⌨️ I’ve run into a weird bug with my clicky keyboard when using it with my iPad Pro. When I wake the iPad from sleep while the iPad is connected to the keyboard (connected via Apple’s USB-C to USB-A adapter), the iPad can’t connect to internet without first unplugging the keyboard. The iPad will then immediately connect and I can plug the keyboard back in and all is well.

I don’t think it’s a Wi-Fi issue since the Wi-Fi icon is still displayed in the status bar. Restarting it will temporarily help, but that’s not obviously a long-term solution. For now I can just tell the iPad not Auto-Lock (again, not a long-term solution).

Is it just my keyboard (Leopold FC 660M) or a bug in iOS? I am not sure how to file this bug as I’m not a software developer.

Update: It’s an iOS bug.

⌨️ Hobbies are a weird thing. Some of us get totally into some obscure area of interest while others don’t even know the whatever even exists. I’ve been hovering on going deeper into the world of mechanical keyboards for a while now. The more I read about them and the more I see customized, the more I want to… Actually, it’s just the more I want.

This Christmas I finally got the keycaps I’ve been wanting for years thanks to the generosity of my brother-in-law.

This is all to say I am nearly over the moon typing on my customized clicky keyboard.

🥤 I have begun my first attempt at cold brew from scratch.* I bought my first-ever burr grinder and some OXO cold brew pitcher contraption. Burr grinders, for those that don’t know, make a big ol mess. *Well, semi scratch. I didn’t grow the danged beans.

📺 If there is not a fourth season of Travelers then the world is shite and I don’t want to watch TV any longer. I haven’t loved characters this way since Firefly.

🤝 I spent some time on Friday and Saturday trying to get a Drafts action working, although honestly I had no idea what I was looking at. So I found the person who wrote the action and he explained the problem and how to get it working for me.

The internet has such a wonderful capability to be a source of endless good, yet we often get the worst of people. And the people who do that know exactly what they are doing when they do it. It’s a terrible shame.

Anyway, my thanks to Dave Nicholls for being a top-shelf kinda guy. He also has a micro blog but it’s sadly underutilized.

☠️ It’s shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone the United States of America would let a little girl die in custody when it’s the same callous country that’s done nothing about it’s horrendous lack of gun control which led to the killings of nearly two dozens little children (I refer to those children as babies and I don’t give a shit if people agree with me) just six years ago.

I will never not be shocked. I will never get over it. Those poor babies were scared at the last moment of their lives because the Republican Party and the NRA cared more about money and power than the lives of those little children. Those children. My children. Your children.

☠️ Now we’re killing the children we’ve kidnapped. How anyone -anyone at all- can remain members of the Republican Party is beyond me.* They have blood on their hands that will never wash off.

*It’s been over 30 years since I could understand how people could be members of the Republican Party.

💻 Here’s the thing, Jeff with a G, the best products aren’t always the most expensive. I bought the 11" iPad and, man, it feels like I got a deal. It’s smaller than my old 11" MacBook Air (which I still love, despite it getting quite dusty). It’s also lighter. And it’s just more fun to use.

I know it’s fun (and easy and clicky) to pick on Apple, but I’ve spent less money this year than years in the past. I literally bought the least expensive new devices they make. And they are friggin' great. For what I like and for what I do. I’d argue that the folks reading Jeffy-G’s article are closer to me than they want to believe.

It has to be fun, however, to always pick on the current big dog in the yard. When it comes to Apple, however, it’s always gotten picked on. No matter what size it was and no matter what the date.

🖥 I hope others are worried the one company which controls much of what’s seen on the internet is about to control how we see it too.

For a little bookkeeping: I meant to post this to this blog when I posted it to my other one. Oh, technology… How does it work?

🏛 For years now I’ve been going on and on* about how we should lower the minimum age for president and also lower maximum age for president. Most people think I’m nuts and being ageist. All y’all might want to reconsider my idea.

