Shared posts

30 Jun 21:58

Why France is ditching tech giants Palantir and Microsoft

Tom Roche

informative about EU digital sovereignty (esp, though not entirely, France) vs US Big Tech (Palantir /and/ Microsoft), esp the 2018 US CLOUD Act

Both France and Germany are switching from US tech surveillance company, Palantir to French firm ChapsVision, citing a need for digital sovereignty amid security concerns over sensitive data being easily accessed by the US govt. France is also moving away from all Microsoft platforms, preferring to use software they have developed and can control. The push to divest from Microsoft was accelerated after the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor lost access to his Microsoft email account after the Trump administration sanctioned him for issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes.

  • Guest: Océane Herrero, reporter for POLITICO in Paris.
  • Producer: Catherine Zengerer
30 Jun 21:06

1049 - Trapped Between Borders feat. Ettingermentum (6/29/26)

Tom Roche

(almost) VERY EXCELLENT insight and humor, though you might wanna skip the opening just-amusing-bant and skip to (≈13:30 in the audio) the very-amusing analysis of recent US politics

Josh Ettingermentum is back to recap Zohran’s hostile takeover of the New York Democratic Party, with his three endorsed candidates cruising to victory. We talk about this new wave of left insurgency throughout the country, what it means for the sclerotic Democratic establishment and the stillborn Abundance movement, and what we make of Zohran’s time in office overall. Plus: John Fetterman fires shots at Chapo and Hasan. Find the Ettingermentum newsletter here: https://www.ettingermentum.news/ Get CHUNKS here: https://www.patreon.com/chunkstv
30 Jun 16:50

JFK: The Medical Evidence (AE253)

Tom Roche

excellent, very informative as usual

Aaron is joined by Dr. Gary Aguilar to discuss the JFK assassination medical evidence and its strange history.

Check out:

Max Holland Rescues the Warren Commission and the Nation

Warren Report: The Garrison Investigation’ (CSPAN debate between Aguilar and Holland)

Special thanks to:

·         Dana Chavarria, production

·         Casey Moore, graphics

·         Michelle Boley, animated intro

·         Mock Orange, music

29 Jun 22:14

P.O.V.

Tom Roche

SKIP! surprisingly consistently unoriginal sketch-comedy set, as in, every one

P.O.V. returns for a second series of sketches from the internet's best comedians. This week we hear a sports commentary for the green-fingered, a policeman who is very determined to tell you something, and a trailer for every true crime podcast ever.

Written and performed by Davina Bentley, Jake Bhardwaj, Kylie Brakeman, Stephen Buchanan, Nathan Caton, The Exploding Heads, Rachel Fairburn, Daniel Foxx, Matt Green, Kelechi Okafor, Elaine Owusu and Ed Night and Paddy Young.

Recorded at The Soundhouse Studios and Guilt Free Post, London; Maximum Fun, Los Angeles; and Sonido Studios, Clydebank.

Sound design ... Rich Evans at Synbox Post.

Producer ... Ed Morrish Executive producer ... Lyndsay Fenner

A Lead Mojo production for BBC Radio 4

28 Jun 19:35

Max Blumenthal: 'Iran Deal' Divides the U.S. & Triggers Panic in Israel

by Glenn Diesen
Tom Roche

Blumenthal excellent as usual

Max Blumenthal discusses how the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Iran is impacting American politics and creating shocks throughout Israel. Blumenthal is the editor-in-chief of The Grayzone, an award-winning journalist and the author of several books, including best-selling Republican Gomorrah, Goliath, The Fifty One Day War, and The Management of Savagery. He has produced print articles for an array of publications, many video reports, and several documentaries, including Killing Gaza. The Grayzone: https://thegrayzone.com/Mysterious pay-for-play antisemitism attacks now targeting Canada. Who benefits? - https://thegrayzone.com/2026/06/22/mysterious-antisemitism-attacks-targeting-canada/Follow Prof. Glenn Diesen: Substack: https://glenndiesen.substack.com/ X/Twitter: https://x.com/Glenn_DiesenPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/glenndiesen Support the research by Prof. Glenn Diesen: PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/glenndiesenBuy me a Coffee: buymeacoffee.com/gdiesengGo Fund Me: https://gofund.me/09ea012fBooks by Prof. Glenn Diesen: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B09FPQ4MDL

