Almost Emacs

I use VIM for editing most everything – have for years. For the helluvit I thought it would be fun to learn a little more about Emacs, so I gave up VIM and went all-in with Emacs for 2 weeks. By all-in I mean everything. Everyone says you can pretty much live in Emacs so that’s what I tried to do. I switched from using Things to org-mode for my To Do lists and dumped Tinderbox for, well, more org-mode for time tracking and quick notes.

I wrote code with it and read every Emacs tip, trick and article I could find. What is supposed to happen is that the process of hard-wiring the brain to type everything with either the Control or Alt keys becomes easier. It didn’t. Not easier enough anyway.

It was fun while it lasted. Here’s what I liked.

• Emacs can do anything. Really, anything.
• Org-Mode is awesome. It has everything a text-driven geek needs to run his or her life.
• AquaEmacs is very good at making Emacs feel like a real OS X app.

But, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the key commands. Yes, I’ve remapped the Caps Lock key to Control, but it still forces my hands into awkward contortions. After an hour of coding my fingers would start to cramp up and complain. I gotta say, I didn’t miss VIM’s “beep mode” but I’ve switched back to VIM just the same.

The Case for Cocktails

The Case for Cocktails

Fifty years ago, men ordered Manhattans, women drank Mai Tais, and no one brought guns to school. The logic is irrefutable;

Zed on everything

Zed 2008-06-13

See, I told you Zed wasn’t such a bad guy. Okay, no I didn’t, but he’s always an interesting read.

Save Rachel Ray

So Rachel Ray wears a scarf in a Dunkin Donuts ad. Conservative columnist Michelle Malkin decides that since a number of bad guys have worn similar scarves that the ad is somehow sympathetic with terrorists. The ad is pulled. Seems that wearing a certain type of scarf (a “kaffiyeh”) “…has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad.”

That strikes me as nonsense. According to wikipedia…

Since the beginning of the War on Terror, these keffiyeh, usually cotton and in military olive drab or khaki with black stitching, have been adopted by US and troops as well. Their practicality in an arid environment, as in Iraq, explains their constant popularity with soldiers. Soldiers often wear the keffiyeh folded in half into a triangle and wrapped around the face, with the halfway point being placed over the mouth and nose, sometimes coupled with goggles, to keep sand out of the face.

But also…

The keffiyeh has become a symbol of the Palestinians in the long running Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As a result of its symbolic meaning in this context, its display in the West has periodically been the subject of criticism.

To a delusional paranoid conservative columnist, I guess it could be mis-construed – somehow. To the rest of us, it’s just a friggin’ scarf.

Dr. Jones

Indiana Jones premiered today at Cannes. Reviews are trickling in, and they’re pretty much as expected. Mixed. I don’t care, I can’t wait to see it. The photo below was taken back stage at the original Disney World Raiders show.

Review: The Dip

Quick review of Seth Godin’s The Dip.

The book is short and sweet, but could’ve been a blog post instead. I found myself thinking “Okay, I get it!” about a quarter of the way through. Here’s my summary…

1. Stuff gets harder, stick with it…
2. …unless you shouldn’t. Then Quit.

And all the “best in the world” stuff didn’t really help. It’s still worth the read.

I’m Going To Scale My Foot Up Your Ass - Ted Dziuba

I’m Going To Scale My Foot Up Your Ass – Ted Dziuba

“Scalability is not your problem, getting people to give a shit is.”

Yup.

We don’t have time?

Can’t recall where I grabbed this quote, but it depresses the hell out of me.

Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein. — H. Jackson Brown

Rands In Repose: Saving Seconds

Saving Seconds

I’m the guy who will spend the entire goddamned weekend reorganizing my tagging system because I didn’t like the tone or the tense of my previous tagging system.

Ya. Me too.

5 Things You Should Not Twitter

I love Twitter. It’s extremely valuable and has become an important part of my daily flow. There’s a ton of value in following a whole bunch (not too many!) of the brightest people I know. It’s amazing. Lately, however, I’ve been noticing a few recurring themes which have not contributed to this value. In an effort to keep Twitter a service that’s suited to my specific needs, I present to you 5 things you should not Twitter.

1. Complaints about Internet Explorer. No shit
2. The weather. We know. And if we don’t, we don’t care. Exceptions: Hurricanes and Earthquakes
3. Clients behaving badly. They all do that occasionally. Don’t tell us about it. It makes you sound whiny and will definitely bite you later.
4. How many people follow you. Yay, you’re popular. Whatever.
5. “Good Morning!” That’s it? You’re awake? I don’t need to know you’re awake.

That’s all I can think of right now. I’ve seen examples of each of them already this morning. Yes, I’ve done all of the above myself, but that doesn’t make it right. Carry on.

http://twitter.com/jackbaty

PS This is just for fun. Let’s all keep our undies firmly unbunched.