Author Archives: jcs

Haldar Reads Reflections on Trusting Trust

Posted on 2019-06-25 by jcs

I’ve written at least twice about Ken Thompson’s Turing Award Lecture, Reflections on Trusting Trust and each time I told you to be sure to read it. It describes one of the—if not the—greatest hacks of all time. In the … Continue reading →

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Light or Dark

Posted on 2019-06-24 by jcs

I’ve long been a member of the much maligned minority who strongly prefer a light theme for Emacs and, for that matter, everything else too. All the cool kids have dark themes, some even using grotesque combinations like blue on … Continue reading →

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Working With Google Cloud Compute Instances in Emacs

Posted on 2019-06-23 by jcs

If you work with Google Cloud Compute Instances, Jack Rusher has an excellent tip in the form of a GitHub Gist for you. It turns out that Tramp connection methods are table driven and you can easily add a new … Continue reading →

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The Open Access Wars

Posted on 2019-06-22 by jcs

I’ve written before (1, 2, 3, 4) about Open Access and the struggles associated with it. I used to think the debate was nuanced but the behavior of the publishers have convinced me that they’re getting what they deserve. I … Continue reading →

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Emacs! In the New York Times!

Posted on 2019-06-21 by jcs

Paul Ford, co-founder and chief executive of Postlight, has a delightful paean to open source in The New York Times Magazine. In the article, Letter of Recommendation: Bug Fixes, Fords talks about the joys of open source and the pleasures … Continue reading →

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Org List Repair

Posted on 2019-06-20 by jcs

Tim Visher, who used to publish the much-missed VimGolf in Emacs videos, just tweeted a useful tip: OMG I have been looking for #emacs `org-list-repair` _forever!_ https://t.co/QMeulfO4KD (sorry if the link breaks, I can’t figure out to get a stable … Continue reading →

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Emacs Bug Reporting Workflow

Posted on 2019-06-19 by jcs

Bhavin Gandhi has a very nice and useful post on how to report and deal with Emacs bugs. He explains the process and mentions many things I didn’t know. For example, you can help with the bug processing simply by … Continue reading →

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Using Org-mode to Make Beautiful Documents

Posted on 2019-06-18 by jcs

Mats Tage Axelsson has a short introduction to making beautiful documents with Org-mode. None of this will be news to regular Irreal readers who are used to me (all too) frequently writing about it. Axelsson shows the basic format of … Continue reading →

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Orgzly

Posted on 2019-06-17 by jcs

In my Portable Operating System post and its comments, I bemoaned the lack of an Emacs port to iOS/ipadOS or at least to the iPad. If I had that, I’d probably still use my MacBook Pro at home but I’d, … Continue reading →

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The Data Gatherers Are Out Of Control

Posted on 2019-06-16 by jcs

The Spanish Soccer League, La Liga, licenses the right to display its games. It’s very aggressive about enforcing that licensing especially in venues like bars where fans naturally gather to watch the games. The situation is much different here in … Continue reading →

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