@jameshowell@emacs.ch
@jameshowell@emacs.ch avatar

jameshowell

@jameshowell@emacs.ch

#Teaching with #Emacs: #Microbiology, #Biochemistry, #MolecularBiology, #MolecularMedicine; #Evolution, #Science in #Humanities.

Associate Teaching Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, #PennState University #Pennsylvania USA

#LibreSoftware #FOSS #FreeSoftware #GNULinux #GNU #Linux #OrgMode #GrapheneOS #EmacsLisp #IronMaiden #heavymetal #metal (Avatar: me, caucasian man, white beard, shoulder-length red-brown hair. Banner: recent graduates at Spring Commencement)

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jameshowell, to random
@jameshowell@emacs.ch avatar

The haul. Twenty-four books for $84 USD.

The bad kitty was free

https://aauwstatecollege.org/used_book_sale_location_hours/

howard, to gaming
@howard@emacs.ch avatar

How was your weekend? I love a rainy weekend in the Pacific Northwest corner of America, as it relieves my guilt of doing what I want to do ... staying inside. I read a little, wrote a little, hacked a little ... even played a classic #videogame from the 90s (Curse of Monkey Island on #ScummVM).

I also did a little math. Yeah, been thinking of taking the "Yes, and.." dice mechanics used for luck rolls in #rpg games (not sure who came up with it first), and fusing it with Mythic GM Emulator's Fate Chart, popular with the #solorpg crowd. Since I'm always playing with my notes written in #emacs on the screen, I hacked it in #lisp. Shared the details in case anyone wanted to do something similar in their favorite programming language.

https://howardism.org/RPG/programming-yes-but.html

jameshowell,
@jameshowell@emacs.ch avatar

@howard So much of the community's output falls under "I will never use that but I am overjoyed that somebody made it."

Our ethos is not monolithic or rigid, but an essential component is forty solid years of "Look at this amazing thing somebody made."

jameshowell, to AncientGreek
@jameshowell@emacs.ch avatar

Set aside fifteen minutes and watch this. Breathtaking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hOK7bU0S1Y

#ancientgreek #classics #humanities

jameshowell,
@jameshowell@emacs.ch avatar

@vv0r Exactly what I was thinking! And the scholarship seems so solid too.

jameshowell, to guix
@jameshowell@emacs.ch avatar

Hey @daviwil! I'm taking the plunge! Thanks for building these guides: they're exceptionally well done.

https://systemcrafters.net/craft-your-system-with-guix/full-system-install/

dhry, to random
@dhry@mastodon.social avatar

Wow. I guess I was wrong when I said that we have well and truly enough how-to tutorials out there. Either that or this person doesn’t have the faintest idea how to google properly.

jameshowell,
@jameshowell@emacs.ch avatar

Decades ago I floated between Things, OmniFocus, and Org mode. Neither commercial app (both very good!) could ever work EXACTLY how I wanted—which is crucial for PKM/GTD....

But I'LL HAVE TO LEARN EMACS LISP...!

It was worth it.

Thank goodness I was far enough along in career and life to see the long view.

If you're in a career where building your own tools matters at all, here is the secret: INVEST IN CUMULATIVE INCREMENTAL GAINS OVER THE LONG TERM

@nickanderson @dhry @masi @Mollarom

jameshowell, to random
@jameshowell@emacs.ch avatar

I wish everyone a very happy International All Time Best TV Commercial Day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MUsVcYhERY

jameshowell, to random
@jameshowell@emacs.ch avatar

Truly I must be one of the most fortunate people ever to live. First-world material comfort, relatively healthy mente et corpore, and privileged to earn a living inspiring young people about science.

It's the last day of the semester and students are bringing me to tears with their words of authentic thanks. I just wish I could show them how grateful I am to THEM.

grinn, to emacs
@grinn@emacs.ch avatar

Sometimes I get overwhelmed by having a free day and end up not accomplishing much. This morning it was processing my feelings toward my family's political views. I think it was valuable to come to some conclusions about why their views bothered me so much, but it took time.

I'm sitting on some patches and email drafts waiting for the fsf to update my copyright assignment record.

I'm going to work on objed for a while, then my blog. For objed I want to translate the test runner from a Makefile to an elisp eldev command. For the blog I want to do the opposite: translate the elisp build script into a Makefile.

Both are attempts at simplifying the development process though, just choosing the right tool for each job.

#elisp #emacs #objed

jameshowell,
@jameshowell@emacs.ch avatar

@holgerschurig @grinn I do not mean it flippantly: I have reached the age where I genuinely recognize the healthy "productivity" of a day where my concrete accomplishments are "did a load of laundry" and "pet the cats."

jameshowell, to random
@jameshowell@emacs.ch avatar

You know how mitochondria are descended from ancient aerobic bacteria? And chloroplasts are descended from ancient photosynthetic bacteria?

Students always ask if I think we'll discover other endosymbiotic organelles, and the answer is always "yes."

