Slashdot Mirror
Slashback: Electioneering, Blimps, Shuffling
Let's get the politics out of the way.
The Washington state Republican Party has been working to prove that the election of November 2, between Democrat Christine Gregoire and Republican Dino Rossi, was too fraudulent to be trusted, given the small margin of victory by Gregoire (129 votes), and they want a new election. Hundreds of alleged fraudulent votes (mostly felons, but also out-of-state, duplicate, and deceased voters), uncounted ballots, unaccounted-for absentee ballots, and illegally counted provisional ballots comprise the bulk of the GOP's case. The trial begins May 23, and the judge expects it to last two weeks. The hearing to decide the burden of proof standard will be May 2.
Unctuous politicians relive their student-council glory days:
Jackson West writes "As it stands, two versions of the Electronic Engineering bill (discussed earlier on Slashdot) presented to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors have passed their 'first reading.' This means both the first, unamended piece of legislation, and an amended version that will "specifically exclude web logs, forums, opt-in email lists and postings on general web pages." The Rules Committee will consider the amended bill on Monday, with a final vote on both bills on Tuesday."
How to get attention, part IIVVIVIVM.SanLouBlues writes "On March 30th, Slashdot reported on the FBI request for the logs of several radical-leaning sites. The Washington Post has an article about the man who was responsible for the posts which resulted in the FBI request. He claimed to have killed a cop in several forum posts."
Now on to the fun stuff!Matt Omori writes to say that GimpShop, the recently mentioned version of The GIMP hacked to feel more familiar to users of Photoshop, isn't just for Linux and Mac OS X. "Yes, it's finally been coded for Windows XP. After lots of hard work, some people devoted to a website, plasticbugs.com, have coded GimpShop for Windows."
To use it, you'll need Windows XP, GTK+, and a reboot. However, I'd also like to point out a BigSven's comment about the themeability of The GIMP; it would be great to see GIMPersonalities of all sorts -- and it sounds like this can be accomplished with some XML editing.
Still looks actionable to me.MrToast writes "The iPodLounge is reporting that LuxPro's Super Shuffle is back, but this time with slight alterations. The Super Tangent, as it is being called, has a slightly different button area and also has new headphones. Otherwise it appears to be identical to the iPod shuffle."
(The SuperShuffle disappeared from the Web site, and was reported as a hoax, shortly after it was mentioned in mid-March.)
Let's close on some uplifting news. Vaeske writes with more on my favorite futuristic means of broadband delivery, region-covering airships. "GlobeTel Communications Corp announced that they will be showing their prototype of the Sanswire One on April 12th. This "Stratalite" as they call it, will float in the stratosphere at 65,000 feet and provide line of sight communications to approximately 300,000 square miles, providing two-way high-sped communication. This project has attracted many high-profile NASA engineers to leave their posts for a position with GlobeTel. The military has also shown interest and was present at the GlobeTel Summit."
Recounts: not just for Democrats anymore!
...but is it art?
that would be 10% of the US population
Implementations are currently limited to a simple (Windows?) archive package (which doesn't appear to do any other file types any better than the previous version). I'm hoping for a Firefox image plugin and a Pocket PC port myself.
On a completely un-related note; last night I had some kids convinced that the Statue of Liberty had those spikes on her head to protect NYC from Nazi airships during WWII!
Get your Unix fortune now!
So we're reading gnome-vomit? Or did it return via the other end?
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
GimpShop is cool. General themability of GIMP is even better. Of course, now that we've started down the path of making GimpShop people are going to whinge (don't they always) that GIMP doesn't have all the features of Photoshop. For those people I have two suggestions: code them, or pay someone to code them.
Stratalites are damn cool. You can use them like train stations to space. Get in your ground blimp, fly up to station 1. Get in your high altitude blimp, fly up to station 2. Get in your supermassive low pressure blimp and fly up to station 3. Get in your rocket and launch your ass into space.
How we know is more important than what we know.
Get your Unix fortune now!
the return of our slashback overlords.
Anyone find it funny how the r's are trying this now? After all the hay they mad from the d's attempt?
Damn the man!
Does anybody know who designed Wilbur? (I think that is his name.) Having generally no need for either Photoshop or Gimp, I made the investment of time - back when it was more than a simple package install - to install and use Gimp based entirely on that awesome dog.
When they thought they had won the Washington Governor's election, and the Demos complained about votes that should have been counted but weren't, the Repubs sneered at them as poor losers.
So if Adobe feels even the slightest bit threatened by it, expect the project to receive a nastygram.
Schwab
Editor, A1-AAA AmeriCaptions
the gimpshop guy by the gimp developers: they chose a license for Gimp that allows this kind of modification, the guy was definitely within his rights to go ahead with it whether or not Sven (or others) would've preferred him to 'work with them and not fork things'.
Rather than focusing about his 'rude' modus operandi Gimp developers should notice the HUGE positive reaction to his modification by 'normal users': if instead of sitting in their ivory tower and going on about 'Gimp is not PS, we won't change how the UI operates' the Gimp devs listened to users who have been begging for a PS-like UI for YEARS there wouldn't have been any need for a fork (they've also been beggin for adjustment layers as well, but who knows when that will happen).
I thought that this is what Open Source is all about: if you don't like it, fix it and release it (like this guy did).
If he had 'followed due process' he'd just have been ignored because 'Gimp is not Photoshop'. This seems like a case of damned if you do (you shouldn't fork the gimp) and damned if you don't (you're not a coder, so you have no right to complain).
-- the cake is a lie
"BSD: Free as in speech. Linux: Free as in beer. Windows 10: Free as in herpes." --Man On Pink Corner in #52607549.
Slashback is back after a long absence being devoured by gnomes.
Gnomes? I want to know what happened to my cadra of angry stealth attack llamas.
Insensitive clods.
The fact of the matter is that neither side really seems to care about fixing the system when they are in power. Perhaps they feel they have more important things to do than perserve voting integrity, but each side seems to gloat when it looks like the other is getting the short end of the stick.
It does not serve democracy to prop up this failed process; it doesn't even really serve the candidates. All it does is turn something that should represent the will of the electorate into an elaborate game of legal manipulation and shenanagans, and the only way to stop it is to have overwhelming and incontestible voting returns in 2006 for the Rastafarian candidates. Thank you.
I never vote for anyone. I always vote against.
-- W.C. Fields
I started reading the Washington Post story about the cop killer, and everything seemed fine until one paragraph stuck out like a sore thumb:
His eyes are not a madman's eyes, but they look dilated, nothing but pupils, and when he turns to face you, he stares. In the antebellum courthouse, surrounded by sheriff's deputies, the stare is merely awkward. Imagine, though, those black eyes at night, with him holding a gun.
What the fuck is that doing in a newspaper? It's the newspaper's job to report the facts, not demonise him. Is this what passes for journalism in the USA these days?
This is what open source is about. Please don't let people's egos get in the way of making great software.
How we know is more important than what we know.
How the fuck am I going to spend ALL that time reading the links in the article and post before /. moves on to another?!? Hmmmm?!?!
In other words, sir, your post is just as on topic as everyone else's who really didn't read ALL of those links.
And here in East Lansing, it is conveniently already tuned to NPR!
i just put in
they chose a license for Gimp that allows this kind of modification, the guy was definitely within his rights to go ahead with it whether or not Sven (or others) would've preferred him to 'work with them and not fork things'.
Noone implied he didn't have the legal right to do so. He's not violating the law, just unwritten rules of etiquette; It's polite to try to cooperate before forking.
The real issue here, which the poster mentioned, isn't that he forked Gimp, it's that it seems he may have changed parts which didn't have to be changed in order to achive what he did. That's doing a disservice both to both parties, since it'll make it more difficult to merge in his changes into the Gimp, and newer changes to the Gimp into GimpShop.
If he had 'followed due process' he'd just have been ignored because 'Gimp is not Photoshop'.
What exactly do you base this on? The Gimp developer who posted seemed quite open to the idea. There's a big difference between developers not considering requests from users and developers not considering an implementation of said request.
It's not the system; it's the people who are using it. Both the politicians running it and the general public who buys into it. Here's a summary of what's wrong :
The media
The media in the USA is insane. They're the single biggest lobby group in America today and not only that but they're also in the director's chair because they control what politician's get elected. Everyone should go look up a documentary called Orwell Rolls in his Grave. Now a day's, all the media is controlled by a few companies thanks to deregulation by the FCC. And they can use the media to say whatever they please, and put down the opinions of anyone who disagrees.
