Overclocking Qs

"David Maynard" wrote in message
...
Invisible Dance wrote:
"The whole nine yards"; the belt length for a full load-out in a .50
caliber
machine gun in, I think, a Thunderbolt F-47.


That's certainly one of the "where dat come from?" phrases, and being a
WWII
aircraft fan I kind of like the ammo belt imagery (although I usually hear
it as
the belt length for a Supermarine Spitfire), but if you do a google search
for
"the whole nine yards origin" you'll find it's by no means definitive.

Cement truck capacity, a football sarcasm (since modified to mean the
converse)
that "the whole nine yards" DOESN'T 'get you there' (boy, that fellah sure
went
the whole nine yards. uh huh), burial shroud size, grave depth, and amount
of
cloth for a full 3 piece suit are some other common suggestions but they
all
have 'problems'.

This page http://ask.yahoo.com/ask/19981012.html isn't an authority but it
does
accurately sum up what such a search will reveal: So we're afraid that the
current Internet verdict on the origin of "the whole nine yards" is a
resounding
"Who knows?"

That one is additionally interesting because it's a rather recent phrase
with
the earliest known usage being in the 1960s, perhaps the 50's, so it's
strange
that it's origin was lost so quickly.

The best explanation I've found on this one is simpler than any of these --
a sports commentator's enthusiastic comment on a long jump competition. In
the late 50's, early 60's, that's about right for distance too. Having
heard Rob Beamon use the expression before it became common (although in a
different context) also leads credibility to it.

Regards,
--
*Art

Ed Medlin wrote:
"David Maynard" wrote in message
...

Ed Medlin wrote:

Overclocking PCs is very much in the same vain.

Freudian slip?



LOL.........David, David.............hehehe......I missed that
completely....


Ed


little snippin'



Oh, and the expression "it's so cold it could freeze the balls off a brass
monkey" has nothing to do with primates, either living, dead, OR made of

brass,

nor any male private parts, hehe, but, well, sorry for getting carried

away (I

wonder where that one came from). I just find the disconnect between
understanding them and knowing why to be interesting.



LOL......I was not the OP of the vain/vein slip, but usually catch
those.....:-)

The brass monkey was an inlaid brass plate with concaves to stack cannon
balls on old warships. When it got cold, the plates and cannon balls would
contract and sometimes fall off. Thus, freeze the balls off a brass
monkey........:-)

Ed

You got it. It's the different coefficient of expansion that causes that. The
brass contracts more so the balls eventually slip off the mount, if it gets cold
enough.

Arthur Hagen wrote:
"David Maynard" wrote in message
...

Invisible Dance wrote:

"The whole nine yards"; the belt length for a full load-out in a .50

caliber

machine gun in, I think, a Thunderbolt F-47.


That's certainly one of the "where dat come from?" phrases, and being a

WWII

aircraft fan I kind of like the ammo belt imagery (although I usually hear

it as

the belt length for a Supermarine Spitfire), but if you do a google search

for

"the whole nine yards origin" you'll find it's by no means definitive.

Cement truck capacity, a football sarcasm (since modified to mean the

converse)

that "the whole nine yards" DOESN'T 'get you there' (boy, that fellah sure

went

the whole nine yards. uh huh), burial shroud size, grave depth, and amount

of

cloth for a full 3 piece suit are some other common suggestions but they

all

have 'problems'.

This page http://ask.yahoo.com/ask/19981012.html isn't an authority but it

does

accurately sum up what such a search will reveal: So we're afraid that the
current Internet verdict on the origin of "the whole nine yards" is a

resounding

"Who knows?"

That one is additionally interesting because it's a rather recent phrase

with

the earliest known usage being in the 1960s, perhaps the 50's, so it's

strange

that it's origin was lost so quickly.


The best explanation I've found on this one is simpler than any of these --
a sports commentator's enthusiastic comment on a long jump competition. In
the late 50's, early 60's, that's about right for distance too. Having
heard Rob Beamon use the expression before it became common (although in a
different context) also leads credibility to it.

Regards,

Interesting. You mean as in "he jumped the whole nine yards?" I hadn't heard
that one but it makes as much sense as most of the others.

