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.

Saturday Morning Coffee

Espresso ShotI’m sitting on the porch this morning, what’s left of it, enjoying a cool breeze and my morning coffee. The dogs are being their usual lazy selves, just chillin with me.

For the past week I’ve lived in the fog of COVID. It’s staying power is surprising. I felt pretty good a few days back only to hit a wall the next day.

Anywho, I hope you enjoy the links.

The Bulwark: “‘Team Normal’ is the latest example of a delusion that was ingrained deep within the Republican ruling class during the Trump era. It was filled with, as I categorized them in Why We Did It, “messiahs” and “junior messiahs” who told themselves they were one of the good ones, trying to nudge things in the right direction—from the inside.”

[Times Union - Maureen Dowd](https://www.timesunion.com/opinion/article/Maureen-Dowd-Donald-Trump-American-Monster-17236057.php ?utm_source=rob-fahrni): “It never for a moment crossed Donald Trump’s mind that an American president committing sedition would be a debilitating, corrosive thing for the country. It was just another way for the Emperor of Chaos to burnish his title.”

[Politico](https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/11/pence-trump-jan-6-lawyer-memo-00038996 ?utm_source=rob-fahrni): “In the three-page document, attorney Greg Jacob concluded that if Pence were to embrace Trump’s demand that he single-handedly block or delay the counting of electoral votes on Jan. 6, he would be breaking multiple provisions of the Electoral Count Act, the law that has governed the transfer of power since 1887.”

We’re three days into a seven day presentation of crimes committed by and for the Trump Administration.

Trumpism needs to be burned to the ground. It has no place in the United States.

Trump, at a minimum, must be disqualified from running for any public office. He is a danger to the Republic.

No matter how this plays out I feel like we’re a stones throw away from civil war. It seems unavoidable. I hope I’m wrong.

Platformer: “Will Twitter’s mostly remote workforce be able to continue working from home? Maybe, if they’re ‘excellent,’ Musk said, according to Bloomberg’s live blog. But it’s ‘much better if you are on location physically,’ he said, according to the New York Times ’ Mike Isaac.”

Axios: “Our thought bubble: If Musk had anything new to tell the world about his plans, he didn’t choose to share it with his future employees, and rather than wooing them, he threw down a gauntlet: ‘If someone is getting useful things done, great. if not, why are they at the company?’”

As the boss you can do whatever the heck you want, especially if your company is privately held.

I don’t think this will end well for Musk. The “excellent” employees may bail out right along with the “normal” employees.

Heck, it may never come to Musk having any influence over Twitter staffing or the company as a whole. He balked at completing his agreed upon deal.

Here’s hoping he fails, pays Twitter a bunch of money because of his failure, and slinks away, back to his cave.

Linux Journal: “Linus coded in seclusion for a brief time, then shared his new conception with the world. Within days of beginning the project in June of 2005, Linus' git revision control system had become fully self-hosting. Within weeks, it was ready to host Linux kernel development. Within a couple months, it reached full functionality.”

The amount of amazing software created by Linus Torvalds is incredible. Every project I’ve worked on for years and years has used git as its revision control system.

Heck, I’d imagine most software development teams use it in some capacity. Wild.

Oh, yeah, and he created that little OS called Linux. Minor stuff.😳

Vox: “Andres is back to the office three days a week, and like many knowledge workers, he’s not happy about it. He says that while he and the other executive assistants at his Boston law firm have been forced back, the attorneys haven’t been following the rules. That’s partly because the rules don’t quite make sense, and people in all types of jobs are only coming in because they have to, not because there’s a good reason to go in.”

Last week at WillowTree our remote only branch had a quarterly on-site, our first. I was really excited about it. It was like going back to school after summer. I was all in.

I finally got to meet folks I had never met face to face, hug some necks, and enjoy pairing with people on code, all in person.

All-in-all it was a great week.

That Friday I tested positive for COVID. It absolutely sucks and makes me want to stay home forever, never returning to the office.

All this time I’ve been so cautious. I masked early on when others didn’t, then one day I let my guard down and didn’t mask. After that I just threw caution to the wind like everybody else and went maskless.

Of course I was the ONLY person at the on-site to get COVID. Yep, as of today I’m the only reported case. While that is very comforting, it’s also surprising.

Anywho. Being back at work with people was nice. I still prefer my home office, with my home food, and my short commute. Sounds like others do as well.

I’m grateful WillowTree saw the benefit of having remote employees. 🧡

Tiny Apple Core

COVID, Day Eight

I slept until noon today. My wife had to send our daughter up to make sure I was still alive. Thankfully, I am. I probably would’ve slept longer if not for my wife’s concern.

I’m wiped out. Yes, I’m still wiped out.

My foggy brain is a bit less foggy. I think I can safely say that’s due to the extra sleep I’m getting which is helping me defeat this nasty bug.

I have no commercial interest in DayQuil or NyQuil but I am grateful for them. Suppressing some of the symptoms has allowed me to rest.