The politicians
Basically all the politicians are rich white men. They got their wealth from inheritance. If they worked for it then they got some real lucky breaks. George Washington in his farewell address warned of political parties and named them one of three things that could break the American system. And guess what...they are. Right now there are two major political parties. It's impossible for two parties to accurately represent the broad spectrum of views held by millions of people. What more these two parties have near complete control so you're either part of them or you aren't a politician.
The people
We're the ones who let this happen and what more most people voting don't vote based on issues. Those who do don't check their sources and are very poorly misinformed. It's almost exactly like Fahrenheit 451 (The Ray Bradbury book....so help me god if someone mentions Michael Moore) where people vote based on who looks best, without even listening to them.
End conclusion? If you want something to change do something about it, do it a little at a time, learn the facts, read your history books and be sure to watch your politicians closely.
Slashback is back after a long absence being devoured by gnomes.
Lucky you don't use KDE.. Otherwise it'd be Dragons... 0.o
"Consider how lucky you are that life has been good to you so far. Alternatively, if life hasn't been good to you so far
Sven had some good points: if the GimpShop were done "right" with the architectural aids that the GIMP already offers, then the work would be a lot more manageable, and would end up being a long-life supported option, even after the GimpShop guy was no longer itching to keep it up. However, in the one little posting linked, Sven said he got no reply-- it's hard to tell if the GimpShop guy was ignoring Sven for past sleights and attitude, or just didn't get the messages, but either one is pretty believable.
I do think the GIMP development team needs to realize that as the premiere image editing package for the OSS world, that they have a certain obligation that comes with it. Whether you like it or not, you're a role model, so you should act like one. Listen to users who don't code. Do some of the heavy lifting for those users. Incorporate features which interested Photoshop users want. Spend time on doing a few more things in a slightly more leader-compatible way, and drive adoption forward. You can't expect outsiders to become developers in the huge GIMP codebase to scratch their itch, because the key people who have the key feedback are not coders. Approach your userbase with magnanimity and humility instead of arrogance and disapproval.
[
5 minutes ago:
Slashback: Electioneering, Blimps, Shuffling
Posted by pudge on Thursday April 07, @10:20AM
from the like-a-rolling-stone dept.
Now:
Slashback: Electioneering, Blimps, Shuffling
Posted by timothy on Thursday April 07, @10:20AM
from the like-a-rolling-stone dept.
Who is this mysterious pudge? And why was he quickly and quietly removed as the author?
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
When Pudge returns for a SlashBack, only the "Republicans wronged" phase of the contested WA governor election gets press. When their candidate was ahead by a statistically identical margin, after the first count, Pudge didn't seem to care how small it was. Even though the Republican margin, 46 votes out of 2.9 million, 3x smaler than this Democrat's final "small margin". And all the Republican rhetoric was "it's over, we won", and "Democrat crybabies just get over it". Especially poignant was the Republican candidate's public speeches demanding the Democrat stop the challenge, for "the good of the state". Now that it's months later, the good of the state demands a Republican challenge. Apparently, the good of the state of Washington originally demanded that hundreds of Seattle (Democratic) absentee ballots be rejected, including that of Seattle Councilman Larry Phillips. Isn't Pudge just a Republican partisan hack, sliding promotion of his side's weaselly campaign into the first story of a SlashBack peppered with other news of broad appeal?
--
make install -not war
Yeah, even given the argument that they didn't want to have the gimp look like pshop, they should have at least fixed the interface they DO have.
It's BAD. I've been trying out GIMP on and off for many years and I always left with a very bad "if I have to work this way every day for the next X years until they fix it, I'll go totally mad" feeling.
The job of running this project is not to hold it back, it's to maintain and improve it. If you say no to things out of stubborn personal preference you're not doing your job: You're getting in the way of people who want to do the work.
I feel the same way about this fork as I do about x11.org. It was a long time coming.
"Let him go, Ralph. He knows what he's doing." --Otto Mann (simpsons)
...because 'Gimp is not Photoshop'.
Shouldn't that be 'GIMP Is Mot Photoshop'?
The Washington Post article was about a murder committed in November, 2002. The subsequent postings were six days later. The FBI is likely to have been disappointed if they just now made requests for server logs, after two years have elapsed.
I remember this particular incident, because I got a call from the FBI about it. The perpetrator sent his "manifesto" to an email address associated with a website I no longer maintain, apparently from an outdated list. The address got so much spam that I was simply using incoming messages to train SpamAssassin's Bayesian filter, then dumped them into the bit-bucket.
But, someone else forwarded it to the FBI (as I would have done, if I actually received it). Since my contact info was available for my domain name, I got a call from an agent who was trying to find any link between the recipients and the sender.
The problem is this feature of open source projects that everything has to go through some dictator before it goes to the users. The users should be decided which features and good and which features are bad. By that I mean that forks like this should be encouraged and users should actually support the software they choose so the best software has more resources.
How we know is more important than what we know.
It seems to me that, by definition, "sound politics" is an oxymoron. And, even if it isn't, such a thing has never been attained in the history of humankind.
RHCE; are you certified? Karma: ambiguous.
I do learn the facts, I do read my history books, and I do watch my politicians closely.
And I'm getting the hell out of here!
Basically all the politicians are rich white men. They got their wealth from inheritance.
...
One of the people in this race was a woman, and the other was a lower class guy who worked his way through college.
Washington in his farewell address warned of political parties and named them one of three things that could break the American system. And guess what...they are.
We've had two-party rule since Washington left office. If it hasn't "broken" the American system in the last 200+ years, what makes you think it will happen now?
We're the ones who let this happen and what more most people voting don't vote based on issues.
Actually, this was one of the most issues-oriented campaigns in many years in WA. It focused primarily on the size of the government budget and taxation.
But hey, don't let me dispel your illusions
Wilber the GIMP was designed by TigerT.
Do you mean anything like in Pakistan where there is no age floor for sex acts? Where you can legally sleep with 3 year olds?
Oh, sex outside of marriage is illegal, punishable by death though.
Get your Unix fortune now!
>> We've had two-party rule since Washington left office. If it hasn't "broken" the American system in the last 200+ years, what makes you think it will happen now?
Actually, it makes you think it took 200 years to subvert everything. Which is why gradual changes are so hard to detect. In the span of so few generations, so much has been lost.
"I don't mind God, it's his fan club I can't stand!" E8
The slashdot blurb is quite misleading. If you RTFA, you notice that not only did he "claim to kill a cop", but made a specific reference to a specific murder of a specific cop. (Who actually was killed).
Now, whoever posts info in internet forums admitting he committed a specific murder, with details, is so stupid that he probably deserves what he'll get.
We've had two-party rule since Washington left office.
But we haven't. Two-party rule has only been around since the Civil War or so. Prior to that there were between three and four electable political parties, depending on the year. I will have to re-research this again to find out exact names and years. (Whig springs to mind.)
-Pope Peter Porker, S.O.W., K.M.K.R., U.G.O.A., F.S.G.S.D.
In this case you are correct about the canidates and the campaigns. But the parent to my orginal post said that the American system in and of itself was broke, my responce was a generalization of the system as a whole. As for the system not being broken for the past 200 years......well all I have to say is that I would argue that over time the two party system as degraded the electoral process. The vast majority of American presidents would not be able to get elected today. I'm not saying we should throw out the system competely, the point of the orginal post was that it's up to us to use it correctly.
in so far as the law is a laughably narrow interpretation over the semantics of "counting." Also, it turns out actually counting the votes the Republicans didn't want counted was what the law precribed. See the resolved case on the matter.
The fact is they advocated denying the votes that were legally made in a timely fashion, and they simultaniously sought to have votes that were legally made in a less than timely fashion counted.
... but I didn't shoot no deputy.
Oh no, oh
I shot the sheriff, but I didn't post anonymously
Ooh, ooh, ooh Yeah
All around in my BBS
They're tryin' to track me down, yeah
They say they want to bring me in guilty
For the killing of a deputy, for the life of a deputy
But I say, oh, now, now...
- Bob Marley
Oh no, the FBI will be after Slashdot now!
No, it's been two parties. There were short periods, such as before the Civil War, where one party declined while another gained power. First the Republican-Democrats and Federalists declined while the Democrats and Whigs gained power, in the early 19th century. Then the Whigs declined while the Republicans gained power. But apart from those short transitions, it's always been two parties in control.
