Friday Four

1. As I continue learning more about Emacs, I keep running across users who describe it as "insanely useful".

I completely agree with them, but getting things to work is sometimes pretty hairy for people such as myself, who like computers, but aren't focused on programming or system administration for a living. Yesterday was a good example. After attempting several times over the past week to get MobileOrg to work, I finally did.

For anyone who may be interested in trying this, the below is how I finally got MobileOrg to work:

1. Create a directory for those .org files you wish to access on your mobile device. (e.g., ~/Dropbox/Org/)
2. Move a couple of .org files to that directory.
3. Designate these files as "agenda files" via the appropriate command within org-mode.
4. Create a different (!) directory for the mobile application to store file manifests, checksums, change logs, etc. (e.g., ~/Dropbox/Apps/MobileOrg/)
5. Within your emacs configuration file, add the lines in the Note below.
6. Restart emacs, then execute the following command within emacs: M-x org-mobile-push.
7. Install MobileOrg, walk through its "setup wizard", and sync.

Remember to execute M-x org-mobile-push or M-x org-mobile-pull before or after using MobileOrg, respectively.

Now, I can very easily use the superior to-do lists made possible by org-mode on my phone. Nice!

2. Thanks to a bumper sticker for the station and a Saturday evening trip to the grocery store, I now have the kitchen radio tuned to FM 88.1 on Saturday evenings for "The Ska's the Limit", hosted by J.J. Loy:

We follow ska down every path of its long and winding history. You'll hear classic ska, two tone and third wave ska, as well as groovy rocksteady and early reggae. Plus any soul, punk and calypso that we have lying around.

And yes, my little boy dances to most of the music.

3. I personally file the call to abolish time zones in the same  drawer of out-of-touch crusades as English spelling "reform" and the artificial language movement. Needless to say, I enjoyed seeing someone attempt to apply this ridiculous idea to the common problem of making an international call:

"We don't centre our waking/sleeping cycle on solar noon, fool nephew," Uncle Steve explains. "We centre the school day on solar noon. In countries above and below certain latitudes, where seasonal variation in the amount of daylight is significant, it's important for there to be the maximum amount of light when children are going to school in the morning, and coming home from school in the afternoon. Here in Melbourne, solar noon is about 10:30 Standard Time, so the average school day is timetabled from 07:00 to 14:00, and a typical working day runs from about 07:00 to 15:00. That means that on a working day, I get up at 05:00, at the earliest."

"Ooogh. Sorry. That's about two hours later than I reckoned," I tell him.

On top of the thought experiment, the author lists quite a few other reasons we should appreciate time zones.

4. The below quote comes from someone who commissioned a design for a rainbow factory for a computer game.

Why is the rainbow factory on the ground? And why does it have smoke stacks? It's supposed to be in the sky and if it creates smoke then it's polluting the planet. And why is there a rainbow coming out of it. I didn't tell you to do that. Now do it again and do it right.

The designer notes that his "[c]lient was an adult in his mid 30s, not 12".

-- CAV

Note: Insert the below lines into your emacs configuration file (e.g., .emacs or init.el) before attempting to use MobileOrg:

;; Set the name of the directory that will hold the .org files for MobileOrg.
(setq org-directory "~/Dropbox/Org/")
;; Set the name of the file where new notes will be stored
(setq org-mobile-inbox-for-pull "~/Dropbox/Org/flagged.org")
;; Set root directory for MobileOrg.
(setq org-mobile-directory "~/Dropbox/Apps/MobileOrg")

The above assumes (1) You will use Dropbox to sync the app to its home directory; and (2) You already have org-mode working to your satisfaction. It is not necessary for the org-directory to also be in Dropbox.

Updates

Today: Fixed a hyperlink.