I'm a big proponent of free licensing whenever possible, and I've made it my priority to never forget that some people people don't have much money.
• Most courses and courseware, which describe how to manipulate a specific tool more than what that tool does.
• Anything associated with a scandal, highly politicized, debatably illegal, or was hacked. I've got enough drama in my life without looking for more.

If there are many tools to choose from, I try to prioritize:

1. Free-as-in-freedom FLOSS, if possible
2. Free-as-in-beer free, if possible
3. Affordably-priced, if possible
4. Whatever happens to work

YMMV

I make the following disclaimer:

1. I can't attest to the software's validity. You're assuming liability if you download the software, and caveat emptor if you pay money for it.
2. I make no promises that the software isn't a virus, though I sincerely don't want people to download viruses. Validate the software for yourself (such as some of the tools I have stored) to be sure.
3. This is a self-curated collection. I may test the software, but most of this came from skimming a website. When things change, I'm typically not notified.
4. I'm giving you the means to find things. I'm not legally responsible for what you decide to do with those things.
5. If you want to sue me, I'll give you royalties of all the money I make on this. We'll just have to calculate that percentage by $0.

Earmarks

I've left emoji earmarks for reference, and my frequency of use approximately correlates to how many earmarks I've placed on it:

• Its starting platform:
  • * - reference sheet or copy/paste.
  • ☁ - browser-based
  • ⇉ - browser/software plugin or extension
  • ⊞ - Windows
  • ⌘ - Mac OS X
  • 🐧 - Unix and friends
  • 🤖 - Android
  • 🍎 - iOS
• Its safety:
  • 🕵️ - helps with trust issues
• Its convenience:
  • ■ - standalone files or portable Windows apps (many through PortableApps.com)
  • □ - CLI-based without GUI (often requires programming experience)
  • 💾 - self-hostable, or runs easily in a container
  • 🤝 - designed for synergistically actualizing collaboratively (i.e., teamwork)
• Its scalability:
  • 🔌 - an affordable/free API, or has API documentation
  • ⦿ - data-intensive tool
  • 🐍 - runs in Python
• Its business model:
  • 🆓 - FLOSS
  • ⬆️ - freemium model
  • $ - requires paying at least some money
  • 🧛 - FAANG website or FAANG-dependent (i.e., Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft)
• 💩 - it's a recursed pile of stuff, (presumably) curated by someone else
• ~~strikethrough~~ for bad tools, with a clear explanation

These icons are volatile out-of-the-box guesstimates, for several reasons:

• If the specs on a computer are high enough (and they often are if the software is >5 years old), a multipurpose OS can run almost any software, even if it's an unlocked fridge running a sideloaded SD card Linux in a Windows 98 container running MS-DOS.
• Developers keep making new things for new technologies, so this is constantly becoming obsolete or adapting to new standards. From the time you read this, most of this toolbox is good for about 10 years.
• Addon features have a funny way of becoming built-in features as everyone uses it, and built-in features will often become lobotomized to make something more efficient or profitable. Nothing is permanent.