release 0.0.0.17

[Francois-Rene Rideau]

> you asked for comments about the tunes pages.  here are some:
   Thanks a lot ! Send me more !


> you tend to omit/forget words and particles, especially prepositions and
> adverbial endings.  i frequently don't know which preposition to use, then
> i just pick one.  see the attached diff for the glossary
   Indeed, my english as well as my typing are far from perfect, and I do not
re-read enough what I write :( :( :(

> sometimes, you're too sloppy (in the Changelog):
> - 	will show I hope that I (Faré) am not an extremist.
> + 	will hopefully show that I (Faré) am not an extremist.
   I also changed "extremist" into "fanatic"


[about "bit"]
>   is the amount of <A HREF="#information">information</A> of
>   a system that has two possible equally probable states.
> + 
> + 	<p>
> + 	provided that you mean `of equal probability', this is at
> + least debatable and i'd say unsettled.  in the physical info theory
> + you might be right, but it doesn't make sense to say that the two
> + states of a bit have equal probability in the context of computers.
   I didn't change the definition, which yields the maximal amount of
information a bit can provide. But of course, there is redundancy in computers
that has bits not used to their maximal capacity. I added a paragraph to
explain it.


[About Communism]
> + by being so harsh, you invite debates about words.
> + maybe you can say `obviously inferior' or sth like that.
> + i think you should cancel the entry.
   Well actually, this was a quickly thrown in entry, so I emptied the
Glossary's ToDo list. There may be other words that are not well defined.
I admit that this one is particularly controversial. However, as long as
nobody makes me doubt my positions are rock-solid (which I admit this
previous entry was not), I'd like to keep these general political remarks
in the Glossary: after all, computer politics and ethics are just a
particular case of general politics and ethics, and the same general
errors apply to both.

> + are you trying to defend against any accusation that you're a commie? ;-)
   This idea is so foreign to me that it didn't even come into my mind ;) !
However, I admit that, after having told on the net (Yahoo and USENET)
that TUNES was a revolutionary project, I had to clear my point about it
in the Glossary. See the entry about "revolution" that I just modified:

   See below the new entries for "communism" and "revolution"...


> !    Not obeying to a one guide, chief, fuhrer, duce, or
> !    Not obeying to a one guide, chief, führer, duce, or
   Thanks for the accent ! I couldn't generate it on my keyboard, and
was too lazy to read an iso8859-1 table and generate it from emacs...


[about Entropy]
> !    Basic theorems about such dynamical systems assert that in a closed
>   system, entropy globally increases with time; that is, information is
>   being lost, and the system evolves toward a state more and more
> ! undistinguishable (this word doesn't sound right, what's the right
> ! one?), less specific, more probable.
   I used "indistinguishable" which the webster told me existed.
But then, I'm not satisfied with it...


   And thanks again for all the other corrections !


   Here are new definitions I put in the Glossary:
------>8------>8------>8------>8------>8------>8------>8------>8------>8------
<LI><A NAME="communism"><H3>Communism</H3></A>
<DD>
   A political theory that,
from a <A HREF="#static">static</A> view of the world,
and outrageous <A HREF="#rationalism">rationalism</A>,
denies <A HREF="#liberalism">liberalism</A>,
proposes <A HREF="#centralization">centralization</A> instead,
and encourages <A HREF="#revolution">revolution</A> to achieve it.
<DD>
   A political <A HREF="#tradition">tradition</A>,
that follows this theory,
and led to dreadful massacres,
as well as the ruin of many countries and billion lives.
<P>
<BR>
------>8------>8------>8------>8------>8------>8------>8------>8------>8------
<A NAME="revolutionary"></A>
<LI><A NAME="revolution"><H3>Revolution</H3></A>
<DD>
   A periodical movement, the period of such movement,
or the completion of it: e.g.
the revolution of the Earth around itself, or around the Sun.
<DD>
   A drastic cultural change in a system,
in which a long despised, long ignored, or long too expensive
point of view, habit, phenomenon, or technique
becomes obvious and benefits the whole system:
the Copernician Revolution,
the Industrial Revolution,
the Computer Revolution.
<DD>
   A fundamental change of political regime,
accompanied by a civil war or uprising
in which the whole people is involved in massacres, author or victim of it.
   Such a war (which is about the worst thing that can happen to a country),
is won by the most violent, so revolution generally leads to ruin and
<A HREF="#centralization">centralization</A> under the rule of the winner;
thus only a truely dreadful regime that already provides such ruin and
centralization could perhaps justify one.
<DD>
   Activity of some people toward this previous kind of revolution.
Often, because they have some silly notion about something that would
be fit for a revolution in the second meaning
such people, who don't see such revolution happening
(and indeed, their notion being silly, it won't happen),
become proponent of a revolution in this third meaning
to impose it (which they cannot, because in no way does their silly
notion correspond to anything useful to the world; often it being
utterly harmful).
<P>
<BR>
------>8------>8------>8------>8------>8------>8------>8------>8------>8------

--    ,        	                                ,           _ v    ~  ^  --
-- Fare -- rideau@clipper.ens.fr -- Francois-Rene Rideau -- +)ang-Vu Ban --
--                                      '                   / .          --
Join the TUNES project for a computing system based on computing freedom !
		   TUNES is a Useful, Not Expedient System
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