[Pan-users] OT : Bikeshedding etc (was Trouble with Pan and news.grc.com)

[Beartooth]

On Sun, 04 Jan 2009 08:00:28 +0000, Duncan wrote:

> Per Hedeland <address@hidden> posted
        [...] 
>> Gee, I had to lookup both GPO (Government Printing Office?) and
>> perspicacity...:-)

        My bad, yes; the GPO is also right on the Hill. Given the form of 
your name and the header that says you're on Central European Time, I 
should've spelled it out. I apologize; to me it's like AACR2 <ducking and 
running> But one perspicacious enough to find GPO can vaunt deservedly of 
his prowess ...

> I didn't care enough to lookup GPO as it was obvious it was some
> government office of some sort and that's all I needed to know for the
> sentence to make sense, but perspicacity I looked up!  But a job in the
> LoC... if one doesn't pickup a few such words here or there working
> that, there's something wrong! =:^)
> 
> That he worked in the LoC /does/ explain a bit about Beartooth's posts,
> tho, just like the fact that my dad was a teacher goes some way to
> explain something about mine. =;^)

        Actually, I taught Germanic languages and literatures for twenty 
years, and then did Finnish & Estonian (and occasional other) cataloging 
for only fifteen ... <grin> But battin' 500 is still mighty good ...

> BTW, Beartooth, here's one I got a chance to use in its proper context
> for the first time the other day: bikeshedding.  There's a fair chance
> that's come along since you would have been exposed to it in the LoC,
> and it's from the vernacular of software developers, but you'll probably
> appreciate the concept once you google it, if necessary.  

        Well, I'll age myself a bit : I remember when Parkinson's Law was 
published, but had missed that word. Many thanks! (I passed it to one of 
my lists, btw.)

> The story behind, and that gave rise to, the term "bikeshedding" makes 
> it incredibly interesting /as/ a word, and "fun" to use, especially when
> one is the first in a group to accurately spot a discussion where it
> applies and labels it accordingly, which is what happened to me the
> other day.

        Duncan, you *gotta* send me an email! (Beartooth (at) swva (dot) 
net will do.) We have all kinds of good stuff to talk about that oughtn't 
to be inflicted on the list, nor the users of Pan against Gmane.

-- 
Beartooth Staffwright, Neo-Redneck Linux Evangelist
Freedom is my issue : I'm pro-choice, pro-right-to-die, 
pro-gun, and pro-term-limits. Sine ferocia non libertas.