Author: Mark Alexander

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Some Thoughts About That Company in Cupertino

Mojave

For the past couple months I’ve been playing around with the beta versions of Apple’s latest OS, “Mojave.” I smartly installed it on an external SSD drive instead of mucking up my main drive like I did years ago with Yosemite. The problem with this approach is that my external drive won’t hold all my data, so I’m kind of limited in what I can test.

Since Mojave is currently up to Beta 9, and based on Apple’s history, the final version will be probably be released in the next couple weeks, last night I backed up my main drive and pulled the trigger.

All this little exercise did was confirm my initial impression that this may be the first macOS update that I skip.

There’s just something off about it. I can’t put my finger on any one thing, but it just feels wrong. It’s not dark mode, the fact that you can now change the highlight color to a virtual rainbow of tones, the convoluted way of making screen shots, the dynamically-changing wallpaper, or any of the other new “features” in and of themselves. It’s the sum total. To me, none of these things are wanted or needed, and once again, in Apple’s infinite wisdom, they chose to remove features I actually used.

The laptop also ran slower. “Oh don’t worry about that. Everything will return to normal as soon as Spotlight if finished reindexing your files.”

(Warning: First World Problems)

With the full implementation of dark mode, they’ve taken away the ability to have a dark title bar and dock while retaining the regular light mode everywhere else. This is something I’ve used for years, since most of my wallpapers tend to the dark side (Do I hear mechanical breathing?), and in my opinion it just looks better. But now it’s gone. All dark or all light is your only choice and I don’t care for the all dark mode in its current iteration. There is a workaround via a Terminal command that will restore that dark title/light window functionality—to a degree—but it really screws with the shading of the light windows once in place: none of them seem to match any more.

Because Apple.

I used a program called cDock for years to customize the appearance of the dock. Since Yosemite I’ve hated the default Apple dock. Among other things, cDock allows you to kill the dock background altogether; to make it “transparent.” It also has dozens of various other combinations, each of which can be tweaked to get the exact look you desire. To be honest, ever since Apple implemented SIP it’s been a bit of a pain in the ass to set up, but at least by temporarily disabling SIP you could install the program, re-enable SIP afterward, and it would run fine. Now SIP needs to be permanently disabled (which isn’t a good idea from a security standpoint) in order for cDock to run at all.

Because Apple.

Safari initially refused to load the AdBlock plus extension which really pissed me off, but when I finally got it running, it nagged that it would slow down my browsing.

Because Apple.

Adobe Bridge came up…with a completely black screen, something it never did when I was running Mojave from the external drive.

I’m not going to bitch about that too much because this is beta software and I’m sure that particular glitch will be worked out before release day.

But it was at that point that I’d had enough of new-and-improved. I shut the machine down, rebooted, wiped the drive, and restored my backup. I’m such a Luddite.

Hardware

The last MacBook I owned that still had a removable SSD was the MacBook Air in 2012. Yes, it was prohibitively expensive to replace the drive with a bigger one, but at least I knew I could do it if I ever wanted to.

Beginning in 2013 however, everything was soldered in place. I was okay with that, since I was now on a regular backup schedule so in case anything did go south at most I’d lose a day’s worth of data.

I learned recently from getting lost in Louis Rossmann videos (yes, I watch more online than guys banging each other) that up until the 2018 models, all MacBook Pros with soldered-in SSDs had a special port on the system board that would (at least theoretically) allow a technician to transfer data off a SSD even if the rest of the system board was toast.

Well, Apple has now removed that since everything is now encrypted as it passes through the T2 chip. Better pray that you’re backing up nightly and you don’t have any issues with said backup.

Remember when everything “just worked?” Yeah. Good times.

While it looks like the butterfly keyboard issue has been resolved (we won’t know for sure until the 2018 models age a bit more), there’s no chance Apple will ever go back to their much-loved previous design. And that’s the crux of a lot of my beef with Apple these days. They will never admit they made a mistake on anything and go back to earlier tech that worked perfectly well. Build a MacBook that’s 1mm thicker so the old keyboard design can be put back into use? NEVER.

So why do I keep buying Apple products? Because I like their design and overall build quality enough to justify their premium price. And despite what I just wrote about Mojave, I do still prefer the Mac OS over anything else out there. And lastly, I trust Apple with my offsite data a hell of a lot more than I do Microsoft. I realize they are not the same company they were in 2009 when I initially joined the legion of fanboys. They’re far bigger, have many more customers, and frankly, screwups happen. But they can’t coast on goodwill forever if these type of QA and design problems continue.

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The Republican Hell List

Axios reports:

Congressional Republicans are getting ready for hell. Axios has obtained a spreadsheet that’s circulated through Republican circles on and off Capitol Hill — including at least one leadership office — that meticulously previews the investigations Democrats will likely launch if they flip the House.

