This makes me weirdly happy to see on hacker news. :)
Actual notation was the reason I got deep into LaTeX during my undergrad degree (actuarial science). I don't recall the library I used at the time, but if I were to re-do it today, I'd use this one: https://vigou3.gitlab.io/actuarialsymbol/. Vincent Goulet (from Laval University in Quebec) has done a lot to bring actuaries into open source and free software.
Once you internalize the notation (you have to for actuarial exams), it's actually quite powerful. Even though I have not practised in half a decade, I still am able to read 90% of the symbols and get the underlying mathematical formula.
I used Linux (XPS15) at work for a 3 month period (Pop_OS!), mostly because I really enjoy using Emacs (and the performance on stock Windows is lacklustre). With the exception of bluetooth, which is absolutely tragic on Linux (I have issues with bluetooth everywhere, but this is next level), 40% of my job was actually very good using that computer.
On the flip side, my job uses Office and Teams quite extensively, and the browser experience is subpar. OneDrive sync is also spotty (InSync works ok, but it's not "set and forget" at least for my use-case). Everything works, but it's less easy than on macOS or Windows, so you have the added cognitive load. I ended up having a VM with Windows when I really need it. It got ridiculous when I needed to join Teams on my phone and my laptop to get sound and share my screen.
On top of that, Linux works very well for the fun work. I don't especially like doing PowerPoint decks or blazing through emails, but because the tools are less friendly, I end up spending more time doing stuff I don't enjoy doing. It means that my productivity gets lower. I miss i3, the familiar command line, all the goodies I got to discover and enjoy on my "play" machine, but the 60% remaining got more tedious.
I ended up moving back to a macbook air (which is less powerful than my Dell) because of the "lack of configuration" to get it to somewhere where I feel "peak productive". Some stuff at work I just want to get "done", and ultimately Linux (or the lack of good Linux compatibility with some of the tools my workplace mandates) went in the way.
I used WSL1 a little while back. It was nice, but it was another thing to get setup which I am not familiar with. I'll get windows back on the XPS and try, maybe it'll strike the right balance.
I think it's related to the fact that emacs has multiple (very) small files and short-lived processes, which does not work well/fast on Windows. For a while, I ran Xubuntu in a VM just to use emacs, because the performance on my Surface book 2 was unacceptable.
I ended up going in the other direction: kept emacs, got mostly rid of windows (I have it in a VM for the odd occasion where I need to use a windows-specific program. The fact that my company is flexible on the work OS is a huge bonus for me.
I worked in insurance for approximately 5 years, and had a foray in reinsurance for 3. To this day, I find this to be an amazingly complex and interesting industry from an cash-flow perspective.
Insurance is also a weird product from a consumer stand-point: for most people (at least in Canada) there is little to no difference between company offering. If you take P&C, there is a lot of competition for pricing, and a lot of the "end-stream" innovation is about containing costs (fraud, company-owned repair shops, avoiding litigation). Loss ratio is probably the word I heard the most from my actuarial friends.
P&C and group insurance, since everything is renewed every year, see a lot more disruption and effervescence in the market. It's harder to disrupt life insurance when you're on the hook for 10, 20 or even 70 years. I think that participating life was a game changer, and even then, its popularity is really tied to the market. There is a lot of research being done as well to better assess risk without being invasive (fluids, extensive questionnaires, etc.). But when you're on the hook for a long period of time, your mistakes along the way tend to stay for a long time. And going under is -- I think -- worse than any other industry. You pay premiums to insurance companies because you trust they'll be alive in the future!
Speaking of loss ratio, most companies are also now heavy towards automation, again to reduce costs. I know this has been over-played elsewhere in the industry, but here a lot of the key-players are massive and slow moving, and at their scale, little movement can mean a lot of change.
This is a great read. I am especially happy that they are not asking for an email to download the report. I understand why some companies are doing this, but I went from web page to reading with no friction.
I went a little overboard with fountain pen ink a few years back and stopped using fountain pens until recently. I'm left handed, but my wrist placement (underhanded) doesn't cause any problems with ink smear. I found that using them for notes and summaries "slows me down" and I process information better. YMMV.
I use the Herbin ballpoint for quick notes and I really like it. For longer sessions, I'll whip up a Pilot Vanishing Point as I find that the added flex causes less fatigue. I also ordered Yookers felt tip pens that takes FP ink (https://yookers-shop.com/). I love the Sharpie pens, so if they feel the same, I might just hoard them and slowly empty my ink collection.
I wish that MyFonts has a better way to "test-drive" the font. When writing some small snippets of code, I wansn't exactly sure if it would work well.
Ended up purchasing it, and I must say, it's really fun to use! I find that it makes it easier to go from "focus mode" to "overview mode": it's very readable, but since it looks less blocky than most monospace fonts, I find it easier to navigate larger blocks of code.
I might not use it all the time, but this will keep me smiling for a while!
« The technology used to transmit direct current is not the most common. However, it can be advantageous for isolating alternating-current systems or controlling the quantity of electricity transmitted. Hydro-Québec has a direct-current line (which goes from the Baie-James region to Sandy Pond, near Boston) as well as many direct-current interconnections with neighboring systems. »
Worg [1] is IMHO clearly the best place to start (and finish!). There is a lot of stuff there, and I don't think I'm even 10% done. (I still haven't looked at the calendar, tried the to-do list and wasn't convinced, etc.)
At first, comparing it to Markdown (markup-wise) was very helpful. I keep this page ( http://orgmode.org/manual/Markup.html ) handy and write my blog posts in Org. (This is why I found babel to be invaluable : I don't have to keep my code separate from my post, which is one hassle less for quick demonstrations).
Right now, my strategy is a little bit like this : the moment I think something would require some writing, I quickly check what org-mode has to offer. The learning might be slower, but I don't get bored this way.
Learning to embrace org was a long and arid journey (it can do so much you quickly get lost in the process). Babel was the first extension I really enjoyed to use from day 1. It is what I expected from a literate programming tool.
I've never much used IPython but I heard a lot of praise about it. I guess it's the perfect timing to jump in.
Are you planning on adding to the languages' page? [1]
" Interestingly, the blog post also includes details on testing that the company has done with various other Linux distros on the XPS-13, including Fedora and Debian. [...] this time around Dell has provided quick run-downs on how to get the XPS-13 working with a few alternate distros—including recommendations for kernel choices and BIOS revisions to load. "
I'm really happy Dell decided to continue down this route. They make good hardware (I love my XPS12) and their Linux support is slowly becomming best-in-class.
That's a coincidence : I just bought an Arc Notebook[1] from Staples with the express will to try this (I really like to be able to rearrange pages). So far (a few weeks), it's going very well. I tweaked the process to my taste but the idea remains the same.
I really wanted to implement my calendar and todo-workflow on my smartphone. The idea of having everything synced everywhere and to be able to "do" stuff everywhere was really compelling. A few months later, I'm back to paper and pen because the feeling and the level of control is so much better when I write.
Another thing I realized is that I'm a doodler. My to-do lists are messy, filled with small drawings but I still understand everything. Fitting them into a computerized list feels like trying to insert a square peg into a round hole.
I know that my journal won't scale easily, but I can't imagine being way busier than I'm now for a little while.