I went a little nuts with Remember mode in Emacs

I went down a rabbit hole with the built-in Remember mode in Emacs today. ...

March 4, 2025 · 595 words · Jack Baty

Denote-search, a simple search utility for Denote

lmq-10/denote-search This package provides a search utility for Denote, the simple-to-use, focused-in-scope, and effective note-taking tool for Emacs. The command denote-search is the main point of entry. It accepts a query, which should be a regular expression, and then searches the contents of all the notes stored in denote-directory for it. The results are put in a buffer which allows folding and further filtering; all standard commands offered by Xref are available as well. ...

March 4, 2025 · 147 words · Jack Baty

Keeping the Leica SL2, for now

We look good together, no? When I bought the Nikon Z f recently, the way I intended to offset the cost was to sell the Leica SL2. The mistake I made was to buy the Nikon before selling the Leica. Yesterday, I gathered up the SL2 with accessories and took some photos of it for the listing. Picking up the camera reminded me that, as nice as the Z f is, it’s not in the same league as the SL2. Everything about the Leica feels nicer. Controls, covering, grip, doors, battery, all of it. ...

March 1, 2025 · 253 words · Jack Baty

Org mode capture template for creating Howm TODOs

My use of Howm has continued to grow organically. In other words, I don’t set out to use Howm, it just happens :). One of Howm’s unique features is its TODO implementation: ...

February 24, 2025 · 311 words · Jack Baty

Mike Monteiro on drawing

We are born with hearts that want to leave a mark on the world. This ability is not lost, it is taken from us. Mike Monteiro, How to draw an orange

February 22, 2025 · 31 words · Jack Baty

Journal vs Post

Currently, my blog has two types of posts, Journal and Post. Journal entries are comprised of things I collect or think about during each day. I post one per day. Posts are your typical blog post. Posts are (usually) a bit longer and are about a single topic. ...

February 22, 2025 · 153 words · Jack Baty

Morning pages with the AlphaSmart Neo 2

AlphaSmart Neo 2 I started free writing again a couple weeks ago, but this time I’m doing it digitally, using the AlphaSmart Neo 2. I dove hard into “Morning Pages” after reading Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, but it didn’t last long. I mean, c’mon, there’s no way I can consistently write 3 lined pages, longhand, every morning. ...

February 21, 2025 · 318 words · Jack Baty

I think I have to go back to Mu4e

I “settled” on using notmuch for my email, but now I’m reconsidering that decision. Notmuch is great, but using it forces me to have two email stores. One is IMAP (via Fastmail). The other is my local notmuch database. Mbsync keeps things kind of synced, but it’s really only a few flags. Notmuch doesn’t delete or move email on the server. This means I’m managing, for example, my Inbox, in two places. It’s not hard, but is it necessary? ...

February 19, 2025 · 239 words · Jack Baty

Mundane film vs digital photos

The other day, while bored, I shuffled around the house and burned through a roll of film, just for something to do. I took photos of random stuff that I use or see every day. The photos were boring af but, for some reason, because they’re film I think they’re kind of cool. But are they? No, they’re not. Film photography is fun, and the paraphernalia is awesome, but a boring photo is still a boring photo. Here’s an egregious example. HP5 from the Nikon F100 on the left. Nikon Zf with an HP5 film recipe on the right. ...

February 16, 2025 · 176 words · Jack Baty

You are all a bunch of sick freaks (selfh.st)

You are all a bunch of sick freaks.: The worst part is how you enable each other. “Hey guys, just finished my basic home automation setup”, and then you post a system diagram that looks like the blueprint for a nuclear reactor. Fourteen Docker containers just to manage a suite of ‘internet of things connected shitware. I enjoyed this :).

February 16, 2025 · 60 words · Jack Baty

Giving people GAS

Heh, Dave noticed that I bought a new camera and now he’s thinking about new cameras. ...

February 16, 2025 · 145 words · Jack Baty

The Nikon Zf

In a desperate attempt to spark some enthusiasm for photography, I bought a Nikon Zf. I know, this is not the best approach, but it’s what I did so here we are. I’m jotting down a few quick thoughts and first impressions. (This isn’t a review. Just notes to myself about the camera). Nikon Zf The Zf1 is meant to replace my Leica SL2. The SL2 is a terrific camera, but it’s so big and heavy that I never take it anywhere. With the Zf being smaller and lighter, I figured it would make more sense as an “everyday carry” camera. ...

February 15, 2025 · 706 words · Jack Baty

Linus Torvalds on being "woke"

Linus Torvalds (Mastodon): I’m a card-carrying atheist, I think a woman’s right to choose is very important, I think that “well regulated militia” means that guns should be carefully licensed and not just randomly given to any moron with a pulse, and I couldn’t care less if you decided to dress up in the “wrong” clothes or decided you’d rather live your life without feeling tied to whatever plumbing you were born with. And dammit, if that all makes me “woke”, then I think anybody who uses that word as a pejorative is a f*cking disgrace to the human race. ...

February 12, 2025 · 102 words · Jack Baty

Removing journal posts from the RSS feed

I’ve decided to exclude “Journal” posts from the RSS feed. Thing is, I like how it feels to write stuff here knowing that it’s not “going anywhere”. If something shows up that is particularly brilliant, I’ll create a separate post. Since most things are decidedly not particularly brilliant, I’ll feel better keeping it to myself (and the handful of loonies people who actually come and visit the website). If there’s an outcry, I’ll put things back. Or maybe set up a separate feed just for the journal entries. I dunno. ...

February 12, 2025 · 130 words · Jack Baty

Writing about tools

I wish I’d stop writing about the tools I use to write about the tools I use.

February 11, 2025 · 17 words · Jack Baty

Roll 202 (Nikon F100)

I was so bored today that I grabbed the first camera I saw with a partially used roll (the Nikon F100) and walked around the house snapping anything at all. One of the shelves in my office ...

February 10, 2025 · 53 words · Jack Baty

A few things I like about TiddlyWiki

I got big into TiddlyWiki around 2018, when I created my Rudimentary Lathe wiki. For a few years there, I put stuff into it daily. I sometimes drift away to something New/Shiny, but I always end up back in TiddlyWiki. Off the top of my head, here are a few things I like about TiddlyWiki: ...

February 7, 2025 · 280 words · Jack Baty

Turning Markdown files into emails

Now that I’ve solved my Notmuch sync problems, I’m more inclined to move ahead with converting other content into emails and indexing them using Notmuch. I thought I’d start with my blog posts. ...

February 6, 2025 · 318 words · Jack Baty

An improvement to org-goto from James Dyer

I hesitate to use org-goto in my Org mode files because I find the UI for it to be confusing. In a recent post, Streamlining Navigation in Org-Mode using an adapted org-goto, James Dyer makes some nifty improvements. The TL;DR is this: (setq org-goto-interface 'outline-path-completionp) (setq org-outline-path-complete-in-steps nil) Now, the target list is a simple completion window showing the entire outline.

February 5, 2025 · 61 words · Jack Baty

Hello again, Hugo

You’ll notice that baty.net is back to using Hugo1. I really like Kirby, but every time I use a platform that’s not fully static, I get twitchy, and I got twitchy. I’m using a new theme, Anubis2, which I find to be easy to read and just the right amount of boring. It doesn’t have all the features of the PaperMod theme I was using, but it’s simpler, and simpler is what I was after. ...

February 3, 2025 · 217 words · Jack Baty