Here is a niche tip: if you’re tired of correcting the word “Emacs” whenever you dictate on your iPhone, Add Emacs to your contact list.
JTR
@jtr.bsky.social
I’m a self-made techie and keeper of notes who works with humans and machines and enjoys interacting with both. New York City is home. Most of my posts here come from my blog: taonaw.com
Emacs Config Gems - Part 3: https://taonaw.com/2026/08/05/emacs-config-gems-part.html Part 3: MELPA’s origins, Apple Lisa’s menu bar, and a 1981 RMS paper. The footnotes are dangerously long. Send help… Look, I learned my lesson. This is over 2500 words. It took me almost a week, and I still did...
Still working on Emacs Config Gems part 3. Fell into a deep rabbit hole and got lost for a couple of days, then climbed out just to discover another one I have to explore next. I wanted to crunch the first few tweaks of my Emacs config in one post, but there’s too much to explore. I’m getting there!
Em Dashes in org-mode and the Nuances of Abbrev: https://taonaw.com/2026/08/02/em-dashes-in-orgmode-and.html After last week’s em dash confession, I wanted those in Emacs org-mode, naturally. One keybind, I thought. It would be simple, I thought. One week later, after spending quality time with...
Em Dashes in org-mode and the Nuances of Abbrev
After last week's em dash confession, I wanted those in Emacs org-mode, naturally. One keybind, I thought. It would be simple, I thought. One week later, after spending quality time with abbrev-mode, I finally got my damn em dashes. Here’s the over-complicated why and the over-simplified how.
taonaw.com
I keep seeing this: “Don’t place your workspace in your bedroom! I did this to optimize the space at home and I totally regret this decision.” It’s becoming one of the main reasons to want to leave NYC. An apartment with an office for a ... https://taonaw.com/2026/07/31/i-keep-seeing-this-dont.html
The Art Of Not Asking Why
taonaw.com
You know when you talk to someone else with ADHD when you realize you juggle 3 conversations in one, going from one layer to the other, and you’re both able to keep track AND connect the layers when needed all while having lunch walking, because who has time to sit down anyway.
Style & Emacs Config: A Semantic HTML Reckoning: https://taonaw.com/2026/07/27/style-emacs-config-a-semantic.html I woke up at 05:40, bothered by the fact that filenames lack a dedicated HTML tag. One thing led to another, and now I’m questioning every heading level on my blog. And now I can fin...
Style & Emacs Config: A Semantic HTML Reckoning
I woke up at 05:40, bothered by the fact that filenames lack a dedicated HTML tag. One thing led to another, and now I’m questioning every heading level on my blog. And now I can finally have breakfast.
taonaw.com
This is one of the awesome things about having an espresso machine at home. I love watching the hot coffee “drilling” into the ice 📷.
Emacs Config Gems - Part 2: https://taonaw.com/2026/07/26/emacs-config-gems-part.html I continue my Emacs config series by first admitting I lied about Part 1 being an intro: this here is a second intro. I also seem to have some style obsessions. org-edit-special, registers, mark ring, and one ...
Emacs Config Gems - Part 2
I continue my Emacs config series by first admitting I lied about Part 1 being an intro: this here is a second intro. I also seem to have some style obsessions. org-edit-special, registers, mark ring, and one or two rabbit holes, because of course 🐰
taonaw.com
I love me Some Em Dashes, and I Don't Care: https://taonaw.com/2026/07/25/i-love-me-some-em.html Em dashes are back in style. Why? Because I said so. I’m fighting back with AP-style spacing and a middle finger to AI detectors. And also, commas can suck it.
Emacs Config Gems - Part 1: https://taonaw.com/2026/07/23/emacs-config-gems-part.html Three weeks into my Emacs config project, and I’m still going. This post covers the first four blocks of my .emacs file on macOS — the “boot” sequence before the real stuff. After writing this for almost 2 hour...
Emacs Config Gems - Part 1
Three weeks into my Emacs config project, and I'm still going. This post covers the first four blocks of my .emacs file on macOS — the "boot" sequence before the real stuff. After writing this for almost 2 hours (not including editing), I ended up with more questions than answers. Sounds about right.
taonaw.com
Interesting trick, discovered by mistake: Dragging and dropping a file into Emacs while in a folder with Dired copies it there, just as Finder would. Did you know that? I didn’t!