That's also not to say a third party candidate never had a chance at the Presidency: Roosevelt nearly pulled it off in 1912. But he was like Perot: the party had no power in Congress, just a charismatic leader.
In the span of so few generations, so much has been lost.
Such as?
The vast majority of American presidents would not be able to get elected today.
That's not evidence anything is broken or degraded. Clinton and Bush probably couldn't have been elected 100 years ago, yet most people can agree that at least one of them is a pretty good President. And I am sure you can think of many of those "vast majority" of Presidents who could not get elected today who never deserved to be elected in the first place.
Yeah, after all, Democrats have no experience with double-standards or speaking out against things they later happily accept.
Come on. Your post is rather biased. "The new(?) Republican thing?" You and I both know I could post as long a list of Democrat hypocrisy as you could of Republican hypocrisy. Welcome to politics; it sucks.
Just take a look at this, which, as you'll notice, isn't getting any mention in the media, because it's GOP-bashing season right now (well, all the time really). If it was claimed to be a Democratic memo, the media would be describing it as a Republican "Rove-esque" trick. Remember the Democratic memo during the election which talked about claiming voter fraud even when there were no claims of it? CNN, CBS, and the major newspapers completely ignored it...but they jumped on this. It's funny how that works, isn't it?
One of my favorite amusements is listening to people bitch and bitch about the hypocrisy of the other side as though their side doesn't take part in the same kind of crap every single day!
"Sufferin' succotash."
This GimpShop looks awesome, but it requires GTK+. So how do I go about installing GTK+ on a Windows machine? (people say Windows is simple, but I find many more headaches in Windows than Linux)
In visiting this page I've found a copy of GTK+ which should supposedly work, but how do I install it? It seems this line is the current latest and most appropriate:
glib-2.4.7.zip. Runtime of GLib 2.4.7. Requires libiconv and gettext-runtime.
Blatant self-promotion: Jerek.net
I thought slashback was absorbed into the whole dupe system...
The ones who didn't deserve to get elected? Grant, Hoover, Adams, Buchanan, Johnson, and Harding all come to mind. As for those who did get elected, we're amazing presidents and would be crushed today? Jackson, Lincon, FDR, and Polk. But you are correct in your statement of this not being edvidence of it being broken. Still can I ask you this....do you honestly feel that the people we elect are the best for the job?
While this is a really interesting story about the kid that killed a cop, that's not why the FBI subpoenaed server logs from flag.blackened.net.
/. story:d =12097580
flag was subpoenaed because some fool was saying he was going to assassinate the FBI's Director.
See this comment to the previous
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=144320&ci
If we don't fix the problems and have a fresh race among all the candidates eligible, then this will drag on and on for the four year duration.
At the very least, we should have another election this November, but it shouldn't be a run-off. It should be among all the candidates eligible last time, otherwise it's unfair cause it's changing the rules. If we want a run-off between the top two, then we'd have to hold a primary and have those two go on, or in other words, two more elections. I stick by what I say. I hope someone can back me up.
See this comment as to why the FBI subpoenaed logs from flag.blackened.net:d =12097580
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=144320&ci
-=/\- Jizzbug -/\=-
A civil war certainly should count as a catastrophic failure of a system
You're saying a civil war was caused by having political parties? It's the opposite, the same factors causing the war also caused political factions which manifested as parties.
Issue-oriented? Is that what call-and-response attack ads are now?
I don't think you saw those in the WA governor race.
the parties themselves are weaker than they were for most of US history.
The party *leadership* is relatively weak, yes. But I don't know that parties are weaker, they may just be manifesting their strength in different, less centralized, ways.
You obviously haven't haven't been reading postings by Timothy and the late, unlamented Michael.
And given the attitude of Slashdotters these days towards Bush, his partisan hackery is not only wrong, but unwelcome.
So, given the attitude of Slashdotters, partisan hackery from the other side is not only tolerated, but welcome?
(from another independent that recognizes partisan hacks when he sees them. But frankly, Doc, I don't think you qualify as an independent: Exhibit 1)
do you honestly feel that the people we elect are the best for the job?
In the case of Reagan, I think so. In the case of W, the jury is still out (I wouldn't think he is the best for the job looking at resumes or abilities, but OTOH, he might turn out to be the perfect leader for the time we are in; ask me again in 20 years).
But largely, no, I don't think they are always, or most often, the best. And I don't think that's ever been the case. I think Washington was the best for the job, but not Adams or Jefferson, for example.
And to the extent the problem today may be worse, I would tend to find fault with the larger issues of mass media, not the political parties.
Slashback is back after a long absence being devoured by gnomes.
So will there be a Kslashback to fill in?
Does this mean we can expect a slashback applet in GNOME 2.12?
Ah yes, the American media, who genuinely don't care that they are doing far more harm than good. There is no debate in which they can't reduce the level of discourse. There is nothing they can't spin into something unrecognizable.
I love open source sometimes.
"We made a version GIMP that is finally almost tolerable to use! Come check it out and see how easy it is!
Just make sure you first download an unspecified version of GTK+ for Windows, available from some dude's personal home page if you Google for it, since we're still a bit foggy about the responsibilities of an 'installer'.
While you're at it, make sure you find the correct versions of iconv and pango, and don't have any old DLLs anywhere in your path.
Anyway, I'm sure you can figure it out."
Yep, that's JP Aerospace. Havn't heard much from them lately.
How we know is more important than what we know.
No, actually, you're dead wrong.
:
This is how - and why - F/OSS doesn't work.
That attitude is a complete turn-off. The only logical answer is "Bollocks to you, I'll go talk to the professionals". They actually want their products to improve. Better products = bums on seats = food on plates.
Doesn't cost the users a cent.
Every time I hear that "Contribute or shut up" line, I get another reason to keep using windows. Cos here's a hint
When someone takes the time to say "Your program could be improved by doing xyz" they just contributed.
"Contribute or shut up" slaps them in the face.
It's not professional, it's not constructive, and it doesn't help Open Source.
-- You can't give it, you can't even buy it, and you just don't get it!
John Kerry didn't get his wealth from inheritance. Well, not directly.
as reported on slashback.
The solution: a revote.
For the ENTIRE USA!
Without diebold machines.
Will in Seattle
"Obvious propaganda" etc. my ass. Just because it's not "promote the democrats!" it's eeeevil propaganda, right?
Wrong. Now it's fairly obvious that the Republicans want to win, and they change their tune when losing like anyone, but you hardly know the situation up here. It's much different than the national election; the Democrats have locally held the office for a long time, and we're in need of serious change. The business law up here is terrible, the economy is going to crap, the corruption at the upper levels is rampant, and the overspending is ridiculous. (Check out our "light rail" project sometime.)
I'm not a Republican. I'm an independent. I'm even fairly anti-Republican in many respects (especially as it relates to corporate law and big business). But the local government here needs change, and a Republican term or two would do us some good. Besides, there were some serious problems with the election: take time to actually read the posted facts before being blinded by your partisan-fanboy judgement.
Besides, the Dems had a chance to investigate things in the national election. Everyone seems to know there were serious problems there, too. There was barely anything done. So what gives?
Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
Actually, when I said users should support the fork they like the best I ment they should pay the developers money. So I agree with his post more than yours.
How we know is more important than what we know.
I'll bite:
I want to pay for adjustment layers and float images (16-bit is old news thanks to Paul Debevec's HDRI work) in GIMP.
How much will it cost? To whom do I send the RFP?
You can't have forgotten all the "Incompetence by Gregiore's office cost the state millions" ads followed by the equally dubious "I made the state billions with the Tobacco lawsuit, for the children, by the way, I like farms" ads.
No, I just think that if this is the best you've got as examples of "attack ads," it only helps prove me right.
Besides the two Bushes and Kennedy, name one president in the last fifty years that was born rich.
In case you weren't sure, the "sound" refers to Puget Sound.
Take a look at Pudge's comment about the authorship of this slashback. He started it, Timothy finished it. Complain about the the behavior of the Republicans and Democrats all you like, but the both /.'s token conservative and leading liberal poster had a hand in the article blurb.
"Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgement." Job 32:9
He's not violating the law, just unwritten rules of etiquette; It's polite to try to cooperate before forking.
