Re: GIMP 3.0.0-RC1

The Natural Philosopher wrote this post while blinking in Morse code:

On 09/01/2025 20:38, Chris Ahlstrom wrote:

The Natural Philosopher wrote this post while blinking in Morse code:
 

On 09/01/2025 16:18, Chris Ahlstrom wrote:

186282@ud0s4.net wrote this post while blinking in Morse code:
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     As I've said many times before - we need to use EVERYTHING WE'VE GOT now
     (except coal if we can possibly help it).
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     TRICK is to thwart the zealots - use energy sources where MOST
     APPROPRIATE. If solar fits the bill for certain projects, then use solar.
     If in a windy place then windmills might do it. If oil-burning powerplants
     are the best fit, use them. If nuke plants are to be had, use them for big
     Grid stuff.
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     It's zealotry and fanaticism that's causing most of the problems these
     days. Every faction sees THEIR fix as the One And Only and will fight
     everybody else.  Logic, evidence, economics, all go Bye Bye.
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     And even coal, the techniques/chemistry to convert it into methanol and
     ethanol are now pretty good. The nasty sulfur and heavy metals are left
     behind. Some can be re-sold for various industrial applications.

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I agree with this post!
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Put your energy eggs in many baskets.
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Bollocks. Lets have diversity in car wheels,. Sqauare one, eggs shaped
ones. Why have them all round?

 
That's a really lame rebuttal.
 

We had a more reliable grid when it was 90$% coal.
France gets by at 75% nuclear.
In mots cases 'diversity' just makes things worse, a single standard
design that works well is far far cheaper.

 
That almost *never* happens.
 

It almost *always* happens.
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You just do not notice it.
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The natural tendency in a free market is that the best technology rises
to the top, becomes ubiquitous, and everybody uses it. Diversity in
technology is not desirable,. Diversity in its application is, somewhat.

And yet, as you show below, diversity persists.

So e.g,. its probably better to have 10 small modular reactors spread
around a city than have one huge reactor and its grid connection  as as
single point of failure.
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What *you* call diversity is like  having  bike pedals in your car in
case the engine fails.

Nah, it's more like a hybrid car.

Why do all airliners basically look extremely similar?
Because that shape ahas evolved to be the most cost effective.

But the internals and details can differ quite a bit.

Why do cargo ships all look the same?
Because that shape ahas evolved to be the most cost effective.

But the internals and details can differ quite a bit.

Why do all bicycles look similar?
Because that shape ahas evolved to be the most cost effective.

But the and details can differ quite a bit. Road bike versus off-road vs
electric.

Why , despite its drawbacks, do we persist with keyboard layouts that
exist because of the limitations of mechanical typewriters?
Because we have got used to that STANDARD and it would be a pain to
retrain all those touch typists.

And yet we have Dvorak keyboards.

Why aren't we still using CRT monitors?

We still do in many places.

Because LCDS, once the trillion dollar investment in manufacturing plant
has been made, are simply better, smaller, lighter and more efficient.

Sure. That's the diversity!

Everything that is manufactured, benifits from large scale robotized
mass production of identical items, that people understand how to use
and how to fix. So that service personnel do not have to be trained in a
million different types and spares suppliers do not need to carry
inventory for a million different products.

You exaggerate.

Diversity is a technical term that was taken by non technical people and
utterly misunderstood to justify wasting money on things that didn't
work, simply because they were 'different'.

Diversity, a technical term? Pray tell.

Diversity -  when its a good thing -  means multiple copies of the same
technology, not multiple different technologies.

You prove my thesis with the *variety* of transportation items you present.

Look at all the various charger/connector types for smartphones.

Every car has differences, some small, some, like electric vs gas, big.

Under capitalism, everyone is looking for an edge, often found by
adopting a different design.

There is almost nothing that has "evolved" to a single implementation.
Everything is tweaked.

--
In any formula, constants (especially those obtained from handbooks)
are to be treated as variables.