There are several requests for UI improvements in bugzilla right now, but nobody is really doing anything about them. Here's a few off the top of my head:
Full screen view. There are so many requests for this on the wishlist newsgroup it's not even funny anymore.
Add throbber capabilities to taskbar icon, so you can see if a page is still loading even if it's minimized. This bug is basically the same idea but for miniwindows in WindowMaker. Since I'm pretty clueless about WindowMaker programming, I'm not sure if it's possible, but it's worth looking into.
Hierarchical go menu, which would allow branching based on link traversal. (ok, I admit it, shameless plug for my own request)
All of these strike me as potentially significant improvements to the UI. ---
1201(a)(2)(B) is what I assume will be the MPA[A]'s reponse to the defense that DeCSS was written to bridge the gap between DVD and Linux -- they'll make an effort to show that the possible illegal uses of DeCSS, regardless of its intended use, mean that Johansen should go to jail. that's kind of like trying to outlaw FTP servers because software piracy can happen there.
It doesn't support CSS* completely (watch that * !). It supports CSS1 completely, with some bits of CSS2. Note that this is exactly what they said they'd do. They only guaranteed full CSS1 compliance, with the rest of CSS2 to be worked in over time. ---
what was that saying about "they came for the {mumble} and I wasn't a {mumble} so I didn't speak up. then they came for the {...} and I wasn't a {...} so I didn't speak up. then they came for me and there was no one left to speak up for me".
That half-mumbled quote refers to the Nazis. So, Godwin's Law almost applies...
Fiber optics, with splitters that "sluice off" photons of certain frequencies and/or polarizations. Scientific American had an article on it a couple years back, I'm not so certain about the state of the art now. ---
If memory serves, it HAS been proven that change in one "linked" particle can simultaneously cause change instantaneously in its "twinned" particle, but if memory serves the scientists who discovered this doubt very much it will ever be useful for communication. (For one, it probably won't work across lightyears, and for two, probably the most complex method of communication you could do with it would be Morse-code type on-off communication.
Umm...last time I checked, binary was on-off, and it seems like you can do a lot with binary...
The problem with using twinned photons, IIRC, is that there really isn't any information going from one to the other. Observing one doesn't produce a change in the other, it just predicts the other's state. Think of it this way: you shoot a helium nucleus at some sort of splitter. It splits into two nuclei. You then observe one of the nuclei. If it's deutrium, you know the other is tritium, and vice versa (assuming no neutrons excaped or anything like that, I doubt you could actually split a helium nucleus like this but bear with me for the sake of argument). It's the same idea. If one of the photons turns out to have right spin, the other must have left spin and must have already had left spin. It is just a deduction based on what you already know about the system.
The idea that relativity breaks down at light speed is nonsensical, because no object can ever reach light speed (in a simple way).
Actually, it's trivial to say that relativity breaks down at light speed, in the same way that it's trivial to say that mathematics breaks down at 1/0 (is it infinity? Negative infinity?). However, it's also meaningless because relativity prevents you from ever reaching it.
Now, if relativity breaks down at near light speed, that would be something!
There is a way to go faster than light speed. It uses a technicality of relativity: no matter may travel faster than light, but nothing is said about how fast space itself can travel. If the piece of space you are in is travelling faster than light, you experience no time dilations. The only problem is that it is impossible to stop if you are using this method to reach supraluminal speeds. This is only as I understand it from articles in popular science rags (Sci. Am. & Discover). I'm no physicist. ---
How on earth did this get moderated up as "interesting"? It's flamebait, albeit wordy flamebait.
In evolutionary terms, Hawking is "fit" because he has "what it takes" to survive.
Fitness is not determined by rock hard abdominals or the ability to run a mile in under 6 minutes; and "survival of the fittest" does not mean that people who play varsity sports will populate the world of tomorrow. darwinian fitness != physical fitness
This is true. Ibanix's post was very misinformed in this regard
now go to your church, where your pastor/minister/priest/whatever will explain to you that evil people like me are all parts of god's plan, and that you must have faith in His greatness, and that because the Bible clearly states that He created Everything, I am clearly wrong, and a sinner to boot. Please do the world a favor and stop looking both ways when you cross the street.