*I go on and on about everything, I know. Also, we should fund medical research the way we research for “better” killing machines.

🛰 Voyager 2 has entered interstellar space.

If I had a vocabulary that was more majestic or breath-taking rather than proletariat, I’d be able to say something other than holy shitballs this is amazing.

All the folks involved in this project are part genius and part hacker. But all scientist.

🤓 I used my new 11" iPad Pro without the keyboard folio this weekend. It’s so incredibly light. It continues to remind me of the iPhone 5 (that’s the model that it felt hollow to me). Anyway, this iPP is a really neat little machine. I have absolutely no buyer’s remorse.

🚗 Of course cars are a problem. If/when (OK, it’s really just IF) I ever leave NYC and my beloved Brooklyn, it would only be for a far less-expensive city, but not any less-expensive city. It has to have as high a walking score (roughly) as Brooklyn. Otherwise, I’m not interested.

Walking is good for you, doesn’t pollute, and, just as important, brings you closer to your community. I’ll all for banning or taxing the heck out of cars (put the collected tax money in public transportation).

🤓 I don’t get jealous about non-Apple tech all that often, but this NUC that my friend got is getting to me. It’s the Mac Mini I wish Apple had built. That being said, the update to the Mac Mini is really, really good.

💡 I’ve reached the point where my watch needs a software update (and sometimes restarted) but also my lightbulbs need a software update. Up to one hour per bulb… During which they might turn off.

If I end up sitting in the dark unaware of the time, it’s all my own fault.

🖕 Believing both sides of the science is like saying “I believe Tom Petty is alive and dead.” I wonder if she could have any motivations to believe the few studies that deny human-made climate change.

⚖️ Welcome back to the game of Worst State of the Union. Florida is still in the lead, but a new challenger is coming up fast. After having their governor make the worst business deal in the world, they’ve now taken away powers from the incoming governor and attorney general.

I guess Wisconsin is another state where I can’t spend any time.

⚖️ When things like this happen, it feels like the truth doesn’t matter at all anymore.

💻 I agree it’s a cute ad poking a little fun at the iPad, but why in the world would MS show its store as empty? Is this a spin on the whole truth in advertising?

💀 American football should be banned from schools. It’s literally hurting children every day and it should be banned.

📷 I received a picture of my father today. It was sent to me by my cousin and I didn’t think to ask how he came upon it. I guessed it was from the late 50s or early 60s, but it was 1970.

Two things stick out to me when looking at the picture. Pictures from 1970 look really old to me now. And I just didn’t know him. The man. My father.

Parts of my life from back then never overlapped with my life now. I guess it’s something I’ll never fully feel resolved about.

🗽 I’ve learned more about how Congress works from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Instagram account than from anything else. Well almost anything else.

I hope you consider following her on Instagram and on Twitter. Thanks, Alexandria.

☠️ What am I supposed to say here? Things are going swimmingly and everyone will be okay?

I wonder if there’ll be a day when I don’t feel sick to my stomach from waking to sleeping.

😬 Google subsidiary doing a thing. That by itself gives me pause, even if it’s a bit (or totally!) unfair.

But another – possible less controversial – tactic is to tweak the pathogens that attack mosquitoes, like Wolbachia bacteria, which can be bred into to male mosquitoes (who don’t bite and therefore can be released in large numbers without concern that this will increase the number of everyday stings inflicted on people), and who will transmit the infections to females they mate with, rendering them sterile.

Rendering the females sterile. What could go wrong?

📲 Thanks to Jason Snell’s site for pointing out this great post criticizing the App Store. It’s freshing to read real honest issues about Apple (rather than the endless bullshit that gets posted each and every single day). In fact, it looks like all of David’s posts are well thought-out.

😞 I was one of the people who crapped all over Monica Lewinsky during the whole stupid Clinton affair.

I don’t exactly remember my thought process at the time, but it was along the lines of “Come on, Monica, you had to have known better!” There are so many flaws in my logic that I am embarrassed to even admit that, but me looking dumb is nothing compared to what she went through.

