Sign in

Bob Arnson

@bobarnson.com
1.6K followers 184 following 103 posts

░G░U░I░D░s░i░n░b░i░o.░ I work @firegiant.com. I work on @WixToolset.org. He/él/il/ghaH.

PostsRepliesMedia
Bob Arnson @bobarnson.com · 05/10/2026
I am currently on hold with the Help Desk. Or as I call it, the Desk. (See, because of the lack of help? I suppose I could have clarified that they haven't been able to help me---for an issue that started Friday, btw---but I thought the "on hold" kind of covered that. That's what I get for pith.)
020
Reposted by Bob Arnson
Mike McMahan @mikemcmahan.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Furry Pilot
939666
Reposted by Bob Arnson
FireGiant @firegiant.com · 16/09/2026
WiX Online Meeting 311 Highlights www.firegiant.com/blog/2026/9/...
firegiant.com
WiX Online Meeting 311 Highlights | FireGiant
Ah, September, pumpkin-spice season and the beginnings of sweater weather. (Except here in the American midwest, it's 'shorts weather' until there's snow on the ground.) Here in the WiX repo, the summer...
133
Bob Arnson @bobarnson.com · 09/09/2026
`This agent request is not running yet. Current position in queue: 957.` Oh. Time for a coffee break and/or sword fight, I guess.
020
Reposted by Bob Arnson
FireGiant @firegiant.com · 26/08/2026
WiX Online Meeting 310 Highlights www.firegiant.com/blog/2026/8/...
firegiant.com
WiX Online Meeting 310 Highlights | FireGiant
With more than 300 meetings under our belts, earlier this month the WiX Toolset YouTube channel turned 13 years old! We began lovingly hand-writing these meeting highlights a year and a half later. As...
131
Bob Arnson @bobarnson.com · 13/08/2026
"Never been diagnosed...but something ain't right..."
000
Bob Arnson @bobarnson.com · 10/08/2026
static.klipy.com
Star Trek Next Generation
Alt: An unidentified Starfleet captain expressing his feelings over hippie descriptive dictionaries tolerating the abominable.
130
Bob Arnson @bobarnson.com · 25/07/2026
Psh. `—` or nothing.
000
Bob Arnson @bobarnson.com · 24/07/2026
Hell yes! psychotechnology.substack.com/p/em-dashes-...
psychotechnology.substack.com
Em dashes are fucking amazing
An ode to a punctuation mark
240
Bob Arnson @bobarnson.com · 23/07/2026
Renamed after the debauchery and arrests of the LCA party...
000
Reposted by Bob Arnson
FireGiant @firegiant.com · 22/07/2026
WiX Online Meeting 309 Highlights www.firegiant.com/blog/2026/7/...
firegiant.com
WiX Online Meeting 309 Highlights | FireGiant
We're at that point in Northern Hemisphere summer where the weather is actively taunting us. For me here in the USA Midwest, late July is usually the swampiest part of summer. But this week, it's comfortable...
021
Bob Arnson @bobarnson.com · 13/07/2026
If you have to take mandatory corporate Code of Conduct training, remember to answer "no" to kicking puppies, spilling hazardous waste, and bribery, both paying and---believe it or not---receiving. Don't trust your instincts.
030
Reposted by Bob Arnson
mean things I say to myself @meantomyself.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Old enough to recognize this as a data center
Lockable floppy disk holder from the late 20th century
975259533479
Reposted by Bob Arnson
Tits McGee @scientits.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
‘Say yes and never do it’ Mel Brooks knew how to deal with the studios
You have some wonderful stories of basically getting away with stuff at the studios.

