Anyone used Linux on the desktop recently? It’s got pretty good. And I’m surprised. So surprised, that I just bought a Framework laptop and am about to install Ubuntu on it. This is crazy!

This is something I never thought I’d do. Back in the late 2000’s I switched from Windows to Mac. It was a great decision. I’ve loved my MacBook Pro’s and iMac. Sure, everything Apple has a price premium, but it was and for a lot of people, still is, well worth it. It just worked and the software is still just better quality. But then Apple started porting iOS features back to the Mac. This sounds like a great idea, but in practice, it’s made the Mac worse. The Mac is now a second-class citizen to the cash cow that is iPhone. The Mac, once a bastion of adult computing and developer productivity, is becoming more and more child-like and more locked down. As a developer, this just doesn’t work for me.

With Apple’s increasing control over the Mac and the Mac ecosystem, along with Apple’s obstinance around the DMA, it all hints at “Apple the corporation” doing what normal corporations do. Apple used to have a friendly veneer. The once underdog Apple is starting to appear a little ugly, arrogant and entitled. Remember Biff from Back to the Future?

There is a lot to dislike about the DMA, but there is actually a lot to like too. When a corporation gets to the point where they’re completely in control of an ecosystem, then that breeds some poor behaviour. Think what happened to Microsoft in the 90’s. Apple is now in that position. Google is in that position in search too. What this does is give the commercial entity a sense of entitlement that they can do what they like and everyone just has to suck it up. Do I think Apple should be able to make money out of their platform, absolutely. Do I think that other commercial entities, such as, lets say, Epic Games, should be able to not pay Apple anything for using their platform, no. It’s Apple’s platform, so you should have to pay to use it. I don’t have an answer, but 30% as a platform fee has always left a bad smell.

Apple as a commercial entity is required to defend its patch, make money and keep shareholders happy. The way it does this used to be by delighting it’s users. I just feel that with the decisions now, money is the focus, not the user experience and not the quality of the product for the price I’m paying. And developers that build for their platform are users too.

I never thought I’d have any reason to look in another direction. But the corporate entity’s behaviour made me look up and check out what else was going around. And I did.

Windows was never a consideration - promotional material in the OS? Fck that sht. So, it was Linux that I looked at once again, not really thinking that this year could be the year of the Linux desktop. But it looks like it is. And I’m excited to see where it goes.

I don’t like TypeScript. There you go, I said it, “I don’t like TypeScript”.

If you’re a diehard TypeScript lover, good for you. Luckily there are many more languages out there that one can use and just because I like JavaScript, and not TypeScript doesn’t mean you need to grab your pitchforks and torches.

There are many reasons TypeScript just doesn’t work for me:

1. If I wanted a strongly typed language, I’d probably just use Go.
2. If I want to protect my application from type defects, I’d use one of the many type-libraries out there that can be used with JavaScript at runtime, such as Zod, Superstruct, Joi or Yup.
3. TypeScript’s type system feels like it’s been retrofitted into JavaScript, well, because it has.
4. Type gymnastics can be an arse to deal with and offer nothing more than a headache - which is where JavaScript runtime type checking libraries really shine.
5. I get than on large “enterprise” projects, having TypeScript can be useful because not all developers are made equal, but I’m not working on large “enterprise” projects these days.
6. I get than on large “enterprise” projects, TypeScript can be useful, but I’d prefer runtime checking as well, which can do what TypeScript does, but better.
7. The joy of JavaScript is that it’s not statically typed! It’s dynamic and flexible and that’s what I love about it. Otherwise, see #1 above.

Really, as a group of developers we should all just chill out and use the technology that we enjoy the most, notwithstanding the constraints we have. And most of all, the user is what counts, not what we develop in. If you’re in a job using tech you don’t like, guess what, go somewhere else. TypeScript is another language that lets people do shit, just like Ruby, Java, Python, C#, C, Rust and JavaScript. If TypeScript is your bag, great. But, just because I like and write JavaScript, doesn’t mean that I have to write TypeScript and that JavaScript is bad. JavaScript keeps getting better and better and it works great for me. JavaScript with Superstruct is f*cking awesome.

The inimitable Jason Snell:

Now comes the news that things may be getting worse, not better. 9to5Mac reports that macOS Sequoia beta has introduced a new prompt that doesn’t allow a user to permanently grant permission, but requires an occasional re-authorization.

It’s part of a general trend for Apple to continue placing barriers in the way of users who are trying to use software on the Mac.

I’m just hoping… hoping that Apple realises they’ve made a f*ck up here and gets the balance right. I cannot help but feel that this is perhaps the quickening of the daft conspiracy theory that people had when Gatekeeper came to town in the first place - it’s heading towards an iOS-style App Store where the Apple Tax is in full force. Personally, I don’t think so, but I can see why people might think that. The evidence doesn’t look good.