I'm not the guy, so I don't really know his motivations, but he might have felt that 'do first, ask for permission later' was best in this case to create buzz about this issue.
it's that it seems he may have changed parts which didn't have to be changed in order to achive what he did
if that's the case, and it could be done better, somebody will do it better (if they so decide). If the Gimpshop guy won't (or won't be able to) mantain his modifications, hey, whatever, people will just go back to 'mainstream' Gimp which by then, likely, will have some option to achieve the same functionality I bet. It could also happen that some devs who'd have liked to PS-ize Gimp as much as possible (but couldn't) will join his effort and there will be a 'true' fork.
What exactly do you base this on? The Gimp developer who posted seemed quite open to the idea.
I base my opinion over many years of resistance by the Gimp developers when asked to make Gimp more like PS (the whole 'Gimp is not PS' thing) and their priorities within Gimp itself (spending who knows how much time on Script-Fu and successors when an extremely basic and extremely useful function like adjustment layers was not worked on).
Obviously when faced with LOTS of users cheering this modification the Gimp developers will be a lot more open to the idea than if a lone developer asked for this feature through the 'proper channels'.
It's not that I think Gimp devs are evil, far from it, it's just that sometimes it seems they think their way is the 'best way' and people should just follow their lead (if I had a dime for every complaint about Gimp not having only one window I'd be rich by now for example).
This is entirely their prerogative, them being the ones who do the work, but it doesn't necessarily mean that this is what the users would like, given the huge cheers this very simple mod generated for example.
It would be nice if the Gimp devs listened to some experienced PS folks (not me, I'm no expert) who could point them in the right direction in terms of features users REALLY want vs features that the devs want.
-- the cake is a lie
On that page, you actually *read* the 2nd paragraph, which says:
There are GIMP installers for Windows and FAQs at gimp-win.sourceforge.net. The installers are created by Jernej Simoncic.
So, you go to gimp-win.sourceforge.net, click the download link on the left, which takes you to a page which has another download link.
But, maybe you thought you qualified for The packages below are for people who develop software that use GLib and/or GTK+.?
most people voting don't vote based on issues. Those who do don't check their sources and are very poorly misinformed
Interesting how your mistake here drew attention to the sentence. I would like to point out that they are, in fact, very skillfully misinformed.
I suggest you write this to the GIMP developer's mailing list which iirc is gimp-developer@scam.xcf.berkeley.edu
Make sure you specify that you're serious about offering people real money that will pay rent & bills, not just giving some college kid more pocket change. Or if it's the latter, don't be surprised at the lack of traction.
The features you want are already in the long term plan for the GIMP (obviously, because they're desirable and the developers aren't stupid) but I have no idea how far this plan is from fruition, or even how viable it is in practice (it smelled like Second System Syndrome to me when I first heard about it, some years ago now). So you need to ensure that it's clear you're paying for results - a usable GIMP with floating point images & adjustment layers.
ya know, i've been hearing this debate for as long as anyone (my whole life, that is-- all 26 years, lol). i've been empassioned by it, and i even chose my career around it.
but you know what? i'm supposed to think that i still can't do anything. the entire system (not to sound like a conspiracy theorist or anything) is set up, amongst many other things, to make sure that no matter how opposed to something you may be, no matter how militant, empassioned, or whatever, you will do ANYTHING BUT get like-minded people together and go protest, or some other form of affecting change. and if you do manage, somehow, to get enough people together about a thing, it's either A) not enough (gay adoption) B) too loosely organized to be of any effect (gay marriage) or C) called out by those who are threatened by the change as lunatics, fanatical extreminsts, perverts, or, Dog forbid, unamerican (michael moore).
so, what does this say? it's like they say in poker: if you look around and can't tell who the sucker is, it's you. and us, like those who fought to get here, to be free in this great land of the tyranny and opression that our forefathers could no longeer bear (taxation without representation-- hmm... remind you of someplace?), are trapped... trapped in a state of suspended disbelief, numbing outselves with unbridled hedonism and self-indulgent denial ro our surroundings, in uncathartic aquiescence-- no, submission-- to what those in power have chosen as our fate. our elections can't be trusted, our politicians are all CEOs/corporate fatcats with hidden agendas, and the free, the brave... what have we? exactly what we were running from: the greed and opression of rich white aristocrats. and it's happening all over again-- but this time, it's not opression, it's "FREEDOM", and "LIBERTY", and "JUSTICE". it's the whool being pulled over our eyes. and the more we hear it, the more we believe it.
but why? why do we listen to this crap? why don't we stand up and shout, "you liars! give me back my freedom!"? because we want, we need so desperately to believe that we still have free speech, that we still have a right to a fair trial, and to not have our private homes searched unjustly... all those freedoms that they shove down our throats till we puke, that we are willing to create a fantasy world in which it all exists. population: 320 MILLION. but in the end, each and every fucking person on the planet, even if on the most unconcious level, knows this. but they won't admit it. not to others, and especially not to themselves. their whole world, their whole reality would come crashing down around them. welcome to the world of modern media.
just as ad agencies manufacture desire, the spin machines manufacture reality. slowly and surely they draw your attention farther and farther from what's really happening by distracting you with "pop" bullshit, into what's "really" happening, what's "news" (martha stewart goes to jail at the EXACT same time the opressive homeland "security" act passes?). the desire to care about anything other than who's doing who on the Real World or what the latest hair-style is "in" is washed out of us by dangling shiny objects in front of us. shiny obejects we try to use to forget the fact we're getting it up the ass. or they say "we're fighting terror," an oft-too-used term in political jargon. anytime something so reprehensible happens that it can't escape the public eye, "we're fighting terrorism". bah!
and it comes to this: we can either uprise on a national level and overthrow our government (great, now i get to be in the fbi database!), or do what i have chosen: to work my ass of, save up, and get the fuck outta dodge cuz there will be no uprising, there will be no revolt, and when the U-S-of-fucking-A folds in on itself, i don't want to be anywhere nearby.
hopefully the moon will be colonized by the english, and we can all live happily ever after.
ha!
Actually the selection of president was originally designed with some meritocraticit elements. The current 'popular election' system where each state is 'winner take all' (with a couple exceptions) isn't the original design, but rather a cludge pasted onto it by the political party system to better enable them to get elected based popularity and momentary passions rather than merit and the deliberation of the electoral colledge. Who where supposed to be elected based on thier merit, that is ability to wisely select a supreme executive.
Most of the rest is spot on, and given the current system the glossing over of this detail is understandable, but it is actually pretty important IMHO.
The job of the electoral colledge is to be responsible to the people for WISELY selecting the president. However it is a good idea to have them not directly bound to the people's imediate wishes else the very rule of the mob the founders sought to avoid becomes much more closer to the norm.
The electoral colledge serves as buffer in the system. In theory it's THIER job to prevent us electing someone ill suited to the job or worse because of momentary passions. THEY are supposed to be how we avoid electing our own Hittler (don't ever forget that madman was elected).
Most of us don't have the time to study in detail a candidate, but the job of the electoral colledge was to do just that and decide there on.
These days they're reduced to being just yes men for the popular vote within thier state, wich is cast by people with time for little else than a 30second soundbite durring re-runs of whatever mindless drivle they watch on tv.
Is it any wonder we had a choice this last time between a pathalogical liar and a militant oil tycoon.
That's the other thing restoring the electoral college could do, give a better chance to third parties and independants. To many (IE most) who like a third partie candidate foolishly buy into the myth that voting for whom they want in office is wasting thier vote if it's not a republican or democrat stooge.
Mycroft
https://signup.leagueoflegends.com/?ref=4c3ed6600b6ea
Read the bill of rights sometimes and see wich of those in-aleinable rights haven't a defacto 'unless the federal government decides otherwise' tacted onto them.
An easy, if somewhat contriversial example: how is it possible to be jailed for simply having a firearm on you when BEAR and NOT INFRINGED both apear in the second amendment (and before some ignoramus quotes the 'well regulated millitia part' please be aware if you are a us citizen of leagle age and sound mind you ARE the millitia. That and well regulated means functioning, not legislated)
Going further the fifth prohibits the taking of private property for public use without 'fair compensation', yet look at the drug fortieture laws. One man was hired for a charter flight and flew the customer from one island to another. The customer was dressed like many of the bussinessmen he'd flown before and he had no reason to suspect this person as anything else. Yet when he landed he, <b>his plane</b>, and the customer were arrested (yes his plane was 'arrested' not impounded). The man was carrying a fair amount of of some illeagle drug in his briefcase (it was full). The charges against the pilot/owner was dropped, not even a grand jury or anything, but the plane was still sold off.