If I were to meet her I would say I was sorry for being dumb and blaming a young person for being taken advantage of by an older, powerful man. Shame on Bill Clinton. And shame on me.

Monica Lewinsky, it turns out, is pretty okay.

💻 Engadget asks Do you really need a tablet?

By tablet they mean, of course, iPad. There’s no tablet market to speak of. There’s just iPad. That’s not me saying so, the market speaks for itself.

The question that should be asked is, Do you need a legacy laptop? For most people most of the time, the answer is no. The iPad does what most people want most of the time. And it’s easier and more reliable. Hell, it lasts longer too!

To be clear, that doesn’t mean legacy products are bad! I use one all day long and I love it. My 2017 MacBook Pro (no touchbar, sad face emoji here) and the latest version of macOS (Mojave) is great. When the premise of an article is off, one should wonder what exactly is the motivation that caused that article to be created.

☠️ Romaine lettuce needs to ask the NRA for tips to find out how it can keep being sold regardless of how many it kills.

📲 Out with the old and in with the new. My 12.9" iPad Pro and our old 2011 MacBook Pro left Brooklyn today and a new 11" iPad Pro has entered.

While I was waiting to buy my new iPad Pro, two more were sold. I know it’s purely anecdotal, but it feels like the 11" iPad Pro with 64GB of storage and in space gray are flying off the shelves.

🎥 I think it’s funny I fell asleep during the movie Inception and am therefore a little confused about the ending.

Others in the family don’t find it funny.

☠️ All I want to do is write how I’m thankful for my family and friends, but, really, I’m nothing but angry and sad much of the time.

I’m so tired of politicians talking about sensible gun laws. Ban the things before every single one of us is dead.

🤓 My big tech purge project is coming to a close. While the goal wasn’t to go without using a Mac as my main personal computer, it will be the end result. In a way it’s not totally fair since I have access to a MacBook Pro (my wife’s computer), but I’m excited to have gotten rid of:

• iPhone 5
• iPhone 5c
• iPhone 8 Plus
• Apple TV 4th generation
• Apple TV 3rd generation
• Apple Watch Series 1
• iPad 3
• iPad Mini 2
• iPad Pro 12.9" + Keyboard + Pencil
• 2013 MacBook Air
• 2011 MacBook Pro

And reduced it to:

• iPhone XR
• Apple TV 4K
• Apple Watch Series 4
• iPad Pro 11" + Keyboard
• 2015 MacBook Pro (not mine)

Now, to not seem weird, many of the items from that first list was just stuff laying around and not in daily use. I was able to sell, recycle or trade in everything from that first list. I hope this is just the beginning of a series of purges.

💪 In the world of superpowers everyone picks invisibility or flying, right?

I never thought of “No sense of shame” as a superpower, but clearly Trump has that. And it is serving him well. He’s likely the world’s biggest hypocrite and, when his hypocracy is pointed out to him, he is not remotely ashamed. It bounces right off him. And still no one can figure out how to deal with him.

Meanwhile the media is constantly writing about him constantly while dancing around his lies. Perhaps lacking a sense of shame is not as unique as I thought.

📺 We just finished the series House of Cards and, while I loved the series overall, I really didn’t like how it all ended. Frig.

🤔 How come we never see things like this posted about Apple? I am genuinely curious. Is it that Apple doesn’t donate at all, doesn’t get outed for donating to questionable people, or do they just not donate to terribly gross people like this?

📰 Thanks to Kate Aronoff for pointing out that those on the “left” opposing the progressive plan of a New Green Deal are getting money from… the planet-ending fossil fuel industry. First, fight these people and, second, get them out of office.

🏛 This has to be the most positive I’ve felt about politics in years, maybe decades. When I saw that protestors were holding up signs to sitting (and newly elected, I guess) Dems saying “What’s your plan?” showed me they have no illusions things are magically going to get better and that current Dems can be trusted to “do the right thing” just because they aren’t Trump or part of the GOP.

