Also: Television signals still are in a format black and white TV's accept. They can't read the whole signal, but they work just as well as they did before.
Not really. Last night I was watching a show that was only being broadcast in digital HD. Which is pretty much what's being proposed for the web--some content will only be available to those who upgrade to XHTML 2 browsers.
Do you people actually see things in your heads? Can you picture a face/scene/object/symbol - and really look at it?
Yes. In fact, I do basic arithmetic by visualizing patterns of dots, and then counting them. For example, for 8 - 3 I'll visualize 8 as
* *
* *
* *
* *
then remove 3 from one of the top corners to leave
*
* *
* *
which is 5. Basically, I have shapes like Tetris pieces for the common integers.
I'm almost completely a visual thinker. I can navigate wonderfully, read maps fine, but I'm hopeless at giving directions because I don't know any of the street names. If I have to walk from point A to point B a few blocks away I literally visualize the route as if looking from above, or in 3D from street level: walk along here, turn left 20 degrees near the large white building, down the hill, and so on.
Another thing that might amuse you: there used to be a joke Mac extension which removed all the text from the menus. I could still use my typical software with it installed, because I navigate based on the physical location of the labels in the menu.
Which as an aside, is one reason why Windows XP's dynamically hiding things from the menu is a complete UI disaster for people like me.
One advantage of visual route finding, though, is that it works even when there aren't any street labels, in a location you've never been before. Out on a cross-country run in the middle of a forest once with a friend, we decided it was time to head back. I turned left about 40 degrees and started walking. My friend said "Hang on, we came from that way." We argued a bit, but he wouldn't budge. I walked back in a straight line. He finally got back half an hour after me.
I know it is very comforting to believe that you can avoid this by living healthily, but you are still going to degenerate and die. And that process is not necessarily going to be more comfortable just because you ate tofu all the time and never passed up an opportunity to whine about someone smoking a cigarette 50 feet away from you.
Actually, I have a congenital heart irregularity. If I can stay healthy until old age, chances are I'll just drop dead quietly in my sleep.
Even ignoring that, there are better and worse ways to go. Cancer is pretty damn miserable and drawn out by all accounts, whereas tofu-eating non-smokers are more likely to have a quick stroke and die rapidly after that.
I'm in exactly the same position as Google regarding my own web site. I can comply with the Chinese government's wishes, or I can have them block me with their firewall.
I think the opposite. I think we need more open source CMS systems.
My first criterion for an open source CMS was that it not be based on PHP, because PHP is a bloated security-hole-ridden crappy language.
My second criterion was that it support something other than MySQL--both for licensing reasons, and because MySQL doesn't meet the basic standards of database integrity you'd expect from a relational database.
Once I'd imposed those two criteria, there were only a few options, and I didn't like any of them very much.
People do not dress this way in normal life, not even in Los Angeles.
They do in Las Vegas. Just FYI.
(No, I'm not being paid a retainer by the Vegas tourist board. And no, I'm not talking about people paid to dress that way in casinos--I'm talking about the girls dressed in skimpy near-transparent outfits you see heading from club to club.)
I think it's worse than that. What makes me me is continuity of the complex emergent behavior of the system. Once you shut down electrical activity, that's it—death. Maybe you can revive the body and restart electrical activity, but the resulting person won't be me, even if he thinks he is.
What kind of XML parser are you using that has a more complex API for elements than for attributes? In my experience it's usually the other way around.
It's a fact that Apple published namespace and DTD for their podcasting extensions, and wrote their software to understand standard RSS (or at least one of the many mutually incompatible RSS standards, a mess which Dave Winer can take the credit for).
As such, I maintain that it's reasonable to assume that the lack of same for iPhoto is due to resource constraints or error, rather than deliberate malice.
I mean, we know that Steve Jobs insists on a new rev of iLife every year at MacWorld, whether the code is ready or not--we've seen it in past years, with early flaky code not being usable until Q2 point releases.
I never used Dave's software, so it didn't matter to me at all when he suddenly increased the price from $0 to $900 a year. So no grudge at all.
If you really want to see my first publically posted criticism of Dave Winer and his software pricing, you'll have to go back to at least 1992. Nice try, though.
Perhaps you missed the bit about how Dave Winer did not in fact invent RSS--he co-opted Netscape's invention and pretended it was his own.
I'd be very tempted to make a fake finger that the system would accept, carry it around for a while... then demonstrate to management that the stupid biometric system will read a fake finger, but not a real one.
One thing it's important to understand is that Dave "by name and by nature" Winer has had a grudge against Apple ever since they shipped AppleScript, which made his enormously overpriced Userland Frontier Mac scripting system irrelevant overnight. That's why he tried to reinvent it as a web application platform.
