#+todo: TODO(t) CANCELLED(c) | WIP(w) PUBLISHED(p) * TODO Your hard work may not be recognized or rewarded :PROPERTIES: :EXPORT_FILE_NAME: 2022-10-25 :EXPORT_HUGO_PUBLISHDATE: 2022-10-25: :END: The short story .. ,#+caption: [[https://FOO.COM/BAR/BAZ.JPG]["Name of work" by WHO is licensed under cc by 2.0]] ,#+attr_html: :width 200px [[file:images/BAZ.JPG]] ,#+hugo: more The long story... #nn of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1, https://100daystooffload.com/ * TODO Unnumbered habits of a questionably effective person" :orgmode:emacs: :PROPERTIES: :EXPORT_FILE_NAME: 2022-10-21 :EXPORT_HUGO_PUBLISHDATE: 2022-10-21: :END: This is two part rant on planning with (and without) Emacs Org Mode, shoved together into one post in much the same way as Lennon-McCartney songs were shoved together from musical scraps they had laying around. My Frankenstein post will probably have less impact and reach than "A Day In The Life", Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. #+caption: [[https://FOO.COM/BAR/BAZ.JPG][FOO by George M Jones is licensed under CC BY 2.0]] #+attr_html: :width 600px [[file:images/BAZ.JPG]] #+hugo: more ** Rants on org mode, humanity and Bruce *** Org mode and planning These are reflections getting things done (not GTD). Or not getting things done. Or yak-shaving with Emacs and org-mode while pretending to get things done and really just enjoying the experience either way. Maybe that's what org mode is all about anyhow. Org mode is the best list making tool I've ever found. Org capture let's you capture thoughts, links, TODO items on the fly in the middle of whatever else you're doing and get back to them. You never miss anything. *** But we're human But there are a couple problems. We're human, not AI-driven lisp code knocking off all the TODO items, and we're finite in terms of time, attention, focus, money, friends, skills, etc. The result is that org mode enables me to grow infinite lists of TODOs. The human brain is good at focusing on maybe 3 things at a time. The path to despair (long undone lists) is obvious. Sometimes I just give up on org mode lists and do things. *** Bruce Long, Long, ago in a tech company far, far away (CompuServe, Columbus, Ohio) there were "how do we migrate off of DEC10 to compete with AOL wars". I knew Bruce McNaughton. Bruce moved on from there to be VP of MSN at Microsoft for a while. Arguably a "Highly Successful Person" (who I'm pretty sure does not use org mode, but does have ligit geek creds). I asked him once how he plans and memories (vague) are that he did not make lists (at the time Franklin Planners and then Franklin Planner software were all the rage). That image stuck with me. Just talk to people and do stuff. *** Concluding Rant - It's about enjoying what you do + just the act of planning + maybe actually getting things done, maybe not + a sense of accomplishment (TODO -> DONE) - Software can be a tool, a focus, a shiny object or a distraction - Software can be tyrannical + Computers are good an infinite lists, humans aren't - I will die with a TODO list much larger than it is today. ** My work planning regime with org mode That said, here's more-or-less how I plan my days at work. Home/personal stuff is similar, but a little less structured. *** Morning Planning - What's in my head :: capture TODOs form the top of my journal (diaty.org) - Look at "inputs" :: look at calendar, email and slack in that order. - Look at existing porjects/plans :: Look at weekly plans, tasks, etc - Juggle all these and figure out what I'm going to try to do that day *** During the day - Capture new stuff and move on :: Quickly capture new asks, TODOs (org-capture) and move. - Capture info :: capture info (links to HOWTOs, etc in the same file) - Keep a calendar open :: Keep a calendar window open so I don't miss thigns - Turn off all notificatons :: Turn off all email, slack, etc. notificatons and pop-iups so I can control