Monthly Archives: November 2015

The First Rule for Using Org

Posted on 2015-11-30 by jcs

I’ve seen lots of pointers lately to this message from Carsten Dominik on the use of Org mode and managing its perceived complexity. At the end of the message he says What people miss when they are new to Org-mode … Continue reading →

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Smartphone Scolds

Posted on 2015-11-29 by jcs

Here at Irreal, we’ve been grumpy for some time about the seemingly never-ending onslaught of articles and television pieces about the evils of smartphones. There are the academics, desperate for a publication cred., claiming that using cellphones causes young brains … Continue reading →

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How The Paris Terrorists Really Operated

Posted on 2015-11-28 by jcs

Yesterday I wrote about Clare Foges’ ludicrously dishonest op-ed in the Telegraph. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal has a more sober article that describes how the terrorists really operated. Here’s a nice summary by Mike Rundle Paris attackers used real … Continue reading →

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The Dumbest Op-Ed of the Year

Posted on 2015-11-27 by jcs

The UK’s Telegraph has published what is certainly the year’s most ignorant and dishonest op-ed. Clare Foges, until recently PM David Cameron’s chief speechwriter, weighs in on the encryption wars and calls out Apple and Google for putting profit before … Continue reading →

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The Truth About Open Offices

Posted on 2015-11-26 by jcs

I’ve written many times about the foolishness and destructiveness of open plan offices. Here is a pithy summary of the truth about such plans. If you want to know why they are so beloved of management, take a look at … Continue reading →

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Emacs for the CEO

Posted on 2015-11-25 by jcs

Back when Josh Stella was coding, he lived in Emacs. Like many of us, he performed most of his everyday tasks—mail, calendar, documents, coding—from within Emacs. Decades later, he’d become the CEO/co-founder of Luminal and had left Emacs behind. Like … Continue reading →

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Why LaTeX is Better Than Word

Posted on 2015-11-24 by jcs

Many of you are aware, doubtlessly to your sorrow, of my many rants about Word and its evil brethren. If you care—and you should—what your finished writing looks like, you shouldn’t be using Word. Journals and publishers who generate printing … Continue reading →

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Mass Surveillance

Posted on 2015-11-23 by jcs

The New York Times editorial board has a nice editorial on why mass surveillance is not the answer to terrorism. Like the New Yorker article that I wrote about yesterday, the Times calls out Brennan and Clapper for their past … Continue reading →

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Paris and Crypto Panic

Posted on 2015-11-22 by jcs

After the tragedy and outrage in Paris last week, the usual suspects are running around saying, “See? This is what happens when things go dark.” Except, of course, there’s no evidence that the perpetrators used encryption and plenty of indications … Continue reading →

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Gnus on Windows

Posted on 2015-11-21 by jcs

As most Emacers know, two of the most difficult things involving Emacs are Getting it to work well on Windows, and Configuring and using Gnus. So, of course, Sacha Chua decided to do both at the same time. In the … Continue reading →

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