Asking for permission a second time is not unreasonable for the reasons I mentioned above. But at some point the user must be in charge.

I’m not convinced on this point. People will get pop-up fatigue and just click through. It’s at this point when it becomes less safe, not more safe. Ask once, and only once.

Obviously, for those people that don’t like all this, you can just disable Gatekeeper. Will you still be able to do that?

For me, Apple has made some great strides bringing some features from iOS to the Mac. However, some of the more childish sh*t that is in iOS is now in the Mac too. If Apple continues down this foolish path, it could be that it’s time to re-look at Linux. Windows I haven’t used in years, but people complain it has ads in the OS which I find weird as hell. So, Linux is perhaps becoming the only option for those of us that want an adult computer.

You don’t always get what you deserve in life. Sometimes you do. Sometimes the return is more than you expected. Sometimes less:

A video has emerged showing what happened before a police officer was filmed kicking and stamping on a man’s head at Manchester Airport.

Officers can be seen trying to restrain one man before a second intervenes.

A fight breaks out and two officers are punched to the ground, the footage obtained by the Manchester Evening News shows.

Not sure if the kick and the stamp were necessary, but given what happened before that, it’s understandable that it did. Obviously, we don’t have all the facts and looking at the kick and the stamp in isolation, it’s quite plainly wrong.

The question for me is not, “Should a Police officer have done that”? The question for me is, “How do the Police prevent people from assaulting them”? Do we want them to defend themselves and make sure other people know that if they try to take them on, then they’re going to come off worse? I’d much rather have a Police force with more power and leeway so they can prevent crime and create a bit of fear if you decide to get on the wrong side of them. Sure, you shouldn’t be assaulted by, or in fear of, the Police for little or no reason, but if you decide to assault a Police officer, you should expect to take a beating and to come off worse. I’m not saying the Police should be given carte blanche, but they should have a little more freedom to prevent crime. It’s a fine balance, but I think the pendulum has swung too far in the criminal’s direction.

Here in the UK the Police have diminished powers and there are fewer of them than there once was. This creates an ideal environment for people, especially youths, to get away small crimes which cause unnecessary societal challenges, such as the continued rise in theft.

Update: And now rioting on the streets!

Kiran Stacey writing in The Guardian:

The UK has dropped its opposition to an international arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu,

It is about time we started to live our values. We’ve got an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin, so why not Netanyahu? They’re essentially doing the same thing, just in different parts of the world. Who’s to say Britian and the west are on the right side of this?

Over 39,000 Palestinian deaths and 1,000 Israelis since the war started in October. If we’re not appalled by this, then we should stop sending aid to Ukraine as well. Putin’s in the wrong, Hamas is in the wrong, and so is Israel. Israel are now the aggressor, and have the power and resources to pretty much do what they want, as we’re seeing. It’s time to stop the killing and oppression and start the talking again.

The Palestine / Israel conflict is incredibly complex; but it needs a solution so Palestinians can have self-determination, safety and prosperity.

A solution eludes us, but I do know 40,000+ dead humans means we need to re-double our efforts.

Jason Lange for Reuters:

Vice President Kamala Harris opened up a marginal two-percentage-point lead over Republican Donald Trump after President Joe Biden ended his re-election campaign and passed the torch to her, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

This is good news considering:

Harris and Trump were tied at 44% in a July 15-16 poll, and Trump led by one percentage point in a July 1-2 poll, both within the same margin of error.

Project 2025 is taking shape. It’s goal is to do away with the “radical Left” and usher in the f*cking “nut bag Right”. The only thing missing is someone stupid enough to make it happen. Well, unless Kamala Harris can stop them, that will be Donald J. Trump and that other fruit loop, JD Vance.

While I get that there are a bunch of people that are disenfranchised in the US, I still find it hard to believe that so many people are willing to vote for a liar, a cheat and someone that speaks to people like teenager. If Trump wins, which is a very, very realistic possibility, then things like “the sacking of thousands of civil servants, expanding the power of the president, dismantling the Department of Education, sweeping tax cuts, a ban on pornography, halting sales of the abortion pill, and more” are likely to happen.

As Harris has said, “We want to ban assault weapons, they want to ban books.”

Come on Kamala!

Dan Goodin, writing for Ars Technica:

Rite Aid, the third biggest US drug store chain, said that more than 2.2 million of its customers have been swept into a data breach that stole personal information, including driver’s license numbers, addresses, and dates of birth.

But seriously, who would want to shop at Rite Aid? Five breaches in 10 years where the information of their customers has been stolen!