my focus. - Check email, slack on my schedule :: Check in somewhat frequently with slack, email so people can get ahold of me in a somewhat timely fashon. If it's urgent, call or text. Voice calls seem to be a dying breed ("BR 549", "Pensylvania 6-5000") - Minimize yak shaving :: I tend to yak-shave a lot. Like writing this post. Watch it. *** Organizing Time - Do "thinking work early" :: plan do do "thiking work" early in the day - Do "collaboration work mid-day" :: do 1:1s, collaboration mid-day - Do "meetings late-day" :: Push meetings, interrupts, etc late day *** Where to store "TODOs" - one file :: I increasly just store TODOs, info , etc to one file (diary.org) which is a diary-like file organized under Year/Month/Day/ENTRY items. - project files :: I do have planning files for most projects with TODOs etc - agenda :: I do use org-agenda to get a roll-up agenda view, but more and more I'm just going with the inverse-stack, what's at the bottom of my diary.org and using mental prirotization. ** Projects template And because this post is getting too long already, I'll make it longer. Here is the org project template that I've developed over the last decade or so. I still use it, but I'm moving more and more to capturing everything in diary.org/the journal and maybe linking out to these project files. A couple notes. "OODA" refers to the "[[https://www.oodaloop.com/the-ooda-loop-explained-the-real-story-about-the-ultimate-model-for-decision-making-in-competitive-environments/][OODA Loop]]". At times, its a useful paradigm for thinking about action, think Snoopy and the Red Barron: Snoopy _Observes_ the Red Barron, he _Orients_ himself, he _Decides_ to let the Red Barron live to fight another day, and the _Acts_ by disengaging the dogfight. "Cogita", "Fac", and "Dic" are Latin singular imperatives for "Think", "Act", "Speak". Another paradigm for thinking about actions. Figure out what you're doing, gather info, plan, then do stuff, then talk about it (blogs, reports, papers, meetings, sales...) #+begin_example org # #+options: ':nil *:t -:t ::t <:t H:3 \n:nil ^:nil arch:headline # #+options: author:t broken-links:nil c:nil creator:nil # #+options: d:(not "LOGBOOK") date:t e:t email:nil f:t inline:t num:2 # #+options: p:nil pri:nil prop:nil stat:t tags:t tasks:t tex:t # #+options: timestamp:t title:t toc:t todo:t |:t # #+title: PROJECT # #+date: <2022-12-25 Sun 07:50:58> # #+author: George Jones # #+email: ME @ SOMEWHERE # #+language: en # #+select_tags: export # #+exclude_tags: noexport # #+creator: Emacs 28.0.50 (Org mode 9.3.7) # This is a project to...(overview/intro)... # * PROJECT # ** PROJECT - Info :cogita:Ooda: # - Observe :: Gather Raw Information. # - Think (Cogita) :: Thoughts, Brainstorming, etc. # *** Info about the project # *** Links # - project directory :: file://~/home/private/FOO # + change this # + create directory # + keep project files here. # *** HOWTOs # - Links of HOWTO articles relevant to the project # ** PROJECT - Background # - Add any background info here (old files, plans, projects..) # ** PROJECT - Planning :cogita:oODa: # - Think :: Think about observations and info gathered # - Orient :: "Figure out which way is up" # - Decide :: Decide what your doing, which way to go. # *** Goals # *** Plans # ** PROJECT - Action Items :fac:oodA: # - Act/DO (Fac) :: Actions to take on info and plans # ** PROJECT - Meetings and Reports :dic: # - "After action reports" # - Tell people what happened. # - Have meetings, write reports, etc. (as needed) # ** PROJECT - Backlog #+end_example * TODO Photography :PROPERTIES: :EXPORT_FILE_NAME: 2022-01-25 :EXPORT_HUGO_PUBLISHDATE: 2022-01-25: :END: Why take pictures? My father got a degree in photography form Ohio University in 1958 had a career in various forms of photography and microfilm and took a lot of personal pictures and slides of family, trips, etc. I recently started looking through his slides (1953-1991), and