Make a good, progressive plan, follow through and we’ll get along. Else you are no better than the rest. And there’s no time left.

🎂 My son turned 13 today and now there’s no getting around he’s not my little boy… I love each phase of my children’s lives, but boy I wish the years would slow down.

👊🏻 The right would ignore Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez if they weren’t afraid of her. But they are. And she’s coming for you boys.

👩🏾‍🦱 A week ago I was almost inconsolable. Then I saw this picture and I saw the future of America and I immediately felt better.

I hope these people work as hard as I believe they will and get the respect they deserve. I know they will make the changes we all need.

They will kick ass.

💻 I was so close to buying an 11" iPad Pro until Jason Snell posted the perfect picture in his review of the new iPad Pro models. Now I am not sure if I can deal with the smaller version.

I’m not a pro user. I putter around doing my day-to-day nonsense (looking at animals and/or getting enraged at politicians for being dirty grifters) and I can almost guarantee the sixth generation would probably be just fine. But boy do these iPads look sweet.

Oh curse my vain tech side!

🗳 While I certainly appreciate the sentiment, I am not sure this is something that can happen on a federal level.

But because some states are all goofed up, I could see fun relocation slogans being created: “Want Your Vote to Count? Move to Vermont!” “Move to Florida: Where We Don’t Care if You Vote (and we won’t count it anyway).” I’m not sure who pays for that second ad. Soros, probably. 🙄

Note
I didn’t even know there was a ballot emoji until very recently. Now I can’t stop using it.

👩🏻‍💼 ❤️ 🇺🇸 If Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t cut out this do-gooder crap, she’s going to wind up getting elected president of the United States.

💻 I just stopped at the Apple Store (Downtown Brooklyn) to touch the new MacBook Air and the new iPad Pro models. A couple things struck me: The MBA looked and felt great. You know: beautiful screen, keys felt great, very responsive. Now, to be fair, this wasn’t some real test. I just typed a little, switched apps, etc. The other thing that struck me, was… Let me get to that.

Then I used both iPad Pro models. The 12.9" felt a lot smaller than the 12.9" I’m typing on now. But the 11" felt different. I think it had something to do with the straight edges - it felt like something I’d have with me at every moment.

While I was typing on the new keyboard folio thing (which I thought felt perfectly fine, despite being pretty spendy - not sure why so many are hating on it), two men each bought the same exact kit: 11" iPad Pro, keyboard folio, pencil. And both in the same configuration: 64GB, space gray.

It really feels like the 11" iPad Pro 64GB is going to be the halo device for an expanded iPad line.(1)

The other thing that struck me was, despite the MBA feeling like a solid computer, compared to the iPad Pro models, it felt old. It felt like “This is how we used to do it in my day and we liked it!”

(1) I’m betting they make two bigger iPad Pro models before too long: 15" and desktop-sized 20+". We’re all patiently waiting for iOS to take advantage of it all.

🥃 Whenever I have one of those weeks (or days), I get into a cleaning mode. Since I can’t really run away, I decide that cleaning and getting rid of things is a form of running away.

I have created an account on Swappa to see if I can clear out some old tech I have that works perfectly well, but isn’t being used. It feels like this tech takes my space in my head. I’m hoping by selling it off I can clear this cognitave load.

This whole “less is more” thing doesn’t last as long as I’d like it to because, clearly, I keep having to do this. Maybe one day it’ll stick.

👩🏻‍💻 Thanks to Jason Snell for introducing me(1) to more women in tech through his podcast Download.(2) I’ve been listening to Carolina Milanesi for months (maybe over a year) and she’s super smart.

(1) Not literally. I was going use the word exposing but that seemed problematic too.
(2) The intro music is solid!

🏛 I’ve spent a lot of the last 24 hours being angry about the outcome of the election. Stacy Abrams and Andrew Gillum would have been fantastic governors for their states. And while a doorstop would be better than Ted Cruz, Beto O’Rourke would have made Texas proud.

