Obviously you'd still have to come into direct physical contact with it, but wouldn't the fact that skin is porous still pose some risk of skin penetration?

The GEGL core update by itself brings no new features (user functionality).

I don't dispute that point, but I do not think you realize just how much GEGL support being in will enormously accelerate the features that are currently on hold and waiting on it.

The reason things haven't really progressed very far, if at all, on many of the features that are waiting on the GEGL port to be finished is not because they are taking their time with them, it is because any work that might be started before the GEGL port was complete would likely to be entirely a waste of time, and because trying to implement it without GEGL being in would take a lot longer anyways, GEGL support would probably be in before it was complete, so there's no point starting on something that would have to be entirely thrown away before it's done, and can be relatively easily done once the underlying architcture has been modified to be amenable to it.

Consider when building a home, the most amount of time is spent making sure the foundation is properly in place. Once it is, a house can be built on a good foundation comparatively very quickly. Likewise, once the GEGL port is finally in and 2.;10 is out, you will doubtless be witness to vastly accelerated GIMP development of some of the most urgently desired features. Internally, for all intents and purposes, 2.10 will be almost an entirely new program.

First of all, GEGL will definitely be in the next version of GIMP... second of all, once GEGL is complete (which is again slated for the next version of GIMP), virtually all of those additional features will suddenly become feasible to implement where the previous architecture of GIMP made them untenable (and why no progress has been made so far, or often very little), and they will probably come into play quite quickly afterwards, You may be right that not very many may get in for the next version, but because of what GEGL opens up the possibility to do within GIMP, the release cycle between 2,10 and future stable versions that implement such functionality will be much lower than the time frame between 2.8 and 2.10.

In other words, not very far at all.

There's nothing magical about it. Skin is porous.... and if it's there long enough, some water on the skin can be absorbed into your body before it evaporates.

I like Serenity too, but in matters of law, what the law actually says and what actually takes place *ARE* typically quite similar. Exceptions may exist (I've heard people say that one can get ticketed for going the speed limit where everyone else is speeding, but I've never met or even heard of anyone specifically that has actually ever happened to), but I would honestly suggest that such occurrences are likely few and far enough between that getting a ticket for traveling the speed limit while everyone around you is speeding would probably be a manageable situation that would only land the officer who issued the ticket in a whole heaping lot of trouble when you go to court to challenge the ticket, I'd further suggest that the only kind of police officer that would do it is one who was either ignorant of how it would actually go down in court when you fight it, or else desperate enough to meet some kind of quota that they may have that they would gamble that you won't try to fight the ticket in the first place.

Quite possibly... I've been driving for 25 years and never received any ticket for going too fast, nor given any kind of ticket or warning for ever going too slow, except in online forums such as slashdot, and only by people who object to those who might diligently pay attention to what the traffic law expects.

If I were ever dinged for going too slow when I was actually traveling the speed limit, I would challenge the ticket, win, and the issuing officer would probably get a reprimand for being an asshole.

Slowing down makes it easier for them to pass you... I'd rather have an idiot driver in front of me where I can react to them by driving a safe following distance than somebody driving erratically behind me where I can't as readily react to any unexpected things that they do without risking driving dangerously myself.

Why does everybody assume the solution to threatening vehicles on the road like drunks or an SUV behind you is to speed up?

Honestly, I wonder the same thing.

Or, you know, you could not drive so fast that it would warrant a speeding ticket in the first place... and then the number of speeding tickets you get in any type of car would all be identical.

I guess you haven't heard my point, which is that how GIMP is "far from being comparable" is more of an issue of the critical importance of missing features more than sheer number, because many of the missing features can be categorized under a single much broader heading such as "non-destructive editing, and the relatively few distinct ones which remain will get done soon. If you happen to believe that they are not going to get done anytime soon (which is the only reason I can think of to suggest why you would disagree with what I've been saying), please consider how, exactly, it is that you think that you know that, and then reconsider what I've been saying. I suggest that all you'll be able to do at that point is fall back to saying that GIMP isn't necessarily comparable to Photoshop featurewise right now, because it doesn't do a relatively small number of things which are highly important to you, and which is not something I've ever disputed

You need contact/exchange of body fluids.

Right... *CONTACT*... this includes things like sweat, which can happen anywhere on the skin, so yes, it can be transmitted simply by touching someone who has it.

As I said... most people will probably be able to easily come up with a small number of critical points that are major shortcomings of GIMP, and the perception that GIMP is "nowhere near photoshop" may be heightened by the invaluableness of those features, not by their actual number. But considering that virtually all of those needed features are waiting on but an important rewrite which is largely complete, and will definitely be part of the next version of GIMP, I'd suggest that GIMP being comparable is not as far off as some would say.

I haven't been saying that you should be using GIMP today if it doesn't meet your needs. I've only been suggesting that it's not nearly as "nowhere close to photoshop" as some would think.

90% of all of that yellow and red is singularly dependant on GEGL... and GEGL support will be fully implemented in the next release.

I'd suspect that even if they didn't limit it to just data and SMS, you wouldn't even notice it any more than you notice other peoples conversations in the cabin unless you were paying particular attention to listen for it.