28 Jun 03:09

6/25/26: Trump Holds Housing Bill Hostage, Trump Freaks Over War Powers, NSPM-7 Crackdown, AI Hype Debate

Tom Roche

This part-2-of-2 of a Thursday /BP/ is a bit unusual (Ryan Grim subs for Saagar Enjeti) but otherwise usual in its focus on US political economy. 1st 3 segments are good but predictable:

1. KB+RG takedown Trump's latest political fail: ditching a bipartisan housing-affordability effort Trump once championed, in order to hold it hostage for his /SAVE Act/ election-rigging bull$hit

2. KB+RG takedown Senate Repubs latest political fail: supporting an anti-2ZIW (that's /2nd Zionist-Iran War/) war-powers resolution, but only until Trump yells at them, at which point said Repubs get back in their lane

3. Interview with Pisco Litty, who helps KB+RG takedown the latest evil collab between Texas Repub judges and Trump's DoJ to use NSPM-7-based claims to obtain bogus convictions and extreme sentences on anti-ICE protesters (the /Prairieland 9/). Note this /BP/ segment is quite like the [2nd post-headline segment of that morning's /DN!/](https://www.democracynow.org/2026/6/25/prairieland_nine)

The most interesting but is the final segment (from 36:57 to end of content @ 68:30), in which Cory Doctorow (who possibly-not-coincidentally was also interviewed in the [3rd/final segment of that morning's /DN!/](https://www.democracynow.org/2026/6/25/reverse_centaur_doctorow#transcript) --which is IMHO generally more clarifying) makes the (IMHO correct) case that the US economy is currently dominated by an AI bubble, in which a few firms are massively overvalued in financial markets as they flog products of limited utility to credulous fools who just want more control over their enterprises, esp more/harder labor discipline. Possibly the most interesting bit is the way that KB+RG seem waaay dug-in to their position that AI is "genuinely transformational" (but in a bad way--KB+RG's hype is doomer-hype) ... but is /also/ a bubble. Particularly laughable is Grim's contention (near end of content) that he believes the doomer-hype because ... [Pascal's wager](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_wager) :-) Whoever taught Grim undergraduate philosophy has a case to answer for academic malpractice.

Krystal and Ryan discuss Trump holds housing bill hostage, Trump screaming match over war powers, NSPM-7 crackdown on ICE protesters, debate on AI hype.

 

DSA: https://socialists.nyc/

Pisco: https://www.youtube.com/@PiscoLitty

Cory Doctorow: https://www.amazon.com/Reverse-Centaurs-Guide-Life-After/dp/037462156X 

 

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27 Jun 18:11

Irreal: Toggling Ghostel

by Irreal
Tom Roche

pullquote (minimally edited):
> The desired functionality was

> 1. If no instance of [the terminal emulator] is running, start one in the current window.
> 2. If there is already a ghostel instance running in another window, switch to it.
> 3. If there is a ghostel instance running in the current window, bury it.

> [Ridenour implemented](https://randyridenour.net/posts/2026-06-23-toggle-ghostel.html) that functionality with two functions.

Randy Ridenour is living proof that you don’t have to be a young nerd to master Emacs and Elisp. Ridenour, a professor of Philosophy, has shown repeatedly that it’s possible for a nontechnical person to become sufficiently proficient with Emacs and Elisp to bend the editor to his will and make it work as he needs it to.

