I have black Moleskine notebooks with me all the time, they are a miracle; I tried all kinds of notebooks and their paper does best with gel pens (even though they have moved their production to China iirc?)

It seems to be less common these days, but when I write down an algorithm or visualize it on paper it's so much easier to grasp - I always wondered why I can work with "real paper" better than with ePaper (et al.) even when it's a scan of my handwriting. Is that a thing of routine?

Why a miracle?

I doubt it is, sounds like another hipster hysteria...

I'm not sure hysteria is the word you're looking for. Hyperbole, sure. But the notebooks feel great and the paper quality is excellent. It's worth noting that some pens perform really poorly on their paper, but gel pens + moleskine is just an extremely pleasant writing combination. Plus I'm pretty partial to the notebook size. It's not that they are the only company to do this, but it is just a consistently very nice experience without breaking the bank.

They are light (at an A5 form factor), have a very good paper quality, and covers with textures that fit comfortably in the hand; they also fit comfortably in my pocket.

(there's also some with hardcover, but I find them too heavy)

FWIW, I like grid-paper, so I use "graph-ruled" composition books.

Moleskin also make grid-paper and non-ruled notebooks.

Personally I have seen the light and find that Moleskin paper is not the best. I switched to using Japanese paper. I'm left handed and Japan needs fast drying pens and paper.

Here is a quick link to some of the brands I like with graph paper. https://www.jetpens.com/Pocket-Notebooks/ct/1668?&f=9e1b4fde...

I just got a few of these and I am really happy with the quality of these. https://www.jetpens.com/blog/leuchtturm1917-notebook-guide/p...

Also the Whitelines app with this notebook is really a great idea. You basically take a picture and the grey background is removed and you have just your writing or drawing.

https://www.jetpens.com/Leuchtturm1917-Whitelines/ct/4346

Yes, left-handed notebook nerds!

I'm a loyal Lleuchtturm user, but have been considering the Midori notebooks. How do they compare?

I confirm this. They are very classy. I use one to write my best recipes (so old school :-)). However the little elastic is a little bit weak.

The elastic stretches beyond repair in a year or so.

I've been looking into Org mode recently, but, having never used Org mode or Emacs, I'm finding it a bit overwhelming.

I honestly don't understand the hype. Why Moleskin and not one of the in general better Leuchtturm products? Anyway, I personally went back to those blank exercise books I used in school decades ago. But then, I also run Linux and not some overhyped Apple.

Wow, you are so cool cause you run Linux!

The same goes for Moleskine !

The point is not to care about brand names but to care about functionality.

In my country Moleskine is available in local book shop, while others I have to order online, pay shipping and then it’s almost double the price. Not worth it imho. I am not caring about brand, I use what is most functional to me.

Moleskin are more widely available. I was at Target last night and they had a very large selection.

Blank copy paper is available everywhere. Get yourself a tacker and maybe a cardboard in the right format. When done, remove the tacks, scan it, and upload your notes to your cloud.

But you miss out on being a hipster with irrational preferences...

There's nothing more hipster than using a hand-made journal. Compared to that, a Moleskin notebook that you buy at Target or B&N out in the suburbs is about as mainstream as it gets.

I love org-mode, though I struggle with emacs itself. Can you give me an example of how you layout your weekly org mode so that it interacts with beorg well?

I've used the format for a year where each day was a heading:

* <2016-12-12 Tue> Task1 with notes if needed Task2

and it does not work great with beorg.

You might also find org-journal [fn:1] interesting, if you commonly take date-stamped notes.

[fn:1] https://github.com/bastibe/org-journal

I use it more like Bullet journal with todos like this: * TODO (SCHEDULED: <date>) etc etc.

Is this aside from the built in date utilities that org mode already has? I usually see dates tucked “under” the item so they can e.g. be viewed (and manipulated?) from something like the agenda view.