How to Correctly Enable Flycheck in Babel Source Blocks

If you already have Flycheck turned on then you already have it running your babel source block buffers, but, it isn’t working how you expect it. That buffer hasn’t got a file name. Flycheck can’t be smart about helping you out here. Via this post, the solution follows.

(defadvice org-edit-src-code (around set-buffer-file-name activate compile)
  (let ((file-name (buffer-file-name))) ;; (1)
    ad-do-it                            ;; (2)
    (setq buffer-file-name file-name))) ;; (3)

This is one of those things that if you had though about it for a few minutes, you would have turned it on yourself. It reveals how easy it is to return to the mode of “application user” from “application designer”, of Emacs. That is the source of most of my dumb “misses” regarding workflow optimizations in Emacs.

How to Handle and Large Slow Org Files

When some of us open large Org mode files, Emacs becomes nearly unresponsive, and nearly unusable. My stock advice has always been to call #+STARTUP: showeverything or do a binary search more or less to figure out which package is stomping Emacs. In this post, though, Puneeth explains that the issue may go away entirely for some of us.

Entity Framework 4.1 – Code First

Entity Framework 4.1 – Code First is a good next-step from this. Guessing that all of the courses referenced in the latter are going to be good next steps, so I will watch all of them. My neighbor at work asked me why I’m using PluralSight instead of just reading all of the EF material.
Normally I read all of the literature on a topic, in depth, at least a couple of times. Every time I’ve done that before, there has been a lot of energy and desire surrounding the pursuit. Learning EF though I feel like I am late to the game. That means that people aren’t really excited about sharing their experiences with EF anymore, so I can’t draw from their energy at all regarding EF, and, I want that. That is why I want to use PluralSight here.
Lerman is sharing 3 things here: facts, values and personal preference. That is exactly what you get interacting with your professional peers. For an experienced programmer, this is the sweet spot for learning new things. Yes my peers are totally up for sharing those things, too, just not 10 hours of it! This is where courses like this are valuable.
The fact that Lerman is vouching for EF means a lot, and sharing her values and beliefs about how to do EF is energizing, and that makes it fun. Lerman’s courses on PluralSight provide a very pleasant learning experience in a very short time-span.
My personal notes on EF follow.
Continue reading “Entity Framework 4.1 – Code First”

Getting Started with Entity Framework 5

Julie Lerman’s PluralSight training is as almost as good as her books. Perhaps it is not a fair comparison? She has a great writing style, and her books are a joy to read. You might expect the same experience with her training videos, and that is probably unfair. You are all about fairness, right? Entity Framework is quite mature at this point. For those of us returning to .NET, this video is quite perfect. It covers just enough. If you’ve built systems before, you will get so, so much out of her series.

First Hatha at YogaOne @yogaonemke Fox Point Report

On Sunday I attended the “Vinyasa Flow L1-2” class. Catherine taught it in Fox Point. This was my first class in a long, long time. Too long. It was so great to get back.

Catherine is a delightful teacher and she taught a delightful class. Let me elaborate.

I haven’t done hatha for a long, long time. Too long. I really haven’t done much of anything physical for a long time, either. That is the problem. No, that is the opportunity. Everything is either an opportunity, or not worth pondering.

I went to class without a clue about how I was going to get through 60 minutes of hatha. I mean, I knew that I couldn’t. I banked on being able to just stop and rest. I did, and that was fine.

I needed help overcoming the inertia of doing nothing, and this was my chance, so with a gentle nudge from my good friend to help me along, I went, even though people would probably figure out pretty quickly that I wasn’t attending class as my warm up for my Cirque du Soleil interview later that morning.

Nobody chased me out of the studio, it was no big deal. I didn’t run away from the whole thing, either. I did hatha for 20 minutes, rested for 20, and did the final 20, and that was no big deal. The last 20 was a lot easier floor stuff. The world didn’t end. Instead, the world expanded.

Could somebody going to yoga be embarrassed about being clueless? Yes. Could they be insecure about the whole thing? Yes. Might they wonder why the heck they are there when, everyone else there seems to be an expert already? Yes. I didn’t think any of it, though.

My mind didn’t even bother to start telling me those stories. Catherine created an environment where the minds of her students could be illuminated by the luminosity of that which is gentle and kind, so that they could just do their practice. There is work to be done, and you have to be the one to do it, but when you have a kind and masterful teacher, it is a delightful experience because you can utilize your energy for your own good, instead of your own detriment with doubt and fear. Catherine was super.

The whole thing was really, really great. I’m going to the beginner classes next, with the goal of working on strength and flexibility. Part of me wonders of some beginner-yoga motorcycle-riders classes will spontaneously be scheduled as Spring nears.

CB750F: Day 36: Forward Progress

I couldn’t find a throttle plate rod for the carburetor on ebay. I couldn’t even find the part on the microfiche. A kind soul sent me the link for that part though, used, on ebay. The search term is “carb linkage assembly”. Another kind soul explained that some of the carburetors on the ’79 CB750F were recalled and maybe half the bikes got the work done. He went on to explain that the carburetors were very different between ’79 and ’80-’83, and even more, that the carburetors were very different between the supersport and the classic. Great to know; great to know. Those should be here soon. The other option presented was to weld some steel in there and tap out a new thread. That may still happen, we’ll see.
The next project is to rebuild the front suspension.
Addendum: 2015-02-09
Here is the Motamec Tools Thread Insert Nut & Stud Rivet Gun Riveting Rivut Blind Riveter that was suggested on Facebook. Very cool.