Irreal has recounted some examples of Ridenour’s past use of Elisp to customize his work environment and now there’s a new one. Lately he decided to try ghostel for his terminal emulator. He was already using ghostty as his macOS terminal emulator so the change made sense.

The change worked out well and Ridenour was pleased with the result except for one thing. With his previous Emacs terminal emulator, eat, he was able to toggle the emulator on and off easily but it didn’t work with ghostel. Rather than look for another package to solve this, he decided to fix it himself.

The desired functionality was

  1. If no instance of ghostel is running, start one in the current window.
  2. If there is already a ghostel instance running in another window, switch to it.
  3. If there is a ghostel instance running in the current window, bury it.

Ridenour implemented that functionality with two functions. The first gets the active buffer of any running instance of ghostel or returns nil if there is none. The second function implements the three steps above in a straightforward way. The code is in his post and easy to understand so take a look if you have a similar need.

26 Jun 23:43

Dead Ringers: Ep2. Makerfield Maketh Man

Tom Roche

amusing, esp opening poem and DR's as-usual-amazing Musk ("the god of @ssholes") impersonation

The Dead Ringers team are back to train their vocal firepower on the week’s news with an armoury of impressive impressions. This week: Andy Andy Burnham Bright, Thomas Tuchel talks tactics, and Curious Cases considers a conundrum.

Starring Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Lewis Macleod, Duncan Wisbey and Jess Robinson.

Executive Producer: Pete Strauss Produced by Jon Holmes Production Co-ordinator: Giulia Lopes Mazzu

A BBC Studios Production.

25 Jun 18:14

1047 - Let’s Lose Lots of Money feat. Ed Zitron (6/22/26)

Tom Roche

Chaps+Zitron destroy Starmer, AI hype, Big Tech oligarchs (esp Sam Altman), and Anglophone neoliberalism

Chapo tech correspondent and AI skeptic Ed Zitron is back to mourn Our Keir, a good man struck down in his prime. What will the future hold for the UK, and are the writers foreshadowing 2029 in America? We then turn to the world of AI, where more and more companies are struggling to find an ROI on AI and OpenAI is burning unfathomable amounts of money. Plus: Elon Musk’s trillionaire status, the government banning AI models, and the cross-partisan desire to turn the clock back to 2014. Subscribe to Ed: wheresyoured.at  A discount link for 20$ off: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/oNV2MQLbgl  Get CHUNKS here: https://www.patreon.com/chunkstv
25 Jun 06:28

Radio War Nerd EP 614 — Iranian Kurdish Groups and the Iran War, feat. Kamal Chomani

by mail@yashalevine.com (Gary Brecher)
Tom Roche

This ep is not only informative, but over a broader range than its title (/Iranian Kurdish Groups and the [2nd Zionist-]Iran War/) suggests. Rather, RWN episode#=614 attempt to cover (in sorta-kinda order of presentation) over its ~81 min:

* a brief history of the IRI ethnic-minority policy c1979-2026
* a brief history of how the Zionist Empire (US+Israel+some Europeans) has used and discarded Kurdish groups from Syria to Iran
***** note this ep mostly intentionally ignores Turkiye (at one point, IIRC, Ames explicitly states this)
* Syrian Kurds vs Assad, Erdogan, Ahmed al-Qaeda (or whatever his name is this year :-)
* a brief survey of Kurdish politics across the region: parties, leaders, families, militias
* some speculation about IRI post-MoU as Zionist geopolitics flail

Co-hosts John Dolan & Mark Ames
24 Jun 03:12

212: Je Suis Feucht, with Blowback Podcast

Tom Roche

VERY EXCELLENT: very funny, plus some great history of Zionism and empire (and Twitter)

Matt and Daniel are joined by Noah Kulwin and Brendan James of the Blowback podcast to discuss the US-Israel relationship with regard to their new miniseries “No Daylight,” in addition to Iran, Trump, Netanyahu, Adam Louis-Klein, Itamar Ben-Gvir, Jesse Brown, Naftali Bennett, and of course Sean Feucht.

