My African Spirit

May 25, 2025 2:20 pm | by Craig Webb | Posted in Art

I brought my African Spirit sculpture outside to give it a coat of teak oil.

I found this spirit in someone’s trash about 20 years ago and brought it home. I found that it had an infestation of termites at the base and on one ear. I sprayed it with bug-spray and the problem never returned.

My African Spirit stood by my front door at my old house. It lives in my office / art studio now.

Periodically I give it a coat of oil, usually lemon oil. The teak oil has made it darker than before. I brought it to the garden to take its portrait.

I like my African Spirit.

Developers are jumping ship on Apple computers

May 23, 2025 2:20 pm | by Craig Webb | Posted in Technology, User Experience

Recently my tech developer friends were discussing replacing their M-series Apple computers with non-Apple hardware. They told me that Apple had decided to weld the hard drive, battery and chips to the motherboard, preventing the ability to upgrade their equipment.

I discovered that the limitations of upgrading Apple’s M-chip computers is a significant issue. A sentiment of frustration among developers and programmers is quite strong. As developers work with LLMs, video and other sophisticated software and programming needs they are starting to rebel and abandon Apple products.

Here’s a breakdown of the issue:

The Soldered Components:

RAM (Unified Memory): Apple’s M-series chips (M1, M2, M3, etc.) use a “Unified Memory Architecture” (UMA). This means the RAM is integrated directly onto the chip or logic board, very close to the CPU and GPU. This design allows for incredibly fast data transfer between the CPU, GPU, and memory, which is a major performance benefit. However, the downside is that RAM cannot be upgraded after purchase. You have to decide how much RAM you need at the time of purchase, and you’re stuck with it for the life of the machine.

SSD (Storage):

Similarly, the SSD storage in most M-chip Macs is also soldered to the logic board. While there have been some rare instances of engineers managing to desolder and replace SSD chips (a highly risky and complex process that voids warranties), for the vast majority of users, internal storage is not upgradeable.

Other Components:

The CPU, GPU, and other core components are all integrated into the M-series “System on a Chip” (SoC), meaning they are not modular and cannot be replaced or upgraded independently. Batteries can be replaced by Apple or authorized service providers, but not easily by users.

Why Apple Does This (and the Developer Perspective):

Performance:

The primary technical reason for integrating RAM and other components is performance. UMA significantly reduces latency and increases bandwidth, making M-chip Macs incredibly efficient and powerful for their size and power consumption.
Miniaturization and Design: Soldering allows for thinner, lighter, and more compact designs, which is a key aspect of Apple’s product philosophy.

Control and Profit:

This is where much of the developer and user frustration comes from. By making components non-upgradeable, Apple effectively forces users to buy a new machine if they need more RAM or storage, rather than simply upgrading existing hardware. This leads to higher costs for consumers and, some argue, contributes to e-waste. The premium Apple charges for RAM and storage upgrades at the time of purchase is often significantly higher than the market cost of those components.
Prevalence of Sentiment Among Developers and Programmers:

The sentiment among developers and programmers is widely critical of Apple’s non-upgradable hardware. Here’s why:

Resource Demands:

Developers often work with demanding applications, large codebases, virtual machines, and multiple tools running simultaneously. These tasks can quickly consume significant amounts of RAM and storage. Being locked into a fixed configuration means they might find their machines underpowered sooner than they’d like.

Cost of Ownership:

The inability to upgrade makes the total cost of ownership higher. If a developer needs more RAM a couple of years down the line, their only official option is to buy a completely new, expensive machine.

“Right to Repair” Concerns:

This issue feeds into the broader “right to repair” movement. Many developers and tech enthusiasts believe that consumers should have the right to repair and upgrade their own devices, and Apple’s practices are seen as directly opposing this.

Longevity and Sustainability:

From an environmental perspective, forcing users to replace entire machines instead of upgrading components contributes to electronic waste.

Exceptions and Workarounds:

While official upgrades are impossible, some users resort to external SSDs for additional storage. For RAM, there’s no practical external solution, although some highly skilled engineers in places like Shenzhen have demonstrated extremely risky and difficult methods of desoldering and replacing RAM chips. These are not viable options for the average user or even most professional developers.

In summary:

While Apple’s integrated design offers performance benefits, the inability to upgrade RAM and internal storage on M-chip Macs is a major point of contention for developers and programmers. It forces them to either over-spec their machines at the time of purchase (leading to higher upfront costs) or face the prospect of buying a new computer when their current one no longer meets their needs. This contributes to a strong negative sentiment regarding Apple’s hardware longevity and repairability.

