Re: [COMMITTERS] pgsql: Document the all-balls IPv6 address.

On Fri, Mar 18, 2011 at 11:00:19PM -0400, Tom Lane wrote:
> Robert Haas <robertmhaas(at)gmail(dot)com> writes:
> > On Fri, Mar 18, 2011 at 10:19 PM, Andrew Dunstan <andrew(at)dunslane(dot)net> wrote:
> >> On 03/18/2011 09:18 PM, Robert Haas wrote:
> >>> "all balls" seems like a colloquialism best avoided in our documentation.
>
> >> It's already there, although I agree it's infelicitous.
>
> > I vote for taking it out. I think that could be interpreted as inappropriate.
>
> IIRC, the pre-existing usage refers to time 00:00:00. It does not seem
> especially useful to adopt the same terminology for network addresses;
> that's more likely to confuse people than anything else.
>

And just as a historical etymological note for the list, in case anyone
finds this in the archives: "all balls" referring to all zeros setting
shows up as NASA speak in Apollo era transcripts, for any sort of "all
zeros" setting - the one I remember off hand was actually a angle
setting for an engine firing for Apollo 13. It may have been milspeak at
one time as well. The more modern interpretation seems to be a
contraction of "all balls, no brains", so would in fact be a little off
for a changelog entry.

Ross "etymologically yours" Reedstrom
--
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