I’d learned one very simple trick: say yes. Simply say yes. Like Joseph E. Levine, on “The Producers,” said, “The curly-haired guy—he’s funny looking. Fire him.” He wanted me to fire Gene Wilder. And I said, “Yes, he’s gone. I’m firing him.” I never did. But he forgot. After the screening of “Blazing Saddles,” the head of Warner Bros. threw me into the manager’s office, gave me a legal pad and a pencil, and gave me maybe twenty notes. He would have changed “Blazing Saddles” from a daring, funny, crazy picture to a stultified, dull, dusty old Western. He said, “No farting.” I said, “It’s out.”That’s probably the most famous scene in the movie, the campfire scene.

I know. He said, “You can’t punch a horse.” I said, “You’ll never see it again.” I kept saying, “You’re absolutely right. It’s out!” Then, when he left, I crumpled up all his notes, and I tossed it in the wastepaper basket. And John Calley, who was running [production at] Warner Bros. at the time, said, “Good filing.” That was the end of it. You say yes, and you never do it.

That’s great advice for life.

It is. Don’t fight them. Don’t waste your time struggling with them and trying to make sense to them. They’ll never understand.
141180875569
Bob Arnson @bobarnson.com · 25/06/2026
Gotta love the Cetacean Institute!
010
Bob Arnson @bobarnson.com · 22/06/2026
devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/...
devblogs.microsoft.com
In memory of the man who put red and green squiggles under words - The Old New Thing
Starting in Word and expanding to nearly every other word processor, and even things that aren't word processors.
010
Bob Arnson @bobarnson.com · 22/06/2026
:shudder:
000
Bob Arnson @bobarnson.com · 20/06/2026
Argh. Three rhetorical questions, answered.
000
Reposted by Bob Arnson
FireGiant @firegiant.com · 17/06/2026
WiX Online Meeting 308 Highlights www.firegiant.com/blog/2026/6/...
firegiant.com
WiX Online Meeting 308 Highlights | FireGiant
Our fortune continues this month: We have only a few issues reported and none indicate an incoming storm of fallout from the release of WiX v7 back in April. We'll count it as skill more than luck, but...
021
Reposted by Bob Arnson
FireGiant @firegiant.com · 20/05/2026
WiX Online Meeting 307 Highlights www.firegiant.com/blog/2026/5/...
firegiant.com
WiX Online Meeting 307 Highlights | FireGiant
We held our last meeting a week early so it's been five weeks between meetings. It took a little bit to get back into the groove of things. Luckily, we had a relatively small number of bugs and none that...
011
Bob Arnson @bobarnson.com · 13/05/2026
That's what they want you to think...
000
Bob Arnson @bobarnson.com · 07/05/2026
Now this is the kind of thing that could convince me to get deeper into Rust: github.com/wojtczyk/trust
github.com
GitHub - wojtczyk/trust: TRUST – Coding Rust like it's 1989
TRUST – Coding Rust like it's 1989. Contribute to wojtczyk/trust development by creating an account on GitHub.
000
Bob Arnson @bobarnson.com · 05/05/2026
> Life is too short to sit around counting zeroes and then looking up the Latin prefixes for big numbers. Hard disagree: Life's too short to _not_ use Latin where you can.
030
Reposted by Bob Arnson
Ryan H. @ryan.blacksky.app · 04/05/2026
My preferred AI metaphor is actually Asbestos. - Seemingly magical properties - Developed and experimented with to make endless products - Poisoned countless communities in it's creation - Everything it was used for eventually becomes a toxic hazard to mitigate & it's in the fucking walls now
5939721572
Reposted by Bob Arnson
Akilla Cooper @akelacooper.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
May the Fourth be with you and all that. Kinda a downer year, honestly, with the Empire rising once again. Here's to the Rebels.
224752
Bob Arnson @bobarnson.com · 28/04/2026
Phase I: How did this ever work? Phase II: Oh. I see. It didn't. Eagerly awaiting phase III.
010
Bob Arnson @bobarnson.com · 26/04/2026
techtrenches.dev/p/the-west-f... It's not just AI but AI exacerbates the "let someone else cheaper do it" problem.
techtrenches.dev