That was uncalled for. Not all Christians are fundamentalists. In fact, fundamentalists are a minority (despite their claims to being the "moral majority", whatever that means).
a comment on the darwinian survival of religion: Religion is a fit meme because it is attractive to many types of people (those brainwashed since youth, or on death row, or just dumb)
Now you bring up meme theory. I've seen it brought up a few times on this thread, in fact. Why? Meme theory is extremely unsupported. What a meme is supposed to be isn't even well defined (some authors liken it to a gene, some to a virus, and some say that one shouldn't explain them in terms of genetics at all...and nobody seems to be able to agree on what actually qualifies as a meme). One memeticist, when writing about various scientific disciplines that could be impacted by meme theory, lists "psychohistory" (I kid you not). For those who don't know, Isaac Asimov invented psychohistory for his Foundation series of novels, and never claimed it was true. For an excellent debunking of memes, check out Skeptic Magazine vol. 6 #3
there is no god, there is no truth, there is only opinion. Just because your opinion is that there IS a god and a truth, does not make it so; just as MY opinion that there is only opinion, does not make it so.
Point 1: debatable, unprovable. Points 2 & 3: manure of male cattle. The very act of having an opinion necessitates at least one truth, that you have that opinion. Or would it be your opinion that you have that opinion?
Do you really think politicians give half a damn if you don't vote? "Oh dear, I must not be getting through to this fine individual!" They don't. Anyone who didn't vote is someone who didn't vote for the other guy either. By not voting, you didn't affect anything, therefore you are irrelevant to them and they can safely ignore your views.
As a form of protest, not voting is about as effective as taking a vow of silence. All it does is not get your voice heard.
IIRC, THX isn't a media format, it's a group that checks the acoustics of theaters for things like sound bleed and reverberation, and approves ones that meet their minimum requirements. That's why you sometimes see both "THX" and "Dolby Digital" trailers before the same movie. ---
Good luck on that Buckaroo Banzai DVD. It's been out of print on VHS since forever (thank God my dad has a copy I can watch!). However, if they do release it on DVD, I hope it has the deleted director's cut scenes.
Speaking of director's cuts, is the Army of Darkness 2 disc set still for sale anywhere? ---
Let's face it, Lucas gave up on "art" after "Tucker" failed so miserably. ("Huh? Tucker? Whazzat?") Besides, most of what Lucas has done definitely falls in the category of Commercial Entertainment rather than High Art (not saying they're mutually exclusive). This is hardly a new development.
And frankly, I'm not that disturbed that TPM won't be on DVD. I wouldn't buy it on VHS. The effects were cool, but it was a little kids' movie...like "The Ewok Adventure" with a budget.
I've got Ghostbusters and Dark Crystal on DVD. I'm happy.
Thanks. It was very informative. I have a bit of a problem with some of it, however: why on earth shouldn't I use software that doesn't have an entirely free license? I prefer open source / free software / your name here but I certainly won't limit myself to it.
In short, if I write something by myself, I'll use the GPL or LGPL (to keep it simple, if nothing else). If I modify or write a patch for something else, I'll use the appropriate license (APSL, Netscape PL, etc.).
I find their reason for using the GPL over the LGPL interesting. It boils down to: the GPL is preferable because it is less free. In a sense, it makes GPL-covered code FSF-proprietary by not allowing private companies to use it in proprietary code.
I also thought it was funny that they said that the Artistic License contained "some passages [that] are too clever for their own good". Apparently they don't approve of Larry Wall's literary antics.
He was making a sarcastic comment on government thinking. ---
Re:What makes you think they'll _release_ their co
on
China Banning Win2k
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· Score: 1
Government paranoia.
Frankly, I don't think this is that important. If they make their own version and don't release it, it will only affect them (and would make it hard for them to take advantage of patches written elsewhere--they'd lose out). Their modifications wouldn't affect anyone in the rest of the Linux community, just like nobody in said community really cares when MS comes out with a new Windows upgrade. It may be frustrating, but that's all.
