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*

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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.

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"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...

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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. :-)

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Whoops, should have read Patrick's reply first.

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

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"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.

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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')

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