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23 Jun 19:37

Irreal: YouTube Radio Player

by Irreal
Tom Roche

pullquote (somewhat edited):
> [Álvaro Ramírez](https://xenodium.com/) sometimes has the urge to listen to YouTube radio channels and, being Ramírez, built [YTR player for Emacs](https://xenodium.com/ytr-youtube-radio-for-emacs) to do that. [He's experimenting] with its UI with the goal of integrating it into his [Emacs major mode for media](https://github.com/xenodium/ready-player)

As you all know by now, I’m not a Google fan and generally avoid using their products. The one exception is YouTube for videos. Apparently, YouTube also has a radio channel, which is a sort of music streaming service. I listen to my music offline so I’m not interested in steaming services and even if I were, I’d probably use Apple’s or maybe the Amazon service that I get for free as an Amazon Prime member.

Still, lots of people don’t share my antipathy to Google and at least occasionally like to stream music. One such person is Álvaro Ramírez who sometimes has the urge to listen to YouTube radio channels and, being Ramírez, built an Emacs player, ytr, to do that. As usual, he built ytr to scratch and itch and is using it to experiment with its UI with the long term goal of possibly integrating it into his music player, ready-player.

Ytr is still at an early stage of development and will probably change as Ramírez gets more experience with it. It’s not yet in MELPA, of course, but you can get a copy from its GitHub repository where you’ll find installation instructions as well as a command summary.

If you have any interest in playing YouTube radio from within Emacs, take a look at Ramírez’s post and the ytr GitHub repository.

Update [2026-06-24 Wed 10:08]: Álvaro Ramírez reached out to me offline with a clarification. What ytr actually does is download the audio track from any YouTube video. As Ramírez says, often the video portion is secondary to the audio. I’ve noticed that that’s especially true for older recordings where the video portion may consist simply of a picture of the album cover or the artist.

22 Jun 23:19

Olof Palme: The Last Swedish Statesman - Part 4 (AE246)

Tom Roche

excellent

We continue with Part 4 of our series on the Olof Palme assassination with the great and iconclastic scholar, Ola Tunander.

American Exception followers on Patreon, regardless of the tier, get first access to new episodes! Paid subscribers enjoy access to the entire library of the best historical analysis of deep events on the American Exception podcast. 

Subscribe to our Patreon at https://patreon.com/americanexception

Check out his series of articles on the Palme assassination, beginning here: “The Killing of PM Olof Palme: Part I (DRAFT).”

Ola is Research Professor Emeritus with the Peace Research Institute in Oslo. He earned his doctoral degree in 1989 with a thesis on US Maritime Strategy. Ola has written and edited 15 books on geopolitics, military strategy and European security, submarine warfare, and deception operations (aka psychological operations).

Subscribe to Ola’s Substack!

Special thanks to:

·         Dana Chavarria, production

·         Casey Moore, graphics

·         Michelle Boley, animated intro

·         Mock Orange, music

22 Jun 23:18

Olof Palme: The Last Swedish Statesman - Part 5 (AE249)

Tom Roche

excellent

 

We conclude (for now?) our series on the Olof Palme assassination with the great and iconoclastic scholar, Ola Tunander.

American Exception followers on Patreon, regardless of the tier, get first access to new episodes! Paid subscribers enjoy access to the entire library of the best historical analysis of deep events on the American Exception podcast. 

Subscribe to our Patreon at https://patreon.com/americanexception

Check out his series of articles on the Palme assassination, beginning here: “The Killing of PM Olof Palme: Part I (DRAFT).”

Ola is Research Professor Emeritus with the Peace Research Institute in Oslo. He earned his doctoral degree in 1989 with a thesis on US Maritime Strategy. Ola has written and edited 15 books on geopolitics, military strategy and European security, submarine warfare, and deception operations (aka psychological operations).

Subscribe to Ola’s Substack!

