Category Archives: General

The Greatest Threat

Posted on 2015-05-22 by jcs

A disturbing thought from Glenn Greenwald. Be sure to follow the link. The biggest threats to free speech come from western governments claiming to protect it. http://t.co/QN1ojnvt4T pic.twitter.com/B9VbmchxMk — The Intercept (@the_intercept) May 16, 2015

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Calc Quick Reference

Posted on 2015-05-22 by jcs

In a comment to one of my posts on calc, Sue D. Nymme (love that handle) mentioned that he was working on a quick reference for calc and kindly provided a sneak preview. Now he reports that he’s ready to … Continue reading →

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Jumping to use-package Blocks in Your Emacs Configuration

Posted on 2015-05-21 by jcs

Jordon Biondo published a useful gist that allows you to easily navigate to use-package blocks in your .emacs or init.el file. If you have lots of packages—and therefore lots of use-package blocks—you’ll find it useful. Biondo recommends that you install … Continue reading →

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Collecting and Using Data in Schools

Posted on 2015-05-20 by jcs

Regular Irreal readers have probably figured out that I’m a data freak. I’m always collecting, tabulating, and analyzing data about myself and the things around me. That’s one of the reasons I found the use of digital methods in hospitals … Continue reading →

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Emacs on OS X

Posted on 2015-05-19 by jcs

If your platform is OS X and you’re an Emacser, Bozhidar Batsov has a nice post on setting up Emacs. He shows you how to get Emacs (if you don’t compile it yourself), how to set the path or alias … Continue reading →

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Counting Words

Posted on 2015-05-18 by jcs

For years, I’ve used this bit of Elisp that I stole from DJCB at Emacs-Fu. The latest versions of Emacs now have this functionality built in so I thought I should move on. The new functionality is bound to the … Continue reading →

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Matt Blaze Testimony

Posted on 2015-05-17 by jcs

Back in April, Matt Blaze, a cryptographer and security expert from the University of Pennsylvania, testified before Congress concerning proposals to require “back doors” in encryption systems—especially in communication applications. The idea is that law enforcement would have a special … Continue reading →

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Make Scroll Up and Scroll Down Symmetric

Posted on 2015-05-16 by jcs

A handy tip from Wilfred Hughes: Emacs tip of the day: (setq scroll-preserve-screen-position 'always) will ensure that M-v always undoes C-v, so you can go back exactly. — Wilfred Hughes (@_wilfredh) May 16, 2015

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A New Common Lisp Book

Posted on 2015-05-16 by jcs

Lispers have traditionally eschewed regular expressions but the truth is that they are often useful and sometimes the most practical way to deal with a problem. Because of the bias against regular expressions, the CL specification does not include them. … Continue reading →

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Coffee

Posted on 2015-05-15 by jcs

Not that we needed any affirmation but the New York Times makes it official.

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