Too hot for chores, today, so I'm in my air-conditioned office, futzing with AI tools, server options, and my Emacs capture templates.

For some reason, I can't get a markdown-mode-hook to fire and call olivetti-mode when I open a Markdown file in an Emacs buffer. I'm using the exact method that works with org-mode files. It's a small annoyance, but this is why I sometimes want to quit.

Posted: Roll 037

Ozzy died today. For a long time, I expected this to happen any minute. He didn't exactly live a healthy lifestyle. After a certain point, though, it seemed like he might live forever. His "Blizzard of Ozz" tour in 1981 was one of the of the first concerts I saw. I remember leaning my head into a speaker cone, because LOUDER!

The other day, I converted my entire TiddlyWiki into an Obsidian vault, just to see if I could. Since I still spend most of my time in Emacs, I thought it would be nice to search the vault from there.

The post, From Obsidian to Emacs, by Mike Hostetler, mentioned using the Xeft package, so I thought I'd try it. Here's my config:

(use-package xeft
  :ensure t
  :defer t
  :config
  (setq xeft-recursive t)
  (setq xeft-database "~/.deft.db")
  (setq xeft-directory "/Users/jbaty/Documents/Notes/Vault/")
  (setq xeft-ignore-extension '("png" "jpg" "jpeg"))
  (setq xeft-extensions '("md"))
  (setq xeft-title-function #'file-name-nondirectory))

Xeft relies on Xapian for searches, so a module needs to be downloaded or built locally. I didn't have any luck with the downloaded version, so I deleted the package, started over, and had it compile locally. The trick there was entering the prefix "/opt/homebrew" during installation, since I'd already installed Xapian using Homebrew.

Here's what a search for "linhof" looks like:

With any luck, I'll spend time today far away from the computer and very close to the lake.

Creating a new blog post for Hugo couldn't be simpler. One simply creates a new Markdown file in the correct folder, making sure it contains the proper YAML front matter, and...OK, it's not that simple.

Normally I use a small lisp function in Emacs for creating posts, but that doesn't help me on days that I don't feel like using Emacs^[1].

Another option would be to use the built-in hugo commands, but for some reason I never think of that. Probably because it requires that I cd to the right place and tell it what to name the file.

Mike Hall recently published an update to the Ruby script he uses. It's called hpost.

I used hpost to create this post. Worked fine, but made me think about how I might do it, given some private time with Claude.

• I wouldn't use Ruby. It's a nice language, but dependencies and version management confound me. Same with Python. I bet it could be done using bash. Or maybe Go, which would be Hugo-appropriate.
• New posts would go in dated folders (e.g. /posts/2025/07/my-new-post.md)
• I'd offer a choice to use a Hugo bundle (/my-post/index.md vs my-post.md) to make it easier to include images.
• Including a slug: entry in the front matter would be nice for maintaining URL consistency in case of title changes.
• Daily Notes would have to conform to my own conventions (/journal/2025/07-july/20250718/index.md)

What I'll likely do in real life is to continue using Emacs for creating posts. I've got Dired bookmarks for getting to previous posts, dwim commands for building/deploying, etc. hpost (or equivalent) is still nice for days like today when I'm off Emacs.

Don't you wish I had only one blog? I do.

If he's a bit manic for you, here's part of the transcript that I've reformatted a bit:

...if you're a progressive, don't do this. Don't go on to the internet and go, "Hey fellow progressives, like maybe we should consider having, you know, a little - just just chill out a bit and have a bit of humility and realise that not everyone's had the opportunity to read the books we've read and not everyone's, you know, learned the lessons that you've learned. Maybe we should apply the Principle of Charity and not assume that anyone who disagrees with us has a nefarious intent and try and hear the best version of the argument, not the worst. And maybe we just need to-"

They go, "Don't you police my tone, you straight white male! Check your privilege!"

And I go, "Fuck, you're absolutely right. I'm sorry, I'll check my privilege." So I go and check my privilege, which I keep in my library on a mahogany shelf in between my BMW keys and a large Fortnum and Mason's tin of 50 dollar notes. And I come back and I say, "I checked my privilege and you're still fucking wrong."

Because, because, because it cannot be okay. It can't. It cannot. It cannot be, can it? If , if the intention of progressives, which I assume it is, is to progress forward into a future of more empathy and understanding for more and more people, it cannot be, can it, that the primary mechanism by which we're going to make that progress is the suppression of empathy and understanding for anyone who doesn't align with our beliefs? It cannot be that unmitigated expression of furious outrage will somehow alchemize into a future of peace and love.

And of course there's something to be discussed about the justification - of course there's many, many reasons to be righteously furious. I'm a straight white cisgendered male and I could be furious about 700 things before any given breakfast. But it doesn't fucking matter if it's not helping, and it's not helping. The tribes are getting further and further apart. And then the point is, it's very hard to change people's minds - but we got there - but it is not impossible.