 

Special thanks to:

·         Dana Chavarria, production

·         Casey Moore, graphics

·         Michelle Boley, animated intro

·         Mock Orange, music

22 Jun 17:33

John Tothill Forgives Your Sins

Tom Roche

EXCELLENT standup: great crowdwork and quips

In a world of crossfit and kink-shaming, budgeting and meal prep, John Tothill presents the antidote to self-improvement.

In this episode John tackles the workplace - rejecting the nauseating barrage of self-betterment and productivity, in favour of your worst impulses and transgressions.

Listen, we all have regrets that make us wince to remember and consider booking a one-way ticket to Nepal. But do you know what the biggest killer in the UK is? That's right: shame. So come on in, darlings. Curl up with a lovely big pint of Negroni and share your naughtiest stories. John is here to celebrate your vices and absolve you of your sins. You have nothing to be ashamed of.

Producer: Sasha Bobak Executive Producer: Pete Strauss Co-Writer: Eve Delaney Production Coordintor: Asha Osborne-Grinter

A BBC Studios Production for Radio 4.

21 Jun 20:26

Yanis Varoufakis: U.S. Surrenders to Iran & Gulf States Must Adjust

by Glenn Diesen
Tom Roche

Varoufakis excellent as usual

Yanis Varoufakis is an economist, the former Finance Minister of Greece, and the author of numerous bestselling books. Varoufakis discusses the US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and why it is likely to be implemented, how the Gulf States must adjust, and why Europe's growing irrelevance cannot be reversed with military Keynsianism and war.Follow Prof. Glenn Diesen: Substack: https://glenndiesen.substack.com/ X/Twitter: https://x.com/Glenn_DiesenPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/glenndiesen Support the research by Prof. Glenn Diesen: PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/glenndiesenBuy me a Coffee: buymeacoffee.com/gdiesengGo Fund Me: https://gofund.me/09ea012fBooks by Prof. Glenn Diesen: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B09FPQ4MDL

21 Jun 06:23

The Israeli Exception (AE251)

Tom Roche

Aaron and Bryce excellently engaging and informative as usual

Aaron and Bryce discuss recent political developments, including some spectacular examples of tolerated Israeli criminality.

Check out Bryce Greene's Newsletter!

Special thanks to:

20 Jun 18:06

E253 - Human Prehistory and How Societies Rise and Fall w/ Patrick Wyman

Tom Roche

excellent

Subscribe now for all episodes and no ads.

Historian Patrick Wyman returns to the show to talk about the deep history of human societies and how they can inform the current moment. The group discusses new ways of studying prehistory, the origins of agriculture, climate adaptation, the Clovis people, the long Neolithic, early farming societies, states and security, the Bronze Age collapse, and more.

Listen to Patrick’s Past Livespodcast. 

And grab a copy of his new book Lost Worlds: How Humans Tried, Failed, Succeeded, and Built Our World.

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19 Jun 20:24

Dead Ringers: Ep1. Keir vs Kemi

Tom Roche

Dead Ringers start series#=27 excellently with their amusing-as-usual mix of impersonations (esp their trademarks Kemi Badenoch and Liz Truss) and skits. But this ep ends with a song! from the delightful duo of Nigel Farage and (a truly sinister) Rupert Lowe

The iconic impressions show returns to lampoon the week’s biggest headlines. This week World Cup fever, Government resignations and a Downing Street haunting keep the cast busy.

Starring Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Lewis Macleod, Duncan Wisbey and Jess Robinson.

