Author Archives: jcs

Red Meat Friday: Word as a Random Number Generator

Posted on 2020-07-17 by jcs

As you all know, Word is one of my favorite whipping boys. I often say it’s the worst piece of software ever foisted on an unsuspecting public. Doubtless that’s hyperbolic but Word is something I try never to use. Karl … Continue reading →

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Emacsclient and macOS

Posted on 2020-07-16 by jcs

As I’ve said many times, Emacs is the first thing I start after a boot and it stays running until the next boot or I update packages that need a restart. That means that Emacs startup time is a non-issue … Continue reading →

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Websockets from Emacs

Posted on 2020-07-15 by jcs

Websockets are a way of providing two way communication between a Web server and a browser. Their benefit is that the server can send data asynchronously to the browser. That differs from the normal protocol of the browser sending a … Continue reading →

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Idiosyncrasies in Academic Publishing

Posted on 2020-07-14 by jcs

If you’ve been around for a while, you know that I’m not a fan of academic journal publishers and their rent seeking. Happily, those days are years behind me now but for thousands of academics the process and its indignities … Continue reading →

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Ransomware: Prevention & Recovery

Posted on 2020-07-13 by jcs

A couple of days ago, I mentioned Backblaze and their newsletter with an article about Tips for working remotely. That newsletter has a link to an older article that discusses how to prevent a ransomware attack and recover if you … Continue reading →

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Magit: The Emacs Killer App

Posted on 2020-07-12 by jcs

Over at DistroTube, Derek Taylor has posted a video that makes the case that for many people, Magit is the killer app for Emacs. He thinks that’s especially true if you’re primarily a developer. I use Magit everyday all day … Continue reading →

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Some Remote Works Tips from Backblaze

Posted on 2020-07-11 by jcs

I use Backblaze to backup my work. If you don’t have a backup service of some sort, you’re just an accident away from disaster. My recent debacle with my laptop illustrates the point nicely. Without backups I would have lost … Continue reading →

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The 500 Mile Email

Posted on 2020-07-10 by jcs

I vaguely remember writing about this before but I just saw a reference to it and it’s such a great story that it should be repeated every few years. Trey Harris tells a funny and instructive tale about how even … Continue reading →

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Organizing Workflow with Notion (and Org-mode)

Posted on 2020-07-09 by jcs

Ali Abdaal, whom I’ve written about several times before, is a physician in the UK. Starting back when he was still in medical school, he’s been posting YouTube videos on how he studies and organizes his life. If you’re into … Continue reading →

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Tracking on Steroids

Posted on 2020-07-08 by jcs

The (Canadian) Financial Post has a truly horrifying story about out-of-control tracking by the chain coffee shop Tim Hortons. James McLeod uses the Tim Hortons ordering app on his Android phone so he could order his “morning medium coffee with … Continue reading →

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