'The electronic I Ching calculator was badly made. It had probably been manufactured in whichever of the South-East Asian countries was busy tooling up to do to South Korea what South Korea was busy doing to Japan. Glue technology had obviously not progressed in that country to the point where things could be successfully held together with it. Already the back had half fallen off and needed to be stuck back on with Sellotape.'
'It was much like an ordinary pocket calculator, except that the LCD screen was a little larger than usual, in order to accommodate the abridged judgments of King Wen on each of the sixty-four hexagrams, and also the commentaries of his son, the Duke of Chou, on each of the lines of the hexagram. These were unusual texts to see marching across the display of a pocket calculator, particularly as they had been translated from the Chinese via the Japanese and seemed to have enjoyed many adventures on the way.'
'The device also functioned as an ordinary calculator, but only to a limited degree. It could handle any calculation which returned an answer of anything up to "4".'
'"1 + 1" it could manage ("2"), and "1 + 2" ("3") and "2 + 2" ("4") or "tan 74" ("3.4874145"), but anything above "4" it represented merely as "A Suffusion of Yellow". Dirk was not certain if this was a programming error or an insight beyond his ability to fathom, but he was crazy about it anyway, enough to hand over £20 of ready cash for the thing.'
--Douglas Adams, "The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul"
'It was much like an ordinary pocket calculator, except that the LCD screen was a little larger than usual, in order to accommodate the abridged judgments of King Wen on each of the sixty-four hexagrams, and also the commentaries of his son, the Duke of Chou, on each of the lines of the hexagram. These were unusual texts to see marching across the display of a pocket calculator, particularly as they had been translated from the Chinese via the Japanese and seemed to have enjoyed many adventures on the way.'
'The device also functioned as an ordinary calculator, but only to a limited degree. It could handle any calculation which returned an answer of anything up to "4".'
'"1 + 1" it could manage ("2"), and "1 + 2" ("3") and "2 + 2" ("4") or "tan 74" ("3.4874145"), but anything above "4" it represented merely as "A Suffusion of Yellow". Dirk was not certain if this was a programming error or an insight beyond his ability to fathom, but he was crazy about it anyway, enough to hand over £20 of ready cash for the thing.'
--Douglas Adams, "The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul"
by fredfoobar August 17, 2009
Get the A Suffusion of Yellow mug.Student 1: I got my new I Ching calculator today!
Student 2: Awesome! Does it work?
Student 1: Yep, but for every answer greater than 3 it says "a suffusion of yellow."
Student 2: Awesome! Does it work?
Student 1: Yep, but for every answer greater than 3 it says "a suffusion of yellow."
by tangen January 15, 2009
Get the A Suffusion of Yellow mug.Related Words
(n.) The act of taking one thin, sliver of old soap and placing it on top of a brand new bar of soap while wet. Once let to dry, one giant mass of soap remains.
by O'Dea July 23, 2008
Get the soafusion mug.Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is a British celebrity chef, television personality, and a self-sufficionado known for his back-to-basics philosophy.
by Norm DePlume January 13, 2013
Get the self-sufficionado mug.1. Corruption of the word "infusion" to describe the practise of chemically altering or spiking the drink of a person, usually underage, for sexual gain. Commonly attributed to paedophilia and child abuse.
2. The foul-smelling discharge emitted from the rectum after unprotected anal intercourse, from the combination of semen and faeces.
2. The foul-smelling discharge emitted from the rectum after unprotected anal intercourse, from the combination of semen and faeces.
by Daniel Price May 22, 2006
Get the sinfusion mug.1. Short for sofa confusion: the act of spending the night at a girl's place, when you're not sure if you're allowed in bed or expected to spend the night on the sofa. 2. The fusion of two sofas.
Carl ended up at Mary's for the night, and thought he had a good chance for the bed, but sofafusion clouded his thoughts.
by fritz von weinerschnitzel January 17, 2008
Get the sofafusion mug.The state of befuddlement brought on by multiple and ever changing snow forecasts for a particular period of time leading to widespread panic and over purchasing of cheese.
Fresh from the weather desk: "There will be three feet of snow...no, wait....we meant three inches.....hang on....this just in....it's sunny and 70 degrees.....with a possibility of snow showers.....sorry for the snofusion....good news is we still get paid!"
by Gypsygrl January 26, 2015
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