Kim and Taylor had to take a little detour and visit Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo.

They’re having a great road trip! 🥳

Update from Taylor and Kim on the road to California. 🤣

Get a Blog

RibbitI’d like to challenge folks.

If you have an account on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Mastodon, insert your favorite service here you should have a blog.

Why?

Because all the stuff you pump into those services are kept as part of the service. It’s your content. At the very least you should consider having your own domain even if you choose to host it on a place like Micro.blog, Blogger, WordPress, or Tumblr to name a few.

Again, why?

Well, even if you decide to move off of one of those services you have access to your data and you own the domain. That means you could move hosts and/or hosting services and maintain the links of all your old content.

I’m currently paying $5/month for a Micro.blog account and it’s so worth it. Micro.blog posts everything as static HTML which means all of my posts are easy to move. It’s just text!

It looks like a deer visited us last night. Yesterday the green stuff in the middle of the picture was a day lilly with a bunch of flowers on it. 😂

We just got back from BBQ and fireworks with our kids and grandkids. Had a lot of fun. 🌭🎇

Now I’m on the porch, having a beer, listening to the critters and watching fire flies. 🍺

Oh, and the temperature is perfect with no noticeable humidity. 🌡

A perfect day. 👌

Freedom

There are plenty of wonderful people in states like Florida but their leadership is pathetic, same with Texas.

Perhaps Democrats need to migrate into those states to flip the vote instead of luring folks out. 🤔

God’s Plan?

Here we go, again, back to the Constitution of the United States. Also, I’m not a lawyer, but I can read and digest the written word.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

The very first sentence says the United States cannot have an official religion. That’s a good thing. It means we can co-exist with Jews, Muslims, Christians, and Athesists.

I have no problem with folks practicing their religion but to justify the rape of a 10-year old as “God’s plan” is disgusting.

Serve God, love Jesus, spread love and compassion to the world like you’re called to do. Don’t force your belief down my throat or others.

Just an FYI: Jesus never mentions abortion in the Bible. If you want to go Old Testament on people with ”Thou shalt not kill” that’s fine. I wonder how many Christians have killed folks for adultery?

“If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death.” - Leviticus 20:10 NIV

I would imagine Christians aren’t lining up to murder their adulterous spouses. They may want to but we have laws, man’s law, that forbid it.

Given that context should we allow murder to be acceptable in the United States for adulterers? Of course not.

We cannot apply Christian beliefs to the law. Leave your beliefs at the door when it comes to governing and making law.

A woman’s right to choose what’s best for her is none of your business. Nose out.

Once again. This is not God’s plan. It’s a rapist impregnating a 10-year old girl!

On Gun Laws

What follows is my naive take on gun safety and laws around ownership.

The Second Amendment to the Constitution states:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Here’s when I start asking stupid questions, I’m not a lawyer, please be kind.

I’m thinking about states like California who have pretty strict laws around guns but the recent Supreme Court decision may make Californians less safe.

Could California, or any state with tight gun regulations, create a militia program that requires gun owners to register their firearms, be trained on their use at least once a year, buy insurance for each gun, pass any psychological tests, pass background checks and require a permit, or license, that shows they’re qualified to own and fire their guns? Folks in the military are required to demonstrate their proficiency with their weapons once a year.

Everyone likes to skip the “A well regulated Militia” bit. I typically hear ”the Second Amendment says I can have a gun.”

Sure, ok, it says you can have a gun as part of a well regulated militia. It doesn’t say what type of gun, or you can own as many as you’d like, or that you don’t need a license to own it, or that you can be untrained.

If it’s legally possible states that would like to restrict access to weapons of war should, if they can, make state sponsored militias, with strict rules around ownership. It seems a good first step to squashing mass killing incidents.

Another thing. Banning weapons of war for anything outside of the military seems the reasonable thing to do. Folks that say they need an AR-15 for hunting are full of crap. You don’t need one for hunting. Just admit that you have a thing for killing weapons, a machismo if you will, and get on with it. There are plenty of specialized weapons for hunting. You’re not going to hunt bird with an AR-15. You’d never hit anything in the air.