Meanwhile, I’m incredibly excited that so many women and people of color are now part of congress. That is what the future looks like.

🗳 I voted today and it felt great. As soon as I was done, the pit in my stomach came back and I’ve felt like it’s been there all day. Now I’m hesitant to read the news.

🗳 I’m so excited to vote tomorrow I can barely stand it. I know things won’t radically change (they might not even change at all), but I am hopeful more folks than ever before will come out to vote.

🌎 On Friday (November 2), during my lunch break, I decided to take a long walk to clear my thoughts before wrapping up a week’s work. I live in a big city so endless noice is part of my life and it’s generally not a problem. On my walk along Prospect Park West there was some minor driving infraction that I imagine involved Car A cutting off Car B. Well, the driver of Car B sure let the driver of Car A (and everyone else within horn-hearing-distance) how unhappy he was. He laid on the horn for a good 10 seconds.

Yesterday (November 3), I was walking past a local store and saw in the window one of the employees had died. I hadn’t been in the shop in a bit, so I am not sure the last time I spoke with that person. While I had interacted with him, I never took the time to learn his name. Now I can never greet him by his name.

I am not sure why I am relating these events, but I can’t seem to stop thinking about them and combining them in my mind. The driver of Car A never learned the name of driver of Car B. And I never learned Issac’s name until it was too late.

This “war” for our precious time often has a casualty. Humanity.

⚖️ I keep reading about people who have never voted and it blows me away.

I’d love to read stories not just about first-time voters, but why they never voted in the first place. What circumstances led them to a life that voting was never something they needed to do? Was it never mentioned anywhere that reached them? Did work make it too difficult? Did family pressures stop them? Did they think it didn’t make a difference?

This isn’t meant to come across as judgey or “better than thou.” I really think these stories would be good lessons for our society.

Like all elections, I’m looking forward to voting on Tuesday. And my wife, who will be out of town, made sure to get her absentee ballot in time to mail it back so it would count. That’s someone who wants their vote counted.

Your vote counts because you count.

☕️ My superpower is being able to (continue to) drink coffee at the opposite temperature it was served.

🎃 When I was younger I used to think traditions only came from people trying to relive the past.

My wife’s tradition of insisting we watch The Nightmare Before Christmas on Halloween is now going on for four or five years. At first I didn’t like it.

I’m not anti-Tim Burton, but his movies make me feel weird. I used to think that was bad until I realized most movies don’t make me feel anything at all. Other than, I guess, antipathy to Hollywood.

Now, as we watch the movie, I have to admit that while I still haven’t totally embraced it (I’m sitting here writing this after all), I am thankful we have another tradition we can call our own. My daughter is old enough that she no longer goes out trick or treating, while my son does. He’s younger yet doesn’t want -or need- us to come along.

As I get older I am thankful for our traditions. It’s like we’re making the future.

💻 My daughter is in need of a newer computer for school. When it comes to schoolwork, it makes complete sense, in my mind, an iPad is the right machine for the job. Why an iPad? It simply feels like the future compared to Mac (it hurts less than I thought it would to say that). And with new iPads just being released, it seems now is the time to jump.

But, sigh. My daughter’s school relies on G-Suite and the Google experience on iOS is very short from spectacular. Apple has to do two things in order to make this work (Google should but will not do this, so it falls to Apple):

1. Let Safari grow to be as capable on iOS as it is on the Mac.
2. Let the Files app be as useful as Finder is. I know the learning curve hits a brick wall when it comes to file management and manipulation, but come on. Find the right researchers and designers to make this work. Let us plug in a hard drive and be able to import files!

Until then, I can’t recommend an iPad for folks who rely on G-Suite.

💻 I am insanely jealous of everyone who has already ordered an iPad Pro. But I am super happy for everyone who got something of what they wanted today.

