if in doubt blame the browser, but i see a change between frames #1 and #2 and then it gets 'stuck' and no more changes are seen. Firefox 14.0a1 "nightly" ("well y'see thars yer problem right char")

Yes, this is exactly my point too. As an limiting argument, let's say my window manager had some-sort of graphics interface with more bells and whistles than emacs. "ooo look! i wrote a script that resulted in a full Donkeykong game in less than 32 characters!!" of course, that was one of the features of the fancy fictitious graphics interface that there are a number of example games that could be started with the equivalent of "run('donkkong')"

The central problem with 3d-ing stuff is that it solves no problem, scratches no apparent itch, feeds no bull-dog, *and* annoys the pig. Every implementation i've been 'lucky' enough to observe comes off as a skit John Candy did where the 3d feature was made the central feature of the plot (of some silly B-movie). oh, here's a sample (forgot it was "Dr Tongue") http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u4tTFEF_XE

So... "look at this crap we want you to by... *look* at it! ooo..." [moves object fitfully in/out of visual plan]

Someone should insist with (much-beloved) Professor Stroustrup that it's ok/desirable to leave it so Han Solo shoots first.

"What do you want Google? The Key of Orthanc, or perhaps the keys of Barad-dûr itself, along with the crowns of the seven kings, and the rods of the five wizards?"

nah... just start a company that makes killer-drones. "drones to kill their drones" ...drone-wars!

These efforts are to a large extent laudable, and ought to be encouraged in any case; ...however, it gets messy when this hardware requires firm/soft -ware which comes only on a proprietary platform, or binary only libraries, or libraries which require binary only libraries. .Net, Eagle, MPLAB... are easy examples, others are more subtle. These guys know about this problem and either are "working" on it (and for that, gawdbless'em), or in some few cases, just don't give a damn; (there is a buck to be made presenting it thus after-all). So, "Open Source Hardware" is often "Open Hardware", sans the source.

yes, "moving" the lawn, or even "mowing" the lawn... -sigh- (need more coffee...)

Given the nature of the organic (chemical) bonds involved, i think it's safe to say that you'd be required to "gather up your grass clippings, mix with chemicals, and paint it on your roof" rather frequently to maintain any sort of significant electricity production. That is, the original organism has to turn these structures over fairly often, and so would you. But, (i suppose), given the proper equipment, it wouldn't be too much more terrible than moving the lawn and washing the car once a week... maybe. And besides, the neighbor's camellia bush has always annoyed you anyway, so...

Es ist nicht das Ziel der Wissenschaft, der unendlichen Weisheit eine Tür zuöffnen, sondern eine Grenze zu setzen dem unendlichen Irrtum. -- Bertolt Brecht "Leben des Galilei"

here's my (dubious) translation: It is not the goal of Science to open a door to endless knowledge, but rather to place limits upon endless error.

this quote, i believe, it both filled with truthiness, and also reveals notable false-iness in the referenced article.

Too bad they won't name it "The Queller Drive" (cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_One_(Space:_1999) ) a fun scifi plot device being that there's this space drive system that gets you there really fast, but unfortunately kills everything that's in its wake.

That's probably close to as good as can't be hoped for, policy-wise. However the previous company i worked for wouldn't allow us access to public databases (of protein structures) so in order to do research we discovered a public wireless network, associated with the local library system, that we could access from within the company offices. Knowing we'd never be permitted to have a specific machine on both networks (wireless and wired) as that would be a grave security problem (...i guess...) we had one machine 'outside' and one 'inside' and wrote a restricted gateway of sorts between ("stupid"? sure. but somehow having two machines made the microsoft certified IT team happy). My sad point being that a company supplied network must often be twisted (if only via memory stick) so that a herd of lawyers could be driven through it.

"rika banare" "away-from science"

( &#29702;&#31185;&#38626;&#12428; <p> <--- whaat? no unicode in slashdot comments?)

http://www.google.com/search?q="rika+banare" (heh... wikipedia only suggests "rika banana")

Do you use pulseaudio or alsa-server? then you're already running a "front end over a daemon". hell, if you're running a kernel audio module (and i'd bet you are) you're running some front end over something that behaves (except for some techno-lawyering) just like a daemon. Your disgust is, in my humble opinion, misplaced.

As a broader hey-you-kids-get-off-my-lawn polemic: folks that fancy themselves as techies (most slashdot commentors?) would do themselves a favor in education not to become so rigidly married to GUIs. GUIs are handy for a specific class of tasks typically involving many choices taken from relatively small sets; but in the background they're essentially, often actually, performing what a single line of "Ugh" command-line would do. ...end of sermon, now run off and program a glitzy interface over some crusty old code.

http://xmms2.org/wiki/Clients