Doing it alone. Everyone has left.

May 19, 2025 2:20 pm | by Craig Webb | Posted in Polis

I buried my brother Wade this spring on Good Friday. He died almost two years ago. It took me this long to take care of him.

My brother died in California where he lived and worked for over thirty years. I buried him in Pennsylvania in the town where I was born.

My father or grandfather bought grave plots in a cemetery near Crestmont. My grandparents are buried there and also my brother Paul.

Wade died of heart failure and non-alcoholic cirrhosis. His demise was agonizing. The cirrhosis caused him to hemorrhage in his esophagus and he lost a lot of blood. The loss of blood caused a heart attack and Wade was in a comma for three weeks. When he came to he could not speak.

The hospital was prepared to send Wade for a liver transplant but the damage to his heart was too severe for him to undergo the treatment. I was there and spoke to him one day. The next day he was unconscious and the nurses were desperately trying to get his blood pressure up. The drugs they were using to force his heartbeat were no longer working. Wade’s blood pressure dropped and he died.

Days earlier the doctors were still considering the liver transplant and then they had to tell him no.

I told Wade that I would bury him in Pennsylvania. He shook his head no. He was unable to say what he wanted because he could not speak.

I wanted to bury Wade next to my brother Paul, who had died some thirty years earlier. Wade loved Grandma as well. He had a photo of her in his living room in Pasadena.

My father who also died recently is not buried. His last wife has him, I think. He died right near Thanksgiving. Wade told me that she does not want to speak with me. So I don’t know what will happen with my father. I’m pretty sure that he wanted to be buried near his father and mother, and his brother.

I’m glad that I buried my brother in the family plot. I did it for me. I did it for my self respect. I’ve done what I could to take care of my family.

* * *

Wade must have known that he was in trouble. I visited him two years earlier and accompanied him on a visit to the hospital. He had an appointment at the hematology department. After he came out of the appointment he told me that both his white and red blood cell count were low. He said the doctor made a scan of his spleen.

I asked him multiple times what the doctors said and I encouraged him to go back for more information. He told me he did not believe in western medicine. Some friend of his came by with a tincture of some sort, a “holistic medicine”.

Had Wade dealt with the problem then he probably would have gotten the liver transplant. The lesson is to go to the damned doctors. Since Wade died I’ve had a liver and kidney screening, a colonoscopy and an endoscopy. I get blood tests every six months. I’ve got x-rays of my hip and knee, which are becoming arthritic.

Go to the doctor. Ask questions. Look up the results using AI. Find out what is going on and deal with it.

* * *

Wade left a lot of damage. He had been successful as a solar-power engineer for housing and commercial buildings in Los Angeles county. He had a caustic mouth and he wrecked his marriage. After his wife left him his life and business went south. She handled the books and Wade did not handle the business finances well. He had a bad client and he accrued a lot of debt. He was lonely and he became involved with a catfishing scheme. Wade was sending bitcoin to some catfish floozy.

Wade lost his business license. He had to work through an associate’s business and earned less money. He fell off a ladder and broke his hip. I came out to take care of him for a couple of weeks. There was no food in the house and I bought food at various grocery stores for us to eat. I would work on my computer while he made called to creditors to let business loans.

Wade was 10 months behind in rent when he died. The landlord had put a lock on his door and a notice of eviction. His work associated got his debit card and emptied his bank account saying that he owed them money. They agreed to get his stuff out of his apartment but then turned around and sold Wade’s four prized guitars on Craigslist for $1000.00. Basically everything he had is gone, including his car and his photographs of grandma and the catfish.

* * *

Mom is buried at the national cemetery in Santa fe New Mexico in a crematorium plot intended to be shared with her husband Larry, a Viet Nam veteran. Larry has advanced dementia. His sister gained conservancy and she brought him to Ohio where she lives. She is taking care of him and his sister who also has dementia. She last told me that Larry is physically strong. I do not know that she intends to honor my mother’s wish to be buried with him in New Mexico. It may be awkward to dig my mother up. I don’t want to have her buried alone, forgotten.

For now I’m just living life and getting by. I miss having family. My therapist asks me how I feel and I don’t have much to say. I feel a hole. I often have dreams with Mom and my brothers in them. The dreams are about packing to move or leaving a party, needing a ride and being left behind. I dream that I am the last to leave the party and I don’t have a ride so I am deciding to hitchhike. Abandoned. Doing it alone.