asked myself "why take pictures?". This post explores that question. If you just want to snap selfies and post them to Metabook without thinking about why, it's time to stop reading. The unexamined photo is not worth taking. #+caption: "Bob Jones' cameras" by George Jones is licensed under CC BY 2.0 #+attr_html: :width 400px [[file:images/cameras.jpg]] #+hugo: more Warning number two. I over-analyze most things. I'm probably over-analyzing the question "Why take pictures?", but here goes... Dad largely stopped taking pictures after Mom died. Why? That gave rise to the reverse question that this post explores: why take pictures? There are pictures from his high school years, marriage, family (that's me), trips, grand-kids, and, of course one of his favorite subjects, dead trees. #+caption: "Dead Cactus" by Robert B. Jones is licensed under CC BY 2.0 #+attr_html: :width 400px [[file:images/dead_cactus.jpg]] Why take pictures? ** Taking pictures can be fun It can be fun to take pictures. You get to choose the subject, take the picture, have them developed (or, even more fun, do it yourself in the basement with smelly chemicals, an enlarger, photographic paper and red lights), edit them (Dad was a vicious self editor, even in the days where you got one or maybe two shots on the film you had ... insisting that the bad ones be thrown out) put them in albums or slide shows, creating your own title slides with colored chalk drawings and then gathering everyone in the basement for the slide show with the projector on the big white screen in front of the TV. We will, of course, omit the fun of arranging your family for endless staged family photos which everyone in the family always loved to participate in and fondly remembers to this day. ** Taking picutres to preserve memories Then of course, there is preserving memories. I have pictures on both sides at least as far back as my great-great grandparents. Here's whats on my dresser now... PICTURE OF DRESSER ** Taking picutres to share and communicate about memories I wound up being chief photographer, editor, picture developer, layout guy, fund-raiser and school coke-machine-re-stocker for my high school yearbook junior year. Of course, I shot most of the pictures on 35mm with Dad's Retna IIa and a light meter and developed the black and white photos in the basement on his enlarger. We've had a few high school reunions. That yearbook (and others) always come out. Who could ever forget Duane, our 50+ year old math teacher dressing up in a ballet outfit with tights, a wand and a little crown to play his role as the "Credit Fairy" granting that last 1/4 credit people needed for graduation, or the time 10 or 20 of us carried a VW Beetle into the gym? Pictures don't lie...well... PICTURE OF DUANE HERE "Memories, like the corners of my mind..." ** Taking picutres to express your creativity ** Taking picutres as "something to do" #+begin_verse "To be is to do." Socrates. "To do is to be." Plato. "Do-be-do-be-do." Sinatra. #+end_verse But, to be fair to Frank, he did record (not write) some semi-profound lyrics on the need to just get out there and just do things: #+begin_verse "That's Life" I've been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn and a king I've been up and down and over and out and I know one thing Each time I find myself flat on my face I pick myself up and get back in the race That's Life... #+end_verse ** Taking picutres as a social a social activity ** Taking picutres for practical reasons - Fallen trees on AT ** Taking picutres to earn a living - Be careful about mixing your passion and your work. Sometimes if you work in a field that is also your passion/hobby, you can loose the joy or burn out. "The cobblers kids have no home photographs" (not true in our case). I love playing with computers, programming, networking, data-wrangling and security stuff (what I do for a living), but after 2-4 hours of personal hacking and