raamdev

Sure! Here's what I do to add an expense from my phone:

1. Open the Drafts App on my iPhone.

2. Type "lfood", which triggers TextExpander with my ledger food expense snippet [1]. I make use of the TextExpander fill-ins feature [2] to automatically set the current date and to give me a list of dropdowns that I can use to change the account, but usually I just leave the default and only fill in the expense amount.

3. Enter the expense amount, select the credit card that I used from a dropdown if it's different from the default.

4. Trigger the 'Save to Ledger' action [3] that I created within the Drafts app [4], which appends the ledger entry to my ledger file on Dropbox.

I created a short gif [5] showing this entire process in action.

[1] https://i.imgur.com/NXEimql.png

[2] https://textexpander.com/learn/using/snippets/advanced-snipp...

[3] https://i.imgur.com/LNDJNGi.png

[4] https://docs.getdrafts.com/actions/

[5] https://ibb.co/vk45Kb7

I've been using Ledger for years now and with thousands of entries a year. I track investments, income, expenses, and budgeting. For mobile entry, I keep my ledger file on Dropbox and use the Drafts app and TextExpander on my iPhone to quickly append properly formatted ledger entries to the file from my phone, the moment the expense occurs. Every two to four weeks, I spend 10 minutes and use ledger-mode in Emacs to reconcile accounts with online bank / credit card transactions. It works really well and I love the flexibility and long-term portability of keeping my ledger in plain-text.

News Minimalist:

It uses AI (ChatGPT-4) to read the top 1000 news every day and rank them by significance on a scale from 0 to 10 based on event magnitude, scale, potential, and source credibility.

https://www.newsminimalist.com/

Sea anchors can be used to steer a sailboat in some situations in the event that the rudder is lost, as one guy demonstrated when he lost his rudder 1609km (1000mi) from Hawaii:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AZXXKj0p0s

In the mid-ninties, around the time I had just become a teenager, I remember walking down the back corridor of a mall where my parents were leasing a space for their business and hearing a song playing overhead on the mall speakers that really caught my attention. I had no idea what the song was called or who made it, but I really liked it. I remember wishing I had some way to quickly find out, before the song ended, the name of the song and the artist. I remember thinking, "wouldn't it be great if this cell phone in my pocket could somehow tell me the name of this song?"

A decade later I discovered Shazam, and even today, more than a decade after that, Shazam still has a place on my home screen, quickly within reach, helping me discover hundreds of great artists and songs overheard from as many different places. The magic of the experience, and the appreciation for the technology, stem from the memory of that moment in the mid-nineties when I stood under a speaker listening to a song that I might never hear again.

Given the irregular distance between holes and the different angles of the holes, I'd guess something organic. There's still a lot we don't know about even well known fish like sharks, what to talk of fish or marine life that we have yet to discover. Seeing the raised ridge along the entire set of holes makes me wonder if they're from some kind of eggs that hatched after being embedded in the seabed.

It's amazing that there are still so many mysteries like this on Earth.

I’m surprised to see that the iTerm2 dedicated hotkey window hasn’t been mentioned. It’s essentially a system-wide terminal window that you can open with a hotkey, similar to the old Visor app, and you can configure it as a floating window that appears over other apps' full screen windows. https://www.iterm2.com/documentation-hotkey.html

I built a WordPress theme called Independent Publisher that’s intended to focus on the writing and get out of the way of the reader. I was reminded of it while reading this blog, so it may be of interest to you. It’s open-source and maintained by the community on GitHub—suggestions and feedback are always welcome: https://independentpublisher.me/

Brain Rules for Baby by John Medina, because it made me a better father; Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker, because it taught me of the importance of something that I’d occasionally dismiss as a nuisance; Pain Free and Pain Free at Your PC by Pete Egoscue, because it completely changed the way I understood posture, pain, and how repetition influences my body; and Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke, because it taught me how despite big changes in technology and society and way of living, very little changes when it comes to our personal struggles and concerns; Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, because it helped me realize that in any situation, my attitude is what I always have control over; and 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey because it greatly contributed to my mental framework for how to be productive and for this quote, which is probably my favorite of the past decade:

“In the space between stimulus (what happens) and how we respond, lies our freedom to choose. Ultimately, this power to choose is what defines us as human beings. We may have limited choices but we can always choose. We can choose our thoughts, emotions, moods, our words, our actions; we can choose our values and live by principles. It is the choice of acting or being acted upon.”

Distributed.blog is a new podcast series by Matt Mullenweg (co-creator of WordPress and CEO of Automattic, a fully-distributed company of nearly a thousand folks). The podcast explores distributed work, the future of business, and what it means for the global economy. https://distributed.blog/

The macOS YubiSwitch app solves that problem nicely. https://support.yubico.com/support/solutions/articles/150000...

One of the most amazing books that I've read about simple ways to correct muscular imbalances, including those that result from too much sitting, is Pete Egoscue's Pain Free at Your PC [1]. His other book, Pain Free [2] is also extremely effective and informative.

