In my last posting I shared a script I put together to use with the shortcut application Quicksilver to quickly create To-do items in iCal. I am now using this all the time. I have separate scripts, based on the same which create a medium priority “READ: ” to-do for things I want to put on my reading to-do list, a “LOOKUP: ” medium priority script to remind myself of things I want to look up at some point (assigned to a different color calendar), and a high priority to-do script in its own iCal calendar.
Now, what if I’m away from home, am without my laptop computer, but have access to a nearby terminal with an internet connection, and I want to create to-dos for myself. I synch iCal with my Palm pilot so I could easily write down the to-do directly into my Palm. However, Palms are still not fun to use when you have a lot to write down. Today, I was in the Fung library reading some Chinese historical journals and wanted to remind myself to look up a few things I found there and come back and read some articles I didn’t have time for today. There were internet terminals all over the place so instead of entering the titles (in Chinese) on the Palm, which is a pain and time consuming, I emailed myself some email messages with the subject “LOOKUP: ” or “READ: ” and then what I wanted to lookup/read. In the body of the email I put more information, such as a URL or notes to myself. I decided that tonight when I came home I would hack up an applescript that used Apple’s mail filter to automatically find those messages as they arrived in my inbox, create the appropriate to-do in iCal (like the Quicksilver script) with the subject line of the email, put the body of the email into the todo’s notes, and then move the message into an archived folder. The results are below.
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While waiting for a plane here at the airport I got bored and decided to make a little Applescript for Quicksilver. For those of you who don’t already use Quicksilver and use a Macintosh computer, I recommend it as a way of significantly increasing your productivity. It is hard to explain what it is but it acts like a launcher and provides easy ways to give shortcut commands for all sorts of tasks.
My simple goal was this: I want to be able to add a “To-Do” item to iCal very quickly. I don’t want to have to switch to iCal, press Command-K, then type in my summary (sometimes this is slow in iCal and the focus doesn’t always jump to the new item correctly, I find), and then choose “High Priority”
Instead I: a) Use my keyboard shortcut to activate Quicksilver b) Type “.” and the text for the To-do item, c) press “Tab” and start typing “todo” (the name of the script) d) press enter.
The number of steps may seem the same but it is all through the keyboard and iCal adds the to-do item in the background so I have found it to be very handy. The script adds the to-do item to the “Home” calendar to keep it simple. I may one day expand the script so you can first time a number, corresponding to the number of days until the to-do’s “due date” but I can’t be bothered.
You can download the script I wrote here. Full text of the script below:
UPDATE: There is a much more powerful script which can do much more for those who want a more advanced but more comprehensive solution. See this Hawk Wings entry for an explanation of Benjamin Harley’s new iCal action.
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I love curry. I love curry from many countries and in many colors and consistencies. However, I am a firm believer in the basic principle that curry must be spicy. I know that the Oxford English Dictionary describes curry as:
curry, n.2 A preparation of meat, fish, fruit, or vegetables, cooked with a quantity of bruised spices and turmeric, and used as a relish or flavouring, esp. for dishes composed of or served with rice.
but seriously, I think it is time for us to take a stand and reserve the use of the word for the spicy curries that truly deserve the name. One of the first to go should be what the Japanese call 甘口カレー, or sweet curry. It is simply shocking that this can decorate the shelves of grocery stores in Japan along side “moderately spicy” and “very spicy” curry blocks. “Not very spicy at all,” this I can accept, but “sweet” curry does violence to the word it modifies. Curry has to be more manly, more aggressive, it has to have bite! If anything it has to mean something slightly closer to another, now obsolete, use of the word curry also listed in the Oxford English Dictionary:
curry, currie, n.3 The portions of an animal slain in the chase that were given to the hounds; the cutting up and disembowelling of the game; transf. any prey thrown to the hounds to be torn in pieces, or seized and torn in pieces by wild beasts: see QUARRY.
You see, at least that has much more punch than “a quantity of bruised spices”!
Today I was reading in the Harvard-Yenching library with Sayaka. She abandoned studying for a time and with her headphones on watched Youtube movie clips of Downtown, her favorite pair of Osaka comedians. The silence of the library was disturbed by the occasional muffled chuckle emerging from her side of the table. After we left the library I asked her what was so funny. The Downtown clip she showed me was brilliant: Matsumoto Hitoshi basically laid down the law on this ridiculous concept of 甘口カレー. For those of you who understand Japanese, you can view the clip here: 甘口カレー Downtown Clip.
Tragically, however, like so much other extremely rare and otherwise completely unobtainable video content now or until recently available on Youtube, I doubt the link above will last long.