I was a hunter as a kid. I went to training to learn how to properly handle a shotgun for bird hunting and had to demonstrate I could be responsible with it. I’m pretty certain the training I received was backed by the NRA, but I’m not 100% sure.

I hope we can eliminate mass murder in America, soon.

Saturday Morning Coffee

FrapThe United States Supreme Court continues to be a complete mess whose only job appears to be dismantling prior rulings and dialing our nation back a century.

Golden Hill Software: “I am excited to announce that Unread 3.0 is available now from the App Store. Unread 3.0 adds Unread Cloud, a new syncing and article retrieval system for Unread.”

John Brayton, the person behind Golden Hill, is a friend and competitor. Unread is a beautiful, highly functional, and very stable application. With the addition of Unread Cloud, John has taken Unread to the next level.

Checkout the Golden Hill Blog for more details on Unread Cloud. There’s some great content up there.

Of course I’d encourage you to use Stream as well as Unread.😃

The New Yorker: “Regardless of this detail, Hutchinson’s testimony appeared to strengthen the criminal case against Trump. One of her revelations was that, a few days before January 6th, Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel, had explicitly warned that if Trump did go to Capitol Hill on January 6th he could potentially be implicated in the crimes of obstructing justice and obstructing the electoral count.”

Trump is a criminal. A poo spouting, lying, criminal, who’s a real threat to our democracy.

Swift.Org Developer Spotlight: “I learned Swift by porting Graphing Calculator’s core computer algebra system. It started as a learning exercise, then became a feasibility study. The pandemic played a role in that decision, as this became my pandemic shelter-in-place project. The refactoring could have been done in C++ and Objective-C++, but it would not have been as effective, nor as much fun.”

This is a really great read. The developer of Graphing Calculator walks us through his effort to port his old code base to a modern Swift/SwiftUI application, complete with AR features!

He also relays his SwiftUI experience.

“When SwiftUI works it is a nigh-magical delight, but when it behaves unexpectedly or when behavior outside the prescribed path is desired, it can be difficult to understand and work around its limitations.”

If you’re a developer take the time to read the post. I think you’ll enjoy it.

Some states in our Beautiful Union have become Gilead. It’s pathetic, dangerous, and extremely cruel.

Also, whoever impregnated a 10-year old should be put down like a rabid dog. Rape and incest are one of those things that makes me angry enough to commit murder because it robs the victim of their soul. It’s worse than murder in my opinion. They’re alive and dead at the same time.

The Podcast Index: “The Podcast Index is here to preserve, protect and extend the open, independent podcasting ecosystem.”

This is something I believe the podcast ecosystem needs. An open podcast directory. I’ve even written about such a thing

The big question for me is, will indie podcast apps make use of it? I’m thinking of Castro and Overcast in particular. Both run their own directories, as well as other backend services, but The Podcast Index makes me wonder if they could replace their directories with this?

I’m sure it comes down to a matter of trust and control. I know it would be really difficult to make such a bold decision.

SFist: “California is pushing for green energy and wants to avoid blackouts, but giving PG&E $75 million to handle radioactive waste at Diablo Canyon may sound like a deal with the devil.”

I love California but she has her problems. It’s crazy expensive to live in the Golden State and continued drought coupled with fire creates monstrous problems to cope with.

PG&E doesn’t have the best reputation. Their lack of line maintenance has caused numerous fires in California, including the massive Camp Fire that killed 84 people in 2018.

Apple announced and displayed a new version of CarPlay at WWDC 2022. Can they compete?

I also wonder if car manufacturers will have to pay Apple 30% of each car sale? 🥴

Tiny Apple Core

Pictures from around the house.

Flynn, just hanging out.

Roe v. Wade Overturned

A wonderful bouquet of flowers.I’m a husband, father, and grandfather. I vote each election and support candidates I believe will move the country forward.

As such, a Woman has the absolute right to make decisions about her own body. That includes abortion.

The GOP wants us to believe Women were put on this Earth to be baby making machines. It’s pathetic and disgusting.

I don’t know what I can do to fix the life altering overturning of Roe v. Wade, but I’m going to try.