then 8+ hours of doing it at work, sometimes, I'm just done. Doing what you love for a living take the joy out of the hobby. ** Taking picutres as a habit ** Taking picutres with technology you love Dad loved trains and cameras. In 2014 or 2015 we went on a camping trip and visited the [[https://roanokehistory.org/historical-society-of-western-virginia/owl-main-page/][Winston Link Museum]] in Roanoke, Virgina, which combined these passions. Link was a high end NYC photographer in the 1950s who chose to make multiple trips to Virginia to document the last years of the age of steam trains, which happened to be the same era Dad was getting into photography. Link set up huge arrays of flash-bulbs to take you-only-get-one-shot night photos of trains, huge, engineered Rube Goldberg setups using the same technology Dad was using at the time and learning in college. They have some of the photographic equipment Link used in the museum. Dad was almost giddy looking at the equipment that most people glance at and say "that's interesting". WINSTON LINK PICTURE Growing up we had lots of photographic "stuff" around the house: cameras, an enlarger and dark room equipment, the slide projector and screen, light tables for viewing slides, mailers for sending film to the Kodak processing centers in Findlay, Ohio and Rochester, NY, and of course the endless supply of 35mm film canisters that saw double duty as pill bottles and many other uses. I still have a good supply of them. Dad never really made the transition to digital photography. We bought him a Cannon EOS Rebel T3, and he used it some, but for whatever reasons (explored in depth here) he never really took to it. Maybe the time had passed. Maybe he had learned all he wanted to learn. Maybe the reasons for taking pictures were gone. ** Conclusion It's not just about pictures, of course. Much of this generalizes. H * TODO stow(1)acism :PROPERTIES: :EXPORT_FILE_NAME: 2022-01-27 :EXPORT_HUGO_PUBLISHDATE: 2022-01-27: :END: I am currently listening to Marcus Aurelius' meditations, but this is not a post about stoicism, it's a post about stow(1)acism Describe my use of stow(1), git and {home,work}/{public,private,secret}/FOO The short story .. #+caption: [[https://FOO.COM/BAR/BAZ.JPG]["Name of work" by WHO is licensed under cc by 2.0]] #+attr_html: :width 200px [[file:images/BAZ.JPG]] #+hugo: more The long story... * TODO Wizards :PROPERTIES: :EXPORT_FILE_NAME: 2022-01-28 :EXPORT_HUGO_PUBLISHDATE: 2022-01-28: :END: The short story .. #+caption: [[https://FOO.COM/BAR/BAZ.JPG]["Name of work" by WHO is licensed under cc by 2.0]] #+attr_html: :width 200px [[file:images/BAZ.JPG]] #+hugo: more The long story.. * TODO the wizards - Oh, the places you'll go. :PROPERTIES: :EXPORT_FILE_NAME: 2022-01-29 :EXPORT_HUGO_PUBLISHDATE: 2022-01-29: :END: The short story .. #+caption: [[https://FOO.COM/BAR/BAZ.JPG]["Name of work" by WHO is licensed under cc by 2.0]] #+attr_html: :width 200px [[file:images/BAZ.JPG]] #+hugo: more The long story... * TODO image resizing :PROPERTIES: :EXPORT_FILE_NAME: 2022-01-28 :EXPORT_HUGO_PUBLISHDATE: 2022-01-28: :END: The short story .. #+caption: [[https://FOO.COM/BAR/BAZ.JPG]["Name of work" by WHO is licensed under cc by 2.0]] #+attr_html: :width 200px [[file:images/BAZ.JPG]] #+hugo: more The long story... *** 2022-01-28 Friday * resize images by output size imagemagic convert :HOWTO: [2022-01-28 Fri 05:24] - convert png to jpg, specifying output file size in bytes #+begin_example convert thinker.png -define jpeg:extent=100k thinker.jpg #+end_example - jpg does not support transparency (GIF does) - convert png to smaller png, preserving transparent background and resizing (by pixels, not bytes) #+begin_example convert thinker.png -background transparent -resize 10% thinker-10pct.png #+end_example - convert png to smaller gif (because Steve!), with transparency convert thinker.png -background transparent -resize 10% thinker-20pct.gif * TODO Just because you're not paranoid, doesn't mean their not out to get :snark: you !!! :PROPERTIES: :EXPORT_FILE_NAME: 2022-01-29 :EXPORT_HUGO_PUBLISHDATE: 2022-01-29: :END: Illuminati ... self-aware snark and parody is healthy. #+caption: [[https://FOO.COM/BAR/BAZ.JPG]["Name of work" by WHO is licensed under cc by 2.0]] #+attr_html: :width 200px [[file:images/BAZ.JPG]] #+hugo: more The long story... * TODO parody :PROPERTIES: :EXPORT_FILE_NAME: 2022-01-29 :EXPORT_HUGO_PUBLISHDATE: 2022-01-29: :END: The short story .. You know about The onion #+caption: [[https://FOO.COM/BAR/BAZ.JPG]["Name of work" by WHO is licensed under cc by 2.0]] #+attr_html: :width 200px [[file:images/BAZ.JPG]] #+hugo: more But did you know about https://wittenburgdoor.com/about/ Mennonite parody site in canada The Bee I'll probably be canceled for admitting I even know about these sites, and for laughing at their humor (where's that not-so-hidden-microphone, Google?) But it really helps to lighten up. Try it. * TODO A Yak-Shaving My Way Towards Embedded Image Descriptions :PROPERTIES: :EXPORT_FILE_NAME: 2022-02-26 :EXPORT_HUGO_PUBLISHDATE: 2022-02-26: :END: I’m setting up to digitize a lot of pictures, mostly things I’ve taken over the years and pictures from my father. I'm trying to figure out the best way to embed descriptions, copyright, etc. directly into images in a way that will work with image management programs (gthumb, etc.) and by blogging setup (hugo, ox-hugo) It's turning into a true Emacs Org Mode, Hugo, EXIF and IPTC yak-shaving adventure. But of course, I will save time and get more done in the long rung....right....yak-shave away :-) #+caption: [[https://FOO.COM/BAR/BAZ.JPG]["Name of work" by WHO is licensed under cc by 2.0]] #+attr_html: :width 200px [[file:images/BAZ.JPG]] #+hugo: more ** How One of the things I want to do is embed descriptions and copyright and license info directly into the pictures. It looks like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exif][Exif]] has been around a while and will let you do this, though it was originally focused on metadata around the mechanics of the picutre: exposure time, f-stop, etc. It looks like IPTC is the new/newer standard for embedding this sort of information. ** Requirements Things I’m concerned with are: - Embedding :: That I’m able to add descriptions, license and copyright info - Portable and long lasting :: That that info be impeded in the image (not in some proprietary format, external to the image, or specific to one application) - Versitile :: That it work with a variety of the formats I’m likely to use (JPG, PNG, TIFF, possibly GIF) Secondarily I’m would like it to work with: - my blogging software :: hugo_ox-hugo that I use to produce my static blog. Some discussions around that here https:/_fosstodon.org/@eludom/107753707224027594 - image management programs :: gthumb, eog, etc on Linux ** Work In Progress *** Make it work in raw hugo Exif shortcodes in hugo https://blog.zedas.fr/posts/hugo-shortcode-picture-exif/, https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/properly-formatting-exif-data-tag-exposure-time/32415/8 *** Make it work with ox-hugo The path seems to lead through shortcodes in hugo, and thus shortcodes in ox-hugo: https://ox-hugo.scripter.co/doc/shortcodes/ #11 of #100DaysToOffload take 2, https://100daystooffload.com/ * TODO Scrolling your life away? :PROPERTIES: :EXPORT_FILE_NAME: 2022-04-23 :EXPORT_HUGO_PUBLISHDATE: 2022-04-23: :END: The short story .. #+caption: [[https://FOO.COM/BAR/BAZ.JPG]["Name of work" by WHO is licensed under cc by 2.0]] #+attr_html: :width 200px [[file:images/BAZ.JPG]] #+hugo: more Have you ever created antying useful made a significant contribution to society while scrolling through things on your phone? It seems to me that time spent on phones is somewhat of a dead end. I have useful thoughts when I get out and go for long walks in the woods or sit down with a pencil