Yesterday I did that thing where I wanted to use something other than Emacs and Org Mode, so I re-installed Obsidian and launched both Tinderbox and SilverBullet. Then, I wrote some notes in all of them. It was so darn nice having somewhere new to work. It lasted a few hours, after which I copied all of those notes into the appropriate .org documents and properly scolded myself for straying again. Everything else is inferior to Emacs, but sometimes I just need a break.
"Oscillation creates Isolation" is a new phrase I just made up.
I dusted off my old Kirby blog after reading Kev's post this morning. I'm not falling for it, Kev! Kirby is really nice, and tempting, but I've forgotten how it works and I don't love the idea of learning it over again right now.
A phrase that bugs me is, "You have to wonder..." when what they really mean is "I wonder..." or more likely, "I think this but am too chickenshit to come right out and say it." It's a bit like "I'm just asking questions!"
There's nothing on my schedule today and that is totally fine with me. It's not just fine, it's preferred.
I made some small (5"x7") prints in the darkroom this morning. I sometimes feel that the small prints aren't "worth it", but they're cheap and easy to make, so I keep doing it. I guess at the exposure and only reprint if I'm way off. Otherwise, as my dad says, "Good enough for who it's for". And I'm always happy I have them later.
Latest roll (HP5) from the Leica MP. Nothing much here to speak of, although I did use a manual flash on some of the indoor shots. I kind of like flash photos. They look like photos, you know?
Lincoln looking upMy dad and Lincoln. Testing manual flash.Funny faceWhite sneakers are white
Is it too early to begin speculation about the iPhone 17?[1]
Two buffers I always have open in Emacs are: the current journal entry here on baty.net, and my personal journal (org-journal). I type the same kinds of things in both places. Which one I choose depends on my mood.
I hate when I run out of feeds to read and so just sit here staring at the screen. Running out of feeds isn't the problem, fyi.
Every notification ping holds the possibility we have merit.
...
we strain our moral character to cosplay a life of plenty.
I just dropped in and scrolled through the feed on LinkedIn. If LinkedIn is the game I'm forced to play, then I forfeit.
So many people seem to travel around looking only for red flags. Maybe they should spend more time looking for green lights.
A few weeks ago, my Dad's Apple Watch (Series 3) died, so I gave him my Series 7, since I was hardly ever wearing it anyway. Then last week I started reading "Younger Next Year" and all they talk about is doing aerobic workouts six days a week and closely monitoring my heart rate. Lacking an available heart rate monitor, I ordered a new Series 10 Apple Watch. I had to. HAD TO.
Speaking of "Younger Next Year", they're doing a good job of convincing me that what I've been doing is not helping. By "what I've been doing," of course I mean, "Almost nothing". I really hate exercise, but I also really want to be healthy when I'm 80, assuming I live that long. So, I've worked out 4 days in a row so far, which might be a record for me.
Social media is umatched as a method of letting me know what and whom I'm supposed to be mad at right now.
My Org mode capture templates are acting funky. Things aren't going where they're supposed to. e.g. my Daybook entries are going into the wrong part of the datetree. I've changed nothing relevant that I know of. I hate this.
I would still exist if I deleted my Instagram account.
-- Cheri Lucas Rowlands
Would you? Would any of us?
I don't want the things I create to be nothing more than something to scroll past. But maybe that's better than having noone see them at all.
Yesterday, I tried talking my dad through authenticating the Bally Sports app on his Apple TV. It involved going to a web page on his phone, logging in, and entering a code. It was the worst experience possible. Have you ever tried editing a long URL on an iPhone? Have you ever tried helping an 82-year-old do it over the phone? Technology is terrible. All he wanted to do was watch the ball game.
"Today's video is about [something something] and I'm going to tell you all about it. OK, let's jump right in!"
::45-second overwrought intro video::
"OK, like I said, in today's video we're going to..."
Sometimes I hate YouTube.
I broke down and bought a Blackstone Griddle. Today, I made my first smash burger. I'm happy now.
