I'm not normally one to talk politics, and I regard it as distasteful (and annoying!) to deal with, but I do pay attention. Harper might have solace in his minority-majority, but eventually he's going to annoy enough people as to discredit the Conservatives -- much like the Liberal party has now -- for many years to come.

HRM wants to get more people to ride the bus: this is not the way to do it. They're already bad, and commuting to work in a car means you have air conditioning and your choice of music, and you aren't cramped in with strangers and people that haven't washed in days or weeks. There's also no need to put up with rude, arrogant idiots who think their bags are entitled to a separate seat.

Keeping a paper notebook -- as low-tech as it may be -- is still important. Unless your desk is one of those tiny unergonomic laptop desks it's far easier to keep a notebook open than to fiddle with 'one more program'. It feels more intuitive. But what's the best way to keep notes? I've spent a lot of time working on this.

There's an added overhead in moving large numbers of files from one computer to another. If the source and destination are similar enough in configuration and you have time to spare, you might simply use rsync or a raw file copy.

There are other -- faster -- ways, particularly if you're trying to archive those files or are in a hurry.

About two years ago, I started a project to digitize all of my university degree notes. I've been doing it off and on, and here are the things I would have done while writing the notes in order to make them easily scannable.

• The most important thing: don't use thin paper. Only use 20lb or 24lb paper: this doesn't flex as much when it's forcefully pulled through the sheet feeder.