Author Archives: pirateguillermo

Prepare to Take Care

So, you know, things are likely going to get harder for people on the margins of power in the U.S., not just over the next few years, but probably for the next generation, until a bunch of justices retire. At least. Anyway, protests and lawsuits are great and necessary, but they’re things you do afterContinue reading “Prepare to Take Care”

Updating a macOS application’s Help Book

Why yes, as a matter of fact that is a really long title. Nevertheless, there’s not a lot of documentation to be found, and certainly not a lot of practical advice that shows up easily. Now that I’m building help books for my applications, I’ve run into the situation where I update the help andContinue reading “Updating a macOS application’s Help Book”

Okay, I Guess I’m Learning Ruby

Right, so a macOS application has a ‘Help’ menu by default, but unless the developer does some complicated and poorly documented stuff, there isn’t any help. Now, I’ve found a swell tool, Middlemac, that helps make the process much simpler. However, it doesn’t work with Ruby 3, because stuff in the past. Nowadays, middleman doesContinue reading “Okay, I Guess I’m Learning Ruby”

Modern Opera – Just Say Ouch (The Handmaid’s Tale)

We went to see “The Handmaid’s Tale” at SF Opera last night. I read the novel back in … I dunno, 1988? 1989? Somewhere around there. I knew this was going to be a megadowner. Then again, it’s not like “La Bohème” is a laugh riot or anything. But here’s the thing: it’s modern, andContinue reading “Modern Opera – Just Say Ouch (The Handmaid’s Tale)”

Maybe Don’t Do That?

Right, so I am working on a service that replaces a single part in an existing workflow. The workflow itself has been in existence for, like, 30 years and really, I’m not prepared to go down the path of explaining why the whole thing isn’t being replaced with a shiny new integrated and up-to-date system.Continue reading “Maybe Don’t Do That?”

Webassembly: Do I Want That?

From a first glance at the Webassembly (abbreviated as WASM) site, it’s hard to tell what it’s for. A little bit of digging, though, gives me the idea that it’s a way to write an application that gets delivered to users from a web server and which runs in the browser. This is sort ofContinue reading “Webassembly: Do I Want That?”

Music Software: Ensemble

Ensemble is billed by its creators as music score software specifically intended to make piping and drum scores for pipe bands. It claims to be able to play the scores so you can hear what the arrangement sounds like. It even claims to be able to import scores from other music software packages. It andContinue reading “Music Software: Ensemble”