~mot's phlog

Untold

Fri, 04 Oct 2019 11:00:00 +0000

# Untold
## 2019-10-04 11:00

I'm apparently the  last person on earth  to notice, but
Untold: The Daniel Morgan  Murder[1] is fantastic: Peter
Jukes on  the unsolved 1987 killing,  spectacularly bent
Met officers, shady private investigators, corrupt _News
of the World_ hacks.

[1]: https://www.untoldmurder.com

Phlogging Setup

Wed, 02 Oct 2019 15:47:00 +0000

# Phlogging Setup
## 2019-10-02 15:47

I  now  have  a   working  phlog.  Exciting!  It's  also
available via RSS[1] and on  the web[2] (and, er, on the
web via RSS[3])

The first version  was all fancy, with  a gophermap file
for each entry.  This looked good and  allowed for handy
stuff like navigation  links, but it felt a  bit off, as
if I were trying to use gopher as a wonky version of the
web. (Also,  writing gophermaps  is rather fiddly  and I
kept making mistakes.)

So,  I  switched to  a  simple  setup:  each post  is  a
text  file,  spiced  up  with some  basic  Markdown  and
footnote-style  reference  links.  To  make  posts  look
pretty, I have vim's `formatprg` set to `par -w56 -j`.

To ease  the phlogging  process, I  wrote a  little bash
script called `whip`[4], which takes  a post title as an
argument,  makes a  new text  file in  the right  place,
opens it  for editing, then adds  a link to the  post to
the  phlog's  gophermap.  (It  can also  set  up  a  new
phlog  and  at  some  point  soon,  it'll  generate  the
alternate  versions of  the  phlog too,  like a  rubbish
tilde.club-specific version of burrow[5].)

[1]: gopher://tilde.club:70/0/~mot/phlog/rss.xml
[2]: https://tilde.club/~mot/phlog/
[3]: https://tilde.club/~mot/phlog/rss.xml
[4]: gopher://tilde.club:70/0/~mot/files/whip
[5]: https://github.com/jamestomasino/burrow

VF-1

Sun, 29 Sep 2019 19:32:00 +0000

# VF-1
## 2019-09-29 19:32

VF-1[1] is a Gopher client 'built around an interactive
command prompt'.

- Introducing VF-1[2]
- VF-1 Updates & Tips[3]
- VF-1 bookmarking tips[4]

#### Config [~/.vf1rc]:

Open PDF  and image  files with  Preview on  macOS, open
HTML files/HTTP  URLs in  lynx for browsing  (as opposed
to  the default  '--dump') and  pipe everything  textish
(including menus) through `less`.

	set color_menus True
	handler application/pdf open %s
	handler image/* open %s
	handler text/html lynx -force_html %s
	handler text/plain less -FXR %s

#### Commands:
	
	g url
	
	/term
	search last index
	
	v term
	search with veronica
	
	h
	show history
	
	ls, ls -l
	list contents of current index, `-l` shows
	URLs.
	
	l
	pipe current page through less
	
	!,shell
	cat last item through a shell pipleline
	
	n,p
	next/previous item in most recent gopher menu
	
	li
	show gopher urls in most recent file
	(for http &c. do `! urlview`)
	
	url
	of current document
	
	bm
	show bookmarks
	
	add title
	add a bookmark
	stored in `~/.vf1-bookmarks.txt`
	
	save path/file.txt

[1]: https://github.com/solderpunk/VF-1
[2]: gopher://circumlunar.space:70/0/~solderpunk/phlog/introducing-vf1.txt
[3]: gopher://zaibatsu.circumlunar.space:70/0/~solderpunk/phlog/vf1-updates-and-tips.txt
[4]: gopher://zaibatsu.circumlunar.space:70/1/~tfurrows/tips

One Thing Well Returns

Wed, 25 Sep 2019 09:00:00 +0000

# One Thing Well Returns
## 2019-09-25 09:00

I've started posting to One Thing Well[1] again, after a
short break of 1154 days.

I  reckon I'll  post a  few times  a week  from now  on,
rather than three times a day like I used to (I honestly
have no idea how I managed  to maintain that pace for so
many years).

One  slight problem:  I haven't  been following  all the
weblogs and forums that provided dme with posting fodder
for about four  years, so have no idea what  to post. Oh
well, time to scour the old RSS feeds.

