Author Archives: jcs

Org Ellipsis

Posted on 2015-11-12 by jcs

It’s a bit silly, I suppose, but I really like this. It really does make things less cluttered.

Posted in General | Tagged Emacs, Org-mode | Leave a comment

Capturing Links with `org-protocol`

Posted on 2015-11-11 by jcs

A year ago, I wrote about how I quickly grab browser links and site links directly from Emacs. My solution leverages applescript so it’s usable only on OS X. Since I do all my writing on OS X, I’ve never … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged Emacs, Org-procol | 2 Comments

Short History of Typesetting

Posted on 2015-11-10 by jcs

If you enjoyed yesterday’s story about the vacation memo, you may also like another video by Professor Brailsford on a short history of typesetting. The Mergenthaler Linotron 202 that was the subject of my last post could be said to … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged Tech | 1 Comment

The Vacation Memo

Posted on 2015-11-09 by jcs

In the summer of 1979, Bell Labs purchased a Mergenthaler Linotron 202 typesetter so they could typeset their own documents. The Mergenthaler was an example of the generation of typesetters just previous to laser printers. They were hideously complex and … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged Unix | Leave a comment

LPR Cameras Exposed Online

Posted on 2015-11-08 by jcs

The government that claims it can safely manage backdoor keys to our communications has once again demonstrated its fecklessness at securing sensitive data. Sans Newsbites is reporting that several license plate reader cameras were exposed online. In some cases, the … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged Privacy | Leave a comment

What Metadata Really Is

Posted on 2015-11-07 by jcs

Edward Snowden cuts through the baloney and reminds us of the real meaning of Metadata. "Metadata" means records about your private activities and associations. It's an activity dossier. The novelty is in the lack of warrants. — Edward Snowden (@Snowden) … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged Privacy | Leave a comment

Textified Web Pages in Emacs

Posted on 2015-11-06 by jcs

If you have lynx installed, here’s a handy tip from Mike Sample: #Emacs #Orgmode is awesome for research notes. Pull text-ified webpages into the buffer with #nomouse C-u M-! lynx –dump <URL-to-good-page> — Mike Sample (@mikesample) September 28, 2015

Posted in General | Tagged Emacs | 2 Comments

New Maintainer

Posted on 2015-11-05 by jcs

Emacs has a new maintainer. Thanks to John Wiegley for taking on a hard, and often thankless, job. Wiegley has been very active in Emacs development—including authoring the wonderful use-package and eshell packages—and has lots of good ideas. If you’re … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged Emacs | Leave a comment

Note Taking While Learning a Language

Posted on 2015-11-04 by jcs

Nickolas Lanasa has a tip that should be obvious but may not be: Org-mode Inline code snippets that you can evaluate in #emacs are so helpful when learning a new programming language. #notetaking — Nickolas Lanasa (@nicklanasa) October 21, 2015 … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged Emacs, Org-mode | Leave a comment

Text Editors Are Like Wine

Posted on 2015-11-03 by jcs

The other day I came across an old post by Vivek Haldar on what we want in an editor. I may have written about it before but it’s worth revisiting. He notes that for many people what they want includes … Continue reading →