Women deserve and require our help to fix this mess. It is my absolute duty as a husband, father, and grandfather to be part of the effort to fix it.

SCOTUS Blog: ”The Supreme Court on Friday eliminated the constitutional right to obtain an abortion, casting aside 49 years of precedent that began with Roe v. Wade.”

Vox: “Well, it’s done. Justice Samuel Alito has achieved a goal that he and his fellow Republicans have dreamed of for decades. Roe v. Wade is overruled. The constitutional right to an abortion no longer exists.”

Vanity Fair: ”In a shocking reversal of nearly 50 years of legal precedent, the conservative majority on the nation’s high court took a sledgehammer to reproductive rights in the United States, ending federal protections for abortion in a 6-3 vote and paving the way for states to outlaw the procedure.”

I love Daylillies, always have. At one point I had an entire flowerbed dedicated to numerous variations. As we’ve moved around, and we’ve move more than I’d like to admit, I’ve always had at least one.

I’ve been waiting on this beauty to pop for a year. 😍

Windows Desktop Apps?

Microsoft Cash Cow.I asked this on Twitter a few days back and got a few replies from folks I know to be died in the wool Windows Experts. The list of modern day Windows Desktop apps I got back was appallingly tiny. Yes, the apps listed are amazing examples of what can be done on Windows using the .Net platform, but where are the modern versions of Word, Excel, Pagemaker, Visio, or any of the Adobe Desktop Windows Apps? Why hasn’t someone stepped out of the shadows with richer applications built entirely on .Net with a modern look? Look, I’m an old Windows developer and I still care for, and believe in, the platform and rich desktop applications. Is the notion of building native, complex, rich, Windows apps lost or no longer worth the dedication and effort to do?

I changed direction in 2009 to focus on building iOS applications. I’m thankful to say I’ve been gainfully employed as an iOS developer ever since and I’ve managed to release some of my own iOS Apps in that time and started a native Mac App, but I still want to build for Windows. I’ve held onto the idea of building cross platform code in C++ to get Stream to multiple platforms, but now my thinking is changing.

How about I build a C#/.Net version of Stream for Windows? Is it worth the effort? Is it something I could hang my long term hat on?

Could I be the guy who builds iOS, Mac, and Windows Feed Readers for a living? I’d like to try. My biggest problem has been time, it’s probably fair to say time management is my biggest problem. I have a few updates to Stream for iOS that I’ve been sitting on for, what, a year now? And I still haven’t done any additional work on Stream for Mac so why on earth would I embark on Stream for Windows? I don’t have an answer for any of that, but I sure do want to.

Other Distractions

Just a couple days back I asked Jen Simmons, from the Safari/WebKit team at Apple, I’d Apple would be interested in backing a small team to bring a modern version of a WebKit based browser to Windows 11.

Yes, I’d love to form a small team to make that happen, I just don’t have the money to pull it off.

My thinking is this: all C#/.Net using the WinUI 3 framework for user interface with WebKit underneath. I have no idea how the WebKit rendering engine looks on Windows but I’m confident I could find a small team of developers, hi David, to make it world class (assuming it isn’t already.)

So, yes, there are those types of distractions I’m serious about.

Saturday Morning Coffee

Cold EspressoGood morning y’all. This week has been a bad one. The Supreme Court has finally gotten around to doing what we were all waiting for. It’s running the new GOP’s playbook. Making guns easier to carry and the big one, overturning Roe v. Wade. A settled law for 50 years.

That’s all I’m going to say on the matter for now.

On a personal note, I’m finally rid of COVID. 🥳

I had to lead with this story because Irms is a personal hero and all around wonderful person.

Gus Mueller: “On this day twenty years ago I registered the flyingmeat.com domain. I had no idea what I was doing back then, only that I loved coding, I loved sharing what I worked on, and indie companies were undisputedly cool.”

Gus is one of the good ones and an inspiration. If you’re a Mac user you may be familiar with his amazing software. If you’re not and need a photo editor that won’t break the bank you should check out Acorn.

Alex Ewerlöf: “For my 20 years programming anniversary, I tried to list the top principles that have been accumulated over the years as my guiding principles through my career:”

This is a really great list every developer should read.