[1]: https://onethingwell.org

Kakoune

Mon, 23 Sep 2019 08:00:00 +0000

# Kakoune
## 2019-09-23 08:00

> Whereas vi's keystroke  language follows verb-object
> order, Kakoune  inverts that by  following object-verb
> order. In real terms, that  means you make a selection
> (object) before deciding what to do (verb) with it.
>
> The  object  might  be a  character,  word,  sentence,
> paragraph, parenthetical, regular expression, you name
> it;  the verb  might be  delete, yank  (copy), change,
> indent, or  even transformative operations  like lint,
> format, uppercase, etc.
>
> In  Kakoune, it  is with  this reversed  grammar, this
> postfix notation,  that you  interactively sweep  up a
> group or  groups of characters before  acting on them.
> That way if  your object isn’t quite  right, you can
> immediately correct it without having to undo and redo
> your verb.
> 
> -- Gregory Chamberlain[1]

See also:

- Kakoune, the Text Editor I Didn't Know I Needed[2]
- Why Kakoune[3]

[1]: https://cosine.blue/2019-09-06-kakoune.html
[2]: https://medium.com/@Jernfrost/kakoune-the-text-editor-i-didnt-know-i-needed-23d5f1d6ad97 
[3]: http://kakoune.org/why-kakoune/why-kakoune.html

Configuration Files

Mon, 23 Sep 2019 17:56:00 +0000

# Configuration Files
## 2019-09-23 17:56

I've  been enjoying  using  vim and  mutt on  tilde.club
without my usual config files, patches & plugins, but my
fingers absolutely  _insist_ on  doing stuff  that won't
work without a wee bit of tweaking.

Here's my tilde.club `~/.vimrc`:

	set number
	set showmode
	let g:netrw_banner = 0
	let g:mapleader = "\"
	nnoremap s :w
	nnoremap f :Sexplore
	nnoremap l :buffers
	nnoremap  :bn
	nnoremap  :bp
	nnoremap  
	nnoremap  

And here's my `~/.muttrc` (which is even simpler, as I'm
only  really using  mutt  as a  tilde.club mailing  list
viewer):

	set sort = "threads"
	set sort_aux = "reverse-last-date-received"
	bind pager gg top
	bind index gg first-entry
	bind index  collapse-thread

Voice Control

Fri, 20 Sep 2019 10:18:00 +0000

# Voice Control
## 2019-09-20 10:18

The  new Voice  Control  features in  iOS  13 are  quite
something.

The various ways of interacting with apps and the OS are
useful--especially if, like me, you have trouble holding
an  iPhone, let  alone  swiping  and tapping--but  Voice
Control  really shines  when it  comes to  dictating and
editing text.

Essentially, using Voice Control with text is like using
a verbal version  of Vim. It's modal, so  you can witter
away in Dictation  Mode, then switch to  Command Mode to
knock your text into shape. It works with what Vim calls
'text  objects'--words, sentences  and paragraphs,  &c..
And  commands like  'Select  next  three paragraphs'  or
'Move  forward seven  words' are  unlike anything  you'd
find in a GUI word processor, but have exact equivalents
in Vim.

Even if  you don't have health  problems or disabilities
that  make  using  an  iPhone  or  iPad  difficult,  I'd
recommend taking Voice Control for a spin. Its VUI beats
the GUI hands down in some areas, from simple stuff like
selecting, copying and pasting text to those complicated
triple finger swipes that are impossible to get right.

It's  hard to  get across  how well  the thing  works in
writing, see Apple's introductory videos[1] [2] for more
info.

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqoXFCCTfm4
[2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-ykg3jZ9_k

My First Phlog Post

Thu, 19 Sep 2019 18:27:00 +0000

# My First Phlog Post
## 2019-09-19 18:27

This post is just a test, really.

Today I  wrote a little  bash script that creates  a new
phlog post file and adds a link to my phlog's gophermap.
I should've just used  burrow[1], of course, but fancied
making something myself.

I might  share it--if only  to amuse folk who  can write
code properly!--once I've worked out how to get the list
of posts in reverse  chronological order without faffing
about with temporary files.

Also, it wouldn't hurt to make posts look prettier, with
underlined titles and justfied text and such.
  
[1]: https://github.com/jamestomasino/burrow