Re: How to get rid of *GNU Emacs* buffer on start-up?

[Xah Lee <xah@xahlee.org>]

On Sep 22, 7:50 am, "Lennart Borgman (gmail)"
<lennart.borg...@gmail.com> wrote:
> XahLeewrote:
> > On Sep 22, 5:16 am, "Lennart Borgman (gmail)"
> >>Xah, it is good that you try to help people with this, but why don't you
> >>  mention sticky keys:
>
> >>  http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/StickyModifiers
>
> > Gosh, in every thread that relates to keybinding, you post about
> > sticky keys, as if insisting that it is the ultimate solution. Kinda
> > getting annoying! =(^o^)=
>
> > (and i was shocked that in a discussion with you about a month or 2
> > ago here, despite all your enthus about emacs keybinding as done in
> > your EmacsW32, you have no familiarity on how keyboard shorcuts on the
> > Mac is like)
>
> Maybe I should wear a warning flag for all my ignorances then ... ;-)
>
> > ... alright, i'm adding the sticky suggestion here:
> >http://xahlee.org/emacs/emacs_pinky.html
>
> > Thanks for the suggestion.
>
> Thanks, that was what I wanted.
>
> > (should show up later today... my web server having some problem i
> > think)
>
> >> On the bottom of that page is also a link to Alex Schröder's comment
> >> about physical fitness and RSI. I very much agree with Alex conclusion.
>
> > One major thing is that he adopted the Kinesis keyboard.
>
> This is what Alex has written there:
>
>   RepeatedStrainInjury – saw a doctor, started physiotherapy on
>   2002-02-05. I bought a Kinesis keyboard. I used little programs that
>   forced me to take a lot of breaks. It didn’t help.
>
> Note that the Kinesis keyboard and the other things did not help (or
> perhaps was not enough) for Alex! He continues
>
>   I stopped therapy
>   2002-10-21 and decided to work less, get up more often, started
>   practicing Aikido, and no longer work in long shifts. That helped.
>
> More psyical exercise, less sitting computer work -- that was what Alex
> believed helped.
>
> And that is what I think is the right way to avoid problems.

of course, the best way to stop Repeated Strain Injury is to stop or
lessen the activity that caused it. This applies to typing, tennis
elbow, guitar fingers, piano wrist, for examples.

however, as a advice or solution, that is really not a solution. You
know how there's a story about Gordian Knot. The juice of story goes,
whoever manages to untie the knot would become the king, and there
comes this joe who did it by simply cutting it with his sword, and he
became the king.

Logically, that's called cheating.

In a similar way, when we discuss solutions to keyboard typing induced
RSI, the implicit premise is that we still need to type, or that we
cannot afford to type less. Whoever solves this problem will become
the king. Then, Xah Lee says: “just stop typing!”. And whoa, he solved
a century old problem for all programers.

> We are simply not made for computers (and I wonder if computers are
> really made for us ...).

just for the sake of debate... note that nor are we made to read
written texts, or even holding the pen.

of course, you are making a lose remark, giving a sense that typing or
keyboard is a artificial activity of this century, not something more
natural such as walking, talking, or sitting as we human animals do
for thousands of years. However, what i'm pointing out is that, this
point of view is not necessarly useful when examed critically. To wit,
reading written language in printed books or onscreen, or wielding and
writing with pen, are not natural activities. Nor are using
chopsticks, driving a car. The gist is that, thru technology, may it
be as ancient as chopsticks or operating a abacus, to writing with
ball-point-pen, to today's such as typing on computer keyboard or
using a mouse, are simply part of the activity we have adapted thru
inevitable technological advances in society. The un-naturalness in
these activities is a matter of degree, not something black and white.

in hunter-gathering age, running, shooting with bows and arrows, are
natural activity. When we advanced to agricultural society, it is a
form of un-naturalness. When we advanced into building concrete
houses, massive political organization of kings and armies, it's more
un-natural. In today's info age, we see these past un-naturalness that
requires physical exertion as rather natural, but actually it's just a
matter of degree. Perhaps in next 100 years where computer-implants
and mechanical limbs are popular, then perhaps computer keyboard
typing of today would be seen as natural.

  Xah
∑ http://xahlee.org/

☄