I’m always interested in ways of working smarter and over the past year I’ve been trying out a number of the productivity tips espoused by the LifeHacker and 43Folders websites. Many of their suggestions are designed to declutter your working life and reduce information overload, allowing you to focus more completely on the task in hand and get it done more effectively.
The most ambitious of these suggestions grew out of observations by Danny O’Brien about the work habits of technologists – he noticed that many of them worked from one single large text file. Everything they did (and wrote) was put in there.I wasn’t sure about this one as it seemed ridiculous and highly constraining but decided to give it a go anyway. One year on, I now have to admit that it’s really grown on me as a way of working.
Just about a year ago, technology writer Danny O'Brien strung together the words "life" and "hacks" and fired off synapses throughout the geek community.
This a 15 year-old interview with the person who first popularized “living in a text file”, filing this with Org-mode stuff.
This document assumes you’ve had some exposure to org-mode already so concepts like the agenda, capture mode, etc. won’t be completely foreign to you. More information about org-mode can be found in the Org-Mode Manual and on the Worg Site.
I have been using org-mode as my personal information manager for years now. I started small with just the default
TODOandDONEkeywords. I added small changes to my workflow and over time it evolved into what is described by this document.
I organize myself and my work using emacs’ org mode. It has served me extremely well over the past few years and has helped me better organize both my working and personal life. In this post, I describe how I use org mode for everything from long-term projects to appointments and ideas.
Biggest .1 release from Wolfram. 182 completely new functions, plus updates and enhancements. Includes full HiDPI support, computation with video, data structures, asymptotic superfunction, mathematical functions, plotting, geometric optimization, vector plotting, cross-hatching, computational topology, tabular data, machine learning, computation with annotations, language innovations, symbolic modifiers, axiom systems, geographic data, knowledgebase, entities, chemical molecules, external connectivity, paclets.
Another mammoth post from Stephen Wolfram on the latest update to the Wolfram Language (part of Mathematica) – doesn’t this guy know how to write shorter things?
Image: Leonid Pasternak via Wikimedia Commons
You’re stuck at home. You have internet access and, maybe, a little more time to yourself. Should you write a book?
This advice is mainly for those who write business books and self-help books to gain influence — my primary audience. But I hope that…
Another great post from Josh Bernoff on breaking a big project into manageable pieces.
On a lighter note, we thought our computer might have a virus, but it was one of the cats with a paw on the “0” and “1” keys – whew!
Just found out this morning that someone in our neighborhood in Woodburn, Oregon died from coronavirus…it’s hitting close to home now…
Oregon Coronavirus Journal – 3-21-2020
What a difference a week makes. On March 12, Governor Kate Brown announced closure of K-12 schools in Oregon through March 31st. On March 17th, this was extended through April 28th. Governor Brown also issued restrictions on restaurants to only serve food by takeout, and that gatherings over 25 people were not allowed, resulting in multiple churches suspending worship services. Grocery stores were already being hit hard by anxious shoppers (toilet paper is still in short supply, but other food items are available).
Last weekend, I drove around my town (Woodburn, Oregon) to do some errands, and it seemed like everything was normal. By the end of the weekend, my wife and I decided to work from home. It has been a quiet week at home, but the progress of the coronavirus across the state and the world is continuing.
When I walk my dog, I see other people out doing the same. In the morning, I see construction trucks go by, see landscape trucks in my neighborhood, see cars driving on the street. Still, I haven’t gone shopping in a weekend. Other neighbors are pretty much doing the same. It’s a “wait and see” game here, even though in Washington state and New York, it’s “ground zero”. We are keeping an eye on it…
I did a little looking around to find a chart with Oregon’s coronavirus case counts, but couldn’t find one, so I created my own (Google sheet link) from press releases from the Oregon Health Authority. Here are two charts (daily cases reported and total cases):
Locking down the country would reduce infections and allow time for massive testing. There will be staggering human and economic costs if we delay.
With five states already on lockdown, I think we are heading in this direction.