From jkh@meepmeep.pcs.com Wed Mar 28 08:23:13 1990 From: jkh@meepmeep.pcs.com (Jordan K. Hubbard) Newsgroups: rec.humor.funny Subject: Kitchen Sync Keywords: original, smirk, usenet Date: 28 Mar 90 11:30:12 GMT This is an excerpt from a recent exchange on one of our mailing lists. It is forwarded by permission of the author.. ---- >Can anyone shed some light on exactly WHY one needed to sync the disk >three times before shutting down on those older UNIX systems? > >Thanks, > > [deleted] Three is a very special number in our culture. Most folktales have three travelling salesmen, three wishes, and so on. (In other cultures, this number may be different. Some Indian tribes use four.) Three is the number of the Trinity in Christianity, similar to the Hindu Trimurti of Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma. There are three Volumes of Knuth, and three passes to cc. The rebooting of a UNIX system is a very powerful image -- like the Ressurection of Christ or Mithras, or the immolation and rebirth of the Phoenix, from death comes life, in a never-ending cycle. Wayne -- Edited by Brad Templeton. MAIL your jokes (jokes ONLY) to funny@looking.ON.CA Attribute the joke's source if at all possible. A Daemon will auto-reply. Remember: PLEASE spell check and proofread your jokes. You think I have time to hand correct everybody's postings? ---- A few more I can think of: three bears three little pigs three musketeers three stooges