All blog posts by Evan Travers
I like my homerow mods . I really wanted a way to have that ergonomic advantage in the (admittedly rare) times that I'm at my laptop but don't have one of my external keyboards out 1 . For years Karabiner has been the tool I've used for remapping keys and modifying input on OSX. The past few months I've been playing with kanata . Karabiner is still the simplest and best way to handle simple…
Sunday Drop Biscuits The past few months I've been trying to set apart the sabbath. It's hard for my little kids to look forward to the day of rest so I'm trying to hoard some special things for them: games we play on the afternoon, nerf battles that are reserved for Sunday afternoon… and every morning there are biscuits. This morning my 1YO clapped her hands with joy as soon as she saw them, so…
I've been using Reeder… for a long time. Maybe the longest running app on my phone… records say 2009. I admire Silvio so much, and Mela is now one of my most used apps. 100% the most used app on any mobile device… for almost a decade! After Reeder was pushed to Reeder Classic and he's focused on the new app, I've felt a little abandoned. Nothing has scratched that itch… But I recently tried…
# This is an RSS-only post. It's a secret! Read more about RSS Club . I'm tired of my "open a tab to the 'front page of the internet'" behavior. When I first used the internet, I had a rich set of bookmarks that turned into RSS feeds. I used the internet like a library, not a tabloid. Now I just open up the "front page" and scarf down whatever tripe I'm served and I'm grateful for it. 🤮 So I've…
In Proverbs 4:4 a father implores with his son to take hold of wisdom. The past three chapters assert that both parents have been providing a banquet of wisdom and highlight the advantages and dangers of living as a fool. What we don't see is these wise parents attempting a parenting technique or discipline strategy to force that wisdom into the son. They don't try, because it won't work. He…
For the past year of software consulting I've been using nix to define the development environments. I had been using flakes, but recently I've been using devenv.sh . Devenv is a system on top of nix that makes creating common dev environment recipes a lot easier. Setting up a language, some dependencies, services… even setting up postgres and ensuring some databases are created is a breeze. There…
In my last post on Obsidian I talked about the problem of getting an inbox to obsidian on mobile. What I haven't covered is processing and writing those captures. While the reason to use Drafts.app is the quick capture, an underappreciated aspect is to have one location for all my "in progress" thoughts. So often in the years that Drafts was in my iOS dock a half-baked shower thought would…
Since I'm too cheap to pay for loom.com (which is a great product!) I have been using OBS to record videos to throw into Slack or YouTube for friends. I know that OBS saves it's settings to ~/Library/Application Support/obs-studio and I could backup my settings, but I have not yet done that, and so I have had to re-set up my settings lots of times. Here is how I typically set up my OBS for simple…
It's been about a year since I opened Drafts. I've always been a huge of Drafts. It is the best Apple ecosystem note taking tool. However I have two problems: I want to not be 100% beholden to the apple ecosystem, and I want to work in Obsidian. While I used Drafts as my inbox to Obsidian, I pretty much ended up doing all my writing in Drafts because it was so convenient, and therefore missed out…
I've been using a Crab Broom (Ferris Sweep) 3x5_2 keyboard for almost a year as my daily driver. I really like the exaggerated finger arch and dropped fifth column placement for comfortable typing. After writing about the alternatives to the Zen , I kept looking at the Ferris Sweep. Having spent a lot of time using the Kyria and Atreus keyboards, the finger arch on the Corne felt kinda shallow. I…
A recent bout of a hacking cough gave me plenty of late nights to hack… and as a result this blog has a new architecture. 🎉 The Problems I had accumulated several problems that I wanted to solve: My blog repo had ballooned to 2GB, which meant checking it out on my phone to edit was tedious. I wanted to compose/think/write in my plaintext wiki, which means I can use nvim on desktop and Obsidian on…
# This is an RSS-only post. It's a secret! Read more about RSS Club . Last night amidst a hacking-cough hackathon… I pushed a version of this blog running on a completely new Tableau -based repo and a new architecture. I'm still writing up the whole rewrite and why, but if you loyal RSS-friends notice anything odd, please contact me ? 🙏
The absorb command will do a lot of this for you by identifying which downstream mutable commit each line or hunk of your current commit belong in and automatically squashing them down for you. I. Did. Not. Know. This. I have been using this today because I have a Claude Skill I'm building and a feature upon which I'm testing it. Using the jj new <feature-change> <skill-change> I can make this…
