Manuscriptions

🎓 When Canals and Bridges Fail Us

Sandstorms, droughts, and big big ships have implications for the carrying capacity of the world. Which is to say: how many people can be alive at once.

Dec 10 • 

RobRoy

 and 

Eleanor Konik

8

4

🎂 It's My Birthday, Please Comment!

An Open Thread in the tradition of Ask A Manager, Astral Codex Ten, Naval Gazing, & Many More

Dec 3 • 

Eleanor Konik

20

47

2

November 2025

🌪️ Do Crises Really "Reveal" Character?

Advice columnists — and fiction novelists — often claim that pressure exposes “who we really are,” but I'm not sure how relevant those crises really are…

Nov 26 • 

Eleanor Konik

11

14

1

🌲 The Best "Gamified X" App is a GAME

Pokémon Go has done more for my overall productivity than any number of attempts to make something like Habitica work for me.

Nov 19 • 

Eleanor Konik

8

5

1

🌲 Go Rogue. Change Direction. Produce Better Work.

There's a time for obsessively working on a single thing. Painting Montana is perhaps not that time.

Nov 8 • 

Eleanor Konik

17

4

1

October 2025

🎓 When Perseverance Gets People Pointlessly Killed

On Naval Press Gangs, HMS Wager, and Knowing When to Quit

Oct 23 • 

Eleanor Konik

7

13

1

🎓 Neat Stuff I Saw in Harper's Ferry, WV

A brief review of my favorite place in the whole world.

Oct 19 • 

Eleanor Konik

8

2

📚 Neat Stuff I Read in September 2025

Tips for self-improvement. Deep dives on how to do a deep dive, the infrastructure demands of tourist destinations, and useful experiments.

Oct 8 • 

Eleanor Konik

18

5

2

🌲 The Konik Method for Organizing Electronic Notes

An update to the award-winning 2022-era Konik Method for Making Useful Notes, now that AI can do the grunt work for us.

Oct 1 • 

Eleanor Konik

30

17

3

September 2025

📚 REVIEW: Civilizations of Africa, A History to 1800

A look at early African government, religion & economy. Fans (and critics) of James C. Scott or David Graeber should really read this book. So should…

Sep 17 • 

Eleanor Konik

10

6

1

🏵️ On Learning About Cultures From Stories

On stone gods, internet monsters, and the cultural practices that aren't quite what we think when we think of religion... but aren't exactly not…

Sep 14 • 

Eleanor Konik

6

1

🌲 The Konik Method for Making Analog Notes

Life is tradeoffs. Analog notes last longer but aren't as searchable. They are, however, useful, beautiful, and less distracting to create.

Sep 3 • 

Eleanor Konik

76

21

17