These prices, however, have never felt more premium to me then right now. I reject the label of luxury when it comes to Apple, but there is no doubt these products are premium.

📚 I am not sure how I came across this app, but boy is Libby a piece of cake to set up, use AND (here’s where I’m going with this) get books from the library. Audio books too.

It even sent the book straight to my (dusty-from-sitting-on-my-nightstand) Kindle.

I remember using an early version of something like this from Overdrive and hating it to the point of swearing (which, really, is ridiculous and embarrassing to admit… I mean, just delete the app and move on).

Well done, folks.

📱 If you watched me use my XR you’d think I miss the home button. Muscle memory is a hard thing to break.

📻 I love podcasts. I listen to podcasts more than watch movies or shows, more than listen to music, more than read books (sorry, Ma).

Every once in a while, a podcast episode comes along and does that mind blowing kinda thing that’s best represented by 🤯.

I must have stopped this podcast five or six times to exclaim “I never thought of that!” (Or something along those lines). To be fair, that’s me during many podcasts and some bits on TV shows. I’m super annoying to be around with listening or watching anything.

In this case, I’m referring to one of my all-time favorite podcasts, 99% Invisible.* And the episode is Welcome to Jurassic Art. I also recommend you read the accompanying article because it, too, is so 🤯.

Man, I love podcasts.

Update
It was hard to decide on which emoji to choose from. Both 📻 and 🎙 are good choices.

*I’m Roman Mars.

📱 I haven’t had my iPhone XR 24 hours and it’s my favorite phone since the iPhone 5. I’ve had 5 iPhones and my most recent one, the iPhone 8 Plus, has been my least favorite. The XR is close in size and weight, yet feels totally different. I bet it ends up being a big home run.

📷 I wonder if I could do this with my X-100F which, predictably, sits on my nightstand as another object gathering dust. I mean, I could just decide to use only the viewfinder and not look at the images until I get home.

Right?

📚 I’ve been reading Arthur C Clarke’s book The Nine Billion Names of God. I read that particular short story in high school and it’s never left my mind. I guess because while it’s science fiction, it’s not the kind science fiction people immediately think of when they hear science fiction. You know, Pew! Pew! Pew!

I’m writing about it not because of the stories (which I’m enjoying), but because, it turns out, it reminds me of my childhood. Growing up my mom, despite being a big reader, didn’t buy books. All the books we read came from the library. In fact, I don’t think I bought any books until I bought textbooks in college. You know, now that I write that, it feels so odd to say.

In keeping with this tradition, I guess, this Clarke book I’m reading came from the Brooklyn Public Library. It had to come from the deep storage section which isn’t accessible to us mere mortals. It’s a really old book. And it smells differently than the new books I often buy now. Sorry, ma.

This book smells like my past, my childhood. It smells of stories.

💻 I find most of the complaints about Apple to be nonsense. It’s typically done for clicks: Put Apple in a headline and folks read the article.

Now @BradleyChambers wrote an article about Apple’s hypocritical stance on privacy that is excellent and something worth pushing Apple to fix. Well done, Bradley.

What is super frustrating is there was a solution at hand when Apple purchased PowerSchool. I understand why Apple had to sell PowerSchool, but having it in-house… And, boy, selling to Pearson was, in hindsight, blecch!

🚀 I’m with my son and we’re about to watch 2001: A Space Odyssey at Lincoln Center with the New York Philharmonic. I can barely contain my excitement.

Update: (11pm)
What a show! To hear the score and some additional sounds all performed by an orchestra and/or chorus was goosebumpy. I mean, to hear The Blue Danube live is nothing short of a treat. My wife took our daughter to see Amadeus done at the same place in the same way and now I regret not going to see that with them.

⌚️ The Apple Watch Series 4 feels like the beginning of something much bigger than a notifcation system slash fitness tracker. A device that has the ability to track falls and help monitor your heart is device you learn to trust and never be without. It becomes intertwined with your view of (and how you view) your health. In other words, it feels like version one of a device from a science fiction movie.