I realized recently that I really often end up committing a simple jj desc to reflect that I've just run a linter, updated a package… things like: bundle update nix flake update npm format You get the idea. I had opencode whip up a simple fish command that mimicks what ⌥-p already does: takes the current prompt line and wraps it in <prompt> %| less -R . If the current prompt is empty, it uses the…
Theological evaluation begins and ends with the sovereignty of God. A technology is more than a tool, more than a technique, more than a telos. It is all three, and all three must be asked together. The maker is an image-bearer under a mandate. The method is stewardship under a standard. The end is the glory of God and the flourishing of all He made. Starting from Augustine's twin cities serving…
This was a pretty wild year all 'round. Birth of a child, caught in a layoff, freelancing, working in a startup. Spiritual Life I've been keeping track of prayer requests this year. As of this writing I have recorded sixty-one specific answers to prayer this year. Praise the Lord for his provision! I added kneeling prayer once a day to my habits… targeting the time I'm usually most tired and prone…
When you’re going to the moon, you’re assigned a camera with a 60mm lens that gets strapped to your chest to document samples, experiments, and the lunar terrain. Both astronauts get their own, clearly labeled with a sticker on the side: “CDR” for commander and “LMP” for lunar module pilot, but they weren’t mutually exclusive, often being swapped throughout the mission based on what film they were…
I've been using a small USB-C lavalier microphone to enhance my daily audio calls. I'm a fan. Since I deleted my microphone and light off my desk to just use an iPhone , I've wondered if there was a small microphone system that could slightly upgrade my setup. I have seen the small fuzzy mics held by YouTube personalities, but they were just a little too expensive. After seeing the tags on David's…
My friend Scott was asking me for some healthy links to help replace doomscrolling, and I've been sending him a curated list of joyful RSS-friendly links, and I realized I should just put that somewhere. Previously I was generating my blogroll semi-regularly from a tag in my Feeds.opml , but I kind of missed the ability to introduce the source and point out some favorites, so now the /blogroll is…
Part of jj's whole deal is that it collapses many Git concepts (stashes, staging, fixups, in-progress rebases, conflicts) into a single unified model of working with history, which then lets you use the same tools to do all of those things. 👏👏👏 Extremely good explanation. I've been programming for a living for the past few months and using jj anywhere that doesn't use git-lfs and just loving…
Chris's talk has been out there for quite a bit, but I'm clearing out my Instapaper and rediscovered it. He argues that our rigor and formal methods must extend beyond the code and into the human systems that the code models: Software is both the artifact that produces the program and the running program in the real world. If we miss either of those, we will end up in a really confused place. And…
I love listening to people talk passionately about their life's work, and I had such a treat listening to Tyler Cowen's interview with David Robertson. The section that I found most interesting had David speaking on the non-verbal interactions between orchestra and conductor. One such gem was this: be there waiting when your team looks up. The funny thing is, every single individual in an…
I just finished up two days of Sloss Tech, mostly attending the Developer and Engineer track at the McWane Center. The BASE crew did a fantastic job facilitating the event, and as someone who entered the tech industry at Barcamp events long ago , I really enjoyed it. There was a strong emphasis on (surprise!) generative AI. While my previous opinions have not changed greatly, I felt both excited…
# This is an RSS-only post. It's a secret! Read more about RSS Club . While listening to Derek Sivers on Focused I was struck by two things: how much I owe to Sivers for some indieweb accomplishments and generally celebrating plaintext… and how jealous I am of his incredible sive.rs domain name. And now trave.rs is mine! I've wanted it for quite a long time, but up to this point there's been a…
Whose voice speaks to you the most? It should be the people closest to us, the ones we say we love the most. But it's not. Historically the voices that built our worldview, exposing us to new ideas and cementing patterns of thought, were the voices physically nearest to us. 1 While this physical limitation has been slowly eroding since the printing press, the shift in influence has accelerated…
