On Mon, 22 Jan 2007 21:37:19 -0500, Bill Glenn <idahobill@GMAIL.COM> wrote:

>Loren Busch wrote: �TANSTAAFL was in the language long before Manny and
>Mike and Wyo started formeting revolution on the Moon but Heinlein brough
>it into the mainstream�..�
>
>Perhaps the acronym �TANSTAAFL� was popularized by Heinlein, but the
>original statement, without the corrupted English, was, �There�s No Such
>Thing as a Free Lunch�.  It was coined by the economist Milton Friedman
>(who died late last year), considered by many to be one of the great minds
>of the twentieth century.  He published a book by that title about thirty
>years ago.
>
>This detail may be of little consequence on this forum, but if you own a
>Vanagon, you have probably experienced this economic maxim first hand.
>
>Bill

I have been corrected off list.  Apparently the statement, "There's no such
thing as a free lunch" has been around even longer.  See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TANSTAAFL, and note the citations. Thanks
Rob.  I'll stick with the part about there being no free lunch in owning a
Vanagon, unless it's the information available on this list.

Bill