Why this matters: Publicly, House Republicans are putting on a brave face about the midterms. But privately, they are scrambling to prepare for the worst. This document, which catalogs requests Democrats have already made, is part of that effort.

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We Could Really Use a President

From John Pavlovitz:

America could really use a President right now.

I have this thought more often than I care to consider.

I have it again today.

As the funeral for Senator John McCain approaches, we find ourselves in yet another occasion of national consequence; one our supposed Commander-In-Chief is intentionally excluded from because he is beneath the dignity and capability the moment requires.

Like an impulsive child who cannot handle adult things, he needs to be worked around by the big people around him, so as not to overwhelm him or set him off or highlight his immaturity or trigger his tantrums.

Today, as every day since January 2017, in a moment of gravity, we simply act and move as if we do not have a sitting President, because for all practical purposes—we do not.

This moment plays itself out whenever there is a national tragedy, whenever compassion or decency or strength or goodness are required; whenever an adult leader would be called upon to actually lead us.

In those moments, he does not lead—he tweets.

Our petulant, amoral, intellectually drowning, emotionally crippled White House squatter, once again sits sequestered in some heavily bunkered bathroom behind a phone, ranting to the ether in all caps nonsense—unable to have rational debate, unwilling to be decent, incapable of basic human empathy.

This is what we get in our times of greatest need, America: a narcissistic man-child, whose complete lack of competence and preparedness rears its repugnant head in the very moments that require a steady hand, and a clear voice, and a calming presence.

When we require unity, he brings division.
When we need reason, he provides conspiracy.
When we crave calm, he feeds us chaos.
When we seek clarity, he shines the light on himself.
When we look for selflessness, he looks for praise.
When we need eloquence, he offers verbal diarrhea and spelling errors.
When we deserve truthful fine print, he manufactures bold type fake headlines.

Today will not be the last day America stumbles forward trying to compensate for the massive void we have at the top.
It will not be the last time the smart and decent and rational people all get together to figure out how to avoid a man, whose only contribution to a combustible situation—is propellent; whose sole offering during times of mourning—is further cause for grief; whose lone function in the most tense of national situations—is escalating tension.

When people of renown pass away and we mourn together, we will need a President.
When international conflict erupts and diplomacy is required, we will need a President.
When mass shootings occur and people are terrified and chaos ensues, we will need a President.
When complex legislation requires sustained intellectual attention, we will need a President.
When racism and injustice and hatred explode like a fireball, we will need a President.
When we are having our children’s futures crafted in real-time, we will need a President.

But we don’t have an adult President right now.
We don’t have a leader.
We don’t even have an impotent figurehead.
We have an egomaniacal instigator who makes everything more cruel, more volatile, more painful than it could and should be.
We have a egomaniacal shell of a man, whose very presence in the place in which he finds himself is the greatest and most tragic joke of our lifetime.

In two years, hopefully we’ll course correct on this colossal national mistake and begin to undo the unfathomable damage we’ve sustained.

In the meantime, just as today, we’ll all have to work together to fill in the spectacular gaps in leadership and compassion and intelligence and dignity that used to be filled by our Presidents.

We simply don’t have one right now.

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Pass This Along

When you are a pet owner it is inevitable the majority of the time that your pet will die before you do. So if and when you have to take your pet to the vet’s office for a humane, pain-free ending I want you all to know something. You have been the center of their world THEIR ENTIRE LIVES! They may just be a part of yours, but all they know is you as their family. It is a crappy decision/day/time/event every time; there is no argument against that and it is devastating as humans to lose them. But please, I beg you: DO NOT LEAVE THEM. Do not make them transition from life to death in a room of strangers in a place they don’t like. The thing you need to know that most of you don’t is that THEY SEARCH FOR YOU WHEN YOU LEAVE THEM BEHIND!

They search every face in the room for their beloved humans. They are frightened to begin with and they don’t understand why you left them there when they are sick, scared, old, or dying from cancer AND THEY NEED YOUR COMFORT. Don’t be a coward because it is just too hard for YOU. Imagine what they feel as you leave them in their most vulnerable time, and people like me are left to try our best every time to comfort them, to make them less scared, and try to explain why you just couldn’t stay.” ~ A tired, broken-hearted vet

THIS, THIS, THIS a thousand times THIS.

How could I possibly simply drop this little furball off and then leave when his time comes? Well, there is NO way I could—or will—do that to either him or our other furry child. I will be there to hold them and help them say goodbye.
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It’s 9 pm on a Friday Night

And I’m home. Not at all unusual for the last twenty-five years. Ben is out at the moment doing his Lyft thing to pay some bills. I don’t expect him back until around 3 am, by which time I will be deep asleep and probably won’t even hear him come in. I’m listening to some classic jazz on the radio while Bobo is sleeping in his bed and Sammy is running around the living room like a maniac.