Oh, I sat outside for a while today. That made for a really nice change of pace.

After dinner I’ll probably drift off to sleep again. Another day in the books.

COVID, Day Seven

I’ve gone backwards.

I’m absolutely exhausted and my brain is really foggy. I thought by today I’d be feeling close to normal. It’s a very disappointing setback.

My younger brother got COVID and he said he was exhausted for well over 14-days from the time he had a positive test. I’m not thrilled with the thought of that.

The cough is better, body aches are gone. I hadn’t mentioned waking up in a sweat in the middle of the night. That’s happened every night since I tested positive.

I’ve taken Friday off in hopes a long weeked will help get me over the hump.

Here’s hoping.

COVID, Day Six

Doing much better today than yesterday! 🥳

Am I at 100%, no way, not there yet, but getting closer each day.

My head is still stuffy and foggy and I’m tired. I still have cough but it doesn’t happen as often as it was happening, not even close.

My back and lungs no longer ache, that’s pretty nice.

I figure a few more days of taking it easy and I’ll be right as rain.

Today’s test was positive. Which surprised me. Total bummer.

COVID, Day Five

Better today than yesterday. I like the upward trend. I’d say I’m at about 80% now. A small bump from yesterday but a bump nonetheless.

My head is just as foggy as yesterday, no improvement there and I’m still really tired.

I’m not coughing as much. That’s definitely welcome, now maybe my lungs won’t ache as much.

My lower back pain has improved tremendously! It’s down to a minor ache.

Tired. That and a foggy head are now my biggest complaints. I just want to sleep all day.

I worked for a while this afternoon and now I just want to crawl back in bed.

Funny thing is, I’m craving a really nice Double IPA and some Popeye’s Chicken Strips. Is that weird? 😳

How cool is this? Our oldest daughters neighborhood has an albino squirrel.

It’s really beautiful.

COVID, Day Four

I think I’m getting better. My eyes feel better today. I know that may sound like no big deal but it was really bothering me how much they hurt.

My head is less foggy this morning, that feels rather nice.

I’m still really tired, even after a good nights rest and my cough persists.

My lower back seems to hurt more today than yesterday. I wonder if that’s because I’m feeling slightly better in other ways and I’m noticing my back pain more? Could be.

I still fee pretty wiped out. When I stand I’m a bit dizzy and still have that out of body experience feeling, but it’s not as bad.

Still no fever. That makes me wonder if I had a fever in the days prior to feeling miserable? Who knows?

I think I’ll get outside today and sit in the fresh air.

My Ben & Jerry’s Top Five

Number Five

PB Over the Top

This is a fairly new flavor to the Ben & Jerry’s lineup. My youngest daughter turned me on to it, said she liked it, so I gave it a go. She’s right, it’s a keeper. The ganache over the top of the ice cream is super tasty and I like peanut butter cups as well as peanut butter in general.

Number Four

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

I think it goes without saying the chocolate chip cookie is the best cookie in the world. If you don’t agree, you’re wrong.

Number Three

The Tonight Dough

The only way you could possibly make ice cream with chocolate chip cookie dough better would be to add some peanut butter dough to the mix. Nuff said.

Number Two

Cherry Garcia

No, you don’t have to like the Grateful Dead to like this ice cream and I know what you’re thinking “this can’t be number two?” Oh, but it can. Try the number one flavor first, then decide. The cherry flavor is perfect and I love the chocolate and cherry chunks. Super delicious.

Number One

Chubby Hubby

My wife bought Chubby Hubby for me as a joke. She thought it had a cute name and fit well with the state of her husbands physique. Little did she know it would become my favorite Ben & Jerry’s flavor. It’s really hard to find. We know of one Super Market in Charlottesville that stocks it.

And there you have it! 🍦

Mac Ventura Support

Red sock.Macworld: “There will no doubt be a few Mac users who are disappointed by that list. Many of the Macs that are not supported by Ventura were still being sold by Apple until quite recently. The 2014 Mac mini was sold until 2018, the ‘trash can’ Mac Pro until 2019, and the 2017 MacBook Air was sold until July 2019. We had thought that Apple wouldn’t remove those Macs from the supported list, since people might have purchased the model such a short time ago.”

No doubt indeed.

When I went to install macOS Monterey on my 2015 MacBook Pro, it failed. Turns out when I bought my used MacBook I didn’t know the original SSD had been upgraded. Apparently some sort of hardware check is performed and if the hardware isn’t all Apple original the OS wouldn’t install. That’s fine, time marches on.

I figured this year my 2015 MacBook Pro would fall off the list of supported hardware, and it has.

I was surprised to see how aggressive Apple is being about supporting older hardware.

This time around the 2015 and 2016 models were dropped.

We’re now left with 2017, 2018, and 2019 Intel based Macs. See where I’m going?

At this deprecation rate we may only have two years of Intel based support on new OS versions.

Ouch. 🤕

This cat.

He would stay here all day if I didn’t have to get up once in a while. 😄

Flynn doing what Flynn does best.