Because some people (me included) occasionally (not always) want to manually resize the window, and in enabling the self-resizing they've stopped users manually resizing. Sounds annoying as all heck.
What you just heard was the unanimous sound of the Pidgin developers raising their hands. The whole problem is that despite the simplicity of simply offering an option to disable their new pet feature (the resizing code) they insist that the code knows best and that anyone who wants it to work differently (say, for example, how it used to work) is stupid.
I know I won't be updating my version until I can resize the window, that's for sure. It sounds annoying as all heck.
Refactoring is one of those annoyingly redundant buzzwords that sounds all Web X.0 and agile and responseive and extreme, and basically resolves down to "code tidying".
I'd argue a ground-up rewrite isn't refactoring, it's reimplementation. As such it can take longer than, and have more profound impact than, simply refactoring.
Bird went under feet first. I've actually got a similar anecdote from a friend who used to work at a city center McDonalds, which usually had a crowd of pidgeons around it. At one point a rubbish truck was pulling up, travelling very slowly, and a pigeon just stood there until it was run over... I guess some creatures really ARE too stupid to live.
Or, more likely, they just aren't evolved to consider very slow moving objects as threats. It's like the frog-in-boiling-water myth, except real.
Dunno about you, but I don't know ANYONE who voluntarily uses that crap. We use Outlook 2007 at work so a certain amount of Word is used but that's enough for me... OpenOffice isn't as annoying by a long shot. Most places I've seen are sticking with Office 2003 / Windows XP.
Reminds me of an interesting story from my boss at an old job - he'd had a prototype that he had to demonstrate to a potential customer, and it worked perfectly on the workbench but the moment the case was closed, it failed. Turned out that some signals were a little weak or somesuch, and the EPROM-based microprocessor (which, having been repeatedly erased during development, didn't have its cover on) was only detecting these signals when it had an incandescent light shining on its erase window. The product ended up being demoed (and functioning perfectly) with a 12-volt light bulb taped to the inside of the case.
1) What if they already mapped our solar system a billion years ago... This is my main sticking point here. Surely a civilisation advanced enough to travel interstellar distances would be advanced enough to scan a planet from orbit rather than requiring a landing party? Human history is so incredibly short compared to the timespans we're talking here that even if an alien species DID land on Earth sometime more than, say, 5000 years ago, we'd probably never know unless they left empty Alpha-Zorp-Cola cans everywhere when they left. And if they simply orbited once or twice, saw no signs of industrialization, and left... we'd have even less chance. Even if we DID see the huge shiny space ship we'd be more likely to follow it down to the nearest pub and then start worshipping the kid who'd just been born in the barn there...
The number of times I've had to explain this very point to my Dad... every once in a while he'll randomly ask me if I think it's possible there could be "other dimensions", and every time I explain to him that there are plenty of dimensions and you can make new ones up whenever you want ("the green-ness axis, defined as how green a particular point is, for instance). Then he accuses me of thinking I know everything and says "you scientists are all the same". Maybe I should just randomly pontificate instead of trying to understand the universe... it'd be easier, that's for sure.
It's a vicious cycle. You suck in PvP, you get bulimic and lose a lot of weight, then everyone says you're sexy, you heal a bunch of instances, you catch Healer Ego (TM) and think you're all that and more, you start eating waaay too much again, and voila. Sooner or later you'll think your shaman can PvP again.
You mean it's altering my residual self image? So when I dream, I really AM an orc shaman? Woah...
Well, actually I do end up as whatever character I've been playing after a late night online, drinking and playing WoW. But I don't run around trying to CAST FROSTSHOOOCKKKK on people in real life.
The wording was "9 digit passwords". If you're restricting it to numbers only, that makes it significantly quicker... and also makes storing the combos rather stupid.
And furthermore, if those images DO match then even if they're not identical, they are probably fairly similar.
The utility mentioned sounds like it could do well reducing the images to 2-3 bits per pixel at 16x16 rather than 1, and storing 768 bits rather than 256 sounds less-than-overwhelming.
We need to start this meme now. A fair few of the images would be NSFW if they were higher resolution - any slashdotter that comes up against such label it idgooglethat, it shall be our secret code!;)
Well, toughened glass is fairly strong, and as anyone who's ever stood on it or been in a bar fight will know, damn sharp too. Plenty good enough to do the job, anyway. What I'm curious about is if an experienced sword swallower could take a decent sized non-metallic knife onto a plane in their oesophagus? Until they do MRI or cat scans, or full body x-rays, that wouldn't be detectable.
Yes, but... actually, "Roomba Ramjet" sounds a lot cooler than "Bussard Ramjet", you may be on to something. Stick the roomba on the front, though, to clean up all that pesky space debris!
Sorry, I've been lurking on Slashdot long enough that misuse of "begs the question" brings me out in hives.:P That, and if I jump on someone for a common logical fallacy I look smarter for very little effort.;)
Your question is a good one, though, and while I don't know the answer, I can point out the economically obvious lower bound of "more resources than our current infrastructure requires to maintain". In the short- and medium-term, fossil fuels are simply cheaper to produce than alternatives, that's why they're universally used.
Of course, it begs the question: No it doesn't. *beats you repeatedly over the head with a printed copy of logicalfallacies*
And all countries barring Hades have access to the sun, some more than others but it's far more equally available than fossil fuel or uranium deposits.