As I was posting another of the 'whole thing' phrases, I.E. "the whole shebang,"
it occurred to me that those with "whole" in them kind of cheat on the aspect of
knowing what they mean but not why as they include the obvious clue "whole" so
that the rest of the phrase becomes rather irrelevant. e.g. The whole enchilada,
the whole shebang, the whole nine yards, the whole kit and caboodle, the whole
insert whatever sounds cool.

I think I'm going to make myself a separate category of 'obvious' but unknown
source as opposed to the more interesting 'really' unknown why it means that;
like "lock, stock, and barrel" meaning the same 'whole thing' but without the
clue "whole.")

Crackerjack fun, eh?

On Fri, 03 Oct 2003 18:16:43 -0500, David Maynard
wrote::

hehe. I noticed the spelling because you happened to hit on a phrase that fits
into a part time hobby of mine: phrases we 'understand' without knowing exactly
why because we've forgotten, or don't think about, where they came from.

Like "lock, stock, and barrel"... which comes from ye olde gun days when if you
had a 'lock' (e.g. matchlock), and a stock, and a barrel then you had an entire
gun: I.E. 'the whole thing', as we use it today.


How about this one? You'll never think of this phrase quite the same.

"Rule of Thumb"

A legal guideline from an bygone era where a man had the right to beat
his wife. All too often, women were getting beaten to death so a law
was enacted in some jurisdictions. Specifically, that a man could not
beat his wife with anything thicker than the width of his thumb.

Pretty sick, huh? A sociology prof passed that little tidbit to us
when discussing social mores and how they can change over time. I
don't use that phrase nearly as often anymore.
----------------------------------------
Thanks,

MCheu

mcheu wrote:
On Fri, 03 Oct 2003 18:16:43 -0500, David Maynard
wrote::


hehe. I noticed the spelling because you happened to hit on a phrase that fits
into a part time hobby of mine: phrases we 'understand' without knowing exactly
why because we've forgotten, or don't think about, where they came from.

Like "lock, stock, and barrel"... which comes from ye olde gun days when if you
had a 'lock' (e.g. matchlock), and a stock, and a barrel then you had an entire
gun: I.E. 'the whole thing', as we use it today.



How about this one? You'll never think of this phrase quite the same.

"Rule of Thumb"

A legal guideline from an bygone era where a man had the right to beat
his wife. All too often, women were getting beaten to death so a law
was enacted in some jurisdictions. Specifically, that a man could not
beat his wife with anything thicker than the width of his thumb.

Pretty sick, huh? A sociology prof passed that little tidbit to us
when discussing social mores and how they can change over time. I
don't use that phrase nearly as often anymore.
----------------------------------------
Thanks,

MCheu

Your sociology professor seems to have fallen victim to another phrase origins
myth, which seems to have cropped up in the mid 70's or so (your sociology
professor can probably guess why at that time). While there are some legal
references to measuring against the "thumb," like your professor says, that is
not the origin of the phrase "rule of thumb," which comes from carpentry, and/or
perhaps other fields of measurement (the exact first use origin isn't precisely
known), and meant about what you'd guess: that the thumb was used as a ruler
(measurement): the "rule of thumb" and there are similar references to using the
thumb as a measurement in other languages. For example, in Swedish, the word for
inch is "tum" originating from "tumme:" thumb. Not surprising when one realizes
that the original length of an inch was from thumb tip to first knuckle: an
imminently logical definition since everyone was already using "rule of thumb."
(alternate inch measurements were the length of three barley grains placed end
to end and distance from first to second knuckle on index finger.) Face it, most
early measurement systems used various body parts: foot (rather obvious), yard:
Distance from tip of nose to end of thumb with arm outstretched, fathom: From
the Anglo-Saxon word for "embrace," it was the length of rope held between two
hands with the arms outstretched, HAND: Width of one hand, including the thumb
(height of horses), etc.

The phrase predates any legal reference by centuries, so you can use it sans the
guilt now although sites on 'sensitivities' suggest you be careful lest you
offend someone who still believes the myth.

For your own research try a google search with "rule of thumb origin."

While we're on measurements, and myths, that reminds me of numbers in general
and, in particular, 12 because it crops up in so many places. And in so many
places that folks try to figure out what the heck was so 'significant' about 12;
coming up with all sorts of wild theories including the spiritual and mystical.
It's not all that mysterious when you think back on the times and the people,
who were uneducated in general and about fractions in particular. 12 is evenly
divisible by 1 (trivial case), 2, 3, AND 4! WOW! Do things in base 12 and you
can evenly divide amongst the most common occurrences: half for you, half for me
and it works for 3 people AND 4 too. 12 eggs to the dozen. 12 inches to the
foot. 12 hours in a half day (2 halves for a full). It makes imminent sense.

