Did you know that the Open University has a whole library of free courses? In lots of different subjects and different levels, introductory, intermediate and advanced. Some long, some short. Some of them "badged" and assessed. Some are based on content from modules of the OU's degree courses.

If you're into building a personal curriculum, it's a great resource.

https://www.open.edu/openlearn/free-courses/full-catalogue

Some emacs users know about using registers to save buffer positions
and/or numbers (c-x r <space> and c-x r n), but I wonder how many save
window configurations (c-x r w) and switch among them (c-x r j).

I frequently have a bunch of shells / ssh sessions in a many-ways
split window configuration saved in register s (for split) and the
full screen single file I am mainly editing saved in register e (for
edit) and constantly switch back and forth.
#emacs #tidbit

Margaret Hamilton, pioneer of software engineering who led the software effort for the Apollo program, dies at 90: https://news.mit.edu/2026/margaret-hamilton-computing-pioneer-dies-1007

I compiled a list of useful #Emacs resources and references:
https://www.jamescherti.com/emacs-resources/

What other guides or documentation would you add to this list?

Orgro 2.5 now has a long-awaited Agenda view:

1. Open a document containing agenda items (sections with “active” timestamps)
2. Add the doc to your agenda via the prompt
3. The top screen now has an Agenda view

The Agenda view is an infinite-scrolling timeline aggregating all scheduled items across your agenda files. Touch to jump to an item; long touch to narrow to it.

Mood: 🚀

#orgro #emacs #orgmode

#emacs #tidbit I believe most emacs users know that c-y inserts the string in the operating system's clipboard into the current buffer (leaving the cursor at the end of the string), but I wonder how many know that c-u c-y does the same but leaves the cursor at the beginning of the string?

#emacs

I woke up thinking about Emacs gatekeeping. We all know it's bad. Many people practice it. Perhaps unwittingly.
I've seen gatekeeping in so many disciplines in my life.

This is hard! It'll take years! You have to read this book!
Ok, but don't set your expectations too high! It's got a steep learning curve but it's worth it!

All gatekeeping, all myths.

Emacs is no harder to learn than anything else. Lisp must be the easiest language there is and you can do fine in Emacs with a few function calls and variable settings that you likely don't even need to fully understand.

@jackemled

The Emacs learning curve
2/... 🧵

Edit: if someone can point me to the source of this I'd love to give credit...

Looking forward to seeing my local #emacs nerds tomorrow in #porrlandor at the Lucky Lab on Hawthorne at 6pm PST.

DM me with your email if you'd like an iCal invite.

Meeting notes: https://list.orgmode.org/87o6e2khh0.fsf@localhost/T/#u

TL;DR: repeating on weekdays; autocompleting citations; writing derived export backend; LSP in src blocks; Org&Lisps; Org&canvas patch; LaTeX preview; clocking time; org-cycle-separator-lines; Solar eclipse; org-id performance; switch-to-prev-buffer-skip-regexp; LLMs in Emacs and Org (yet again); EmacsConf 2026; casual-org, transient support; Org parser in Bison.

Earlier notes: https://orgmode.org/worg/orgmeetup.html
#orgmode #orgmeetup #emacs

@sacha

The advantage of commuting on the train into the office, is looking up from rhe laptop to enjoy the view of bridges against the natural backdrop of trees on Elk Rock, an island in the middle of the WIlliamette River that flows in the middle of #portlandor.

While listening to a chickadee argue with a wren about which side of my property is theirs, I'm transfixed as an orb spider, like a tiny clockwork toy, methodically weaves its hovering snare. Glowing orange in the rays of the dawn sun, I sip my coffee, building my own mental snares.

Watched an excellent short talk about eshell by @howard last night.

https://emacsconf.org/2022/talks/eshell/

Two things really stood out to me:

1. Piping to Emacs buffers with > #<buffer-name>
2. Virtual devices, e.g., piping to /dev/diary to trigger a certain Elisp function that does TheRightThing™.

#emacs

One of the great pains of being a computer scientist is being forced to use absolutely hideous software that is chronically unreliable and knowing full well that it could be so much better and indeed was, 20 years ago.

Found a crow in #portland

I am not embarrassed sitting in the middle of a city park, listening to the chirping crickets... staring at a moon that should be full.

Wondering about our ancestors ... people who would got overly concerned.... no, fully freaked out ... over the fact that the moon was going away. And yet, no one in my city is concerned... or even paying attention.

Wish I brought my binoculars to watch the #lunareclipse.

An interesting and more nuanced discussion of #AI generated code.

Beyond recall and the illusion of competence - Reading Mode
https://var0.xyz/posts/beyond-recall-and-the-illusion-of-competence.html

So domestic-y, as this weekend I made and bottled salsa from 8 lbs of tomatillos from the back yard. (Also learned that the correct term is canning, even though the container is glass) ...

Now I want to can my pasta sauce I make from the "too much amount of" tomatoes, zucchini and abergine I grow.

What's new in #Emacs 31.1:
https://www.masteringemacs.org/article/whats-new-in-emacs-311

For those interested in an in-person #pdx #emacs event, a few of us nerds are meeting Tuesday, 15 September 2026 at 6:00pm at the Lucky Lab brewpub on Hawthorne Street for a PDX Emacs Social Hour.

While this event will primarily be social, I figured if we enjoy these gatherings enough, we'll might find a place with a projector and nerdout like we did in the previous decade.