Many of these drug siezed properties were a result of an anonymous tip (errr, confront accusers, no warrents shall issue? there's two more), in some cases the tip turns out bogus, but since 'suspicion of drugs' is the cause of the search and siezure the state gets to sell it off at auction anyway. Though that last has slowed almost to a stop because of the outcry.
Or more recently the 14th amendment directly prohibits the draft, yet it has used since the 1th was passed.
Many of our rights are regularly ingored. Unless of course you were taking issue with the implication this is a recent phenomena, which of course it's not, it's just a bit more pronounced.
Mycroft
https://signup.leagueoflegends.com/?ref=4c3ed6600b6ea
Evidence Of Election Irregularities In Snohomish County, Washington, General Election, 200
This is only about winning, at any cost. If the GOP was actually concerned about fraud, they'd insist that electronic voting machine vendors like Sequoia open up their boxes for independent inspection. As it is today, the contracts stipulate that vote counting is a trade secret.
That's just lovely.
The media in the USA is insane. They're the single biggest lobby group in America today and not only that but they're also in the director's chair because they control what politician's get elected.
While I would agree with your first sentence on the sanity of the media, but your second sentence would be proven incorrect by Bush being reelected. The media was pretty deadset against his reelection and it still happened.
--trb
In King County, another 95 votes have been recently "discovered," which were not counted in the November election. By themselves, not enough to change the outcome of the race, but enough to fuel the fires of those (myself included) who feel we deserve another election. In another note, special election ballots sent to servicepersons overseas last week apparently contained everything except the actual ballot. Once again, the soldier gets screwed out of his or her vote, either by sending absentee ballots out too late or by simply not being given one.
The universe is made of atoms and empty space. All else is speculation. --Democritus of Abdera, 435 BC
And I am sure you can think of many of those "vast majority" of Presidents who could not get elected today who never deserved to be elected in the first place.
Abe Lincon. He was not even close to being attractive, apparently had a terribly gruff voice, grew up in a log cabbin, and was one of the best Presidents ever.
actually the biggest lobbying groups you never here about because they are doing their job properly. the biggest lobbyists are the chemical companies making sure they can bury their nasty chems where ever they want.
IMAGE VERIFICATION IS EVIL!
http://www.luxpro-corp.com/e_sc01.htm
What the hell do you want, uncontrolled swearing? That does not "prove" you anything. Right OR wrong.
The only way to ensure a valid result is a blowout. Then no matter how much fraud there is (and there is always some on both sides) you can be pretty sure that the right guy (or girl) won. I highly recommend "Stealing Elections" by John Fund for those who want to read more about the depths to which politicians will sink.
At least it proves that other democracies are not immune to the problems that afflict the U.S. election system. It used to be that you had to demonstrate a genuine need to get an absentee ballot. Election officials knew that they were prone to fraud and abuse. In the lemming-like stampede to make voting "easy" for those without a sense of civic duty, the doors were opened to election fraud on a massive scale.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
This is an excellent analysis, but I don't agree with the conclusion. In my opinion, the primary reason we needed an electoral college in the past was the insuficient flow of information. In the past, the average citizen could not really know enough about the candidates to make a decision. Today, with the internet, I believe that has changed. Information about candidates is available from everyone with something to say, and the internet uses survival of the fittest (or most often correct) to determine who is listened to. (As opposed to only hearing what the candidates have paid for me to hear. Of course, my opinion of most often correct is different from yours - but that is the great thing about it!)
So I think that the current system working pretty well for our time.
while (sig==sig) sig=!sig;
Yes, they contributed criticism. Making the changes requested are going to cost the developers time. If the satisfaction gained by making these changes is judged by the developers to be sufficient to implement them, then they will. If not, then try providing them with a different incentive, such as money.
Software Libre is about the freedom to make modifications, it is not about getting shiny things for nothing. If a particular feature is valuable to you, then either implement it yourself or pay someone else to implement it. Do not expect developers to bend over backwards for you.
Most (all?) free software exists because the developers either needed the tool they created or they thought they would gain something useful from making it (either experience / knowledge or money). Unless you are willing to give away the products of your work, do not expect other people to.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
True that!
You hit the nail on the head: GIMP's interface sucks. There are no two ways about it. At work we use Photoshop every hour of every day. Being locked in to one vendor--especially Adobe--makes me nervous so we looked at the GIMP as an alternative. Our designers laughed it out of the shop because the interface was so badly designed.
Instead of bitching about the GIMPshop guy, the GIMP developers need to hire him and have him start reworking the standard interface; anything is better than the cobbled together mess they have now. The interface is so bad it completely eclipses all of the hard work they have done on the core features.
My journal
how is it possible to be jailed for simply having a firearm on you when BEAR and NOT INFRINGED both apear in the second amendment
... do you know your history? We're better now than we were 200 years ago. Just because we don't follow the Constitution properly today doesn't mean we are worse than we used to be. Eminent Domain has been abused throughout our nation's history.
...
Yeah, but that has nothing to do with two-party rule. And the tide lately has been turning back in favor of the 2nd Amendment, not against it (thanks in no small part to the Bush DOJ).
As to seizing property
And of course, there was no 14th Amendment 200 years ago, so that's a bit of a poor example, but even accepting it, I'll counter with the Sedition Act and the suspension of Habeas Corpus and the internment of Japanese citizens and slavery and separate-but-equal
Unless of course you were taking issue with the implication this is a recent phenomena, which of course it's not, it's just a bit more pronounced.
I don't think that it is more pronounced. I think it is less so. Can you imagine any of those things in that list directly above happening today?
Now that Slashback has returned, does this mean we're going to see a new Geeks in Space Episode any time soon?
"Nobody owns the fucking words man." - James Dean
But how can you in good conscience say Reagan was the best person for the job, or even a good person for the job? What conservative values do you hold, if you feel that way? I can think of probably a dozen reasons I think Reagan was the worst president in the history of the US, but here are just a couple:
1) His unsuccessful "War on Drugs" is not only still wasting taxpayer money, but is responsible for the US having the highest incarceration rate in the world. Above China, above Russia, and even above Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
2) If you look at the national debt over time, you will see exactly when it began to skyrocket: 1980-1988. And the subsequent presidents didn't help the problem.
3) Reagan was a documented liar (unless you believe that string of "I don't remember"s), and in my opinion committed treason via the Iran-Contra arms deals. Not to mention the massive human rights abuses that occurred at a direct or indirect result of the CIA meddling in Honduras, Nicaragua, and probably a dozen countries we are not yet aware of.
4) Back to the "War on Drugs" fiasco, we effectively no longer have a 4th ammendment, because it was deemed more important to find drugs than to respect the Bill of Rights.
Pudge, I regularly read your submissions, and appreciate your diplomacy when discussing these matters, but that statement about Reagan really makes me question your sanity.
Si la vida me da palo, yo la voy a soportar Si la vida me da palo, yo la voy a espabilar
I'm not the guy, so I don't really know his motivations, but he might have felt that 'do first, ask for permission later' was best in this case to create buzz about this issue.
Um, yeah. But it seems he didn't do that either. Seems the guy hasn't made any effort to work with the Gimp people, even when they contacted him.
That is unpolite, whatever way you look at it.
Obviously when faced with LOTS of users cheering this modification the Gimp developers will be a lot more open to the idea than if a lone developer asked for this feature through the 'proper channels'.
No, no, no. The Gimp developers know a lot of people want a PS-similar interface. It's been talked about for years. But it seems the people actually hacking on Gimp were happy with the interface as it was. That doesn't mean they wouldn't want to give it a "PS theme" if someone was willing to do wone. It just means they weren't willing to do it themselves.
Again, you don't seem to understand that there's a big difference between whinging "I want a Photoshop-like UI!!" and actually approaching them with "Hey, I've got a Photoshop-like UI here, do you want it?".
A user asking for a feature is asking is nothing more and nothing less than someone asking a complete stranger to spend hours of his time doing him a favour. You simply can't expect that unless the guy he's asking wants it himself.
Now actually contributing is offering someone a favour. And that is a completely different matter.
It would be nice if the Gimp devs listened to some experienced PS folks (not me, I'm no expert) who could point them in the right direction in terms of features users REALLY want vs features that the devs want.