Becoming a leader is not often what everyone thinks it is.

Senior Dev

Michael Moore: “I said none of that. I remained silent, and to this day the shame I still feel for standing there and doing nothing is so intense that I’ve sat here now for over a day trying to write this weekly letter to you and realizing I would have to admit my inaction, my culpability, and say very publicly that of all the regrets I have in my life, this one, this few seconds of turning my head the other way, hurts me the most.”

Michael Moore has been a bit of a rebel all his life, in a good way. I love this story, it’s really two-in-one, but it a look into an event that helped shape the Michael Moore of today.

Saman Bemel-Benrud: “Last week was the one year anniversary of the Mapbox Worker’s Union going public, the event that lead to my departure. So, now seems like an appropriate time to share my story. It may offer some insight into how the tech industry operates. Mapbox’s story is likely similar to other companies with promise and ambition that that haven’t quite broken through.”

I don’t know much about Mapbox but it’s a company I’d considered pursuing a job with when we decided to move east. They’re in Washington D.C.

The product is super compelling and they have SDK’s to support multiple platforms.

[LAist](https://laist.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/netflix-lays-off-300-employees-as-it-loses-subscribers ?utm_source=rob-fahrni): “Entertainment streaming giant Netflix laid off an additional 300 of their 11,000 worldwide staff on Thursday, following the layoffs of 150 employees, dozens of contractors, and other part-time staff in May.”

A reckoning is coming. All those lovely, inexpensive, stream services we’ve subscribed to over the last few years are finally gonna start raising prices and laying off staff to try to compete.

It was good while it lasted. 😃

Nick Martin - joe.coffee: “We started joe on the premise that by making it as convenient and rewarding for coffee-lovers to order ahead at independent shops as it is at Starbucks, people wouldn’t settle for corporate. When choosing local is hyper-convenient, small business thrives.”

There are a few applications I’d love to create. I’ve talked about a few of them but never mentioned my desire to create a service with mobile apps to allow folks to order coffee. The fine folks at joe.coffee did just that.

I don’t know exactly how their partnerships with coffee shops work but it’s a great idea. I’d still love to do this as I believe I have a different bent on the idea.

Bloomberg: “Members of the rock band Pink Floyd are seeking at least $500 million in a deal for their music catalog, according to people familiar with the talks, which would be one of the largest sales in music history.”

This is wild. When I see something like this it makes me wonder what caused the bad to decide to do this? Debt? Tired of messing with it? What? I’m probably naive to the something completely obvious.

Wonder who’s in the running for it?

CNN: “Michael J. Fox will be honored by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for his contributions to film and his efforts to help cure Parkinson’s disease.”

How can you not love Michael J. Fox? I loved him in the Back to the Future Trilogy but there is a little film of his I love to watch from time to time. Doc Hollywood is a super cheesy early 90’s film with a great cast. It’s one of those cringy, makes you uncomfortable, films that turns out just the way you’d hoped it would. Think I’ll have to watch it tonight.

Tiny Apple Core

COVID, Finally over it

It’s about darned time. Today would’ve been Day 15 with COVID if this test hadn’t come back negative.

I tested on Tuesday, June 21, and was positive. So sometime between then and now I finally got over the hump.

I still have a cough and my head is a bit fuzzy/congested and I’m tired as heck because I haven’t been able to sleep the last two nights for some strange reason.

All I know is I’m testing negative and I intend to keep it that way.

About that update

John Gruber : “First, nine years is a long time, but Apple seemingly remains very committed to the iWork suite.”

So about that commitment. I just wanted to point out one of my apps was removed from the App Store because I hadn’t updated it in a few years, I believe it was five years.

That app, which is no big loss to the world, still works, as designed, on my iPhone to this day.

I’m surprised Apple didn’t kick their own apps out of the store for not keeping them up to date. 🤬

I remain committed to shipping an update someday, and it’ll be done in less than nine years, I hope.

Take that Apple! 🤣

Stream + Twitter

Something I’ve considered adding to Stream is the ability to follow Twitter lists.

The reason I’d like to have it is I have a Twitter list called Politics I’d like to follow.

