ometimes you will need to copy a vertical patch of data, e.g. one column in a table. First press C-<space> where you want to start copying. Then go to the end of the column and press C-x r k. To paste the column press C-x r y. (If you don't want to delete original column, just press C-_ there once to restore it and then press C-x r y at target.)
Set Caps-Lock to Control to avoid repetitive strain injury. Invoke M-x without the Alt key. Use incremental search for Navigation. Lose the UI (toolbar, scrollbar). Master regex: (defalias 'qrr 'query-replace-regexp)