Moving to something like "show up in meatspace" will only work for so long. Once cybernetics gets sufficiently advanced, R. Olivaw will be standing in line to get his RSA keys and no-one will know the difference.
Slashdot Mirror
I prefer the Distributed Central Unit Processor, it's got a better interface (once you get past the logon screen, damn those little clippy things :P )
Because some people (me included) occasionally (not always) want to manually resize the window, and in enabling the self-resizing they've stopped users manually resizing. Sounds annoying as all heck.
What you just heard was the unanimous sound of the Pidgin developers raising their hands. The whole problem is that despite the simplicity of simply offering an option to disable their new pet feature (the resizing code) they insist that the code knows best and that anyone who wants it to work differently (say, for example, how it used to work) is stupid.
I know I won't be updating my version until I can resize the window, that's for sure. It sounds annoying as all heck.
Refactoring is one of those annoyingly redundant buzzwords that sounds all Web X.0 and agile and responseive and extreme, and basically resolves down to "code tidying".
I'd argue a ground-up rewrite isn't refactoring, it's reimplementation. As such it can take longer than, and have more profound impact than, simply refactoring.
Or, more likely, they just aren't evolved to consider very slow moving objects as threats. It's like the frog-in-boiling-water myth, except real.
Dunno about you, but I don't know ANYONE who voluntarily uses that crap. We use Outlook 2007 at work so a certain amount of Word is used but that's enough for me... OpenOffice isn't as annoying by a long shot. Most places I've seen are sticking with Office 2003 / Windows XP.
Reminds me of an interesting story from my boss at an old job - he'd had a prototype that he had to demonstrate to a potential customer, and it worked perfectly on the workbench but the moment the case was closed, it failed. Turned out that some signals were a little weak or somesuch, and the EPROM-based microprocessor (which, having been repeatedly erased during development, didn't have its cover on) was only detecting these signals when it had an incandescent light shining on its erase window. The product ended up being demoed (and functioning perfectly) with a 12-volt light bulb taped to the inside of the case.
And since the GP is obviously in the same timezone...
Or, wait, were you saying that your pico-ITX is your only friend?
Turn them both black, I imagine. As long as they got sufficient sunlight, that is...
The number of times I've had to explain this very point to my Dad... every once in a while he'll randomly ask me if I think it's possible there could be "other dimensions", and every time I explain to him that there are plenty of dimensions and you can make new ones up whenever you want ("the green-ness axis, defined as how green a particular point is, for instance). Then he accuses me of thinking I know everything and says "you scientists are all the same". Maybe I should just randomly pontificate instead of trying to understand the universe... it'd be easier, that's for sure.
It's a vicious cycle. You suck in PvP, you get bulimic and lose a lot of weight, then everyone says you're sexy, you heal a bunch of instances, you catch Healer Ego (TM) and think you're all that and more, you start eating waaay too much again, and voila. Sooner or later you'll think your shaman can PvP again.
You mean it's altering my residual self image? So when I dream, I really AM an orc shaman? Woah...
Well, actually I do end up as whatever character I've been playing after a late night online, drinking and playing WoW. But I don't run around trying to CAST FROSTSHOOOCKKKK on people in real life.
The wording was "9 digit passwords". If you're restricting it to numbers only, that makes it significantly quicker... and also makes storing the combos rather stupid.
And furthermore, if those images DO match then even if they're not identical, they are probably fairly similar.
The utility mentioned sounds like it could do well reducing the images to 2-3 bits per pixel at 16x16 rather than 1, and storing 768 bits rather than 256 sounds less-than-overwhelming.
We need to start this meme now. A fair few of the images would be NSFW if they were higher resolution - any slashdotter that comes up against such label it idgooglethat, it shall be our secret code! ;)
Well, toughened glass is fairly strong, and as anyone who's ever stood on it or been in a bar fight will know, damn sharp too. Plenty good enough to do the job, anyway. What I'm curious about is if an experienced sword swallower could take a decent sized non-metallic knife onto a plane in their oesophagus? Until they do MRI or cat scans, or full body x-rays, that wouldn't be detectable.
Willow: "Yeah, I know, I googled her."
:P
Xander: "That's disturbing, she's only 15!"
Of course, if you found inspiration on google you wouldn't be empty handed right now...
Yes, but... actually, "Roomba Ramjet" sounds a lot cooler than "Bussard Ramjet", you may be on to something. Stick the roomba on the front, though, to clean up all that pesky space debris!
Sorry, I've been lurking on Slashdot long enough that misuse of "begs the question" brings me out in hives. :P That, and if I jump on someone for a common logical fallacy I look smarter for very little effort. ;)
Your question is a good one, though, and while I don't know the answer, I can point out the economically obvious lower bound of "more resources than our current infrastructure requires to maintain". In the short- and medium-term, fossil fuels are simply cheaper to produce than alternatives, that's why they're universally used.
Good luck applying that to taxes, unless you plan to not have an income.
*beats you repeatedly over the head with a printed copy of logicalfallacies*
And all countries barring Hades have access to the sun, some more than others but it's far more equally available than fossil fuel or uranium deposits.
Moving to something like "show up in meatspace" will only work for so long. Once cybernetics gets sufficiently advanced, R. Olivaw will be standing in line to get his RSA keys and no-one will know the difference.