Pete’s knowledge completely rewrote the way I think about my body, pain, and imbalance.

1. https://www.amazon.com/Pain-Free-Revolutionary-Stopping-Chro...

2. https://www.amazon.com/Pain-Free-Your-PC-Computer/dp/0553380...

macOS is fairly weak, being more inclined to manually accomplishing it.

I found the SwitchResX app [1] to be really useful for switching to portrait mode on macOS. I have a 2017 13" MacBook Pro and that app made it possible to use the 27" LG UltraFine 5K display in portrait mode. I also use Spectacle [2] for moving windows around with the keyboard.

1. https://www.madrau.com/ 2. https://www.spectacleapp.com/

I have done a lot of both worlds and find an incredibly noticeable difference in my private life.

Manual labor that has my body feeling ‘used’ at the end of the day makes me feel that I’ve somehow accomplished so much more than if I’ve only used my mind all day and I find myself generally happier on a day-to-day basis when I’ve been doing primarily manual labor all day. But I can’t seem to justify doing manual labor over the long term when I can make so much more money as a programmer using my mind.

Since becoming a father, it also seems to have become harder to be willing to make less money for more general happiness, knowing that I can work remotely, have more free time for my kid, and make a lot more money in the long-run making money with my mind. It’s also hard to find manual labor jobs that don’t expose your body to something that is usually bad for your health over the long term.

I try to find a balance by taking on, and volunteering to help with, major home projects whenever the opportunity arises, and exercising outdoors as much as practical, but I constantly feel like there’s a huge imbalance (I spend ~40 hours a week at my computer).

Kinsta | Senior Support Engineer | Full-time | REMOTE | https://kinsta.com/

Kinsta is a modern cloud hosting startup focused on WordPress hosting. Our awesome, young, and motivated team is scattered across the globe: Europe, Asia, Australia, and North America.

Our client base is growing steadily and we’re looking for a competent support engineer with exceptional communication skills who can provide enterprise level technical support to our customers via our support system.

Our Support Engineers must know WordPress deeply. All we host is WordPress and we have the best support team in the business (even if we do say so ourselves). While you don't have to be a full-fledged WordPress developer to be a Kinsta Support Engineer, you do need to know the WordPress database and file/directory structure as well as the wp-config.php file like the back of your hand.

A basic understanding of or familiarity with the following technologies is also a must: Linux, Nginx, PHP, MySQL/MariaDB, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, DNS, CDN, and caching (object and page).

This is a fully-remote role. Our Support Engineers can work from anywhere they have reliable Internet access. We always use the latest version of everything: PHP 7.2, NGINX, Ubuntu 18.04, Linux containers, Google Cloud and more, so you’ll be able to work with a bunch of exciting technologies and use them every day!

This position offers a great deal of flexibility, responsibility, competitive salary, and opportunity for growth for the right candidate.

Apply: https://kinsta.workable.com/j/31973E3EFD

Read more about Kinsta: https://kinsta.workable.com/

Thank you. I wish more textbooks read like this!

In Chrome, Preferences → Advanced → Content Settings → Notifications → [Enable Blocked].

On the topic of having nothing to hide, the following description of how 'privacy' differs from 'secrecy' really opened my eyes to the importance of the whole privacy issue and why not having anything to hide isn't an excuse to give up your right to privacy: What you do in the bathroom is not a secret, but you still want to close the door—you still want your privacy.

Everyone knows what happens in the bathroom, but everyone also understands that you have a right to your privacy in there and they don't expect you to leave the door open (unless, of course, that's your thing).

I've been using Vimium [1] for years now to browse the web (almost) entirely via the keyboard and couldn't live without it. It's incredibly easy to use once you become familiar with the shortcuts. You can even change the bindings to more closely match Emacs [2] if that's your editor of choice.

1. https://vimium.github.io/

2. https://gist.github.com/dmgerman/6f0e5f9ffc6484dfaf53

Edit: formatting.

Because I love what I do.

I’ve posted this elsewhere, but it feels relevant here so I’ll share it again. I work remotely 80-90 hours a week using my laptop (this is important: your screen needs to be mobile). Here's how I currently try to keep my body moving:

- I don't have a desk or chair. I have a bar table and a stool. This makes a huge difference. I get uncomfortable sitting on the stool after about 30 minutes, so I get off. Then I'll stand at the bar table and work for an hour or two. When I get tired of that, I'll spend a minute or two doing a physical activity (see below).

- I try to work from different physical places, e.g., cafes, different places in the house when nobody is home, the steps outside, the floor, the hammock hanging by the lake. I make it a game to come up with new and novel places to work from that don't require a lot of travel time (unless I'm walking—then it's well-spent travel time), anything to change the physical position of my body while working (and hopefully something that gets uncomfortable within an hour so I'm pushed to change again).