📱 I’ve been hoping for colors for all the products for a while now. I guess I’ll jump on the iPhone Xr wagon. Let’s try yellow.

❤️ The Apple Heart Study has ended. I submitted 1,560 heart rhythm data points. In the big picture I know it’s not much, but I feel good about it.

📚 I finished two books while on vacation. The first one was Unlocked by John Scalzi. I have no idea why I read this before his other book Lock In but I don’t think it was really necessary to read them in order. I’ll get around to Lock In before too long. The book’s style reminded me of World War Z by Max Brooks. I’m sure this style has a name, but I am not fancy enough to know it.

Anyway, I recommend Lock In (World War Z too).

The other book was Artemis by Andy Weir. I didn’t like it nearly as much as his first book, The Martian because it felt like everything had to be overly explained because the science is too far out of everyday knowledge. It just got in the way. I still recommend Artemis because Andy Weir’s love of space and science shines through and I like that.

🔥 I built my first campfire last week. It was pretty decent for a city slicker. We made s’mores.

🚙 The second row behind the passenger in a modern minivan is the secret to a wonderful vacation. I have two arm rests, my own AC vent, a shade for my enormous window, a cup holder… I even lost my shoes in this thing! Seriously, I feel like I’m on vacation from my vacation.

📷 Jason Snell’s Six Colors site offers tips from time to time and I always find them to be super helpful. This article about organizing photos from multiple people is no different.

But it’s not something you can do on an iPad. Apple: Let Photos on iOS become this powerful.

I like Seattle.

Go @Marco, Go!

📚 I just finished reading Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult. I liked the story, but the writing didn’t feel authentic. Everyone came across as too clever. The ending was also a little too neatly wrapped up.

But the topic of racism isn’t talked about enough and that makes me give the book a rating of Recommend.

Apple should absolutely remove the Infowars app from App Store. It makes no sense delist the podcast and still keep the app.

Apple, remove the app.

📰 I am so glad to support Pro Publica each month. This reporting is the kind of work I only dreamed of doing in college.

Anyway, who the hell is really running the VA?

🇺🇸 Even if they don’t all win, this is what the future looks like. And it sure as hell doesn’t look like the Republican party.

🖕 Apple removing Alex Jones from its database is the first step (and one that was long overdue) in what I hope is a march towards removing his far-reaching soapbox.

His hate can spew from his hole like it did in days past: On a street corner with his pants around his ankles.

📚 I just finished The Heart’s Invisible Furies, by John Boyne. It was a lot of story.

Despite so much sadness, I give it my just-made-up-now rating of Recommend.

🎧 I just thoroughly cleaned out my AirPods and I think I have PTSD.

💻 Apple must realize not only is 5GB an embarrassingly small amount of storage to offer as its free tier, it’s also not enough for its customers to get fully invested into what it can do for them.

If Apple wants folks to see how important iCloud storage is, it needs to give them enough to really get into it.

Something like this would do it:

50GB: Free
200GB: $1.99
500GB: $3.99
1TB: $6.99
2TB; $9.99

As far as the 2TB level goes, which is a very good deal, all Apple has to do is convince families to share the iCloud Drive space and, before you know, there are a lot of people paying $10/month and being quite happy about it. Yes, spending Tim Cook’s money really is fun.

☢️ Wow, hell of a grift. And so many fell for it.

💻 Between age and better technology, I am finding it harder and harder to use my 11" MacBook Air. I think it’s the new way macOS Mojave renders fonts, but it is what is and my eyes are what they are.

It’s been my favorite Mac for five years now, but after using retina-quality screens on iPads and MacBook Pros, I just can’t read on these old screens any longer. It might be time to pass this down to the boy.

☢️ While it may bring some joy, as a whole, Facebook is detrimental to society.

📲 iOS 12 Public Beta is a little pokey on iPad Mini 2, but perfectly serviceable. I think it’s even faster than under iOS 11.x. Impressive considering it’s over 4 1/2 years old.

