In article <c9af54l0kf5ma684rkl2tn6fvbggqshltn@4ax.com>, hob### [at] gatenet 
says...
> On Tue, 17 Jun 2008 08:07:13 +0100, Stephen <mcavoysAT@aolDOTcom> wrote:
> 
> >Worse still do you use any of these phrases?
> >
> >http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7457287.stm
> 
> The phrases I cringe at, and hear quite frequently are, "low hanging frui
t"

Used not in the context of the page, but in its older meaning as, "The 
stuff you picked because you where too damn lazy to climb the tree." In 
other words, useless, possibly rotted from being on the ground, instead 
of a branch, and not worth any competent persons time. I find it real 
funny that is being used as a "Yippy! The company just scored!" lol

-- 
void main () {

    if version = "Vista" {
      call slow_by_half();
      call DRM_everything();
    }
    call functional_code();
  }
  else
    call crash_windows();
}

<A HREF='http://www.daz3d.com/index.php?refid=16130551'>Get 3D Models,
 
3D Content, and 3D Software at DAZ3D!</A>

Post a reply to this message

Patrick Elliott wrote:
> Used not in the context of the page, but in its older meaning as, "The 
> stuff you picked because you where too damn lazy to climb the tree."

I didn't hear it to mean no good, but simply easy-to-obtain.  It's 
low-hanging, not on-the-ground. :-)

The low-hanging fruit is that which gives the most reward for the least 
effort. Stuff that's easy to finish.

-- 
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
  Helpful housekeeping hints:
   Check your feather pillows for holes
    before putting them in the washing machine.

Post a reply to this message

In article <485823d7@news.povray.org>, war### [at] tagpovrayorg says...
> Orchid XP v8 <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> > "A spaceman came travelling on his ship from afar. Twas light years of
 
> > time since his mission did start."
> 
> > Like, WTF?
> 
>   Not only is the term "parsec" used as a unit of time in the original
> Star Wars, but there's actually a second WTF related to the use of that
> unit: It's a unit related to the orbital diameter of the Earth, and Star
> Wars happens "in a galaxy far, far away". No Earth there.
> 
Actually, no. This is explained, oddly enough, in a document on SL 
talking about the Kessel run. In the SL context, it means packing some 
cargo in a physics based "ship", starting at any sim south of a specific 
point, then trying to "make it" as fast as you can to Kessel, without 
having to go around problems, or having your ship derezz on you due to 
sudden loss of user object permissions the moment you cross into some 
new zone. Basically, he made the run from where ever the "start" was, to 
the "end" in less than twelve parsecs, because his ship was fast and 
maneuverable enough to avoid all of the nasty obstacles in the way, like 
the edges of black holes, asteroids, and other things that "sane" people 
avoided.

Supposedly, in the lore, someone else made it in even less than he did, 
but with an even more suped up ship.

So, if you believe this context, one can presume that making the Kessel 
run required some "minimum", but unstated, time frame in which you had 
to get to the destination with the cargo, or you wouldn't get paid, and 
that the more short cuts and faster the path you picked, the more likely 
you where to get their in that time frame. In such a context, its 
reasonable. It would be like scoffing at someone that said, "What? I 
didn't go around the mine field, I went through it!", but not 
impossible, nor incorrect. Just, profoundly unbelievable, and maybe 
stupid, and having nothing to do with "time" at all (well, save for the 
theoretical time constraints of delivery).

Note, this may also be "after the fact" justification and not in any way 
canon.

-- 
void main () {

    if version = "Vista" {
      call slow_by_half();
      call DRM_everything();
    }
    call functional_code();
  }
  else
    call crash_windows();
}

<A HREF='http://www.daz3d.com/index.php?refid=16130551'>Get 3D Models,
 
3D Content, and 3D Software at DAZ3D!</A>

Post a reply to this message

somebody wrote:
> "Invisible" <voi### [at] devnull> wrote
> 
>> Some programs are, in fact, designed to solve a specific problem.
>>
>> Other programs are instead designed to make money.
> 
> Well, that also is a specific problem.

I was waiting for somebody to point that out.

[You see what I did there?]

Reminds me of the expensive IBM line printer. Apparently, for an 
exorbitant fee, IBM could sent a field engineer to perform an "upgrade" 
to your printer that makes it print at double speed. This upgrade 
consists of removing one drive wheel and installing another with twice 
the diameter.