I think I'll (reluctantly) stop using Capture One and go back to Lightroom. I was using Lightroom for a while because it's good and keeps getting better, but I get the best results from and prefer using C1. However, it has become so slow as to be unusable. It can take 3 or 4 seconds to update the preview after moving a slider, which is maddening. I've done all the recommended things to improve performance, but nothing helps. Lightroom updates immediately. Plus Lightroom syncs, has modern features that non-professionals use, and is relatively inexpensive.
I'll go on record saying that I prefer pre-recorded events. I suffer from some kind of empathetic anxiety around live events. I spend the whole time thinking, "Don't screw up, don't screw up". It's also why I prefer movies to plays, probably.
When I post regularly and to only one blog, my traffic numbers go up. This is pretty consistent. It's an interesting data point, but I'm not doing this for visitor numbers, so I'll continue to be inconsistent and scattered about.
At some point during my latest round of build-emacs-config-from-scratch, I must have missed part of my Dired settings.
I want Dired to only show the file name rather than all the file attributes, and I want folders displayed first. Instead, now I see all file details and folders are sorted alphabetically right along with files. Like this:
Dired by default
The first thing was to sort so that folders show first. I figured it would be as simple as adding the --group-directories-first switch to dired-listing-switches but nope. The default ls binary in macOS doesn't handle that option. To get it, I needed to install the "coreutils" package via Homebrew (brew install coreutils).
coreutils prefixes binaries that have the same name as a macOS counterpart with "g", so their version of ls is actually gls. Rather than depend on shell aliases that sometimes don't seem to get picked up correctly in Emacs, I found a handy snippet of lisp and modified it like so:
I added that to the package configuration for Dired and it worked like a charm.
Next was to get rid of all the extra information shown by default in directory listings. 99% of the time I don't care about permissions, ownership, or file sizes. I just want the file names. Dired has a built-in function for this: dired-hide-details-mode. To make sure this gets run for every new Dired buffer, I added a hook:
:hook
(dired-mode . dired-hide-details-mode)
Now it looks how I like it:
Dired with my config
I can always toggle the file details back on by pressing (.
FWIW, here's my entire dired configuration:
;; Dired
(use-package dired
:ensure nil ;; built-in
:defer t
:hook
(dired-mode . dired-hide-details-mode)
:config
(setq dired-dwim-target t) ;; do what I mean
(setq dired-recursive-copies 'always) ;; don't ask when copying directories
(setq dired-create-destination-dirs 'ask)
(setq dired-clean-confirm-killing-deleted-buffers nil)
(setq dired-make-directory-clickable t)
(setq dired-mouse-drag-files t)
(setq dired-kill-when-opening-new-dired-buffer t) ;; Tidy up open buffers by default
(when (eq system-type 'darwin)
(let ((gls (executable-find "gls")))
(when gls
(setq dired-use-ls-dired t
insert-directory-program gls
dired-listing-switches "-aBhl --group-directories-first")))))
The smartest thing for me to do would be to double down on using Org Mode for all of my notes and be done with it. I re-installed Logseq last week but haven't launched it. Today, I downloaded Standard Notes but didn't even install it. See? I'm getting better!
Whenever I read posts raving about Emacs, they focus too much on "efficiently editing text". I barely care about that and they shouldn't either. Actual editing comprises about 5% of writing[1]. Making that tiny slice 20% more efficient adds almost nothing, if you're looking at the big picture. Efficient editing is fun though, so I'll give you that.
I used Emacs to create this file and now I'm editing it using iA Writer. As much as I love Emacs, I don't necessarily need to spend all day, every day in there, you know? I also wanted to check out the iA Writer update because they now use a sensible UI for navigating folders. The old way made me ditch iA Writer, as much as I love the actual editor.
I took a week or so off social media but have been unable to maintain my distance. The trick is to limit myself to checking the feed a couple times a day. There's so much great stuff out there, so I don't want to leave completely, but I have to stop reaching for it every time there's a lull in my thoughts.
Posts here are no longer being automatically syndicated to Mastodon via EchoFeed. I want to control when they show up on Mastodon, and that may be different than when I publish them here.
I made some quality-of-life improvements to the bathroom darkroom this morning. I finally have a real "wet side". Previously, I was using the sink and counter, but there was barely room for 3 (8x10) trays. Now, I've got room for 6 or more. Or larger trays if I want to print bigger.
