Slashback: Electioneering, Blimps, Shuffling 377
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."
Rejected Slashback: Allume's JPEG compression (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
Fun stuff was best (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
Re:Fun stuff was best (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I don't understand the acrimony directed toward (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
Re:I don't understand the acrimony directed toward (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
What the.. (Score:4, Interesting)
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 [monkey.org] 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?
Pudge, Get Over It (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Let's get the politics out of the way (Score:3, Interesting)
That's false. Some of them did turn out to be juveniles, yes, but it was not "at least half." Not even close.
Someone is challenging the votes of around 15,000 voters on the grounds that they are illegal immigrants.
I've never heard this, and if true, it has absolutely nothing to do with the GOP or Rossi. I met with the state GOP chairman last week, and we talked about the case, and it is in no way based on illegal aliens.
Nice try, though.
Like... (Score:3, Interesting)
Oh, sex outside of marriage is illegal, punishable by death though.
Re:That's funny (Score:2, Interesting)
Funny, also, in that Gregoire *DID* follow the legal steps...
I want to know the party breakdown on ALL contested ballots and voters.
Looks to me like the law *was* followed. It's sour grapes by Rossi and the Washington Republicans.
Get over it.
Move on.
Oh, I live in Oregon.
Right... (Score:1, Interesting)
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.
Re:Mostly fellons (Score:2, Interesting)
Take Portugal, with its population of nearly 12.000.000 inhabitants, and 363,294 felons, which amounts to about 3%.
Now, that's a pretty big difference. You'll find similar figures on other countries.
Crime stems from your problems with poverty and lack of socialist structures. It's a dog eat dog world.
Not why FBI wanted server logs... (Score:1, Interesting)
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
Washington gubernatorial race (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
Re:Fun stuff was best (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Fun stuff was best (Score:4, Interesting)
Fair point.
"the interface that is actually exposed to plugin writers is not sufficient."
Unless you've actually explored writing a Photoshop plugin, this is not fair to say. I have written plugins for various apps before and some SDKs are good, some aren't. On the flip side, having source code is nice, but if you have to change it in order to make your feature work, then you risk being boned when a new version comes along.
Re:Mostly fellons (Score:1, Interesting)
Unfortunately there is also crime inflation. Just like grade inflation makes the worth of higher grades questionable, the severity of the felony crimes is actually inflated. Many misdemenors were civil violations previously, and many felony crimes were misdemenors. This tendency to make the severity of the offense inflated to a felony seems to be a reaction to what the public concieved as a loose justice system that lets off too many people. Hence to get tough on crime, we make the offenses into a higher class of crime than previously, then bargain down to a lessor charge that is easier to get a conviction on. And we add a host of new crimes each year for behavior that was never previously criminal. Not to mention the cross jurisdictional crimes. For example car jacking is a federal crime. The justification for having a federal crime is because the car could be easily sold across state lines, and therefore the Interstate commerce class of the constitution is stretched to allow this to become a "federal case". RICO was originally meant to bust orgainzed crime, but is most often used on suspected petty drug related offenses, particularly if a large sum of money is seized. Our system is like an overripe piece of fruit. It may look good on the surface but the interior is rotted. Most of the crimminals in US jails are there because of what is in my opinion over zealeous law enforcement. And our convicted in error rate appears to be increasing. I say appears to be because many of the tests like DNA analysis didn't exist previously and are being used to good effect to help wrongfully convicted persons gain release from jail. We seem to have lost the public sentiment that used to be expressed by: Better to let 100 guilty men go free than jail one innocent man.
But that is just my opinion. Posted anonomously so the FBI can request the slashdot weblogs!
Re:You're proablly trolling but in case you aren't (Score:3, Interesting)
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
Electronic Voting Woes (Score:3, Interesting)
Evidence Of Election Irregularities In Snohomish County, Washington, General Election, 200 [votersunite.org]
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.
iCopulate (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.luxpro-corp.com/e_sc01.htm [luxpro-corp.com]
Re:I don't understand the acrimony directed toward (Score:2, Interesting)
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.
Re:I don't understand the acrimony directed toward (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
Re:Reagan? Really? (Score:5, Interesting)
Note that "His left" will be the right of those of us with the good conscience to face Him.