Question for Ted Cruz 7 Mar 2016, 1:43 pm

In 2014 Senator Ted Cruz attempted, by use of a filibuster, to prevent Congress from raising the debt ceiling. Had he been successful, the United States would have defaulted on its debt, with unknown — but likely extremely dire — consequences.

Cruz — throughout his Senatorial career and through this campaign — has often spoken of returning America to the rule of the Constitution.

But there’s the matter of the 14th Amendment. From Section 4:

The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.

This was ratified after the Civil War, hence the “suppressing insurrection or rebellion” part. But the gist remains: the validity of the public debt shall not be questioned.

If the only way to follow the Constitution is for the President to ask Congress to raise the debt ceiling, would President Cruz do so?

(Historical note: the debt ceiling was raised 17 times during President Reagan’s time in office. It’s not a new thing.)

Lizcast 4 Mar 2016, 10:11 am

The Omni Group’s Liz Marley, who recently transitioned from testing to engineering, appears on the NSNorth 2016 podcast. She talks about…

…challenges in engineering school, working with office cats, making the transition from software engineering to testing to developing and how knitting, like code, has the ultimate undo.

Knitting is serious (though not somber) business here at Omni.

OmniOutliner 4.5 1 Mar 2016, 10:15 am

OmniOutliner 4.5 is up on Omni’s site, and should be in the Mac App Store within days.

With this release — see the release notes — I helped work on, of all things, printing bugs and features. This is the first time in my entire career where I worked on printing support that was more than just the most basic possible thing.

And that sounds weird for the year 2016, I realize. But here’s the thing: working on printing support is far from glamorous. You wouldn’t call it fun. But the people who need these features really do need them, and it’s a matter of respect for OmniOutliner users that we do a great job even with printing.

But I sure am glad to get it finished and shipping. And I’m proud of the work we did — more proud than I expected to be. It’s solid, and I think the people who print from OmniOutliner will be very pleased.

Now we’re on to other new features, including editing Markdown documents with OmniOutliner.

OmniDev 25 Feb 2016, 2:55 pm

Omni is hiring a Mac/iOS developer!

We’re also hiring a web developer, graphic designer, and phone support humans.

I’ll let you try out my new beanbag chair.

OmniJobs 18 Feb 2016, 1:31 pm

We’re hiring a senior front-end web developer, a graphic designer, and support humans.

You should apply.

It Will Be Trump 11 Feb 2016, 12:05 pm

The South Carolina primary is where the establishment fixes the errors of Iowa and New Hampshire. It’s Lee Atwater’s firewall.

When Buchanan threatens Dole, South Carolina shuts it down. When McCain threatens Bush, South Carolina applies the kibosh.

But is there any hope that it will function that way this time?

I don’t think so. The establishment candidates are Bush, Rubio, and Kasich. They don’t have a shot. Nor does Cruz. Trump wins South Carolina.

If that’s true, then it’s all over. If South Carolina fails — if the very primary that’s designed to toss the ball back to the establishment fails — then there’s no hope at all.

Cruz will go on to win a few states, most notably Texas. But otherwise it’s going to be Trump. He’ll get the delegates he needs, and that will be that.

Origin of Good (and Bad) Hair Day 9 Feb 2016, 11:09 am

When I was in middle school in the late ’70s I struggled to get my hair to feather properly. It just didn’t want to do it.

Like many kids that age I was newly conscious of my appearance — and I naïvely thought that well-feathered hair was a necessary (though not sufficient) key to fitting in. (Which was probably true, by the way.)

Every morning I would find that my hair behaved, at least somewhat, or it didn’t. So I categorized each day as a “good hair day” and a “bad hair day.”

I told my friends about this categorization — including a neighborhood girl named Sarah. She ended up telling other kids at school.

And pretty soon those kids, even kids I didn’t really know, would stop me in the halls or at lunch and say, “Hey Brent — good hair day or bad hair day?” Not meanly. Teasingly. It was funny.

Years later I started hearing the phrase on TV, and I was surprised that my little middle-school thing had spread and become part of the culture.

* * *

Of course, it’s also possible that I picked it up from Jane Pauley. But for all these years I’ve believed — no joke — that it was me, that it was my phrase. Maybe Jane Pauley got it (indirectly) from me.

It’s highly unlikely — of course, I know this — that I’m the originator. But still, it had to be someone, right?

(Not necessarily. It’s kind of obvious and could have had many originators.)

* * *

I stopped categorizing good and bad hair days by the time I got to high school. And these days I’m just glad that I still have some hair.

River5 8 Feb 2016, 1:41 pm

River5 is Dave Winer’s river-of-news RSS aggregator.

It’s a Node app. You can run it on a public machine and access it anywhere, or run it on your desktop and just read your news there.

Stop Watch 6 Feb 2016, 1:05 pm

Some time last week my iPhone started prompting me frequently to re-enter my iCloud password. And then my Watch started doing the same, about once a minute — with a little tap on the wrist each time.

Obviously I did re-enter my password — and have done so a dozen or so times now — but it doesn’t seem to matter.

So I stopped wearing my Watch and have switched to a mid-sixties Hamilton that my Dad gave me. (He had gotten it as a high school graduation present.)

I’m no watch aficionado — but I do appreciate a good and attractive watch (which this is), and I appreciate even more an old watch that’s a family thing.

Here’s the thing, though: the Apple Watch contains a hundred miracles of engineering and design, surely, but serious problems with software and services can turn even the most incredible hardware into something you just sit on your desk and ignore.

On Sanders Governing 5 Feb 2016, 3:00 pm

The Atlantic, Norm Ornstein:

But is there any real evidence that there is a hidden “sleeper cell” of potential voters who are waiting for the signal to emerge and transform the electorate? No.