Hello there red guy. Glad you’re enjoying the weather. Me? Eh. I think it’s back to the AC in a few. Keep it real. 📷
Two Weeks, Two Projects: https://taonaw.com/2026/07/20/two-weeks-two-projects.html Two weeks deep into Emacs config and a book idea about blogging. The Emacs tweaks are going great… The book? Not so much.
Two Weeks, Two Projects
Two weeks deep into Emacs config and a book idea about blogging. The Emacs tweaks are going great... The book? Not so much.
taonaw.com
Been reading: Apple in China by Patrick McGee by Patrick McGee 📚. Surprisingly informative. In a way, it’s like reading some of the history of Apple and how they became this successful. It’s not too critical of Apple, at least not yet.
Still working with Claude on my Emacs settings as a reference. Need to start a new session, so asked it to write a summary with instructions on how I like it to help me. It wrote this: I know it’s complementing me on purpose, but that emphasized/why/? That’s why my blog is called this way 😉
Say you go jump to a header in org-mode somewhere with C-c C-o. Did you know that you can go back with C-c &? And that it has history, so you can keep going back?? Years of isearch-backwards… wasted. Mind blown. 🤯
A Quick org-mode Internal Links Reference: https://taonaw.com/2026/07/13/a-quick-orgmode-internal-links.html Started reorganizing my Emacs config, and along the way, I finally learned how to use plain links and radio links. Here’s my quick-reference cheat sheet for the different link types I alr...
A Quick org-mode Internal Links Reference
Started reorganizing my Emacs config, and along the way, I finally learned how to use plain links and radio links. Here's my quick-reference cheat sheet for the different link types I already have in my new config.
taonaw.com
Thought my Emacs init file needs a bit of cleaning - it contains configs from maybe 5 and 6 years ago. It’s a nostalgic learning experience. More fun than I thought. More to come soon 🤓
Every time I go get coffee around West Village, I feel like I’m in a different city. The contrast between our quiet neighborhood with the trees and birds in upper Manhattan and this is striking and fun.
auth and curl: https://taonaw.com/2026/07/10/auth-and-curl.html I couldn’t log into IndieWeb. Turned out the problem was me insisting on www.taonaw.com instead of taonaw.com. I know, duh, right? The redirect my browser handles silently every day made me forget that www is actually not a real thi...
auth and curl
I couldn't log into IndieWeb. Turned out the problem was me insisting on www.taonaw.com instead of taonaw.com. I know, duh, right? The redirect my browser handles silently every day made me forget that www is actually not a real thing. Claude showed me how to see it with curl, a tool I'd always noticed but never touched. Now I have.
taonaw.com
Is there a rule somewhere that says that if half your workday is spent in meetings, you can’t be expected to produce a whole day’s work? Just makes sense, right? I’d go further and say, you can’t even do half a day of work after that. ... https://taonaw.com/2026/07/10/is-there-a-rule-somewhere.html
The Art Of Not Asking Why
taonaw.com
Has anyone figured out how to sign into Indieweb with microblog, via IndieAuth? When I use my website URL, I get forwarded to micro.blog’s platform, with a message that “I’m already signed in as JTR.” What am I supposed to put in there? Appreciate if anyone has it written down somewhere.
🎶 Creep:Stone Temple Pilots When I was in college and got a dorm room through a scholarship, I had a friend who dealt more closely with the grunge of. We were both part of the staff of the college’s newspaper, often working long n... https://taonaw.com/2026/07/04/creepstone-temple-pilots-when-i.html
The Art Of Not Asking Why
taonaw.com
Crucial Track for July 2, 2026: https://taonaw.com/2026/07/02/crucial-track-for-july.html
Crucial Track for July 2, 2026
taonaw.com
Someone posted my little rant about restarting my Mac on Hacker News, and it went viral. As in more than 10,000 hits. 10… thousand… I don’t even know what this number means. To be fair, it’s mostly the discussion taking place (over 300 comments over there) but.. still… whattttt???
Bloggers Should Shake Fists at Clouds and Say the Obvious: https://taonaw.com/2026/07/02/bloggers-should-shake-fists-at.html Jim says blogging is like being the kid who points out the emperor is naked, and I say I’ve been pointing at naked emperors since college, when my journalism college offer...
Bloggers Should Shake Fists at Clouds and Say the Obvious
Jim says blogging is like being the kid who points out the emperor is naked, and I say I’ve been pointing at naked emperors since college, when my journalism college offered its condolences to me for “having the germ”. So I’m still yelling at clouds - come join me.
taonaw.com