It's just two cut-to-size closet shelving sections and some PVC for support. It's a little rickety, but I can set it up or tear it down and store everything in about 30 seconds.
I'm still undecided about where to put small posts. It's easy to put them here, collected into a single daily note, but things feel like they get lost this way. I tried getting back into Micro.blog but that's just confused things more. Plus, I'm in a "control the stack" mood. I'll either end up continuing to put everything here, or I'll split small posts off to daily.baty.net using Tinderbox. The individual Tinderbox posts can then be syndicated via EchoFeed to Mastodon. Still noodlin' on it.
I'm still taking sewing lessons. The first week we made pillowcases and it was actually fun, other than having to rip a whole seam and start over :).
Monday's project was this drawstring bag.
Week 2: A drawstring bag
This was my first time cutting fabric, and I found it harder than expected. There's nothing to work against for the first cut, if you know what I mean. After taking forever figuring out the cuts, I was having trouble with my sewing machine. I still haven't figured out what the problem was, but it seems OK now. The class is 3 hours long and I was there for 3.5 hours and still didn't get to the drawstring. I finished the drawstring this morning. It was tricky because I don't have an edgestitch presser foot for my machine, so I was a bit all over the place. I missed a small section, but I'm choosing to ignore it.
Oops, missed a spot
Sewing is hard, but it's really cool to walk in with a random pile of fabric and walk out with an actual thing I made with it. Can't wait until next week.
In high school, I mowed lawns for extra cash. I remember vividly the time I was mowing our neighbor's back yard and I had the idea for a painting (see above). I actually stopped the mower and went inside to start painting immediately. I miss feeling so creative that I'd stop whatever I was doing because I had an idea.
Had second sewing class yesterday. We made drawstring bags. Well, tried to. I struggled with the sewing machine for half the class. It kept jamming. And when it wasn't jamming, I was mis-threading it. We cut several pieces of fabric for the first time. That was harder than I expected. Like my dad often said while building something, "I cut it twice and it's still too short." I didn't finish. I still need to make and thread the drawstring.
People think too much of themselves. We're not that special. Or important.
Early this year, I decided I was Hanging up the Hobonichi. As is normal for me, I changed my mind and ordered the 2025 Techo, just in case. FOMO, mostly.
You can't read the room if you're not in the room.
I was considering bringing back ox-hugo for generating posts here, but according to this comment, he plans to remove support for YAML frontmatter, and I'm not using TOML, so that's a no-go.
I feel like if Apple just said "Screw it, we're sick of this" and stopped making iPhones altogether, we'd all just go buy some Android phone and it would be fine. Then maybe we could collectively shut up about Apple and that would be even better.
Performance is important, of course, but I honestly don't fuss too much over it on my sites. At least I don't let it get in the way of publishing how I want to publish. For example, I don't bother with a CDN because I don't want to futz with the links and I don't want the dependency.
Some things, though, are unintrusive while being helpful. Expires headers being one of them. I was getting "B" performance ratings, and the main culprit was a lack of expires headers, so I added them.
Why do Apple people spend so much time gossiping about the future? Speculation about Apple bores me to tears.
Blog mood today: I want a blog, a wiki, and a social media account. One of each. The blog is for writing. The wiki is for keeping various bits and bobs, and social media is for sharing the above and others.
Why is it that the first part of every issue of every newsletter is about either changes to the newsletter format or apologizing for being late with the newsletter?
I'm having a lot of trouble staying away from social media. The idea was to limit myself to checking once or twice a day, but I still find myself reaching for it every time there's a lull in my thoughts or as soon as I finish something. It's insidious. I'm convinced that social media is bad for my brain and it's definitely bad for my attitude. I'll keep trying. I don't think I should even allow the once-a-day checking. Perhaps I'll bookmark just the notifications tab and check that, since I don't want to be rude and not respond to people.
I dare you to read the Denote manual and not feel 100% like it's software you can trust. Prot is just so damn thoughtful about everything.
What would my brain feel like if I didn't have the urge to share every single thing I do or think? Better, I bet.
Haven't settled on whether to continue combining notes into these daily posts or to split off certain ones into Micro.blog or Tinderbox. Or even as small separate posts here. I like all of the approaches, so it comes down to my mood.