It would, however, give us a great near-oxymoron: pirated open source software. ---
Also, a completely random thought that just popped into my head. The current buzzword for e-commerce companies is "dotcoms". Why didn't we end up with the word "dotcommerce" as well?
I think they're hoping "e-commerce" makes them sound like rappers, like Ice-T or Easy E.:)
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There are several requests for UI improvements in bugzilla right now, but nobody is really doing anything about them. Here's a few off the top of my head:
Full screen view. There are so many requests for this on the wishlist newsgroup it's not even funny anymore.
Update bookmarks when sites move/disappear. This seems like a damn good idea to me.
Add throbber capabilities to taskbar icon, so you can see if a page is still loading even if it's minimized. This bug is basically the same idea but for miniwindows in WindowMaker. Since I'm pretty clueless about WindowMaker programming, I'm not sure if it's possible, but it's worth looking into.
Hierarchical go menu, which would allow branching based on link traversal. (ok, I admit it, shameless plug for my own request)
All of these strike me as potentially significant improvements to the UI.
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Please don't give them any ideas.
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Give it a break! It's nowhere near release software quality and no one (in any official position at least) has said that it was.
Even calling M13 "alpha" was hotly debated on the mozilla newsgroups. It only just reached Dogfood.
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It doesn't support CSS* completely (watch that * !). It supports CSS1 completely, with some bits of CSS2. Note that this is exactly what they said they'd do. They only guaranteed full CSS1 compliance, with the rest of CSS2 to be worked in over time.
---
Layers? I thought layers were a NN4 extension.
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That half-mumbled quote refers to the Nazis. So, Godwin's Law almost applies...
---
Fiber optics, with splitters that "sluice off" photons of certain frequencies and/or polarizations. Scientific American had an article on it a couple years back, I'm not so certain about the state of the art now.
---
Umm...last time I checked, binary was on-off, and it seems like you can do a lot with binary...
The problem with using twinned photons, IIRC, is that there really isn't any information going from one to the other. Observing one doesn't produce a change in the other, it just predicts the other's state. Think of it this way: you shoot a helium nucleus at some sort of splitter. It splits into two nuclei. You then observe one of the nuclei. If it's deutrium, you know the other is tritium, and vice versa (assuming no neutrons excaped or anything like that, I doubt you could actually split a helium nucleus like this but bear with me for the sake of argument). It's the same idea. If one of the photons turns out to have right spin, the other must have left spin and must have already had left spin. It is just a deduction based on what you already know about the system.
---
Isn't that the method used in Tintin's moon adventures?
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Actually, it's trivial to say that relativity breaks down at light speed, in the same way that it's trivial to say that mathematics breaks down at 1/0 (is it infinity? Negative infinity?). However, it's also meaningless because relativity prevents you from ever reaching it.
Now, if relativity breaks down at near light speed, that would be something!
---
There is a way to go faster than light speed. It uses a technicality of relativity: no matter may travel faster than light, but nothing is said about how fast space itself can travel. If the piece of space you are in is travelling faster than light, you experience no time dilations. The only problem is that it is impossible to stop if you are using this method to reach supraluminal speeds. This is only as I understand it from articles in popular science rags (Sci. Am. & Discover). I'm no physicist.
---
How on earth did this get moderated up as "interesting"? It's flamebait, albeit wordy flamebait.
This is true. Ibanix's post was very misinformed in this regard
That was uncalled for. Not all Christians are fundamentalists. In fact, fundamentalists are a minority (despite their claims to being the "moral majority", whatever that means).
