Author Archives: jcs

Book Publishing with LaTeX and Pandoc

Posted on 2021-03-17 by jcs

Dan Grec was a software engineer who gave it all up for adventures of a different kind. Now he drives his Jeep all around the world living the life he’d always dreamed of. He’s also published a couple of books … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged | Leave a comment

Does Targeted Advertising Work?

Posted on 2021-03-16 by jcs

We know from Betteridge’s Law that the answer must be no. Elaine Moore writing for The Finanical Times comes to the same conclusion and says that there’s plenty of evidence that the whole thing is a scam and that targeted … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged | Leave a comment

Why Use RSS

Posted on 2021-03-15 by jcs

Marc Kydd has a post from last month that I’ve had in the queue to write about. His post is on why he still uses RSS. I’m always a bit surprised by posts like that because why wouldn’t you use … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Piracy Doesn’t Exist

Posted on 2021-03-14 by jcs

Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson gave a short, provocative talk at the Independent Games Summit in which he made the argument that there’s no such thing as piracy or a lost sale. Countless barrels of ink, not to mention pixels, … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Leave a comment

Newspapers and Writing

Posted on 2021-03-13 by jcs

Journalists, it seems to me, have two main jobs: Discover and report the news accurately and Write up the results of their investigations in a clear and easy to understand way. It’s no secret to Irreal readers that I think … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged | Leave a comment

Red Meat Friday: Python Is Not a Great Language

Posted on 2021-03-12 by jcs

Robin Thomas says that Python is not a great programming language and offers 11 reasons why it isn’t. Reaction was swift and virulent, proving he might have been on to something when he wrote, “Pythonists have a bit of a … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Google and the Petro Curse

Posted on 2021-03-11 by jcs

The Google graveyard of services is a familiar Internet trope that describes Google’s habit of sunsetting popular services. It’s infuriating. Seemingly everyone has a story of some app they depended on that Google killed. The smart money no longer adopts … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged | Leave a comment

Happy 48th Birthday, Dark Side of the Moon

Posted on 2021-03-10 by jcs

It’s that time again. As we do every year on March 10, Irreal is celebrating the anniversary of the release of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, one of the best and most successful albums ever produced. I’m aware … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Most Vital Language

Posted on 2021-03-09 by jcs

Kontra has an interesting question: If aliens (which obviously would come from Mars aboard one of Musk’s spaceships) manage to completely disable one programming language to bring human civilization on earth to a screeching halt, which language would they choose? … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged | Leave a comment

Query: Emacs on the M1

Posted on 2021-03-08 by jcs

It’s time for me to upgrade my MacBook Pro. I don’t usually upgrade this soon but my current laptop has the horrible butterfly keyboard and there are flickering problems both with Emacs and other apps. The new hotness, of course, … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged | Leave a comment