🏨 As part of being a U.S. citizen, it’s now become necessary to tell our government to NOT do bad things. So, here goes: Dear Government, Don’t take health coverage away from us. -Citizen Bob

🏛 Do we really have to call our elected officials to let them know we don’t support putting children in cages? If that’s the case, we already lost.

⚖️ It will take a lifetime to undo just 18 months of this administration. The world is listening.

🏛 I just completed jury duty and, because Brooklyn is awesome, got a ton of work done thanks to court-supplied Wi-Fi.

🚘 Can you imagine if people walking on sidewalks acted the way many do while driving? You’d be walking, get up behind someone, and yell, at the top of your lungs, “GET THE EFF OUT OF MY WAY!” But no one does that. I wish everyone thought about that while driving.

👨🏾 On May 9, I had a small medical issue which resulted with me falling down some of an escalator at DeKalb on Flatbush Ave. A stranger helped me to my feet and made sure I had my belongings back. Thanks unnamed stranger. NYC is the best, biggest small-town yer going to find.

💻 Today is the first time (ever!) that I’ve gotten bitten by the “Apple changed the screws on a notebook to prevent you from doing anything fun.” Way to kill the fun, guys.

📺 The second season of A Series of Unfortunate Events is far darker (so far) than season one. Far less fun despite the acting being quite good. I can’t really say I want to watch more of it.

✊🏻 My son and daughter each walked out of their schools on Friday to protest gun violence. My daughter got four days of detention because of it. They are both learning to make good trouble.

🏫 💻 Apple created a Pro Workflow Team to study how professionals work in order to make better products. It’s time Apple do the same in education by starting its own school. This first-hand experience will identify gaps in products and allow key services to stay in Apple’s system.

📺 Using a scale of thumbs up/thumbs down I’d give the Netflix version of Lost in Space a thumbs up.

No episodes were as good as BSG’s first season, but now that’s LiS is done I’d be up for another season. While I grew to like some characters, I found Dr. Smith to be lacking.

⚖️ Now this what change looks like (before it actually changes).

These meddling kids are going to make things happen!

🏛 It’s one thing to be upset at the current administration, but this has been going on for decades. Seriously, why don’t we care about public education?

Endless budget cuts, blame for society’s ills, and public humiliation, I can’t image why anyone would go into public teaching.

📺 I watched the rebooted Lost in Space on Netflix tonight. Meh. I watched it because I’ll watch any danged thing that is sci-fi, but this was a snoozer.

I’ll give it another episode or two, but the acting was only okay, so I’m not yet attached to any of the characters.

🏫 My time to help my children pay for college is rapidly approaching. I am fortunate enough to be able to pay for at least some of their college costs. I know many others are not in that position. What a difficult choice some are going to have to face: Go to college and come out with a mortgage’s worth of debt or don’t attend.

It got me wondering what my college would cost in today’s dollars. I found a pretty reasonable estimate: $11,500/year. The shocker (that really isn’t shocking): Tuition at the school I attended is now $29,000/year.

While I was researching this, I found an article When College Went to Congress. I wonder how many of our elected officials release what their college costs for today’s young people.

💻 News of the Mac Pro not coming until 2019 doesn’t affect me at all, but I sure am glad they are still updating folks on the Mac Pro’s status.

More worrisome is the absolute silence on the Mac Mini. The need for the Mac Mini as it was once conceived is long gone which means the marketing department can explore new possibilities.

I sure would love to see a Mac Mini designed in an age of SSDs and remote login. Perhaps those days are long gone?

💻 I love Apple Pay, but I am not sure I’ve convinced anyone else to enable it.

These ads that Apple posted are fun, but are absolutely the wrong way to show off Apple Pay.

Apple needs to show how it works and why it’s secure.

📺 David Letterman’s show on Netflix is such a pleasure to watch. I wish it was weekly rather than monthly.