D2 Layouts

D2 allows me to generate diagrams from the same source file using different layouts It comes with two built-in layout engines : Dagre is the default : Other one is ELK This needs to be specified explicitly as : D2_LAYOUT=elk d2 in.d2 out.svg and here is the output

D2 : A modern diagram scripting language

I came across D2 on Mastodon I think. (Like most things. But I can’t find the original toot 🤷‍♂) I used mermaid.js earlier. In fact, I also added mermaid support for this theme. Benefit of Mermaid is that since it is generated by mermaid.js, I don’t need to save and include the image in my blog (and worry about mismatched filename and/or path, resulting into broken image.) On the other hand, not many hugo themes support mermaid, but link to an image is supported by hugo and every other SSG.

Beggar

Yesterday, after I came out of a shop, some elderly woman was begging. Near that shop, it is not uncommon. She did not look like a beggar. Yet she was. At first, I gave her Rs. 50 - which maybe more than what people usually give beggars (I think). I was surprised that she said I don’t want money, I want rice and daal (lentils) instead. I was positively surprised. Not many beggars ask for things.

Insert timestamp anywhere using Espanso

I wrote about Espanso long time ago. I have been using Espanso since then. Recently, I had a need to add timestamp in a note. Espanso already comes with a trigger to insert date via :date. As the name suggest, it just inserts the date. So I added the following to the match/base.yml file. - trigger: ":timestamp" replace: "{{timestamp}}" vars: - name: timestamp type: date params: format: "%b %d, %Y %I:%M%p" As might be obvious, now I get timestamp just by typing :timestamp anywhere.

→ Stashpad ∞

I came across stashpad during this Stackoverflow podcast.

What caught my attention was when Cara mentioned

Everyone has untitled.txt open that they use every day

That is me!! 😆

It is really easy. Cmd + N to create a new empty file, and start typing. I use BBEdit for this. I’ve seen my colleagues use Sublime text I have also used Sublime text for exactly that and only that purpose for a long time, since it saves these unnamed files across reboots/application restarts. One less headache. I don’t have to think of what to name the file, where to save it, format (this is easy, I’ll just save it as .txt or .md)

Later I came across BBEdit, which does exactly same, so I switched. My workflow did not change.

Stashpad promises to make the same workflow better.

I have just installed it, and haven’t used it yet.

Ironically, I started typing my thoughts about Stashpad as a Stashpad note, with intention that I’ll copy this into a blog post “later”. But decided that why not directly write it as a blog ? 😆

How to find people to follow on Mastodon

After creating an account on Mastodon, next question was how to find people to follow ? 🤔 While mastodon has existed for a while, only recently it started getting attention. So lot of people you follow are not on Mastodon. Yet. I followed a couple of approaches. First, I searched for topics I am interested in. I started with Emacs and Ruby. Found a few accounts to follow. Then I literally searched find tweeple of mastodon.

Understanding Mastodon

After Elon Musk’s takeover, there has been a lot of discussion about leaving twitter. TBH, I am not that active on twitter, and I am not sure if charging for blue tick affects me 😄 Yet, I have been burnt in past by having my data lost, because it was on someone else’s platform. I do not consider my tweets that valuable, yet it seems I should have a back up, just in case.