shaddyz

It's a cool idea, but this basically sneaks new features into the Python language through a backdoor, bypassing the public review/feedback process. I would suggest the author create a PEP for these features instead.

Can someone please translate this lawsuit into common language. It looks pretty interesting, but I'm not familiar with the laws on money transmission. Thanks!

I wouldn't consider capitalism an economic system. It is more of a description of the behavior of organisms. Free markets naturally produce monopolies just like humans have monopolized Earth. Once the monopoly is achieved, the motivation to innovate diminishes along with the entity's competitiveness. Eventually, someone will challenge the monopoly-holding alpha entity and the cycle continues. It happens in economies, societies, ecosystems, and any domain where evolution takes place.

what about Gimp and Inkscape for alternatives? Both are free software.

Gimp - Raster Graphics - http://www.gimp.org/ Inkscape - Vector Graphics - http://inkscape.org/

I think the hacker community, just like any creative community, suffers from a bit too much evangelism and misdirected nerd rage. It's important that we understand our common goals and keep those in mind as we interact with each other. What are these goals?

For me... - learning how to solve real-world problems using software - sharing ideas and reflecting my perspective in the conversation - understanding how others think about SW topics, more learning - criticizing decisions in order to improve my critical thinking skills and knowledge - getting feedback from my own ideas to see how well they stand up

I realize that some of these are somewhat redundant, but I feel they differ in nuance. In general it is about _improvement_.

Also, some people are just way too sensitive and need to realize that an attack on one's idea is not an attack on oneself. I have general respect for all people, but I might think your idea is stupid.

The best thing we can do is make sure we do our best to absorb hostility and respond with objectivity.

I am really happy to see this article. I was just talking to a friend about how much I dislike Markdown and how it has become the de facto markup.

Can you explain to me why wiki markup is universally reviled?

I find Creole to be great text markup. It feels really natural to use and it expresses the intended meaning whether it's rendered using HTML or displayed in plain text. I really like this statement by Christoph Sauer on the Creole website: http://wikicreole.org/wiki/ChristophSauer

I agree that Creole or any other formatting markup is not going to solve everyone's problems. However, I think that whenever Markdown is a good choice, Creole is a better one.

I had a hard time understanding the article. Can someone explain why putting an image of the prison's master key on an inmate pamphlet makes any sense? Someone went through the trouble of putting that exact key on the cover--it wasn't coincidental. Did the designer think it was a way of teasing the inmates with the key to their freedom?