Every time I switch back to Hugo, I complain about the fact that when using relative image links in Hugo's Page Bundles, they don't work in the RSS feed. Then I spend time digging around old forum posts or whatever trying to fix the problem.
Except I already have fixed the problem. At least twice. Maybe just check your own notes, Jack.
I like the PaperMod theme's built-in figure shortcode, so this time I made a local copy of that and tweaked it.
I copied the theme's shortcode to ./layouts/shortcodes/figure.html and added two lines to the top of the file:
I don't understand Hugo's templating language at all, but I think what this does is look for a file in the page bundle that matches the figure shortcode's src attribute. The problem is that if there isn't one, the site won't build, so I added a quick and dirty conditional to my copy of the shortcode template:
<img loading="lazy" src="{{- if $img }}{{ $img.Permalink }}{{ else }}{{ .Get "src" }}{{ end -}}...
If you see the following adorable photo of my grandson in your RSS reader[1], and didn't before, it worked.
Here's my tweaked copy of the figure shortcode from PaperMod:
{{ $imgname := .Get "src" }}
{{ $img := $.Page.Resources.GetMatch $imgname }}
<figure{{ if or (.Get "class") (eq (.Get "align") "center") }} class="
{{- if eq (.Get "align") "center" }}align-center {{ end }}
{{- with .Get "class" }}{{ . }}{{- end }}"
{{- end -}}>
{{- if .Get "link" -}}
<a href="{{ .Get "link" }}"{{ with .Get "target" }} target="{{ . }}"{{ end }}{{ with .Get "rel" }} rel="{{ . }}"{{ end }}>
{{- end }}
<img loading="lazy" src="{{- if $img }}{{ $img.Permalink }}{{ else }}{{ .Get "src" }}{{ end -}}{{- if eq (.Get "align") "center" }}#center{{- end }}"
{{- if or (.Get "alt") (.Get "caption") }}
alt="{{ with .Get "alt" }}{{ . }}{{ else }}{{ .Get "caption" | markdownify| plainify }}{{ end }}"
{{- end -}}
{{- with .Get "width" }} width="{{ . }}"{{ end -}}
{{- with .Get "height" }} height="{{ . }}"{{ end -}}
/> <!-- Closing img tag -->
{{- if .Get "link" }}</a>{{ end -}}
{{- if or (or (.Get "title") (.Get "caption")) (.Get "attr") -}}
<figcaption>
{{ with (.Get "title") -}}
{{ . }}
{{- end -}}
{{- if or (.Get "caption") (.Get "attr") -}}<p>
{{- .Get "caption" | markdownify -}}
{{- with .Get "attrlink" }}
<a href="{{ . }}">
{{- end -}}
{{- .Get "attr" | markdownify -}}
{{- if .Get "attrlink" }}</a>{{ end }}</p>
{{- end }}
</figcaption>
{{- end }}
</figure>
If there's a better way to do this, please let me know.
Many RSS readers automatically expand the URL themselves, so it may have always appeared to work for you. ↩︎
Have you ever looked into your completely disheveled pantry and said, "That does it! I'm fixing this right now!"? I did that today. After two hours of, "What the hell is this doing here?", everything that doesn't belong in the pantry is not in the pantry, and everything that remains in the pantry is where it belongs in the pantry. This feels really good.
More on Micro.blog
I'm a week into my Micro.blog Revisited experiment and have not come to any conclusions. There are two questions I need to answer:
The more I continue to enjoy using the Hugo blog, the less I feel the need for a separate blog. If I could simply make the call that I only have One True Blog, things would become much easier.
Sometimes, though, I want to quickly and easily share an image or quote or link. That's where Micro.blog shines. Plus, it will syndicate to my social media accounts. Micro.blog also federates nicely with Mastodon, etc. Seems like a no-brainer.
But! My Tinderbox blog is the result of a long slog of wrangling Tinderbox into building the blog I really want. It works great for that, now. Plus, it's in Tinderbox, which is one of my all-time favorite bits of software. Plus, I control the entire stack. And I can syndicate using something like EchoFeed.
The answer is that I don't yet have an answer, so I'll continue tinkering until I do[1].