It's an engineering solution - once you realise that the goal is "suck 
every last penny out of the customer".

[Obviously, all this was back in the Dark Ages of giant mainframe 
computers that filled entire warehouses...]

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

Post a reply to this message

Invisible wrote:
> [Obviously, all this was back in the Dark Ages of giant mainframe
> computers that filled entire warehouses...]
> 

...and of course we are now in the enlightened days of small desktop
machines and blade servers which fill entire warehouses

John

-- 
I will be brief but not nearly so brief as Salvador Dali, who gave the
world's shortest speech. He said, "I will be so brief I am already
finished," then he sat down.

Post a reply to this message

"Invisible" <voi### [at] devnull> wrote in message
news:4859258f$1@news.povray.org...
> Chambers wrote:

> > ...until they got overused to the point where you're willing to beat
> > your manager to death with a sardine if he utters his favorite phrase
> > one more time.

> Seems to me most managers have the mental age of a typical 5 year old.

Not a very flattering statement about the mental age of those working
_under_ said managers and making _less_ money, enjoying _less_ job
satisfaction...

Post a reply to this message

Gail Shaw wrote:
> Found the script reference I mentioned. Seems to imply that the above
> interpretation is correct.
> 
> http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Kessel_Run
> 
>   a.. n the original draft of A New Hope in 1976, the description for
> "Kessel Run" is put as follows:
> HAN: It's the ship that made the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs!
> Ben reacts to Solo's stupid attempt to impress them with obvious
> misinformation.

I read somewhere (I forget where... probably online) that the Kessel Run 
was a series of deliveries / pickups on a moving convoy, and that the 
'parsecs' in the quote refer to how far the convoy had travelled by the 
time the whole run was finished.

This sounds plausible, since Han's piloting would certainly shave a lot 
of time off over less reckless approaches, and Ben's reaction could just 
as easily be disbelief that this was possible instead of transparent 
bullshit.

However, I'm with Warp - Lucas didn't know what a parsec was when he 
wrote the screenplay. :-)

Post a reply to this message

Whoops, should have read Patrick's reply first.

That'll teach me to be a half-witted nerf-herder. ;-)

Post a reply to this message

"Bill Pragnell" <bil### [at] hotmailcom> wrote in message
news:485a5ba2@news.povray.org...
> Gail Shaw wrote:
> > Found the script reference I mentioned. Seems to imply that the above
> > interpretation is correct.
> >
> > http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Kessel_Run
> >
> >   a.. n the original draft of A New Hope in 1976, the description for
> > "Kessel Run" is put as follows:
> > HAN: It's the ship that made the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs!
> > Ben reacts to Solo's stupid attempt to impress them with obvious
> > misinformation.
>
> I read somewhere (I forget where... probably online) that the Kessel Run
> was a series of deliveries / pickups on a moving convoy, and that the
> 'parsecs' in the quote refer to how far the convoy had travelled by the
> time the whole run was finished.

It's a smuggling run. It cuts very near to a cluster of black holes (1). The
faster your ship, the closer you can go to the black holes without getting
trapped.
It's a smuggler's boast to say how short he can make the Kessel run. See
above link.

> However, I'm with Warp - Lucas didn't know what a parsec was when he
> wrote the screenplay. :-)

Very likely

(1) In a later book, the Maw cluster is describes as being artifical, but no
one knows how it formed or what race helped it along.

Post a reply to this message

Gail Shaw wrote:
> "Bill Pragnell" <bil### [at] hotmailcom> wrote in message
>> I read somewhere (I forget where... probably online) that the Kessel Run
>> was a series of deliveries / pickups on a moving convoy, and that the
>> 'parsecs' in the quote refer to how far the convoy had travelled by the
>> time the whole run was finished.
> 
> It's a smuggling run. It cuts very near to a cluster of black holes (1). The
> faster your ship, the closer you can go to the black holes without getting
> trapped.
> It's a smuggler's boast to say how short he can make the Kessel run. See
> above link.

Having read this version more thoroughly, I don't think it's the same 
definition that I heard before (this would have been at least 10 years 
ago, maybe longer). Interesting, especially since the one you describe 
is obviously now canon (it's even in Wikipedia).



StarWars quotes that sound better after replacing a single word with 
'pants', no 12:
"Governor Tarkin. I recognized your foul pants when I first came on board."

(probably works better for the UK definition of 'pants')

Post a reply to this message