Episode
Joshua Blais: Back Pain in Tech, Guix, Emacs, 34-Keys, Going Offline
- Published
- Jun 19, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 7669
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://rss.com/podcasts/linkarzu/2907989
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Summary
Joshua Blais is back on the podcast, and this episode goes all over the place: Guix, Nix breaking, distro hopping, Emacs, Neovim, 34-key keyboards, home row mods, back pain, ADHD, Adderall, phone addiction, online presence, AI, spirituality, gratitude, community, and making money on YouTube. We start with Linux and editor talk, including why Nix broke, what Guix is, why Joshua uses Emacs, whether he might go back to Neovim, and the difference between Doom Emacs and vanilla Emacs. Then we get into the ergonomic side of tech: back problems, chairs, keyboard placement, Colemak, concavity, 34 keys, where Shift goes on a tiny keyboard, ZMK, QMK, switches, and how keyboard choices affect your body. The second half gets more personal. We talk about substance abuse, Adderall, the ADHD trend, putting your phone away, whether kids should have phones or tablets, trying to build an online presence while also wanting to go offline, monetizing YouTube, having a community, IRC, networking, AI, spirituality, gratitude, and whether the Luke Smith path is the right path. Video: https://youtu.be/9ziLQK_kmKY What's the best way to support me? https://linkarzu.com/about/#youre-a-fraud-why-do-you-ask-for-money-isnt-youtube-ads-enough Timeline: 00:00:00 Intro 00:00:00 Highlights 00:03:17 Nix: the unbreakable OS broke 00:05:15 What is GUIX? 00:06:06 Topics and who is who in the thumbnail 00:07:23 The podcast has its own youtube channel now 00:08:24 Distro hopping and GUIX 00:18:10 Plans on going from Emacs to Neovim (again)? 00:21:15 Doom emacs vs vanilla emacs 00:26:03 Back problems in the tech community 00:35:50 Yoga balls? Herman Miller chairs are garbage 00:37:50 How do you sleep, you like to be hugged or be the hugger? 00:40:40 Back problems aggravated by your keyboard, colemak? 00:47:24…