Author Archives: jcs

Cord and Cable Management

Posted on 2023-01-18 by jcs

One of the things I really admire but that also makes me feel guilty is people who have all their computer cables under control and mostly hidden from sight. Every time I see one of those videos by someone who … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged | Leave a comment

Why Use Emacs, Vim, and Other Nerdy Software

Posted on 2023-01-17 by jcs

Derek Taylor over at DistroTube has a video that asks the question, “Why should you use Emacs, Vim, and other nerdy software?” That’s not a hard question for Irreal readers but Taylor has an unusual perspective. Even though he constantly … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Org-roam Workflow

Posted on 2023-01-16 by jcs

Dominik Honnef has a nifty post that describes his Org-roam based workflow for taking notes and writing articles. It’s a very thorough and complex system that captures notes, articles that he reads on the web, articles for his blog, and … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , | Leave a comment

A Nice Example of Using Bug-hunter from Sacha

Posted on 2023-01-15 by jcs

Sacha Chua has a great post on using bug-hunter. She had a problem in her large Emacs configuration file and used bug-hunter to find it. If you’re like me—and apparently Sacha—you won’t use it very often but when you’re trying … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged | Leave a comment

Sudo-edit

Posted on 2023-01-14 by jcs

Here’s a nifty bit of Elisp to make opening a file as root a bit easier: #Emacs Tip of the day: Opening a file as root (screenshot attached). If you `M-x uf/sudo-edit`, it will ask for a filename and open … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged | Leave a comment

Red Meat Friday: Life Of An Emacser

Posted on 2023-01-13 by jcs

As anyone who has ventured into the event horizon of their Emacs configuration knows, it can be extraordinarily difficult to get out. As the cartoon suggests, sometimes it can even suck up every available mental cycle leaving no time for … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , | Leave a comment

A Short Essay on Reproducible Research

Posted on 2023-01-12 by jcs

As everyone around here knows, I am a big fan of reproducible research and the idea of including data, code, and explanatory text in the same file. For researchers, that makes it easy for others to verify and extend the … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

On The Collaboration of Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie

Posted on 2023-01-11 by jcs

Periodically I see a reference to Ken Thompson’s 1983 Turning Award Lecture, Reflections on Trusting Trust, and I almost always end up commenting on it. It’s, by far, my favorite CS paper and I’m always delighted at the brilliant trick … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged | Leave a comment

Time To Ditch Your Wallet

Posted on 2023-01-10 by jcs

It’s been a while since I’ve written the walletless aspect of my quest for a digital lifestyle. Those of you who are long time readers know that my end goal to to be able to leave the house with nothing … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged | Leave a comment

Customizing Org Mode Exports

Posted on 2023-01-09 by jcs

I have a longstanding fascination with document layout. It’s something I first learned from Rich Stevens. His books were always visually beautiful with a layout that showed an obsessive attention to detail. Fortunately, he wrote about his process extensively on … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , | Leave a comment