One of the first things that I tried to MudHound was based on a bit of news that Andrew Coates let slip to me last week. He mentioned shuttles. That part of our conversation went something like this:

Andrew: Hey, have heard about the shuttles? There's like 100 of them.
Me: No, what shuttles?
Andrew: Dave Lemphers is getting some shuttles for TechEd.
Me: And you're giving them away? *grin*
Andrew: Well....

That was enough for me. Shuttles? Space shuttles? Cool toys for us geeks to play with? The next chance I had I shot off an email to Dave Lemphers (slightly modified to protect the innocent).

Hey Dave,

I was chatting with Andy Coates on Tuesday when he was in town, and he was telling me about some of the things going on being organised for teched. In the course of the chat, he asked if I'd heard about the 'shuttles'.

Of course, I hadn't - but I was interested.

Is there any chance of getting the scoop on the techtalkblog with an announcement and some explanation from you of what's going on?

What do you think? Of course, if you're not allowed to talk about it until the 23rd of august or I'm completely misplaced or anything then that's cool :)

--Geoff

I waited patiently to hear back from Dave. A couple of hours later I got this back:

Hey Geoff,

Great to hear from you matey. I have one thing I want you to consider. This is Chewbacca.



Chewbacca is a Wookiee from the planet Kashyyyk. But Chewbacca lives on the planet Endor. Now think about it; that does not make sense! Why would a Wookiee, an eight-foot tall Wookiee, want to live on Endor, with a bunch of two-foot tall Ewoks? That does not make sense! But more important, you have to ask yourself: What does this have to do with your question about Shuttles? Nothing. Geoff, it has nothing to do with your question! It does not make sense! Look at me. I'm an Evangelist working for a major software company, and I'm talkin' about Chewbacca! Does that make sense? Geoff, I am not making any sense! None of this makes sense! And so you have to remember, when you're looking at BlogJet, deliberatin' and conjugatin' your next post, does it make sense? No! Geoffa, it does not make sense! If Chewbacca lives on Endor, you must forget about your conversation with Coatesy! Thankyou, and feel free to blog this conversation!

Talk soon,
Dave.

P.S: Adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chewbacca_Defense

Thanks Dave, that helps a whole bunch!

Then I read it again. Like any true geek, I had already determined the fallacy of this argument. Chewbacca does not actually live in Endor! Look carefully at the logic at the end - 'If Chewbacca lives on Endor, you must forget about your conversation with Coatesy'. Chewbacca does not live on Endor, so I must NOT forget my conversation with Coatesy!

Something's going on here. I mailed him back.

Hey Dave,
You never cease to astound me. I think I want to bear your children.
>If Chewbacca lives on Endor, you must forget about your conversation with Coatesy!
Chewbacca doesn't live on Endor, so I can not forget about my conversation with Coatesy.

However, under advisement, I've decided to interpret your response as 'No Comment'.

I guess I deduced the answer correctly. He finished with this.

I’m glad we were able to see eye to eye on this one Geoff ;) But rest assured, if (or more importantly when) I’m in a position to leak something, it’s going to be to you

So that was round one, which happened last week. There's new news a-foot, which I'll be blogging if I can any more sense of him. But there's something here, I'm sure of it. If it comes to nothing, I'm going to make something up just to spite him!