That is simply not going to happen. Free software development doesn't work like that. It's software developed by people 'scratching an itch' for something they want. Now for some people, perhaps that itch is 'helping others'. But I assure you they are in the minority. You never have any guarantee a feature will be present unless you're either willing to code it yourself or pay someone to do so.
IF (IF ((you.facts=learn) AND (you.history(books)=read) AND (you.politicians=watch(closely))) THEN you.location=europe) THEN me.too
[You have a stable society when some nut guns down a schoolyard and the law doesn't change.]
Get caught with cocaine (itself, a lost right to not be prosecuted for simply having a personal chemical) in your car, and then come back and tell us what you've lost. (Hint: your entire fucking car, Ace.) Ever heard of the 4th Amendment? Well, law enforcement nowadays hasn't heard of it either.
... freedom of speech (SLAPP suits), freedom to own weapons (gun bans), freedom from search and seizure (property forfeitures for narcotics) ... the list is annoyingly, FAR too long. And I equally love to rub your fucking noses in it, Roscoe.
I love it when people like you pull the innocent act and pretend like you don't understand what we real progressives are talking about. You've lost a veritable TON of rights
[You have a stable society when some nut guns down a schoolyard and the law doesn't change.]
In the case of Reagan, I think so.
... long after we should have acted to stop it. Iraq is mounting up the same way as Viet Nam 2.0.
Yeah, love those deficits. The international bankers thought Reagan was a great guy too. Too bad we're still making payments on his so-called greatness.
Republican shill.
In the case of W, the jury is still out (I wouldn't think he is the best for the job looking at resumes or abilities, but OTOH, he might turn out to be the perfect leader for the time we are in; ask me again in 20 years).
Shit crock. George W. Bush is the first Hitler of the 21st Century. The only jury deliberation going on is by people like you who have entirely bought into American Imperialism. In that light, you aren't deliberating anything. You've long decided to support the biggest murderer.
This 20-year thing is yet another piece of festering shit to spill from that asshole you call a mouth. Sure, we knew Viet Nam was a problem in the 1980s
20-years-later is not a way to run a just society. Crime and war must be stopped NOW, not judged adversely a generation after the fact, when there's no one you can really even punish for the crimes committed.
If you're so keen on waiting, post your address and your schedule. I'll burgle your house, and then let me know how you feel about THAT in 2025.
You might well be right about one thing, in all your horseshit: GWB is the PERFECT leader for the American Empire. If you're an Imperialist, then that's a great, great thing. For the rest of us decent folk that don't advocate (or act) to murder people for oil, American access and Israeli security, GWB is simply a Hitler clone.
[You have a stable society when some nut guns down a schoolyard and the law doesn't change.]
You've lost a veritable TON of rights
You named the property seizure. And it is not a right that has been lost recently, as that right was abused much 50, 100, and 200 years ago.
As to the freedom of speech, that is equally laughable, cf. the aforementioned Sedition Act, right on up through the Pentagon Papers. We have far more free speech today than we have ever had before in this country, without question. Oh sure, there's a few setbacks here and there, like McCain-Feingold. But those are the exceptions that prove the rule.
I am with you on guns, but we are better off in other ways, too, as mentioned in the reply to the other post: habeas corpus, internment, slavery, segregation, women's rights, homosexual rights, the list goes on.
That's the point of my playing "innocent": your enumeration of the few rights we don't have only highlights how far we've come in the past 200 years, and makes claims that we are worse off laughable.
Obviously, you couldn't care less about rational discussion, so I'll keep my pearls to myself.
Unfortunately for your comment, the first two recounts in the WA election were requested by now-Governor Gregoire and the Washington Deomcratic Party. It was only after the votes swung her way that she suddenly decided that the election fracas had gone on long enough and it was "time to move on." It was at this time that the Republican Party switched its stance from "no more recounts, just get over it," to asking for a recount and challenging the election in court. I'm angry at both sides for their shameless manipulation of the system, and I'm angry at the Washington SecState for such an ineffecient and incompetent election staff/process. Given that, no matter what the results, the election was the closest gubernatorial race in US history, a repeat election seems in order.
The universe is made of atoms and empty space. All else is speculation. --Democritus of Abdera, 435 BC
Whoops, this was posted to the wrong subthread. Meant for the AC who replied further down. Sorry.
The universe is made of atoms and empty space. All else is speculation. --Democritus of Abdera, 435 BC
Actually, the winner take all system for the Electoral College was put in to place largely to make it less likely that the President would be chosen by the Congress. Both of Clinton's elections would have been decided in the Congress, as an example, using the original system (which would likely have meant that Clinton would win the first one due to a clear Democratic majority in both Houses, and lose the second, due to a clear Republican majority in both Houses).
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
[obligatory Simpson's reference]
As for Reagan's legacy (defeating the Soviets), perhaps you are right. But I think it's much more likely that the US will have a financial crisis due to the massive debt accumulation that will far overshadow any gains from "defeating the Soviets" (if that's what the arms spending race really was).
Besides fighting the Cold War, why else do you think Reagan was great? I'm genuinely curious, because I can't think of anything.
Si la vida me da palo, yo la voy a soportar Si la vida me da palo, yo la voy a espabilar
Seems the guy hasn't made any effort to work with the Gimp people, even when they contacted him.
;) and that's why I'm saying: this guy had an itch (he wanted a Gimp UI more similar to PS), he scratched it and released his modifications so other with the same itch could benefit. There's absolutely NOTHING wrong with that from the point of view of 'free software development', the whole 'due process' angle is in some way like trying to put some limits on that freedom!
g -it license then?
I am not privy to the exchange(s) between the guy and the Gimp devs: I remember reading Sven posting on the guy's blog that he thought it was 'unfortunate' that he released the hack in this way and that he should've done it the way he had asked (basically via the proper channels). Given this maybe the guy felt that talking with the devs was kind of pointless.
The Gimp developers know a lot of people want a PS-similar interface. It's been talked about for years.
exactly, and it's never been done because they are happy with the interface as it is, regardless how many people think it sucks and it's a barrier to a more ubiquitous Gimp adoption.
It's software developed by people 'scratching an itch' for something they want
I am fully aware of that, hey, I've done it myself
It's as if the Gimp devs said 'yeah, we released things under a license that allows you to do this, BUT, you really should not exercise your rights and instead partecipate in xyz committee that might or might not decide that your itch is worth scratching'.
Should the Gimp be re-released under a GPL-but-need-a-committee-approval-before-modifyin
You never have any guarantee a feature will be present unless you're either willing to code it yourself or pay someone to do so.
exactly, that's why after several years of trying to work with Gimp and being frustrated by its lack of progress (when it comes to features people actually need, like a PS-like UI, adjustment layers, better color tools, etc.) I took my money and bought Photoshop Elements 3 which, together with my PS5 LE, does everything I need for now. When the new CS comes out, if they'll have the $299 upgrade path from Elements 3 I might even get that.
A development model based on 'scratching an itch' is fine for an emergent OS, with Linux coming more and more in the mainstream users expect to be listened to, catered to and most of all respected, and not told to 'code it or shut up'.
In this case the non-free software world is better: PS is not #1 because it sucks, PS is #1 because it's the best, otherwise PSP and others would take its place. Gimp has really no competition in the free software world and so it can just rest on its laurels and have the whole 'we are the devs and WE put in what WE like, users should shut up or code' attitude.
-- the cake is a lie
You proablly meant that slightly less offensive than it came out but let me make the statement that, even though I hate many of his policies and appointments, GWB is not a new hitler. Hitler was a very smart man, he was nobody's puppet it. The things Hitler did were evil, but he was a gifted speaker and a briliant politican. King George II is neither of these. He at best is a good guy who made some terrible choices and at worst a puppet who's lost.
this guy had an itch (he wanted a Gimp UI more similar to PS), he scratched it and released his modifications so other with the same itch could benefit. There's absolutely NOTHING wrong with that from the point of view of 'free software development', the whole 'due process' angle is in some way like trying to put some limits on that freedom!
Noone said it was wrong. But it's stupid. It's stupid not to collaborate if you can. And in this case, the impression I get is that he did have the opportunity to collaborate directly with the Gimp folks, and achieve mutual benefit. And he didn't do that. I can fully understand if the Gimp devs are a bit sour; not because what he did was wrong, but because it's frustrating to see someone do good work and then shoot themselves in the foot by making it incompatible for no reason. And the impression BigSven gives is that it could've been avoided if he'd bothered to contact people with a better understanding of the Gimp internals beforehand.