and paper journal. I create things when I'm on a keyboard in front of a computer screen. Scrolling just seems like a narcissistic pastime. * TODO Live, Laugh, Love ... Languish, Lament, Litigate ? :PROPERTIES: :EXPORT_FILE_NAME: 2022-04-30 :EXPORT_HUGO_PUBLISHDATE: 2022-04-30: :END: I'm not a fan of fake bright-faced slogans and trinkets. Take this little angel on the window-sill above our sink #[picture of the front side] #+caption: [[https://FOO.COM/BAR/BAZ.JPG]["Name of work" by WHO is licensed under cc by 2.0]] #+attr_html: :width 200px [[file:images/BAZ.JPG]] I prefer what I wrote on the back side "Job's boils" #+hugo: more The front side reads "...accept Gods will..." OK, maybe whoever is standing there doing dishes would rather be doing something else, but doing dishes is hardly a "curse" or calamity. Just suck it up and get the job done. No frilly angel art or trite phrases required. # [picure of back side] #+caption: [[https://FOO.COM/BAR/BAZ.JPG]["Name of work" by WHO is licensed under cc by 2.0]] #+attr_html: :width 200px [[file:images/BAZ.JPG]] "Job's boils" references a guy who's kids were all killed, all his livestock were stolen all for reasons he never understood (God was settling a bet with Satan behind the scenes and using Job effectively as a pawn.) Then his wife gave him the helpful advice "[Admit that all you did something wrong and you're only getting what you deserve] Job, curse God and die." Now there's encouragement. So rather than look at the front side of a frilly piece of angel art (or the happy, unrealistic bits of life and the "praise and worship" music that's vogue in many churches) I prefer the back-side with a direct, realistic reference to the pain, suffering, disease and death that are inevitable for all of us. Take the world as it is, make your next move, trust that there is some purpose or, you know, "curse God and die". Your choice. Memento mori[1]. Ecce homo[2]. [1] "Remember that you are mortal". A Stoic motto. Also supposedly, when a Roman general was riding into the city for his Triumph, there was a slave riding in the chariot with him to keep wispering this in his ear. [2] "Behold the Man". The words of Pontius Pilate in the Latin Vulgate translation of the Gospel of John, when he presents a scourged Jesus, bound and crowned mockingly with thorns, to a hostile crowd shortly before his Crucifixion. * TODO Why do we hack? :100DaysToOffload: :PROPERTIES: :EXPORT_FILE_NAME: 2022-12-04 :EXPORT_HUGO_PUBLISHDATE: 2022-12-04: :END: Why do we hack? Because we enjoy it? Because we want others to use our work? Because we get paid? #+caption: [[https://FOO.COM/BAR/BAZ.JPG]["Teco Emacs on TOPS20" by George M. Jones is licensed under CC BY 2.0]] #+attr_html: :width 600px [[file:images/emacs.png]] #+hugo: more Once again emacs-conf went to /the source/ and gave us a chance to hear from and interact with RMS. People in the public eye often get on (get put on) a soapbox repeating the same lines. Stallman even chose to open by playing an 8 year old TED talk he did extolling software freedom. Certainly not new, but once in a while it's refreshing to return to primary sources rather than news or other mediated views. This talk and the Q&A was a straight view in the heart, soul and source of the Free Software movement. I asked two questions on the webpad which he answered. In both cases I was trying to get past the repeated soapbox points to what makes the person underneath tick. Despite the utter profusion of tools built around the ecosystem he created over the past 40 years (just look at the program of emacsconf and the contents of the *LPA archives), several of his comments lead me to believe he still views emacs as "just an editor", so to clarify I asked: #+begin_quote Q: What do you use emacs for beyond editing? A: I use it for reading and writing email; this is what I do most of the day. (Sings) "I've been answering my email, all the god-damned day / .. /