Re: what the hell...

On Wed, 13 Dec 2006 09:02:33 +0100, Davide Bianchi <davideyeahsure@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in <slrnenvcvs.3ao.davideyeahsure@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
On 2006-12-12, Dave <jrzoyrl@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Me: It won't work.
Him: Why not?
Me: <zap long technical explanation>
Him: What does that mean?

I've always wondered: why the heck to they ask for thecnical bits if they
can't even begin to figure out what all that means?

But "We can't get FruityOS to do authenticated SAMBA printing to a
windows-based printer server on a different subnet." isn't a long or
particularly technical explanation.

If he'd said, "It won't work because NetBIOS packets aren't routable and
our internal network is all routed or switched, not bridged", _that_
might qualify as a technical explanation, but it's still not a _long_
explanation.

If he'd prepended "SAMBA uses NetBIOS packets" to that, it would be closer
to a technical explanation, and a bit longer, but I'm still not convinced
that it would be long _and_ technical.

But, then, I used to work for a math prof who got circle-squarers,
cube-doublers, and the like in his office. He palmed them off on me,
and I learned how to handle them. I "complified" their equations out of
recognizability by substituting trig and calculus identities where I could.
"1+1=2" wound up being the sum of a definite integral, sin^2 (u), and
cos^2(u) on the LHS, and ISTR there was another definite integral on the
RHS. They'd walk away scratching their heads.

--
$SUPPLIER said "next day delivery". Unfortunately, they didn't
specify which day it would be next to.
-- James Cort in the Monastery
.