However, one thing is a hundred percent certain: if you tell someone that they're a fascist and publicly shame them on the Internet for what they believe, you've lost them.

You have prioritised your need to express your outrage and, if we're honest, more often than not signal your virtue over the possibility that you could utilise your educational privilege to reach across this algorithmic chasm.

org-mouse is a built-in package for Org mode that lets one do some handy things using the mouse in Org files. Things like checking checkboxes and toggling subtrees.

(use-package org-mouse
        :after org)

Or just (require 'org-mouse)

Clicking in [ ] Do this thing to complete it is easier than navigating to the line and hitting C-c C-c for each item.

There's no shame in using a mouse, even in Emacs. I sometimes prefer to sit back, grab the mouse, and click things.

I'm editing this in (Neo)Vim because I feel like living in normal Vim bindings for a minute, without the grief I cause myself trying to use evil-mode in Emacs.

Obsidian should be the right answer for taking notes. It's free, powerful, local-first, and does everything one might need. The ecosystem is huge.

Every few months, I find myself questioning my decision to stop using it after the last attempt^[1] So, I re-install and start again, usually from scratch.

At first, it's such a relief. There are buttons for doing the important things. There is a command palette for doing just about anything else. I can easily remap the keyboard shortcuts. The graph view, which I ridicule as useless most days, looks pretty cool, actually.

It's so nice being able to just sit back and click around in the UI without the usual set of keyboard contortions in Emacs.

What a refreshing change!

Then, I'll dig into some recent blog posts or YouTube videos from people sharing their latest configurations, plugins, workflows, etc. This is where things start to go wrong. I overcomplicate things right out of the gate. Too many plugins, too many folders, too many settings. If I wanted to make my notetaking tool into its own hobby, I'd keep using Emacs.

Obsidian's biggest flaw is that it's not Emacs.

Still, I'm determined to give it a fair shake, again, just for grins and to alleviate boredom.

This time I'm not installing any 3rd-party plugins until I'm sure I need them (for whatever meaning of "need" is appropriate). I'm not creating a bunch of nested folders. How about this, as a start?:

├── _attachments    # all attachments. No hierarchy
├── 00 System       # templates, scripts, etc.
├── 10 WIP          # Work In Process, projects, etc. Subfolder for each project.
├── Clippings       # Web clippings (to be filed or deleted later)
├── Daily Notes     # Daily Notes, obviously. Yearly folders.
└── Knowledgebase   # All other notes. No hierarchy.

I'm also avoiding superfluous front matter. Good grief, I sure can overthink the front matter. My default template is just a title and (created) date. Speaking of default templates, why the hell can't I set a default template for all new notes? I'm trying to avoid installing Templater, but it's going to be tough.

So far I've only installed the Calendar plugin. It remains a mystery that this isn't built in.

Anyway, it's always fun for a while. Let's see how long it lasts this time.

previously, previously, previously

Glass is a nice way to host and share photos. I've used Flickr for 20 years, so I didn't think I needed Glass, and planned to let my subscription expire.

The single most frustrating thing with Flickr is that there's no good way I know of to keep a public photo off my profile/timeline. If I want to dump a bunch of images to some album, they all show up on my profile. It's always bothered me.

Playing with the new(ish) "Series" feature in Glass, I noticed that there is an option to "Hide from profile".

That's all I ever wanted from Flickr. And while Flickr is still the best way to share and host photos, it's no longer much of social spot. This is such a shame, but here we are.

So I started thinking. What if I could replace my "Film Roll" posts on the blog with links to the Series on Glass?

Like this: 2025 Roll 035 (Rolleiflex 2.8D), a Series by Jack Baty.

That lets me use a nice, social photo sharing platform for my film rolls, without needing to maintain a separate photo blog, or deal with posting photos here using Hugo.

Yes, I know, "What if Glass shuts down!?" Fair point, but I don't think I'll worry about it right now. Let's try it.

Firing up a new daily note every morning used to be a regular thing for me. Lately, it just gives me blank page anxiety. It's possible that an "I don't feel much like blogging" phase is starting. I know this because I don't feel much like blogging.

I have a doctor's appointment today. Just a scheduled follow-up, but there's a lot of pre-appointment guilt happening. My blood pressure is a little higher than we'd like, so in our last meeting I suggested that instead of upping my meds, that I eat healthier and exercise more. I've done neither of those, so my BP will still be too high and he'll have to tsk-tsk me and prescribe something stronger. I hate having to take medications, but it's my own damn fault.

Update: BP was 130/80, which is an improvement, so no pressing concerns about changing my meds. I told him to pick something for me to focus on and he just said, "Walk a bit every day. 30-40 minutes is fine." I can do that.

Film Roll: 2025 Roll 035 (Rolleiflex 2.8D), a Series by Jack Baty. (See post about using Glass for this)