Oh, and since 12 minutes in an hour would make them just too darn big, what
should we do? How about adding "5" to the division list to keep things simple
for the simple folk? 2 x 3 x 4 x 5 = 60. Might as well use that for seconds too.

See, the decimal system only makes sense for the mathematically inclined. I
mean, instead of 'quarter past the hour' (it being divisible by 4) how'd you
like to be stuck with 0.208333... past the hour (if they hadn't used a base 12
system)?

Your sociology professor seems to have fallen victim to another phrase
origins
myth, which seems to have cropped up in the mid 70's or so (your sociology
professor can probably guess why at that time). While there are some legal
references to measuring against the "thumb," like your professor says,
that is
not the origin of the phrase "rule of thumb," which comes from carpentry,
and/or
perhaps other fields of measurement (the exact first use origin isn't
precisely
known), and meant about what you'd guess: that the thumb was used as a
ruler
(measurement): the "rule of thumb" and there are similar references to
using the
thumb as a measurement in other languages. For example, in Swedish, the
word for
inch is "tum" originating from "tumme:" thumb. Not surprising when one
realizes
that the original length of an inch was from thumb tip to first knuckle:
an
imminently logical definition since everyone was already using "rule of
thumb."
(alternate inch measurements were the length of three barley grains placed
end
to end and distance from first to second knuckle on index finger.) Face
it, most
early measurement systems used various body parts: foot (rather obvious),
yard:
Distance from tip of nose to end of thumb with arm outstretched, fathom:
From
the Anglo-Saxon word for "embrace," it was the length of rope held between
two
hands with the arms outstretched, HAND: Width of one hand, including the
thumb
(height of horses), etc.

The phrase predates any legal reference by centuries, so you can use it
sans the
guilt now although sites on 'sensitivities' suggest you be careful lest
you
offend someone who still believes the myth.

For your own research try a google search with "rule of thumb origin."

While we're on measurements, and myths, that reminds me of numbers in
general
and, in particular, 12 because it crops up in so many places. And in so
many
places that folks try to figure out what the heck was so 'significant'
about 12;
coming up with all sorts of wild theories including the spiritual and
mystical.
It's not all that mysterious when you think back on the times and the
people,
who were uneducated in general and about fractions in particular. 12 is
evenly
divisible by 1 (trivial case), 2, 3, AND 4! WOW! Do things in base 12 and
you
can evenly divide amongst the most common occurrences: half for you, half
for me
and it works for 3 people AND 4 too. 12 eggs to the dozen. 12 inches to
the
foot. 12 hours in a half day (2 halves for a full). It makes imminent
sense.

Oh, and since 12 minutes in an hour would make them just too darn big,
what
should we do? How about adding "5" to the division list to keep things
simple
for the simple folk? 2 x 3 x 4 x 5 = 60. Might as well use that for
seconds too.

See, the decimal system only makes sense for the mathematically inclined.
I
mean, instead of 'quarter past the hour' (it being divisible by 4) how'd
you
like to be stuck with 0.208333... past the hour (if they hadn't used a
base 12
system)?


Good stuff. These little clichés are a favorite obsession of mine. My
wife often accuses me of remembering everything except things that really
mean something......:-) (i.e. mowing the yard etc.). I have never really
thought about the 12 thing. Now I know something else to PO the
wifey.......:-)

Ed

Ed Medlin wrote:
Your sociology professor seems to have fallen victim to another phrase
=20
origins
=20
myth, which seems to have cropped up in the mid 70's or so (your sociol=
ogy
professor can probably guess why at that time). While there are some le=
gal
references to measuring against the "thumb," like your professor says,
=20
that is
=20
not the origin of the phrase "rule of thumb," which comes from carpentr=
y,
=20
and/or
=20
perhaps other fields of measurement (the exact first use origin isn't
=20
precisely
=20
known), and meant about what you'd guess: that the thumb was used as a
=20
ruler
=20
(measurement): the "rule of thumb" and there are similar references to
=20
using the
=20
thumb as a measurement in other languages. For example, in Swedish, the=