Now you bring up meme theory. I've seen it brought up a few times on this thread, in fact. Why? Meme theory is extremely unsupported. What a meme is supposed to be isn't even well defined (some authors liken it to a gene, some to a virus, and some say that one shouldn't explain them in terms of genetics at all...and nobody seems to be able to agree on what actually qualifies as a meme). One memeticist, when writing about various scientific disciplines that could be impacted by meme theory, lists "psychohistory" (I kid you not). For those who don't know, Isaac Asimov invented psychohistory for his Foundation series of novels, and never claimed it was true. For an excellent debunking of memes, check out Skeptic Magazine vol. 6 #3
Point 1: debatable, unprovable. Points 2 & 3: manure of male cattle. The very act of having an opinion necessitates at least one truth, that you have that opinion. Or would it be your opinion that you have that opinion?
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But you didn't vote against them either!
Do you really think politicians give half a damn if you don't vote? "Oh dear, I must not be getting through to this fine individual!" They don't. Anyone who didn't vote is someone who didn't vote for the other guy either. By not voting, you didn't affect anything, therefore you are irrelevant to them and they can safely ignore your views.
As a form of protest, not voting is about as effective as taking a vow of silence. All it does is not get your voice heard.
---
IIRC, THX isn't a media format, it's a group that checks the acoustics of theaters for things like sound bleed and reverberation, and approves ones that meet their minimum requirements. That's why you sometimes see both "THX" and "Dolby Digital" trailers before the same movie.
---
Good luck on that Buckaroo Banzai DVD. It's been out of print on VHS since forever (thank God my dad has a copy I can watch!). However, if they do release it on DVD, I hope it has the deleted director's cut scenes.
Speaking of director's cuts, is the Army of Darkness 2 disc set still for sale anywhere?
---
Let's face it, Lucas gave up on "art" after "Tucker" failed so miserably. ("Huh? Tucker? Whazzat?") Besides, most of what Lucas has done definitely falls in the category of Commercial Entertainment rather than High Art (not saying they're mutually exclusive). This is hardly a new development.
And frankly, I'm not that disturbed that TPM won't be on DVD. I wouldn't buy it on VHS. The effects were cool, but it was a little kids' movie...like "The Ewok Adventure" with a budget.
I've got Ghostbusters and Dark Crystal on DVD. I'm happy.
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God, I hope not. The Special Editions screwed with continuity enough already.
---
Thanks. It was very informative. I have a bit of a problem with some of it, however: why on earth shouldn't I use software that doesn't have an entirely free license? I prefer open source / free software / your name here but I certainly won't limit myself to it.
In short, if I write something by myself, I'll use the GPL or LGPL (to keep it simple, if nothing else). If I modify or write a patch for something else, I'll use the appropriate license (APSL, Netscape PL, etc.).
I find their reason for using the GPL over the LGPL interesting. It boils down to: the GPL is preferable because it is less free. In a sense, it makes GPL-covered code FSF-proprietary by not allowing private companies to use it in proprietary code.
I also thought it was funny that they said that the Artistic License contained "some passages [that] are too clever for their own good". Apparently they don't approve of Larry Wall's literary antics.
---
Heh. Just like arcade games, and the "Don't use drugs!" message that pops up every once in a while when they're waiting for a quarter.
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He was making a sarcastic comment on government thinking.
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Government paranoia.
Frankly, I don't think this is that important. If they make their own version and don't release it, it will only affect them (and would make it hard for them to take advantage of patches written elsewhere--they'd lose out). Their modifications wouldn't affect anyone in the rest of the Linux community, just like nobody in said community really cares when MS comes out with a new Windows upgrade. It may be frustrating, but that's all.
It would, however, give us a great near-oxymoron: pirated open source software.
---
AppleScript is pretty nice. I use it a lot at my job, to automate tasks in QuarkXpress.
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I think they're hoping "e-commerce" makes them sound like rappers, like Ice-T or Easy E. :)
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Hmm...I wonder if anyone's working on a Mozilla port to QNX. That might be pretty cool for set-top boxes.
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Wizard magazine featured these things, and they put some pretty funny dialogue in the characters' mouths.
Two of my favorites:
Trinity: "Whew, after 'Models, Inc.' I thought I was a goner!"
Neo (best if you look at the action figure): "Damn, I think I buckled wrong. My leg's going numb."
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