About Me

PBX My name is Paul Bissex, and e-scribe.com is my consulting business. I build web applications using as much open source software as possible. From September to June I teach web design and other important non-photographic professional skills to photographers. In the '90s I wrote technology commentary and reviews for magazines, newspapers, and web publications, including Wired, Salon.com, FamilyPC, the late lamented Web Review, and the Chicago Tribune. Feel free to email me.

Book

I'm co-author of "Python Web Development with Django", an excellent guide to my favorite web framework. Its strong points include an introduction to Python, and better coverage of Django 1.0 than nearly anybody else. Published by Addison-Wesley, it is available from Amazon and your favorite technical bookstore as well.

Colophon

This runs on Django, served by Apache and mod_python. The database is SQLite. The operating system is FreeBSD, on a VPS hosted at Johncompanies.com. Comment-spam protection by Akismet. Vintage topo imagery from the Maptech archive. The markup engine is Markdown.

Pile o'Tags

Stuff I Use

Akismet, del.icio.us, Django, dpaste.com, Emacs, FreeBSD, Freenode, jQuery, LaunchBar, MacPorts, Markdown, Mercurial, OS X, Postfix, Python, SQLite, Subversion, TextMate, Trac, Ubuntu Linux, wmii

Spam Report

At least 58965 pieces of comment spam killed since January 2008, mostly via Akismet.

LaunchBar 4.1 beta 1

LaunchBar bar

Version 4.1b1 of LaunchBar has been released, with a slew of new features. I like the new file manipulation commands:

Copy and Paste (Command-Shift-C): Transfers the current selection (e.g. the selected file path, postal address, URL, etc.) to the frontmost application with a single keystroke.
Copy File Contents (Command-Option-C): Copies the contents of the selected file to the clipboard. Works with most text and graphic file formats.
Copy and Paste File Contents (Command-Shift-Option-C). Useful for inserting text and graphic snippets in the currently edited document.
Open Folder Contents: Opening a folder with Control-Return opens all items inside this folder. Allows you to open multiple items at once with a single keystroke.

And Tiger dictionary lookup too. Nifty.

Tuesday, November 1st, 2005
os x