=20
word for
=20
inch is "tum" originating from "tumme:" thumb. Not surprising when one
=20
realizes
=20
that the original length of an inch was from thumb tip to first knuckle=
:
=20
an
=20
imminently logical definition since everyone was already using "rule of=

=20
thumb."
=20
(alternate inch measurements were the length of three barley grains pla=
ced
=20
end
=20
to end and distance from first to second knuckle on index finger.) Face=

=20
it, most
=20
early measurement systems used various body parts: foot (rather obvious=
),
=20
yard:
=20
Distance from tip of nose to end of thumb with arm outstretched, fathom=
:
=20
From
=20
the Anglo-Saxon word for "embrace," it was the length of rope held betw=
een
=20
two
=20
hands with the arms outstretched, HAND: Width of one hand, including th=
e
=20
thumb
=20
(height of horses), etc.

The phrase predates any legal reference by centuries, so you can use it=

=20
sans the
=20
guilt now although sites on 'sensitivities' suggest you be careful lest=

=20
you
=20
offend someone who still believes the myth.

For your own research try a google search with "rule of thumb origin."

While we're on measurements, and myths, that reminds me of numbers in
=20
general
=20
and, in particular, 12 because it crops up in so many places. And in so=

=20
many
=20
places that folks try to figure out what the heck was so 'significant'
=20
about 12;
=20
coming up with all sorts of wild theories including the spiritual and
=20
mystical.
=20
It's not all that mysterious when you think back on the times and the
=20
people,
=20
who were uneducated in general and about fractions in particular. 12 is=

=20
evenly
=20
divisible by 1 (trivial case), 2, 3, AND 4! WOW! Do things in base 12 a=
nd
=20
you
=20
can evenly divide amongst the most common occurrences: half for you, ha=
lf
=20
for me
=20
and it works for 3 people AND 4 too. 12 eggs to the dozen. 12 inches to=

=20
the
=20
foot. 12 hours in a half day (2 halves for a full). It makes imminent
=20
sense.
=20
Oh, and since 12 minutes in an hour would make them just too darn big,
=20
what
=20
should we do? How about adding "5" to the division list to keep things
=20
simple
=20
for the simple folk? 2 x 3 x 4 x 5 =3D 60. Might as well use that for
=20
seconds too.
=20
See, the decimal system only makes sense for the mathematically incline=
d.
=20
I
=20
mean, instead of 'quarter past the hour' (it being divisible by 4) how'=
d
=20
you
=20
like to be stuck with 0.208333... past the hour (if they hadn't used a
=20
base 12
=20
system)?


=20
Good stuff. These little clich=E9s are a favorite obsession of mine=
=2E My
wife often accuses me of remembering everything except things that real=
ly
mean something......:-) (i.e. mowing the yard etc.). I have never reall=
y
thought about the 12 thing. Now I know something else to PO the
wifey.......:-)

Hehe. The internet is a great source for useless information g.

Although, as the saying goes, one man's trash is another man's treasure ;=
)

The bit about "12" has application in looking at how one culture tries to=
=20
'interpret' another when the perspective is so different (a consideration=
of=20
"deductive reasoning"). In a similar vein, there was quite a hubbub a few=
years=20
back about the 'discovery' that Pi showed up in all the pyramid measureme=
nts,=20
but the Egyptians knew nothing of Pi! Oh my! Proof of alien influence? (o=
ne of=20
the actual suggestions to explain it).

As it turns out they used a measuring wheel to lay out the construction=20
dimensions and a wheel will, quite naturally, have Pi as an inherent fact=
or=20
simply because it's a wheel. No 'knowledge' of it required.

For example, overclocking the old slot-1 celeron 300 involved taping a
pin so the motherboard was 'fooled' into thinking it wanted to run on
the 100 MHz FSB, which took it from 300 MHz to 450. Taping, or
jumpering, other pins could increase the CPU voltage. Then Abit, and
others, added BIOS features to set those via the keyboard and everyone
could do it.

Those same pin modifying techniques can work on any motherboard if it
has the FSB capability and the right processor.

for overclocking my first PC 286 i have to exchange the quartz
i solder a 12Mhz into place from a 8Mhz.

and my 486 / 33Mhz to 42Mhz by soldering a new quartz
to get my wipeOut 1 game running smoth.

good old times