Phrase of the Day
Came across this quaint phrase yesterday: Hobson’s Choice. A Hobson’s Choice is where you really don’t have a choice.
Hobson’s choice is said to have had its origin in the name of one Thomas Hobson (ca. 1544-1631), at Cambridge, England, who kept a livery stable and required every customer to take either the horse nearest the stable door or none at all.
In 1914 Henry Ford offered customers of the Model T a famous Hobson’s choice, making it available in “any color so long as it is black”.
As I said, quaint.
3:10pm (GMT +10.00) tomorrow 
Hey Stu,
Loved your story about the survey. Where can I put my name down?
This post brings to mind a phrase, “mu” Ive read about recently.
mu /moo/ The correct answer to the classic trick question “Have you stopped beating your wife yet?”. Assuming that
you have no wife or you have never beaten your wife, the answer “yes” is wrong because it implies that you used to beat
your wife and then stopped, but “no” is worse because it suggests that you have one and are still beating her. According
to various Discordians and Douglas Hofstadter the correct answer is usually “mu”, a Japanese word alleged to mean “Your
question cannot be answered because it depends on incorrect assumptions”. Hackers tend to be sensitive to logical
inadequacies in language, and many have adopted this suggestion with enthusiasm. The word `mu’ is actually from Chinese,
meaning `nothing’; it is used in mainstream Japanese in that sense.
From The Hacker’s jARGON lEXICON.
Heh I lov it!