--- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], Julia Thompson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Jan Coffey wrote: > > > > --- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], Julia Thompson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > Describe how to count up to 1023 on 10 fingers. :) > > > > My wife and I (both CS) use this method exclusivly. I think I have > > even posted this here before. > > > > Anyway, one day we went to the grocer on our way for a long road > > trip. From across the store, she wanted to know how many Necterines > > to get total. Using hand signals I asked how many se whould like. She > > held up her index finger signeling that she would want 2. I then > > replied that I would also want 2 and responded that this made 4 total. > > > > A guy that had been standing close to me but between my wife and I > > came over and began to yell at me. I had no idea why, and I called > > for security. When security arived, several soccer moms close by got > > involved and told them that I had been rude to the man and that was > > why he was attacking me. I then realized what had happned and tried > > to explain....It did little good though, they just could not > > understand how I could have been counting in that manner. > > > > I like to use this now as a kind of insult, you hold up 4 fingers on > > one hand and ask the insult reciever to convert to binary. > > Oh, man, that story is even better than the one I have about that > gesture! > > Ages ago, Dan was working on software to help make AutoCAD run faster. > The software included a display list, which made things go faster, and > they could add extra features that AutoCAD didn't have at the time. One > such feature was True Erase(tm). (At least, I think it was trademarked, > I could be wrong, though.) If you wanted to change a vector in AutoCAD, > what it did initially was to put a black vector over the one that was > there, and then create the new vector. True Erase would get rid of the > old vector and the black vector a lot sooner than AutoCAD would, which > helped boost performance. The company president was trying to explain > this to a customer at a trade show, and held up three fingers -- one for > the old vector, one for the new vector, one for the covering vector. He > then went on to say how True Erase got rid of the old and covering > vectors. > > He didn't pick the correct finger for the new vector. > > So one of our little inside jokes is to say "True Erase!" instead of the > actual insult. > > > The UT marching band went to south america and were thrown out of a > > band competition for using the hook-em-horns sign, which means > > something very vulgar. After a lot of explaining and a promise not to > > repeat the offense they were allowed back 3 years latter. At this > > point they decided that if they could not use the hoom-em then they > > would hold up an OK sign. Unfortunatly the hand signals are > > synonimous. > > Query: When was this?
I don't know, it was told to me by someone in the band as an explination for why A&M was going to some event and we were not. By the way, when Kim and I make a 4 we do so with our palms out and our index and thubm forming a C. This has made us consider that you could actualy represent a much larger set of numbers than 0 - 1023. For one thing you get twice as many bits if you turn your hand around. you also get twice again for 1/2 raised fingers. If you then use one hand to point to another.... whew...I never need to leave one hand. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
