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TANSTAAFL

created by raph

(thing) by Jargon (1.6 y) (print)   ?   1 C! I like it! Fri Apr 28 2000 at 6:37:56

tanked = T = tape monkey

TANSTAAFL /tan'stah-fl/

[acronym, from Robert Heinlein's classic "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress".] "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch", often invoked when someone is balking at the prospect of using an unpleasantly heavyweight technique, or at the poor quality of some piece of software, or at the signal-to-noise ratio of unmoderated Usenet newsgroups. "What? Don't tell me I have to implement a database back end to get my address book program to work!" "Well, TANSTAAFL you know." This phrase owes some of its popularity to the high concentration of science-fiction fans and political libertarians in hackerdom (see Appendix B for discussion).

--Jargon File, autonoded by rescdsk.

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First created by: rescdsk
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TANSTAAFL: Air Doesn't Grow On Trees The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Libertarianism Lazarus Long
Swear words from science fiction The Three Laws of Thermodynamics tape monkey Heinlein's Rules for Writing
warez, porn, and clipart Robert Heinlein electromagnetic pulse gun I do not apologize on behalf of my country
signal-to-noise ratio The Place of the Individual in Communism, Liberalism and Feminism Kill Everyone Project Larry Ellison's Commencement Address at Yale University
Ayn Rand IIRC Non estat prandium gratuitum Linux is free only if your time has no value
Make money fast :P heavyweight negative work
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