Of course, Winer knows all about incompatible changes to standards. His RSS 0.91 was gratuitously and completely incompatible with the RSS 0.9--that was invented by Netscape, not him. And that was just the start--look at the Wikipedia article on RSS to see how Winer deliberately broke the standards process time and time again.
As to Apple's intentions, it should be noted that they've published DTDs and namespace declarations for their podcasting extensions to RSS implemented in iTunes. I assume they'll do the same for iPhoto, and they just haven't gotten around to it yet. As for bugs in date format, report 'em and see if they get fixed before assuming it's deliberate.
The problem is that a number of companies provide the source code, without actually providing you with enough information to use it.
For example, my TiVo is Linux based, but the hardware has DRM to stop me running binaries I build myself. So even though I have the source, I don't have the freedom to use it.
It's pretty clear that the intent of the GPL was always to make sure users could change and use the software themselves. So this is only strengthening the original intent, by emphasizing that the "and use" part is important.
It's the same concern with DRM on content. A company could sell a media player with DRM and GPL firmware, but the law would prohibit you from modifying the software and using your modified version.
In fact, it's worse than that. Although TiVo provide the source code, they don't provide the keys required to sign the binaries so they'll run on the hardware. Hence even though I theoretically have the freedom to tinker with the software on my TiVo, I don't actually have that freedom. And that's without even considering whether there's DRM on the content--I'd quite like to just be able to program the thing via command line or web interface.
Just look at what happened to TapWave. They had a handheld based on an established platform, with a library of games already available... but they added crippling DRM and locked down the system so you couldn't use its advanced features without code signed for a fee. Potential developers stayed away.
(I bought one. It's a nice multimedia-capable Palm device. Never bought any DRMed games, though.)
The problem with Laserdiscs was they used silver for the reflective layer. Some early CD plants were converted Laserdisc plants, and did the same. The result was a bunch of Philips-pressed CDs that started to tarnish. Philips replaced them all. 99% of CD pressing plants were unaffected.
I've never seen a documented case of aluminium CDs dying. Apart from anything else, if a regular CD is badly sealed, the aluminium will simply oxidize to a thin layer of alumina, which is still reflective, and effectively seal the rest of the disc; it won't tarnish progressively, like Laserdiscs did.
Slashdot Mirror
Not really. Last night I was watching a show that was only being broadcast in digital HD. Which is pretty much what's being proposed for the web--some content will only be available to those who upgrade to XHTML 2 browsers.
Yes. In fact, I do basic arithmetic by visualizing patterns of dots, and then counting them. For example, for 8 - 3 I'll visualize 8 as
* ** *
* *
* *
then remove 3 from one of the top corners to leave
** *
* *
which is 5. Basically, I have shapes like Tetris pieces for the common integers.
I'm almost completely a visual thinker. I can navigate wonderfully, read maps fine, but I'm hopeless at giving directions because I don't know any of the street names. If I have to walk from point A to point B a few blocks away I literally visualize the route as if looking from above, or in 3D from street level: walk along here, turn left 20 degrees near the large white building, down the hill, and so on.
Another thing that might amuse you: there used to be a joke Mac extension which removed all the text from the menus. I could still use my typical software with it installed, because I navigate based on the physical location of the labels in the menu.
Which as an aside, is one reason why Windows XP's dynamically hiding things from the menu is a complete UI disaster for people like me.
One advantage of visual route finding, though, is that it works even when there aren't any street labels, in a location you've never been before. Out on a cross-country run in the middle of a forest once with a friend, we decided it was time to head back. I turned left about 40 degrees and started walking. My friend said "Hang on, we came from that way." We argued a bit, but he wouldn't budge. I walked back in a straight line. He finally got back half an hour after me.
Actually, I have a congenital heart irregularity. If I can stay healthy until old age, chances are I'll just drop dead quietly in my sleep.
Even ignoring that, there are better and worse ways to go. Cancer is pretty damn miserable and drawn out by all accounts, whereas tofu-eating non-smokers are more likely to have a quick stroke and die rapidly after that.
I'm in exactly the same position as Google regarding my own web site. I can comply with the Chinese government's wishes, or I can have them block me with their firewall.
But you know what? That's still a choice.
People gave exactly the same arguments against the use of sanctions against South Africa.
Just because money is more important than freedom to you, doesn't mean it is for the rest of us.
I try to avoid doing business with China as much as possible.
I think the opposite. I think we need more open source CMS systems.
My first criterion for an open source CMS was that it not be based on PHP, because PHP is a bloated security-hole-ridden crappy language.
My second criterion was that it support something other than MySQL--both for licensing reasons, and because MySQL doesn't meet the basic standards of database integrity you'd expect from a relational database.
Once I'd imposed those two criteria, there were only a few options, and I didn't like any of them very much.