I've been affected by a layoff at my previous employer, and I'm looking for new opportunities. I'm still processing the suddent deletion of half my brain, but I am confident that it's the right moment and I'm excited about what will come next. I'm contemplating what skillset in which I wish to invest in this new stage of my career: do I stay in UX/Product, or re-visit my software engineering…
I've been using git for about fifteen years. It's ingrained in my muscle memory. Why would I try anything else? Jujutsu is a new VCS built on-top of git. It's worth looking into if you… craft careful commits to form a good story because you know spelunking is hard. manage long-running dev branches, -rerere rebases, or octopus merges. are curious about what might come after git. just like neat…
It's nice to quickly set up your workspace. When coding, I am using sesh for this in tmux. Years ago, I worked in advertising. In those days, it was common to have six to ten projects "open" at once—two in active development but others in a constant stream of small post-launch tweaks. To keep things organized, I had a little bash script called tspace . I'm fairly certain Tom wrote it, but it used…
I rewrote my dotfiles config again! 🤷 I had been feeling some friction: my folder/file organization smelled bad. There was a bunch of ../.././config… style paths that felt gross. I had files in folders by themselves like nvim/default.nix that made it hard to file find and was weird. Most importantly, I didn't really feel like I understood how it actually worked. @mitchellh is very smart. I found…
Just as Sherlock concludes his insightful first analysis of the crime scene, the hapless Inspector Lestrade comes puffing up, right on schedule, but too late. Sherlock turns away disdainfully, moving on to the next problem. Lestrade now faces spending the next hours re-discovering what took Sherlock a few minutes to discern. 1 This is all very funny and plays to Sherlock's vanity, but Lestrade has…
I've wanted to use my keyboards outside for a little bit. The seed of the idea was struggling to work with my mobile office in a "workspace" at an airbnb with only a couple inches of countertop at a very uncomfy height. What if I could just bring my desk with me? I experimented with just buying a laptop/projector tray and sticking it on a lightstand I had lying around. Very wobbly. I eventually…
The permanent foundations for a bridge are molded by impermanent forms. Plywood and other flexible formwork creates shapes in which the concrete hardens. No wise worker over-optimizes their forms: Formwork is created for the pour then discarded. The formwork and the concrete pour both require skills and craft. Both are connected to the final bridge. therpf.com 1 is a community obsessed with the…
Last month Jesse texted me: Jesse Have you tried Raycast Focus yet? Pretty neat. Me I have not yet Sheesh That's my headspace idea, only maybe better After invoking the mode Raycast Focus provides a lovely little timer with your stated goal and uses Screentime to block apps and websites in every browser. Look how elegant that is! It's almost exactly what I built as Hammerspoon Headspace . only…
I wanted a calm device to reduce my screentime. A "calm device" for me means minimal notifications, no hyper stimulant applications, and even no browser. Simply reading and writing. While I prefer Olivetree for study, I have been using Youversion with my small group to do a read-through-in-a-year plan. Being able to scroll with the physical hardware buttons on a device with no other notifications…
# This is an RSS-only post. It's a secret! Read more about RSS Club . Thanks to Matt's post, I think I've finally got webmentions automated, which is lovely. Thanks Matt! This blog's comments are powered by Webmentions - steele.blue
While researching a trip, I came across a devious strategy: Thieves sometimes put up a sign in english that reads "Beware of Pickpockets," then they wait. English-speaking tourists read the sign and invariably place their hand on their most expensive possession. Having found the most valuable target, the thieves make the snatch. When something precious to us is threatened we impulsively check on…
For the past month, and through the last quarterly review and planning of 2025, I've been using Obsidian Tasks instead of my trusty Things.app, and I am very happy. Obsidian Tasks lets me manage my tasks in the context of my work. It lets me fully customize how and where tasks are stored and presented, allowing for flexible and focused workflows. It's also very nerdy. I was hard pressed to choose…
