My RSS Feeds

Table of Contents

A literate programming file for configuring elfeed in Emacs.

Configuring Elfeed

Let’s get our feeds from a collection of org mode files. By default, Doom configures rmh-elfeed-org-files to elfeed.org in org-directory, so that will be fine.

(use-package elfeed
  :config
  ;; While I would like to share the /status/ of my reads, so ...
  (setq elfeed-db-directory "~/dropbox/.elfeed/")

  ;; Let's limit what is initially displayed, and then expand it:
  (setq elfeed-search-filter "@6-months-ago +unread -science -funny")

  ;; While not an elfeed-specific variable, this make reading articles
  ;; with images easier:
  (setq pixel-scroll-precision-mode t)

  (defvar ha-elfeeds-title
    (concat (all-the-icons-faicon "rss") " Feed Reader"))

  (major-mode-hydra-define elfeed-search-mode
    (:title ha-elfeeds-title)
    ("Feeds"
     (("U" (elfeed-search-fetch 4) "Refresh Feeds")
      ("u" elfeed-update "Update Screen")
      ("f" elfeed-search-live-filter "Filter")
      ("F" elfeed-search-clear-filter "Clear Filter")
      ("X" elfeed-unjam "Unjam"))
     "Entry"
     (("r" elfeed-search-untag-all-unread "Mark read" :color pink)
      ("R" ha-elfeed-tag-unread "Mark read/refresh")
      ("y" elfeed-search-yank "Copy URL"))))

  (major-mode-hydra-define elfeed-show-mode
    (:title ha-elfeeds-title)
    ("Entry"
     (("n" elfeed-show-next "Next Entry" :color pink)
      ("p" elfeed-show-prev "Previous Entry" :color pink))
     "Read"
     (("b" elfeed-show-visit "Show in EWW")
      ("B" elfeed-show-visit-gui "Show in Browser")
      ("y" elfeed-show-yank "Copy URL"))
     "Navigation"
     (("o" link-hint-open-link "Open Link")
      ("q" bury-buffer "Close")
      ("Q" delete-window "Close Window")))))

(defun ha-elfeed-tag-unread ()
  (interactive)
  (elfeed-search-untag-all 'unread)
  (elfeed-search-update))

According to Ben Maughan and this Pragmatic Emacs essay, we could easily browse an article in the GUI browser instead of EWW with capital B:

(defun elfeed-show-visit-gui ()
  "Wrapper for elfeed-show-visit to use gui browser instead of eww"
  (interactive)
  (let ((browse-url-generic-program "/usr/bin/open"))
    (elfeed-show-visit t)))

And some global keys to display them in the apps menu:

(ha-leader "a f" `("feed reader" . ,(ha-app-perspective "elfeed" #'elfeed)))

The Feeds

The elfeed-org project configures elfeed to read the RSS feeds from an Org file … like this one!

(use-package elfeed-org
  :after elfeed
  :config
  (setq rmh-elfeed-org-files (list (f-join hamacs-source-dir "ha-feed-reader.org")))
  (elfeed-org))

The feeds that I would to read on Emacs involves longer essays, so I’m decided to trim the list down to avoid duplications with the RSS reader on my phone.

Software Development

Emacs

  • Planet Emacslife

    Currently the best Emacs weblog as an aggregator of all things Emacscy. Lots of duplication with what I already follow, so I may have trim things down.

  • Planet Emacsen

    Was the best overall Emacs weblog (in the traditional sense), but has since been replaced. I’ll leave it here for a bit.

  • Sacha Chua

    Her curated summary of the world of Emacs is quite helpful (to make sure I don’t miss something).

  • Mickey Petersen

    Wrote the wonderful book, Mastering Emacs.

  • With-Emacs

    Has had some good essays with a bent toward modern updates.

  • Emacs Horrors Blog

    Lovely peelings of the onion’s layers.

  • Álvaro Ramírez
  • Ben Maughan

    The Pragmatic Emacs blog.

  • Endless Parentheses

    Artur Malabarba’s blog mostly about Emacs.

  • Emacs Fu

    As stated here, a blog mostly dedicated to Emacs tips and tricks.

  • Emacs Redux

    Bozhidar Batsov’s Emacs-focused blog. While it hasn’t been updated in about a year (end of 2017), we’ll leave it here, as well as his newer, personally-focused blog.

  • Christopher Wellons

    The null program blog, has discussed technical aspects of Emacs, including the use of elfeed, which is my current favorite way to read my RSS feeds.

  • Sebastian Wiesner

    A personal blog of a Scala engineer that uses Emacs on MacOS.

  • John Kitchin Group
  • Org Mode Announcements
  • infin

    While just starting out, this blogger from China is off to a good start.

  • Marcin Borkowski

    The Emacs Polish professor and author of mbork.pl, and new book on intermediate Lisp programming.

  • Irreal

    Jon Sander’s blog mostly on Emacs.

  • (or emacs
  • Tassilo Horn

    A self-proclaimed Emacs addict and Free Software enthusiast from Koblenz, Germany. While the blog is currently short, I have high hopes.

  • Emacs TIL

    An Emacs-learning blog by Junji Zhi.

  • (car nil)

    Abhinav Tushar’s blog is heavily Emacs and org-focused.

  • Emacs Cat

    A new blog about Emacs.

  • Tyler Dodge

    Intrigued with Emacs org-assistant project, but a good Emacs blog.

Programming

  • David Nolen

    While he hasn’t updated the blog in a while, keep an eye on his Github projects.

  • Carin Meyer

    Thoughtful and inspirational, her creative projects are always fun to explore.

  • Mike Fogus

    Send More Paramedics blog. Wrote Functional JavaScript and, of course, The Joy of Clojure.

  • Bozhidar Batsov

    Most prolific engineer, who ran Emacs Redux, is the principal mind behind the wonderful Cider project.

  • Howard Lewis Ship

    Personal friend who often has fun interesting projects to keep tabs.

  • C’est la Z

    Mike Zamansky’s posts on Emacs and computer education.

Role Playing Games

Started playing D&D when I was twelve, and while it has a special place in my heart, I actually am

Rascal News

The alternative, independent news about Indie and other RPGs.

Sly Flourish

The Lazy DM is D&D-focused.

DM David

Generally good DMing advice.

The Soloist

A nice blog about Solo RPGs.

Solo Tabletop Blog

From the maker of the GEmulator.

Misc

The Long Now

Always been fascinated with the ideas associated with making a 10,000 year clock.

Wait, But Why?

Has some good, thought-provoking essays.