The West Forgot How to Build. Now It's Forgetting Code
The defense industry lost the ability to make weapons when crisis hit. The same pattern is eroding software engineering skills. The timelines are identical.
000
Bob Arnson @bobarnson.com · 26/04/2026
Especially because it happens so rarely...
010
Bob Arnson @bobarnson.com · 19/04/2026
All day Friday...
000
Bob Arnson @bobarnson.com · 18/04/2026
I am a leaf on the wind.
100
Bob Arnson @bobarnson.com · 17/04/2026
In one cold, dead hand: Dashes. In the other cold, dead hand: Oxford commas. Come and take them.
000
Bob Arnson @bobarnson.com · 09/04/2026
I know Rob would like to replace those msi.dll functions but for now, they're still needed.
110
Bob Arnson @bobarnson.com · 09/04/2026
I include this fragment everywhere because there's a lot less boilerplate than there used to be. docs.firegiant.com/wix/whatsnew...
firegiant.com
WiX v7, HeatWave, and HeatWave Build Tools are released | FireGiant
Spring is here and warmer, wetter weather brings us new releases. First up is WiX v7, which we might've mentioned occasionally. As we love the opportunity to simultaneously ship software, we're also bringing out new releases of FireGiant's HeatWave and HeatWave Build Tools for your packaging fun.
110
Reposted by Bob Arnson
FireGiant @firegiant.com · 08/04/2026
WiX Online Meeting 306 Highlights www.firegiant.com/blog/2026/4/...
firegiant.com
WiX Online Meeting 306 Highlights | FireGiant
WiX v7 was released on schedule and we're enjoying spring weather with occasional April showers bringing May WiX v8 features. Or later, because our next milestone is WiX v8.0.0-rc.1 in ten months. Pick...
011
Reposted by Bob Arnson
Janel Comeau 🍁 @verybadllama.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
there's just no way that strange women lying in ponds distributing swords could be even half as bad as this
9559146
Reposted by Bob Arnson
FireGiant @firegiant.com · 07/04/2026
WiX v7, HeatWave, and HeatWave Build Tools are released www.firegiant.com/blog/2026/4/...
firegiant.com
WiX v7, HeatWave, and HeatWave Build Tools are released | FireGiant
Spring is here and warmer, wetter weather brings us new releases. First up is WiX v7, which we might've mentioned occasionally. As we love the opportunity to simultaneously ship software, we're also bringing...
021
Bob Arnson @bobarnson.com · 05/04/2026
To all who celebrate.
000
Reposted by Bob Arnson
Eize Basa @eizebasa.baby · 05/04/2026
“I will NOT sacrifice the Oxford comma. We've made too many compromises already; too many retreats. They assimilate the em dash and we fall back. They capture ‘not just X but y’ and we fall back. Not again. The line must be drawn here! This far, no further!”
I know the tweet is Al generated when they use " ," before and.
16475062088
Reposted by Bob Arnson
The Needling @theneedling.com · 04/04/2026
‘You Didn’t See Shit,’ Local Says to California Tourist Witnessing Sunny Seattle Spring: tinyurl.com/2wc2b6de
Expressionless cross-armed man wearing dark sunglasses and flannel with beautiful, sunny Seattle skyline behind him including the Space Needle and Mount Rainier
18650107
Reposted by Bob Arnson
Me and a small nugget of love. 🇸🇪♥️🇺🇦 @mnotme.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Awesome view from Artemis II this morning.
947149802292
Reposted by Bob Arnson
Jerad Walker @jeradwalker.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
At Kennedy Space Center astronauts have to take elevators to the top of launch pad towers in order to enter their space capsules before lift off. This is the elevator panel at Pad 39A.
A series of buttons for different levels. The bottom level is labeled "Earth" and the top level is called "Space"
181852484
Reposted by Bob Arnson
Janel Comeau 🍁 @verybadllama.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
I have stolen 12T of KitKats that were in transit and which you were probably hoping to buy in Poland forgive me the world is stressful and I needed a break
642018363
Bob Arnson @bobarnson.com · 24/03/2026
It lacks the elegance of `20 GOTO 10`.
110
Reposted by Bob Arnson
derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
2006 internet: RSS feeds, forums, communities of hobby blogs, where people post about interior design, fashion, and music for free 2026 internet: sponsored content, paid partnership, buy my merch, try my supplements, invest in my crypto, click link in bio to unlock the secrets of life for $30
445182753772
Reposted by Bob Arnson
Sean Killeen @seankilleen.com · 19/03/2026
So @gregsdennis.bsky.social moved his projects from open licensing to the Open Source Maintenance Fee (OSMF) license. Wanted to take a quick journey through how our team thought through this in our org. 1/x 🧵 #oss #dotnet #sustainability
3126
Reposted by Bob Arnson
FireGiant @firegiant.com · 18/03/2026
WiX Online Meeting 305 Highlights www.firegiant.com/blog/2026/3/...
firegiant.com
WiX Online Meeting 305 Highlights | FireGiant
Today we held our last meeting before the (scheduled) release of WiX v7 on 6-April. There were no ship-stopping issues for us to triage—but it's not too late to find a bug that sounds so bad it spikes...
011
Reposted by Bob Arnson
Sean Marotta @smmarotta.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
One thing that AI evangelists seem to assume, particularly legal AI evangelists assume, is that the thinking and analysis is quick, and the writing is just tedious busywork that slows us down. But the writing IS the thinking and analysis. You work out the thinking and analysis by writing it down.
9945141036
Reposted by Bob Arnson
Nat Guest @unfortunatalie.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
A friend just sent me this perfect piece by Karel Čapek, trans. Dora Round, ‘From the Point of View of a Cat’.
From the Point of View of a Cat
This is my Man. I am not afraid of him. He is very strong, for he eats a great deal; he is an Eater of All Things. What are you eating? Give me some!
He is not beautiful, for he has no fur. Not having enough saliva, he has to wash himself with water. He meows in a harsh voice and a great deal more than necessary. Sometimes in his sleep he purrs.
Let me out!
I don’t know how he has made himself Master; perhaps he has eaten something sublime.
He keeps my rooms clean for me.
In his paws he carries a sharp black claw and he scratches with it on white sheets of paper. That is the only game he plays. He sleeps at night instead of by day, he cannot see in the dark, he has no pleasures. He never thinks of blood, never dreams of hunting or fighting; he never sings songs of love.
Often at night when I can hear mysterious and magic voices, when I can see that the darkness is all alive, he sits at the table with his head bent and goes on and on, scratching with his black claw on the white papers. Don’t imagine that I am at all interested in you. I am only listening to the soft whispering of your claw. Sometimes the whispering is silent, the poor dull head does not know how to go on playing, and then I am sorry for him and I meow softly in sweet and sharp discord. Then my Man picks me up and buries his hot face in my fur. At those times he divines for an instant a glimpse of a higher life, and he sighs with happiness and purrs something which can almost be understood.
But don’t think that I am at all interested in you. You have warmed me, and now I will go out again and listen to the dark voices.
Translated by Dora Round; revised by the editor. Originally published in Intimate Things, 1935.
141523646
Reposted by Bob Arnson
Dane Owens @owendanes.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
Pretty crazy how important the blockade of a trade route is right now
216256556907
Bob Arnson @bobarnson.com · 09/03/2026
Lucky pull request #700 in the "new" WiX repo since 2021. github.com/wixtoolset/w... I also had lucky pull request #666...
github.com
Set more detect-phase values when falling back. by barnson · Pull Request #700 · wixtoolset/wix
When configurable-scope bundle is already installed, find it during detect by falling back from machine to user. Set the scope as early as possible so detect-phase checks (e.g., cache path, state f...
000