Executive Producer: James Robinson Produced by Jon Holmes Production Co-ordinator: Giulia Lopes Mazzu

A BBC Studios Production

19 Jun 16:54

Interwar 15: Gunboat Diplomacy: Interwar USA in Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Costa Rica

Tom Roche

Justin and (mostly) Dave EXCELLENT as usual. Note that while the stated timeframe is Interwar (WW1-WW2), they properly chose to tell the stories of Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Costa Rica starting in 1821 (the [collapse of New Spain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_New_Spain#End_of_the_Viceroyalty_(1806%E2%80%931821)). Spatially, beyond their focus on US aggression in central America, D&J interject several Canadian parallels (including Canadian interventions)

A roundup of Interwar US imperialism in four Central American countries
19 Jun 04:03

1045 - Fight Night (6/15/26)

Tom Roche

VERY EXCELLENT amusement and analysis, one of the better Felix-and-Will-no-guests

Will and Felix are in person to celebrate two great victories this week: the IRGC and the New York Knicks. The two also review “UFC Freedom 250” on the White House lawn, with Will as our entry point into and Felix as our expert in the field of MMA. Plus: we also discuss Eric Trump’s brilliant plan to gamble on the fights.
18 Jun 17:43

John Mearsheimer & Sergey Karaganov: Nuclear Strike on Europe to Restore Deterrence

by Glenn Diesen
Tom Roche

Interesting discussion marred by Karaganov's bizarre ethnoessentialism. (And the usual shot at 'godless communism', but that's table-stakes for Russian nationalists these days.) It's definitely true (as Karaganov states) that Europeans and their diaspora have caused most of the evil in the world today, but IMHO it's because they've had a wildly-disproportionate share of global power over the past 500 years. Correcting (but definitely respectfully) John Dalberg-Acton, Roche's Law states that

* Power differentials (i.e. relative power) tend to corrupt, and
* Both the tendency to corrupt and the size of the induced corruption are non-linear in the size of the power differential

Good on Mearsheimer for calling Karaganov out on this (starting ≈89 min in the audio), and JM's apt comparison of SK's ethnoessentialism to contemporary European+Anglophone Russophobia.

John Mearsheimer & Sergey Karaganov discuss why Russia is under mounting pressure to restore its deterrence, which will likely escalate quickly to a nuclear strike on Europe. Mearsheimer and Karaganov agree that a nuclear strike would likely be successful to restore deterrence as the US would not respond. Prof. Karaganov is an Honorary Chairman of the Council on Foreign and Defense and was an advisor for Russia's political elites for decades. Prof. Karaganov wrote speeches for Brezhnev and advised Gorbachev, Yeltsin and Putin. Prof. Mearsheimer is the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor in the Political Science Department at the University of ChicagoFollow Prof. Glenn Diesen: Substack: https://glenndiesen.substack.com/ X/Twitter: https://x.com/Glenn_DiesenPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/glenndiesen Support the research by Prof. Glenn Diesen: PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/glenndiesenBuy me a Coffee: buymeacoffee.com/gdiesengGo Fund Me: https://gofund.me/09ea012fBooks by Prof. Glenn Diesen: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B09FPQ4MDL

17 Jun 22:20

Radio War Nerd EP 613 — UAE, US-Iran MOU & Emerging Post-War Order, feat. Andreas Krieg + Cyrus

by mail@yashalevine.com (Gary Brecher)
Tom Roche

E#613 not the greatest RWN, but better than I expected from Andreas Krieg--who, as Ames' intro correctly disclosed, is a UK deepstate contractor, and very Chatham-House-y. Ames+Cyrus (latter sub-ing for the status-undisclosed Dolan, and like Dolan mostly stays out of the way, except for short segment at end-of-audio) mostly uphold interrogatory standards, except for a few odd moments (e.g., when Krieg claims that Iran striking GCC hotels was war crimes /while admitting/ that the US had moved military personnel into said hotels).