It's as if the Gimp devs said 'yeah, we released things under a license that allows you to do this, BUT, you really should not exercise your rights and instead partecipate in xyz committee that might or might not decide that your itch is worth scratching'.
No, what the Gimp devs are saying is that you can exersize your rights and do whatever you want, but we'd be much happier if you cooperated with us, so that we could achive something benefitial to everybody.
A development model based on 'scratching an itch' is fine for an emergent OS, with Linux coming more and more in the mainstream users expect to be listened to, catered to and most of all respected, and not told to 'code it or shut up'.
Then I suggest those users go buy a supported distribution like Red Hat and send their requests to their developers. But nobody can tell anyone else what they can and can't do in their own time, and as long as the work is being done by unpaid developers working in their own time, that is just not realistic.
Personally, when coding free software, I do try to listen to users and respect their requests. But I do not tolerate the idea that I'm under any kind of obligation to do so. If the users are going to come to expect that, then they'll have to be prepared to be disappointed as you were.
In this case the non-free software world is better
Yes, it is. But not quite for the reason you stated. The non-free software development is supply-and-demand, where the 'demand' part is that of the paying users. In free software development the 'demand' part is that of the developers themselves.
I don't think this is a major problem. It's not like the opinions of users and developers are radically different. Or very different at all. Personally I think the Gimp UI is absolutely horrible. (although somewhat better in 2.0), and this guy obviously thought so too.
How about this: name one president in the past 50 years who wasn't wealthy 4 years after leaving office.
"Form should follow function...unless it's just plain ugly."
I had figured that out.
But it makes such a wonderful oxymoron.
Or did that escape your notice?
RHCE; are you certified? Karma: ambiguous.
=== quote
The company is really flying high thanks to a recent U.S. Air Force contract.
Work is underway at JP Aerospace on the Ascender, a hybrid aircraft for flight at the upper most part of the atmosphere, as well as the Vee Airship. These type vehicles are of interest to the U.S. Air Force Space Battle Laboratory in Colorado Springs, Colorado. They are focused on perfecting a near-space maneuvering vehicle, Powell said. === end quote
Tech Public Policy stuff
I had figured that out.
That was unclear. Excuse me for trying to be helpful. The next time you appear to not understand something, even if you ask a direct question, I'll assume you really understand it and are just screwing around.
Doc, you know very well that the problem with your posting that I referenced was your complaint that "the Republicans resorted to the unprecedented, and grossly wrong trick of appointing the judges during a Senate recess, unopposed." I cited a Senate report that detailed a number of recess appointments by previous Democrat and Republican administrations as long ago as Eisenhower.
Sadly, you didn't learn from your error, subsequently claiming that Tom DeLay had been indicted. While DeLay was (and still is) confronting several ethical problems, he has only been subpoenaed to testify about the matter, and had not been indicted for anything.
And today, you are claiming that Clinton didn't lie under oath, conveniently mis-citing the definitions provided during his testimony to the grand jury. Even if you succeed in splitting hairs the way Clinton did, Clinton's own testimony is contradictory.
Really, I don't know what you mean by "idependent", if you say that I am not. I'm a member of no political party.
Doc, your postings on Slashdot identify you as a partisan hack. You are about as "idependent" as Karl Rove.
To say one side lies more than the other may be a mistake. The fact that one side gets caught more often is another matter. I firmly believe that both of the majors like things just the way they are. Both sides are extracting huge amounts of money and power from the rest of us. Their methods may be different, but the goal is the same. To that end, they are completely united as one.
What?
Hmmm. I think that was out of line. I was aware of where the name came from (though I don't consider it to have any relevance to its humor as an oxymoron), stated as much, and explained why I made the comment anyway. To reiterate, I find it a very humorous oxymoron. I expressed no indication of lack of knowledge (which does not indicate correct knowledge, of course).
I'll assume you've just had a wee bit too much caffiene, and leave it at that. But if you ask me a question, I won't assume you're just screwing around.
RHCE; are you certified? Karma: ambiguous.
I'm not shure about that. IF the electoral colledge had a tie yes, but a smaller group like that is less likely to tie, and can actively choose not to.
With the current system ties cannot be avoided through deliberation. That is once the popular votes are cast we're stuck with a tie. Where-as with the smaller group they can debate amongst themselves who's best fit for the job. IF there are no compelling arguments then I suspect a tie would be less troublesome as it'd be more likely the th parties to the tie would both have simular merit. With the current system all a tie means is that both parties put out good attack adds.
Aslo with the electoral colledge system you can more realistically have more than two choices (and this is why the current parties like the current system so much) and should the two majors put up for election looses who's only redeeming feature is charisma, the collede can choose a better candidate.
Mycroft
https://signup.leagueoflegends.com/?ref=4c3ed6600b6ea
The reasons you cite did figure into why the founding fathers chose the system they did, in deed not only did they see a national campain as problematic, but distastefull and unseemly (the office should seek the man, not the man should seek the office). They did give reasons such the unlikelyness of the common man to learn much of people outside his own state or to have time to do so.
They did indeed desire to solve many problems including the well known potential disparities between the populous states and rural states (much the same problems as the two house congress we have solves). And they also recognized the tendancy for factionalization (parties) and sought to minimize that as well (they considered parties to be a bad idea indeed).
But they did make it clear one of thier reasons was to have a well informed and, hopefully wise and trustworthy, group of men who could choose a man for office based uppon his merits for the office. And by tying thier hands in the manner we have we short ciruit one of the many safeguards built into the consitution, this one against 'the passions of the moment'.
Fourtunately it's still possible for the electoral colledge to vote other than ordered should circumstance be sufficiently dire and thier courage strong enough, but in so doing they will violate the laws of thier home states and no doubt kick up a significant ruccus should an election be decided other than indicated by popular vote. But as far as I can tell there is no constitutional means to not count thier votes as they have cast them, laws and votes of thier home states notwithstanding.
Another factor is that they firmly believed, not in democracy, but in representation. They didn't shout no taxation with democracy, but none without representation. This, if anything, was thier guiding principle. That the people should participate yes, but via thier chosen proxies, people who could and should study the issues and make wise decisions on thier behalf.
An interesting tie in to current events is that the college of cardinals was one of the inspirations for our system, (My condollences to the Catholics and other Christians who might read this, he seemed a Good man honestly trying his best to make a better place of our world) as was the centurial assembly system in use in ancient rome.
Mycroft
https://signup.leagueoflegends.com/?ref=4c3ed6600b6ea
Perhaps it is indeed a matter of perspective, every generation does indeed tend to consider the time of thier youth before the troubles of the world were so clearly visible to them as 'the good old days' and romanticise even further the days of thier parents and grandparents.
But it still seems to me that for every step forward in our rights in one area we loose just a tad more in another. Perhaps the 2nd suffers less under the gop, but doese not privacy and freedom suffer more? perhaps the big evils of slavery are finally cast down for what they are, but do we not through pc-ism find our right to speak our mind diminished?
A tough call I suppose, but when I find I am no longer safe from search or siezure in my own car because the officer's remote odds of reduced safty somehow trumps my rights under the fifth I am dispirited. Mind you I like most police officers I've met and feel they are underpaid and do a hard thankless job, but thier job is NOT about thier percieved safty but about the rule of law and public safty, which becomes jepordized when our constitionally protected (not granted or given!) rights are diminished.
There are thousands of tiny examples. I feel it's more we gone from a few big failures to a great many tiny faults, from a few bad timbers in the building to an infestation of termites and rot.
But I do hope your right and I'm merely mistaking an increase in awareness for what has always been there for an actual increase the faults themselves.
Mycroft
https://signup.leagueoflegends.com/?ref=4c3ed6600b6ea
It isn't that the Media has a Liberal bias, it is that the World has a Liberal bias, and the Media is reporting on that.
Okay, that's an assanine statement you just made. If the media just reported on the goings-on of the world, and those goings-on happened to be positive for the liberal agenda, I would agree. But that's not the case. As it happens, the issues in question are those which liberals/conservatives have differing opinions on. Look at how the media portrays those topics:
- Taxes. Always cited is that the top earners received a huge tax break under Bush. It's rarely mentioned that not only do they pay the predominant share of taxes, but they pay a much larger percentage than anyone else. Even with the Bush tax cuts, we have a very progressive tax system.
- Abortion. Those against abortion are always depicted as religious zealots, when a good many just don't think it's right. Contrast this with...