- I have a sandbag next to the bar table that I'll pick up at random times throughout the day and do squats, deadlifts, bent-over rows, or just carry the 60lb thing up the stairs or out around the yard once. I'll also use it as a weight to hold my feet while I do sit-ups. I have a pull-up bar hanging between two trees outside.

- I don't watch TV. In fact, I try to avoid anything that involves the sitting position. If I have to sit, I prefer the floor, or if I'm watching a movie or reading a book, I prefer laying down. If it's something for a few minutes and I can stand, I'll stand.

I've been doing this for about a year now and it's the best I've ever felt while working this much. What I'd like to start mixing in are some runs or long walks, but right now it's a choice between those or getting sufficient sleep. I prioritize sleep.

My point is that unless we come up with some concrete definition of what "work" is, it's rather pointless to talk about its effects. A weight lifter might refer to 'work' as exercising. A truck driver might refer to 'work' as driving a truck. Those two forms of 'work' have a much different affect on your health.

I love my work, and doing something 80-90 hours a week that I love hardly seems like a problem. :-) I work 7 days a week, so it works out to around 12 hours a day. That gives me 4 hours of 'other' time if I sleep 8 hours a night.

The mobility they afford easily makes up for any negative effects. I couldn't imagine working from a fixed computer. I even tried putting my laptop on a stand and using an external keyboard—it lasted a few days before I just got so annoyed by the fixed position. I sit facing different directions at my circle bar table, shifting my position multiple times throughout the day, so having a laptop that I can simply adjust as I adjust makes a lot more sense for me.

Working 80-90 hours a week remotely with the freedom to work from an environment that you find relaxing is a lot different than working 80-90 hours a week in an office or dealing every day with the stresses of traffic and commuting. Yesterday I was laying in a hammock feeling the breeze come in off the lake and listening to the birds while working on my laptop. I couldn't work 80-90 hours a week if I didn't have the ability to look up from my laptop and instantly feel relaxed.

I work remotely 80-90 hours a week using my laptop (this is important: your screen needs to be mobile). Here's how I currently try to keep my body moving:

- I don't have a desk or chair. I have a bar table and a stool. This makes a huge difference. I get uncomfortable sitting on the stool after about 30 minutes, so I get off. Then I'll stand at the bar table and work for an hour or two. When I get tired of that, I'll spend a minute or two doing a physical activity (see below).

- I try to work from different physical places, e.g., cafes, different places in the house when nobody is home, the steps outside, the floor, the hammock hanging by the lake. I make it a game to come up with new and novel places to work from that don't require a lot of travel time (unless I'm walking—then it's well-spent travel time), anything to change the physical position of my body while working (and hopefully something that gets uncomfortable within an hour so I'm pushed to change again).

- I have a sandbag next to the bar table that I'll pick up at random times throughout the day and do squats, deadlifts, bent-over rows, or just carry the 60lb thing up the stairs or out around the yard once. I'll also use it as a weight to hold my feet while I do sit-ups. I have a pull-up bar hanging between two trees outside.

- I don't watch TV. In fact, I try to avoid anything that involves the sitting position. If I have to sit, I prefer the floor, or if I'm watching a movie or reading a book, I prefer laying down. If it's something for a few minutes and I can stand, I'll stand.

I've been doing this for about a year now and it's the best I've ever felt while working this much. What I'd like to start mixing in are some runs or long walks, but right now it's a choice between those or getting sufficient sleep. I prioritize sleep.

This reminds me of a letter that was written by a NASA engineer in the 1970s in response to a nun in Africa who was questioning the value of spending billions on space exploration.

In 1970, a Zambia-based nun named Sister Mary Jucunda wrote to Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger, then-associate director of science at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, in response to his ongoing research into a piloted mission to Mars. Specifically, she asked how he could suggest spending billions of dollars on such a project at a time when so many children were starving on Earth.

The letter is well worth the read: http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/08/why-explore-space.html

+1 for `pass`. I wrote a handy Bash script [1] that lets me easily search my passwords without having an exact match (e.g., `fpass fin cap one` quickly finds my password info for "Financial/CapitalOne.gpg"). It makes pulling up passwords so much easier as I only need to remember fragments of how I stored it instead of trying to remember exact folders and names using auto-complete to find the password.

I also use iTerm2's system-wide hotkey [2] to quickly show/hide a dedicated terminal window that I use for retrieving passwords.

I've been using this setup for years now and I absolutely love it. The only downside is no access from my phone, but I always have my laptop with me and I memorize passwords that I frequently use.

1. https://github.com/raamdev/bin/blob/master/fpass

2. https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/48805

This was posted on HN a month ago; lots of thoughtful comments here: Recovering from Burnout and Depression [1].

1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14320392

Julian Shapiro (a HN member) wrote a great free guide called How to Build Muscle [0] that's a nice resource for anyone new to weight training.

0. https://www.julian.com/learn/muscle/intro