Co-hosts John Dolan & Mark Ames
17 Jun 19:20

Democracy Now! 2026-06-17 Wednesday

Tom Roche

consistently excellent

Democracy Now! 2026-06-17 Wednesday

  • Headlines for June 17, 2026
  • "The Point Is to Spread Fear": DOJ Charges 15 with Conspiracy for Anti-ICE Protests in Minnesota
  • Has Trump Had Enough of Netanyahu? Israel Defies U.S., Vows to Continue War in Lebanon
  • "Journacide: The War on Truth." New Film Investigates Israel's Killing of Reporters in Lebanon

Download this show

17 Jun 17:32

Irreal: Ray On Diary

by Irreal
Tom Roche

pullquote (slightly edited):
> I recently started keeping a personal journal too and considered using [Emacs Diary](https://www.gnu.org.cach3.com/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Diary.html) — [I was, of course, going to use Emacs anyway] — but decided to simply use Org mode instead. I have an Org capture template to start a new entry — just like [Zeitler’s method](https://ray-on-emacs.blogspot.com/2026/06/emacs-carnival-diary-part-1.html) — but I can, of course, just bring up the journal Org file directly to see or edit anything.

BTW, can someone tell me what's up with the GNU manuals always 403ing? (which is why one must (as above) route requests through /cach3.com/)

Over at Ray on Emacs, Raymond Zeitler writes about the Emacs Diary for the June Emacs Carnival. The June topic is underappreciated Emacs built-ins and for Zeitler that’s Emacs Diary. He was a little disconcerted at first by being offered a blank screen for each entry. He wondered where his previous material went but he came to appreciate the fresh start that that blank buffer gave him. He goes on to describes some of the functions and capabilities of Diary.

I recently started keeping a personal journal too and considered using Diary—it was, of course, going to be written in Emacs in any event—but decided to simply use Org mode instead. I have an Org capture template to start a new entry—just like Zeitler’s method—but I can, of course, just bring up the journal Org file directly to see or edit anything.

I’ve found that this works well for me. I don’t write in my journal everyday, just when something worth recording happens, so I don’t care about things like when the sun rose or set, what the temperature was on that day; just what happened that I felt was worth remembering. Of course, if I did care about such things it would be easy to arrange to add them.

Or I could just use Diary. That’s the beauty of Emacs: you can make it do pretty much whatever you need it to and very often what you need is already there.

16 Jun 02:43

#722 - Negative Buzz

Tom Roche

better than I expected: amusing as usual, but surprisingly strong analytically

Across this podcast's long existence, we have attempted to give you a magisterial study of the art and politics of the 2000s. And no comprehensive study of that time would be complete without Jerry Seinfeld's BEE MOVIE (2007). So here, friends, is what happens when the worker bees of the world unite. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - http://patreon.com/michaelandus Check out the brand new Michael & Us online database and episode guide - https://michael-and-us.com/
16 Jun 01:06

Laura Tingle on why Israel isn't backing Trump's Iran peace deal

Tom Roche

Tingle EXCELLENT as usual (and rather Zionist-skeptic)

The terms of the peace deal between the United States and Iran included an immediate halt to fighting on all fronts, including in Lebanon; the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz; the lifting of sanctions on Iran; the unfreezing of Iranian funds; and a massive compensation scheme being set up for Iran. But Israel's Defence Minister, Israel Katz, says IDF security forces will remain in security zones in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza indefinitely, in defiance of the deal. 

  • Guest: Laura Tingle, ABC Global Affairs Editor
  • Producer: Jack Schmidt
15 Jun 20:43

The Many Wrongs Of Lord Christian Brighty

Tom Roche

only moderately amusing, S02E04 of /The Many Wrongs of Lord Christian Brighty/ is skippable, or at least on that edge. Presumably other(s) of [its episodes](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0022bsb/episodes/player) got it 'nominated for Best Radio Show at the Chortle Awards 2025' (whatever those are)

Brighty’s holiday in Bath is interrupted by Babs insisting he make amends to his sister, Flan, after he ended her engagement with the entrepreneurial industrialist Mr Poach. Unfortunately the plan to fix the wrong of meddling in his sister’s life, involves more meddling in his sister's life. Meanwhile Churley has to contend with making ‘arrangements’ for an unexpected boxing match.