- Death penalty. Those for it are depicted as either religious zealots or barbarians, whereas those against it are fair-minded and seeking equality. Never mind that race has to get brought up in nearly every discussion, with citations about the skewed minority population of death row.
- Poor/entitlement/welfare. You'll see the angle of lost jobs or government irresponsibility, but not drug habits, personal fiscal irresponsibility or lack of motivation.
- Anything about women. Larry Summers was castigated for suggesting that women may just not have an interest or not be as good overall as men at science and math. You won't hear the media follow that with a study showing that the lowest paying and most dangerous jobs employ almost 100% men.
Read 'Bias' or 'The Myth of Male Power' or 'Why Men Earn More' for other examples.
--trb
Michael Moore
If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
You probably avoid noticing the rapt audiences to a GWB speech. His gift at speaking is essentially the same as his father's ... that including extensive tough talk, invoking of religious feelings, and all the rest of the general appeal to our baser natures. It doesn't matter about your judgment about his skill ... the real matter is that he has a hold over millions. And so did Hitler.
... and CONQUEST is even better. Hitler was backed by conquest-driven economic base with the usual Imperial culture, and so now is GWB. War bit Hitler in the ass eventually, and so it's going to go with GWB. The similarities go on and on.
As for the puppet angle, you can't even begin to tell me that Hitler wasn't in thrall to Germany's business interests. War is always good for business
I was entirely correct: GWB is the first Hitler clone of the 21st Century. I shudder to think of ninety-five years more years of this Perpetual Conventional Warfare.
[You have a stable society when some nut guns down a schoolyard and the law doesn't change.]
It's amazing. The Bigoted Right controls the White House, both branches of Congress, most state governments, is moving to "control" the courts, and has a more than proportinate say in what goes on TV, movies, and radio. I know people who've lost their jobs because they're "unpatriotic" or "anti-Christian". Yet the BR continues to paint itself as victimized by the "mainstream"! Brainless.
Well as I said, it can be matter of perception, and mine could easily be off since I haven't really done any 'hard' studies, just gut impressions which are notoriously unreliable.
Good points about my use of freedom. It is a bit bague in that usage.
As far as attacking the GOP, I wasn't. My point really was that while eigther major party might be good for some rights, thier track record on others is often not so good.
The pc-ism I was refering to wasn't just, or even mostly, about social reaction. It was more about making some words and views a leagle liability. The most obvious is many of the hate crimes laws. Some make the words illeagle directly and some only indirectly. Don't get me wrong, most of what hate-crimes laws target is indeed foul behaviour, but the words or beliefs (however stupid and wrong) themselves should not be lest we find ourselves at the bottom of the proverbial slippery slope someday.
As far as running around in panic, no of course not, but by the same token simply hoping it will get fixed is not recommended eigther.
Someone around here has an apt sig. It lists the boxes to be used in defence of freedom and our rights in order as soap,ballot,ammo (I think I may have missed one, mail?).
Mycroft
https://signup.leagueoflegends.com/?ref=4c3ed6600b6ea
Name one president in the last fifty years who wasn't rich before they got elected
As a matter of fact they did, the whigs were a liberal group in imperial England. You may have heard of them, they broke off and founded this one country called America. They were the liberals of their time as opposed to the torries who were the conservatives in the British system.
But do to things he inherited and his name he was able to gain fame and many advantages that normal people simply wouldn't have.
Which is why our system is pretty much designed for two-party dominance, by the by (though which two parties is open for reconsideration at any time).
Clinton's elections (and I use those as only the most recent examples) would have been decided in Congress because Clinton never won a majority of the popular vote, and anything other than winner-take-all would have resulted in Clinton not getting his required majority of the Electoral College.
Now, it can be argued that the result in the Congress would not have followed the straight party line (in either or both of Clinton's elections). This is true. Might not have. But betting on the Party Line for something as important as a Presidential election is pretty much a no-brainer.
Note that you are assuming that the Electoral College will have no political bias. Don't be so foolish as to think that. Pick any seven people at random, and you'll have eight political opinions on any given subject....
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
Note that "His left" will be the right of those of us with the good conscience to face Him.
I hope the white-skinned, blue-eyed, Talking Jesus Doll says this. The site has him sanctimoniously intoning "For God so loved the world...", which are not even the words of Yesheveh Ben-Miryam!
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
This one? Check your gmail.
It is of course possible to not have a majority in the case of the electoral college. And I'm shure the electors will have political opinions.
The real question is whether the system our founding fathers set up, or what it has been changed into, is the better system.
The current system is more prone to 'the passion of the moment' than the electoral system, though there is no guarantee that an electoral college would be immune. I do find that the smaller the mob the less likely mob rule will take over.
And frankly if none of the candidates can get a majority then we're in a situation that bears greater attention and scrutiny.
Mycroft
https://signup.leagueoflegends.com/?ref=4c3ed6600b6ea
Most people who advocate "election reform" in any form really are saying "my guy lost last time, and I want to change things in a way that I think will ensure that my guy never loses again". Personally, I find that the current system works adequately.
It doesn't, in general, cause people to riot (as in the Ukraine recently), nor do we often have tanks crushing protesters.
Yeah, some people bitch about the results - you don't like it that Bush won twice. I wasn't too happy that Clinton won twice.
I would have been FAR more unhappy if 2 of every three elections were decided in the Congress (the only President in my lifetime to really make me unhappy was Gerald Ford - the only unelected President/VP pair in US History - it was a bad precedent)
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
Actually I don't like eigther major party, but that is only tangential to my distrust over a kludge.
I don't mind the amendments that adjust the electoral system, that's what the amendment process is for. What I distrust is the winner take all format adopted by 48 of the 50 states.
Mycroft
https://signup.leagueoflegends.com/?ref=4c3ed6600b6ea
And you distrust it why? Because it reduces the chance that the Electors will be rendered irrelevant? Or because it increases the influence of any given State on the process?
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
Actualy I distrust it because it mangles a safeguard in the system, a safeguard designed to prevent such things as what happened in Germany in the late thirties.
Also I'm not shure what you meant by reducing the odds of rendering the electors irrelevant, since the winner talk all system doese exactly that, makes the electors little more than a strange way to report tallies rather than actual electors.
Winner take all neigther serves to accurately reflect the will of the people nor to safeguard against a momentary passion of the peole from electing a charismatic madman. At best it serves s a mechanism to re-inforce the near duoppoly of the current parties.
Mycroft
https://signup.leagueoflegends.com/?ref=4c3ed6600b6ea
What happened in Germany in the late 30's that the Electors would have saved us from?
If you mean Hitler, that was the early 30's. He also wasn't elected Chancellor by the German people, in spite of popular rumour to that effect. He was chosen to be Chancellor by President Hindenburg.
Also I'm not shure what you meant by reducing the odds of rendering the electors irrelevant,
It's like this - no absolute majority of the Electors does NOT mean the Electors vote again - it means the Congress in Joint Session picks the President. So, three serious candidates would mean the Congress picks the President.
At best it serves s a mechanism to re-inforce the near duoppoly of the current parties.
Actually, it doesn't do that very well - a Third Party candidate, with just the right regional support, could conceivably become President with only 16% of the vote. (That would require getting 34% of the vote in States that add up to a bare majority of Electors). In a proportional allocation of Electors, that Third Party guy would need 34% of the vote to win.
What reinforces the Duopoly is that the two major Parties are basically left-center and right-center. Third Parties must be extreme-left or extreme-right to pull voters away from the two centrist Parties. And there aren't enough votes in either extreme (or both together, for that matter) to get someone elected President.
In order for the existing duopoly to go away, you'll need a Third Party that is centrist enough to attract a lot of votes, and extreme enough to pull voters from the current Parties, and a crisis that the current Parties aren't handling well.
Which translates mostly to really tough times in America and the world as a whole (to generate the crisis and loss of confidence required).
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
Even if I got my history mixed up (likely, been a while) the point is that as intended the electors would be free to debate and discuss merits of a candidate, rather than be the mouthpieces of the popular vote (wich at times equate to mob rule) filter through the odd distortion of the winner take all system in most states.
It's thier job is to act as a buffer against mob rule and ignorance.
At least that's what the design intention is. I'm not saying the current system is absolutely wrong, but it certainly has oddities that seem potentially problematic to me.
Mycroft
https://signup.leagueoflegends.com/?ref=4c3ed6600b6ea