Rite Aid is a defendant in several lawsuits stemming from a separate data breach in May 2023. The earlier breach exposed patient names, dates of birth, addresses, prescription data, and insurance data for more than 24,000 customers. Rite Aid has previously reported breaches in 2015, 2017, and 2018.

They obviously have a cultural challenge which has them pay little to no attention to information security. The directors should be on the hook for their continued malfeasance. It’s unfathomable that it continues to happen and if I was in their technology department, I’d be supremely embarrassed. They are incompetent or negligent. Either way, it’s on the board and senior leaders to fix it.

I guess they could file for bankruptcy. Again.

Gareth Southgate:

As a proud Englishman, it has been the honour of my life to play for England and to manage England.

As a non-Englishman, he looks to have steadied a pretty awful ship after a series of poor performances at tournaments and some managers that have perhaps not been as well suited to the role. However, bigger than that, he looks to have overseen a period of calm, stability and foundation-building off-the-field as well.

But it’s time for change, and for a new chapter.

I agree. He’s done a great job from an organisational perspective, but with the group of players he has, he’s been negative and overly cautious in his approach. It does feel like superb foundations are there for the next manager to come in. But, the FA needs to look at the profile of managers around and decide what they want.

I hope that the next England manager isn’t as prosaic and can play some football to get fans off their seats. Football is no longer only about winning, it’s now entertainment and that is probably the one downside of Southgate’s tenure.

I genuinely wish Southgate well in whatever is next for him. He’s done a great job and I hope he’s remembered for that.

JD Vance, in classic nut bag style:

And I was talking about, you know, what is the first truly Islamist country that will get a nuclear weapon, and we were like, maybe it’s Iran, you know, maybe Pakistan already kind of counts, and then we sort of finally decided maybe it’s actually the UK, since Labour just took over.

Dude, we’re more worried about you and Trump getting access to nuclear weapons.

Of Vance, Angela Rayner, the UK’s deputy prime minister, said:

[He’s said] quite a lot of fruity things in the past.

At least there’ll be one adult in the room when they meet after Trump/Vance are elected in November.

Yet another commentator, pundit, presenter, coach or player has called a sports person a genius. This time it’s Spanish football boss Luis de la Fuente talking about Yamine Lamal’s goal against France in the Euro 2024 semi-final:

We saw a touch of genius.

It’s a term that is thrown around when talking about a sports person’s extreme execution of a skill. But, while I’m sure some sports people are in fact geniuses, the vast majority are not. They are just regular people with fantastic skills in their chosen discipline.

A genius is someone who has exceptional intellect.

Lamal’s goal was excellent. It’s what you’d expect from a highly talented individual. To do it on such as stage, at such a young age (he’s 16) is impressive. But, it’s not genius. It’s just a great goal.

And let’s be brutal; we probably wouldn’t label Wayne Rooney a genius, even though he did some exceptional things on a football pitch.

It’s gobsmacking how much shareholders have been paid to run a public utility, and not invest in it’s future. Mind you, who is to blame, the shareholders or the government and regulators who allowed this to happen?

Thames Water has failed to complete more than 100 upgrades to ageing sewage treatment works to meet legal pollution limits, the Guardian can reveal.

So are they being prosecuted? And if not, why not? And if so, are any of the directors on the hook? If not, why not? And speaking of directors:

Meanwhile, Thames Water awaits a crucial decision on Thursday from the regulator Ofwat on the company’s new five-year business plan. Thames wants to increase customer bills 59% by 2030 to pay for record investment of £19.8bn to tackle sewage pollution, leaks and water shortages after decades in which the company has sweated assets and underinvested.

All this after agreeing a £150 million dividend to shareholders on March 27 this year.

So, we’ll take money out, then plead poverty and wait for the bailout since it’s a crucial public service. Sound familiar?

I had a blog way back when, running on Ruby and some long forgotten blog framework. This one currently runs on Astro. It will likely be moved to Remix in the not too distant future. That’s only because I’m a big fan of Remix and while some might say that SSG is faster, well, caching is pretty good too so it won’t really make a difference at the end of the day. Plus, let’s be honest, there’s probably only going to be a single reader.

Every now and then I’ll likely post a complete AI-generated post, just for shits and giggles. I will mark it as such, however. Over time, I guess we’ll see how good AI-generated content gets.

I’ll talk about all sorts of shit; from food, to politics, to sport, to nerd shit and whatever else takes my fancy. At the end of the day, politically I’m a centrist, so will take the piss out of the extremes of the right and left because they all-to-often make no f*cking sense. Racism and misogyny are for lizard brains. If you’re woke, well, sleep a little bit more and don’t be so damned offended or get a f*cking hobby. And if you believe the earth is flat, well, you’re a dumbf*ck.