I thought this could be an interesting, differentiating, feature.

Of course there are many features on my list. So many it’s honestly overwhelming when I think about them all.

Some others include; iCloud syncing, Feedbin, Feedly, Labels, Filtering, and many, many more.

So much time, so few features. Scratch that, reverse them. So many features, so little time.

More of Kim’s flowers. They’re very happy.

Our magnolia has been blooming for the better part of the month.

I love it because it reminds me of my Mom.

What if Texas secedes?

Eat your own dog food.Think about the repercussions of that. I can’t fathom everything that would change for folks in the new Republic of Gilead.

All connections with the United States would have to be severed for a period of time.

All government run services would be shuttered.

Any military bases would have to be closed permanently, equipment, and personnel reassigned.

Any companies operating in Texas would have to decide if they’d like to stay. If they do then they have to wait for negotiations between the United States and their new country to work out trade agreements.

If they decide to move, all that equipment and people, if they choose to go, all have to move to some new location.

What about friends and family? Potentially separated for an extended period of time, perhaps forever if agreements cannot be worked out with the US.

All services provided by US companies would have to halt.

Any transportation companies based on Texas would have to get out unless they wanted to stay.

Universities would have to work with the government to establish agreements for students to come into the country for their education. Would that education be worth anything in the United States, if folks wanted jobs in the US.

Agreements for resources and water rights would have to be negotiated.

All Texas representatives would be removed from their government posts and returned to Texas.

The United States would be well within its rights, unless otherwise negotiated, to raze any buildings and sell any properties owned by the government. Razing seems the most likely outcome. I wouldn’t want to provide Gilead with military bases. I’d strip them clean.

That’s just my naive take on the matter. It would be such a terrible outcome for the entirety of the United States. That includes Texans. They’d become a third world country almost overnight.

Texas is becoming a safe haven for the radical right. The MAGA crowd loves them some guns and loves to make women’s lives complete hell.

They really want to be Gilead.

Texas is going full nutters

Watch out! It's a blog fly!The Texas Tribune: “HOUSTON — Meeting at their first in-person convention since 2018, Texas Republicans on Saturday acted on a raft of resolutions and proposed platform changes to move their party even further to the right. They approved measures declaring that President Joe Biden ‘was not legitimately elected’ and rebuking Sen. John Cornyn for taking part in bipartisan gun talks. They also voted on a platform that declares homosexuality ‘an abnormal lifestyle choice’ and calls for Texas schoolchildren ‘to learn about the humanity of the preborn child.’”

Texas is getting more and more radical by the day. They may become the new Capitol of the next Civil War, at this rate. It wouldn’t surprise me if they started talking about secession again.

It’s gonna get really ugly in Texas I’m afraid.

Panic’s Nova Parser and Grammars

PanicPanic’s Nova Developer Forum: “Now, in my opinion and after laying all to bare in this way, Tree Sitter stands as the best path forward for both Nova’s team as well as our extension developers. Keep in mind, I know little about the actual performance of Tree Sitter against our current parser (both of which are marketed as very fast), and likely won’t until time is taken to actually try. There are more things to consider beyond the raw speed of its C source, as Nova’s features need to sit atop it and bridge to Swift, which may take time to get right. So, that’s all within a grain of salt.”

Panic is full of talented people and I love how transparent they are.

This would, obviously, be a huge change to the guts of Nova and I can see why they’re approaching it so cautiously.

In the end I’m looking forward to final decision and which direction they decide to go with.

Tree Sitter seems like a solid choice, even if it’s not created by Panic and being written in C should make for fast, small, code.

Hopefully the Tree Sitter folks will welcome Panic input and PR’s with open arms so Nova and all other developers benefit.

COVID, Day Nine

This is going to be my final post on the matter unless I take a turn for the worse.

I seem to be in a fairly steady state at the moment; exhausted, foggy head, runny nose, and cough.

It seems it’s been like this for a few days. I’ve never had a fever, at least none I was aware of.

And, yes, I can still smell and taste things. I consider that a major victory.

Unfortunately I didn’t catch these at the height of bloom. They’re still beautiful and smell wonderful.