Behold the nitroplast.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-01046-z

jameshowell,
@jameshowell@emacs.ch avatar

@tshirtman The short and simplistic answer is that nitrogen fixation is hugely energy intensive and thus verrry sloowwwwwww

jameshowell,
@jameshowell@emacs.ch avatar

@rayckeith @tshirtman Yes, a few types of plants, most notably legumes, have root nodules where intracellular bacterial symbionts fix nitrogen.

But the symbiont doesn't need to live in those plant cells, so you could imaginatively think of it as early in the process of becoming a possible future organelle!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_nodule

purplepadma, to random
@purplepadma@beige.party avatar

2 or more hours until bedtime then another rubbish day will be at an end.

jameshowell,
@jameshowell@emacs.ch avatar

@purplepadma That's only enough time to get through six or eight of Mr Barber and Mr Green's nearly one thousand episodes of earwax removal compilations

jameshowell, to random
@jameshowell@emacs.ch avatar

Apparently my calloused big toe is a comfy pillow

jameshowell, to random
@jameshowell@emacs.ch avatar

@purplepadma So I have precisely two concrete references for "Wales:" you, and these two goobers

https://yt.artemislena.eu/watch?v=amU1FZ8JP0k

MLE_online, to random
@MLE_online@social.afront.org avatar

Still no sign of my Hobie. My heart is breaking

jameshowell,
@jameshowell@emacs.ch avatar

@gnomon @MLE_online It's a miracle!

jameshowell,
@jameshowell@emacs.ch avatar

@MLE_online By the way I love Hobie

holgerschurig, to random

@timthelion Hope you are well.

Today I've got the news that no chemo therapy is needed for me (due to the specific cancer I had).

jameshowell,
@jameshowell@emacs.ch avatar

@holgerschurig @timthelion Wonderful! Such good news! Made my day to hear it.

johncarlosbaez, (edited ) to random
@johncarlosbaez@mathstodon.xyz avatar

So you wake up one day wanting to invent a 2-dimensional number system. This requires a new number 𝑖 that's at right angles to 1. So you figure multiplying by 𝑖 must rotate numbers by 90°. So multiplying by 𝑖² rotates by 180°, so

𝑖² = -1

Cool!

Then you notice something else. The derivative of a function in the 𝑦 direction must be 𝑖 times its derivative in the 𝑥 direction, because the derivative is linear and you get the 𝑦 direction by rotating the 𝑥 direction by 90°: that is, multiplying it by 𝑖. So you get this equation:

[ \frac{\partial f}{\partial y} = i \frac{\partial f}{\partial x} ]

Cool!

Then you notice something else. If you use this equation twice you get

[ \frac{\partial^2 f}{\partial y^2} = i \frac{\partial f}{\partial x\partial y} = i^2 \frac{\partial^2 f}{\partial x^2} = - \frac{\partial^2 f}{\partial x^2} ]

so

[ \frac{\partial^2 f}{\partial x^2} + \frac{\partial^2 f}{\partial y^2} = 0 ]

Wow! Every function with a second derivative obeys the Laplace equation!

You decide this one is a keeper.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cauchy%E2%80%93Riemann_equations

jameshowell,
@jameshowell@emacs.ch avatar

@johncarlosbaez DUDE YOU ARE BLOWIN MY MIIINNNNDDD

greg, to AeroPress
@greg@gregnewman.io avatar

Hey people. Need recommendations on an adjustable manual grinder. Bonus if it is packable to throw in my bag for travel.

jameshowell,
@jameshowell@emacs.ch avatar

@greg I have been very happy with my Timemore grinder.

https://www.timemore.com/collections/coffee-grinder-manual/products/timemore-chestnut-c3-pro-manual-coffee-grinder?variant=43429178736882

jameshowell,
@jameshowell@emacs.ch avatar

@greg No. You're a weirdo.

It's my third hand grinder, and the first one that hasn't fallen apart. It holds up. The steel burr is great, and the bearings make it super smooth.

jameshowell, to random
@jameshowell@emacs.ch avatar

Explaining to my wife how me and a bunch of globally distributed armchair etymology obsessives have spent the better part of the last week geeking out over the word "thing." She hoists her eyebrows high on her forehead. I AM TELLING YOU SWEETIE MASTODON IS A PARADISE FOR NERDS

jameshowell, to coffee
@jameshowell@emacs.ch avatar

Okay coffee nerds. Here is the Aeropress recipe that I like the best. From the redoubtable Jonathan Gangné, with credit also to James Hoffman.

https://coffeeadastra.com/2021/09/07/reaching-fuller-flavor-profiles-with-the-aeropress/

Been using it for a couple years and I rarely get anything in a café that I enjoy as much. Then just today I got the Fellow Prismo and I was surprised at how much it improves the taste (not to mention the fussiness of the procedure).

jameshowell,
@jameshowell@emacs.ch avatar

@greg Always used paper filters, until today when I got the Prismo. I was surprised at how much debris came through. Adding a paper filter to the metal one improved both looks and taste.

jameshowell,
@jameshowell@emacs.ch avatar

@greg The only difference is the capacity. Except for the chamber and plunger, all the pieces are interchangeable.

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