# This is an RSS-only post. It's a secret! Read more about RSS Club . Recently someone at work said "people around here use the ellipsis a lot." (I smiled, and nodded, knowing that that almost certainly meant me.) Then they added… "and to me an ellipsis always means stress and anger." I was horrified. I've used an ellipsis… (steps away to count using rg and vim) 1,317 times on my blog. Have I been…
Night Driving by Chad Bird Chad reflects on his own journey through sin and exile, how he previously upheld a standard of perfection through choosy reading of the OT, and how he learned to see God at the center of redemption, not his own repentance or penance. This honestly heartbreaking and uplifting personal story was one of the books the Lord used in my heart this year to help me understand…
The theme going into 2024 was "Own Up." In 2023 "Wake Up" was part of revealing some areas that needed improving, and Own Up represented taking ownership of that and being intentional. It's largely guided my headspace and has been helpful. Spiritual Life While this is always an area I feel I could improve, the real story is not what I have done, but what God is doing in me. Through a series of…
Like a favorite jacket that no longer fits just right, I've realized that my current task management system no longer serves me well. A personal system should change with you. While I sadly am not skilled enough to rescue my favorite jacket, I can adjust my productivity system to serve my needs. I've been holding out for a while, ignoring some of the signs. It was scary to change something that's…
I have been stuck for… years? I want to have a single git repository that's both where I think and emits content out to this blog. @kepano demoed his incredibly similar process just this week, and it makes me envious: a quick demo of how I edit my website with Obsidian 1.8 write in @obsdmd → auto-build jekyll → preview local site in web viewer tab → push to github → auto-deploy to live site I've…
# This is an RSS-only post. It's a secret! Read more about RSS Club . People keep bashing the Apple Intelligence ads… for somewhat good reason. They are a noted departure from the slick and trend-setting ads that have come before, from 1984 to the iPod silhouettes to Spike Jonze and FKA Twigs . Some might ask, "what is Apple thinking?" but they make total sense to me. From a historical perspective…
# This is an RSS-only post. It's a secret! Read more about RSS Club . I've been kinda stuck. I can see the final-state: a single git repository that stores my writing and hosts my blog's content, a home for all my words to live and grow, links to make sense, and for the act of writing and developing thought to live equally in harmony with my other commitments. It's beautiful, no? The transition…
TIL you can link directly to any string text on a webpage. I guess I saw Andy Mutaschak doing this in his Latticework demo , but I am pleased to see it's just part of spec. I highlight and quote parts of web pages a lot to build mention pages or recapture a thought, so I worked it into my hammerspoon-powered clipping program . Here's the commit: Github/evantravers/dotfiles . --…
I wish that there was an 5G, e-ink device, USB-C charging, decent battery life, and decent calling/ 5G hotspot. Well 2022-Evan , looks like you have your wish! Mudita Kompakt Mudita is teasing their new device: the Kompakt. USB-C charging, super simple OS, and can be used as an internet hotspot. The previous Mudita Pure was a lovely device but apparently a horrid phone. I'm going to be watching…
I've been rewriting my nvim config to align with the features I am enjoying in Helix : simple TS-aware movements and uniform LSP-actions. I haven't messed with my nvim config for quite a while… the last time I wrote about a plugin change was five years ago! Changes Basically four objectives: Update and replace plugins with TreeSitter and LSP aware versions. Change keybindings to match Helix where…
Have a weekly prompt to take screenshots of your work. Most of the digital record of my career is already gone. I'm old enough that the first things I ever made on a computer 1 were in Clarisworks on floppy disks. While I obviously can't open those anymore, I've lost much more. When I did the redesign post in 2020 this blog's software was old enough that it was non-trivial to "rewind" and take…
Ever faced the "should I make this whole card an <a> just because the focus or hover makes more sense?" Josh Comeau demos a cool technique using :has I've not seen yet. To solve this problem, I moved the focus outline to the parent container. [...] . bento-card : has ( button : focus-visible ) { outline : 2 px solid var ( --color-primary ) ; } /* Remove the default button focus…
I'm late to this, but just look!! Latticework’s main goal, then, is to enable fluid movement between these foraging and sensemaking stances. This looks like such neat solution to the "how can I highlight" and move back and forth between source and research. I love it. I feel very validated in my recommendation to keep your source document clean . I hope that Matthew and Andy continue this work,…