Lord Christian Brighty used to be the most notorious rake of the Regency. But after a hazing ritual for a new chambermaid led to a self-inflicted cannonball injury, Brighty, compelled by the chambermaid in question - the uneducated but forthright Babigail – resolves to mend his ways. Accompanying him in his quest are Babs (elevated beyond her station to a chambermaid-cum-adviser role), and his butler, Mr Churlington (although Churley would actually prefer everything to stay exactly as it used to be).

Written by Amy Greaves & Christian Brighty

Cast: Lord Christian Brighty ….. Christian Brighty Babs ….. Jessica Knappett Churlington ….. Colin McFarlane Lady Flan Brighty ….. Jodie Mitchell Lavinia – a boxing trainer ….. Chiara Goldsmith Mr Poach – an industrialist ….. David Reed Amelia – a lady at the spa ….. Amy Greaves Pierce Egan – a boxing commentator – Jason Forbes Bob Gregson – a boxing pundit – Joz Norris

Script Editor ….. David Reed Sound & Recording ….. Sonica Studios Photographer ….. Will Hearle Producer ….. Ben Walker

A DLT Entertainment Production for BBC Radio 4

Christian Brighty and Amy Greaves’ viral sketches based on Bridgerton, Poldark and Jane Austen have catapulted them to viral stardom, securing Christian’s place as the internet’s answer to Mr Darcy and amassing 250 million views across TikTok and Instagram (@brightybuoy). Amy and Christian both have a deep love for the work of Jane Austen, traditional regency romance (not smut), and historical romance set in the regency (smut). The first series of The Many Wrongs of Lord Christian Brighty was nominated for Best Radio Show at the Chortle Awards 2025, and listed in The i's Best Radio Comedies Ever.

14 Jun 21:26

E252 - Hondurasgate and U.S. Power in Latin America w/ José Luis Granados Ceja

Tom Roche

VERY EXCELLENT, surprisingly comprehensive over the huge LatAm space

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Danny and Derek welcome to the show José Luis Granados Ceja, head of the Latin America desk at DropSite News, for a conversation about the Hondurasgate scandal and U.S. policy in Latin America. They talk about the leaked audio files of the scandal, Juan Orlando Hernandez’s pardon, Marco Rubio’s influence, Cuba, Israel’s role in the region, Honduras’s place in U.S. empire, the Latin American right, and more.

Read José’s piece “Hondurasgate: Key Leaked Audio Files, Revealing U.S. Intervention in Honduras, Found Authentic "With Moderate Confidence."

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14 Jun 20:34

Irreal: Dired Flat File Listings

by Irreal
Tom Roche

pullquote:
> If you frequently generate Dired listings and would prefer to deal with a flat list of the files without worrying about what directory they’re in, take a look at [Prot’s post](https://protesilaos.com/codelog/2026-06-13-emacs-flat-dired-for-regexp-since-days/) for an excellent solution.

It turns out that if you call Dired from Elisp, you can pass it a list of files to display. Protesilaos Stavrou (Prot) leveraged that fact to write a bit of Elisp that provides him with a flat list of files matching a regular expression in a specified directory structure. His post has the code so you can see how he did it but it’s mostly what you’d expect: after some setup, he calls directory-file-recursively to gather the list of files that he then passes on to Dired.

It’s a pretty nice system but after using it for a while, Prot realized that when he was dealing with large directories a bit of initial filtering of the most recently modified files would be useful. He solved that by adapting his previous code to do the filtering. He does it by taking the list of files from his first function and running them through seq-filter to get the files he’s interested in. Again, all the code is in his post but Prot says he won’t be updating the post so you should check out his configuration for the latest version.

If you frequently generate Dired listings and would prefer to deal with a flat list of the files without worrying about what directory they’re in, take a look at Prot’s post for an excellent solution.

Update [2026-06-15 Mon 10:06]: Fixed link to Prot’s post.