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Comment Re:Not really useful (Score 3, Informative) 256

In a box approximately 1nm on a side there is a north pole with no matching south pole. So there are magnetic field lines flowing out of the box with no matching field lines flowing in. Of course "over there" there is a south pole which has field lines flowing in without field lines flowing out.

Except, from my reading above, it seems that the matching "monopoles" are connected by a long series of aligned dipoles resembling solenoidal tubes, so there is mag field in the dipoles flowing into the box. Sure the "in" field occupies a very small area, but in/out still balances. Is this incorrect? If not, I don't see how this is evidence of the existence of monopoles.

And, as an aside, given the parallel you draw with conservation of charge, is there any corresponding persistent and unique connection between (e.g.) an electron and positron pair after they are created?

Comment Re:Great (Score 1) 412

As with the "no true scotsman" argument, you both have to agree upon on a single definition for capitalism.

Keep in mind that capitalism is not anarchy. e.g. it certainly requires that fraud be prosecuted. At some point, intentional confusion and misinformation become fraud. Likewise, capitalism is aided by an informed market.

Comment Re:Article is a troll (Score 1) 1365

While I don't like the physically centralized registry of Windows, having a standard format and api for easy, live, dynamic modification and notification of configuration is a great boon.

Text files which each have a different format, which must be parsed and altered in their entirety to maintain consistency, and which often are not live, are not as useful or advanced.

Comment Re:Abso-freakin'-lutely! (Score 1) 276

If it's not too much trouble, could you please elaborate on a couple of points?:

(1) Examples of the "trade giveaways" where the U.S. gave up its natural trade advantages.

(2) The key differences between global trade and global economy. You seem to suggest that economy leads to homogeneity while trade does not.

Comment Re:Linux - How "Free" is it? (Score 1) 508

After reading a book about Linux, tuning a system for someone, and walking her through it, why did I have to post on a technology discussion website to find out about it?

Because the freedom of Linux also results in an abundance of fragmentation. Diverse Window Managers aren't even close to the worst of it.

What is remarkable is how the freedom to share and customize can actually result in less sharing of code. Too many options breeds confusion which can be a significant impediment to actually getting things done which is the purpose of freedom.

It's also fascinating to consider the parallel pitfalls of freedom in economics. It can be chaotic, confusing, lacking controls, and often more difficult, but the system as a whole evolves better.

Similarly, Linux evolves and I am confident that it will eventually solidify on excellent general purpose solutions. I just don't know when that will happen.

Comment Standardization and Flexibility - Whoosh! (Score 1) 791

Kernel devs focusing on one distro would not force anyone to use it, nor would it prevent competition or niches, since it is all still open source (unlike Windows). It is a preference, not an ultimatum.

What it would do is go a long way toward establishing standards and increasing flexibility which are sorely lacking. Making that one distro (or meta-distro) more flexible (to accomodate derived distros) and standards based is far better than having thousands of rigid and incompatible options.

The community can, of course, still evolve new standards through competition. They just won't have to do it in parallel for each major distro (or desktop).

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