Pure candidates on both sides of the spectrum often claim that their purity will bring in the checked-out voters, because they’re just waiting for a real conservative or a real liberal.

It’s an enduring fairy tale with terrible consequences. To put faith in it is to lose to the other party.

CocoaConf Podcast with Me 5 Feb 2016, 1:25 pm

Cesare Rocchi interviewed me for the latest CocoaConf Podcast on life before the App Store.

There was a life, by the way. It was fun! We could release software any time we wanted to.

How the Republicans Win 5 Feb 2016, 9:02 am

Democrats nominate Sanders, and Republicans nominate Rubio or Cruz.

Then there’s this TV ad:

Blank screen. Voice says: “Socialism was tried…”

Fade-in: hammer and sickle.

Voice: “The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics failed…”

Black-and-white video plus audio of Reagan: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

Black-and-white video of a statue of Lenin being pulled down.

Color photo of Rubio (or Cruz) with family. Voice: “Marco Rubio’s parents fled socialist Cuba to come to the land of the free, where anyone’s child can become President… The United States of America.”

Shooting fish in a barrel sounds difficult compared to beating Bernie Sanders.

Panic Report 27 Jan 2016, 11:10 am

Panic — those mad geniuses somewhat to the south of here — look back at 2015 and forward to 2016.

If Panic didn’t exist, we’d have to invent a time machine and send Cabel and Steve back in time so that they create Panic. Which may be what happened.

Happiness for Grafflers 27 Jan 2016, 11:05 am

Omni: Stenciltown gets an upgrade.

(Don’t know what Stenciltown is? Just go see it, then. It’s an OmniGraffle thing.)

Omni: Looking Back, Looking Ahead 26 Jan 2016, 10:59 am

On the Omni blog, Ken Case writes about how we did in 2015 and what’s coming up in 2016.

My personal favorite part:

For OmniOutliner, I’m very pleased to share that we have some major writing improvements on the way! On both Mac and iOS, we plan to support distraction-free full-screen editing, the ability to see your current word count, and support for directly editing Markdown documents.

Lately I’ve been working on OmniOutliner for Mac. (It’s my favorite Omni app.) Helping to add Markdown support is going to be fun.

A Big Tall Drink of Chocolate 26 Jan 2016, 10:42 am

Cocoa with Love is back! It’s the Swift era.

Omni Hiring Graphic Designer 20 Jan 2016, 11:10 am

See the jobs page. Omni’s a great place to work.

Nick on Twitter 20 Jan 2016, 10:51 am

My friend and former co-worker Nick Harris writes:

I found myself evaluating my professional worth based on who and how many people followed me. All the while knowing that some of the best developers I’ve ever worked with either don’t have accounts or rarely use them.

Caring about your status is a natural and human thing to do. The problem with things like Twitter is that it’s too easy to focus on that way too much.

Every time I noticed my follower count go up, I was glad, and then I felt sick that it made me glad.

* * *

I don’t have any analytics on this blog. I don’t know how many visitors it gets, how many RSS subscribers it has, or which posts are more popular than other posts. I like not knowing.

I did have Google Analytics for a few months in 2014 when I was doing sponsorships. I spent too much time looking at the numbers and trying to make them go up. But no amount of going-up is ever satisfying: I just wanted more.

And that affects my writing. I should write exactly what I want to, when I want to, with no care whatsoever for popularity. (I want to be read by smart people like you, but I don’t want to try to maximize the number of readers.)

I assume my blog gets more traffic than the average blog, and way less traffic than a blog like Daring Fireball, and for me that’s just right. And if it’s not true, in either direction, I don’t want to know — because I don’t want to care.

Not Back on Twitter 19 Jan 2016, 4:31 pm

When the new Star Wars movie came out, I decided to take a break from Twitter so I could avoid spoilers. I mostly kept away (but for a few small hits).

I finally saw the movie (which I enjoyed) this past weekend, and so I came back to Twitter.

Now, a few hours later, I’m off Twitter again. I didn’t like being back.

* * *

This past year was very bad — see In the Room — and 2016 will be bad for the same reason.

And I turn 48 in a couple months. And I have a whole lot of work I want to do and not necessarily enough time to do it all.

(Note: my personal health is good. I don’t want to give the wrong idea here.)

Here’s what I found: being off Twitter, that squeaky treadmill, gave me back some time, and it made me happier and calmer than I would have been.

(It’s hard to measure, because of everything going on, but I believe it, and that’s what matters.)

I know full well that I have a responsibility, as a writer and maker of things, to be accessible, and I take that seriously.

But I also have a responsibility to myself, and to people close to me, to be happy. I do everything better when I’m happy — including helping other people.

It’s a trade-off, but I have to care for my own happiness.

* * *

Which means I’m back to ignoring Twitter.

I’m not deleting my account, but I’ve turned off all notifications and uninstalled the app from all computers and devices. I just won’t be looking.

If you need to reach me: take my Twitter handle and assume that I use Apple’s email service. Old-fashioned, yes, but it works.

* * *

The happiest I’ve ever been in front of a computer was when I was 14 at my Apple II Plus, with headphones on, working on my little BASIC apps. No network and no distractions. Simple and quiet.

While I love the web, I don’t love those corners that insist on my attention. I don’t have to accept it. I just want to make things.

People Stared at the Makeup on His Face 11 Jan 2016, 10:28 am

Without Bowie I’m not me. I don’t think like me, feel like me, make things like me, or love like me.

The first album I owned was Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. I’ve never stopped learning from Bowie, and I never will stop.

He’s my greatest and bravest hero.