They do in Las Vegas. Just FYI.
(No, I'm not being paid a retainer by the Vegas tourist board. And no, I'm not talking about people paid to dress that way in casinos--I'm talking about the girls dressed in skimpy near-transparent outfits you see heading from club to club.)
They're invalid XHTML, and most of the people doing leading-edge web development are doing it in XHTML.
I thought Aeon Flux had the potential to be an incredibly cool game.
Then I read that it was based on the crappy movie, rather than the original series, and lost all interest.
I dream when I sleep. Don't you?
I think it's worse than that. What makes me me is continuity of the complex emergent behavior of the system. Once you shut down electrical activity, that's it—death. Maybe you can revive the body and restart electrical activity, but the resulting person won't be me, even if he thinks he is.
I dunno, the guy did think Adolf Hitler was a nice bloke with some good ideas.
Who said it was?
What kind of XML parser are you using that has a more complex API for elements than for attributes? In my experience it's usually the other way around.
It's a fact that Dave Winer did not invent RSS. Even he admits it.
It's a fact that Apple published namespace and DTD for their podcasting extensions, and wrote their software to understand standard RSS (or at least one of the many mutually incompatible RSS standards, a mess which Dave Winer can take the credit for).
As such, I maintain that it's reasonable to assume that the lack of same for iPhoto is due to resource constraints or error, rather than deliberate malice.
I mean, we know that Steve Jobs insists on a new rev of iLife every year at MacWorld, whether the code is ready or not--we've seen it in past years, with early flaky code not being usable until Q2 point releases.
I never used Dave's software, so it didn't matter to me at all when he suddenly increased the price from $0 to $900 a year. So no grudge at all.
If you really want to see my first publically posted criticism of Dave Winer and his software pricing, you'll have to go back to at least 1992. Nice try, though.
Perhaps you missed the bit about how Dave Winer did not in fact invent RSS--he co-opted Netscape's invention and pretended it was his own.
I guess he has sycophants, just like he has enemies. I just think he's a bit of an asshat.
I'd be very tempted to make a fake finger that the system would accept, carry it around for a while... then demonstrate to management that the stupid biometric system will read a fake finger, but not a real one.
"NASA Warns of Cluttered Space"--they've seen my office?
One thing it's important to understand is that Dave "by name and by nature" Winer has had a grudge against Apple ever since they shipped AppleScript, which made his enormously overpriced Userland Frontier Mac scripting system irrelevant overnight. That's why he tried to reinvent it as a web application platform.
Of course, Winer knows all about incompatible changes to standards. His RSS 0.91 was gratuitously and completely incompatible with the RSS 0.9--that was invented by Netscape, not him. And that was just the start--look at the Wikipedia article on RSS to see how Winer deliberately broke the standards process time and time again.
As to Apple's intentions, it should be noted that they've published DTDs and namespace declarations for their podcasting extensions to RSS implemented in iTunes. I assume they'll do the same for iPhoto, and they just haven't gotten around to it yet. As for bugs in date format, report 'em and see if they get fixed before assuming it's deliberate.
The problem is that a number of companies provide the source code, without actually providing you with enough information to use it.
For example, my TiVo is Linux based, but the hardware has DRM to stop me running binaries I build myself. So even though I have the source, I don't have the freedom to use it.
It's pretty clear that the intent of the GPL was always to make sure users could change and use the software themselves. So this is only strengthening the original intent, by emphasizing that the "and use" part is important.
It's the same concern with DRM on content. A company could sell a media player with DRM and GPL firmware, but the law would prohibit you from modifying the software and using your modified version.
In fact, it's worse than that. Although TiVo provide the source code, they don't provide the keys required to sign the binaries so they'll run on the hardware. Hence even though I theoretically have the freedom to tinker with the software on my TiVo, I don't actually have that freedom. And that's without even considering whether there's DRM on the content--I'd quite like to just be able to program the thing via command line or web interface.
They're probably scared he'll learn about SCIENCE.
Just look at what happened to TapWave. They had a handheld based on an established platform, with a library of games already available... but they added crippling DRM and locked down the system so you couldn't use its advanced features without code signed for a fee. Potential developers stayed away.
(I bought one. It's a nice multimedia-capable Palm device. Never bought any DRMed games, though.)
The problem with Laserdiscs was they used silver for the reflective layer. Some early CD plants were converted Laserdisc plants, and did the same. The result was a bunch of Philips-pressed CDs that started to tarnish. Philips replaced them all. 99% of CD pressing plants were unaffected.
I've never seen a documented case of aluminium CDs dying. Apart from anything else, if a regular CD is badly sealed, the aluminium will simply oxidize to a thin layer of alumina, which is still reflective, and effectively seal the rest of the disc; it won't tarnish progressively, like Laserdiscs did.