Forty years ago however, at 9 pm on a Friday night I’d be heading out the door to go dancing. (We didn’t call it clubbing.) I’d most likely start out the evening by meeting my friend Kent at His Co. Disco because the cover charge between 9 and 10 was only a dollar. If the crowd got boring or if certain B-list DJs were spinning, we’d then head over to The Forum. But His Co. always seemed to play better music and have the new stuff sooner. It also had a slightly raised, lighted dance floor and a much better light show, so whatever else happened we’d always start out there. I can’t say I ever reliably got laid on a regular basis via either place (it wasn’t until many years later that I discovered The Connection and all that changed), but His Co. was where I met the great unrequited love of my life Steve Golden, and where I connected with Paul Bayfield and Ken Coyer, the two doormen—with whom I did have carnal relations on multiple occasions. Separately. (They couldn’t stand each other and were each aghast when they learned that I had slept with the other.)

Oh, and there was the boy who’d driven all the way into town from Gilbert (which was to hell and gone in relation to the club’s location back in the day and still is—just not out in the middle of nowhere like it was in 1978). My buddy Chas was up from Tucson that weekend and since I was still living at home he let me borrow his hotel room for a few hours to entertain Mr. Gilbert. “Don’t get anything on the sheets! I have to sleep on those!”

And come to think of it, His Co. also served up Craig—and his lover—whom I’d encountered at work as customers in the housewares department at Broadway Southwest just that afternoon. “You really should wear underwear with those Angel Flights,” Craig told me later that evening. “I could almost see veins!”

Good times.

Anyway, I bring this up because my previous post about Live and More triggered lots of memories of my wonderfully misspent youth.

And speaking of 3 am, forty years ago if neither none of us was busy getting laid, I’d probably be at breakfast with Kent and a drag queen or two before heading home…

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Quote of the Day

There were people who called themselves Satanists who made Crowley squirm. It wasn’t just the things they did, it was the way they blamed it all on Hell. They’d come up with some stomach-churning idea that no demon could have thought of in a thousand years, some dark and mindless unpleasantness that only a fully-functioning human brain could conceive, then shout, “The Devil Made Me Do It” and get the sympathy of the court when the whole point was that the Devil hardly ever made anyone do anything. He didn’t have to. That was what some humans found hard to understand. Hell wasn’t a major reservoir of evil, any more than Heaven, in Crowley’s opinion, was a fountain of goodness; they were just sides in the great cosmic chess game. Where you found the real McCoy, the real grace and the real heart-stopping evil, was right inside the human mind.” ~ Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, Good Omens

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It’s Amazing

It’s amazing how much less stress is involved in a job interview when you don’t actually want the job to begin with.

My Skype with the architectural firm went really well. I have an in-person interview scheduled for next week.

In the interim, one of the multitude of blind, generic, desktop support positions I have applied for over the past month finally got back to me.

Turns out it was with a large, well-known national insurance company. Not my first choice, but I agreed to the interview, even though with the possibilities of the architectural firm looming large, I really did not want the job. But I also viewed it as practice for the important interview next week.

First bad vibe was the campus itself. It was like a military installation. The guard at the entrance had a RIFLE slung over his shoulder. Seriously?

“Do you have any weapons in your car?”

Only my farts, I thought. As Ben can attest, those can be deadly.

There were cameras everywhere. I thought DISH was bad. I guess a hell of a lot more people get angry at their insurance company than their television provider.

I met with the department manager (who was ten minutes late) and two potential peers. As we were waiting for the manager to arrive the peers were chatting with the HR Admin and said, “Yeah, this is number four today.”

Already just a number.

First thing the manager pointed out was that since this was a contract position, I’d have to wait six months before coming back for a second gig.

Dude, I’m already turned off to this place. Are you trying to make it worse?

I answered all the technical and customer service related questions to their satisfaction, but I could tell the manager had reservations. I’m sure he took one look at me and thought, “old man” because he made a point of letting me know—more than once—that “This is a really big building and there’s a lot of walking involved. We rarely do anything remotely, preferring to go deskside when possible so the end-users get to know us.” He then pointed out that they “regularly lift 25-35 points of equipment and transport it from one end of the building to the other. “With the walking and lifting are you up to that?”

My first thought:

I told him I was, but it was obvious the interview was already over after only 20 minutes. I asked a couple bullshit questions about size of the department and what types of software I’d be supporting and then we all said our goodbyes.

And I DID. NOT. CARE.