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• Any seemingly pointless activity which is actually necessary to solve a problem which solves a problem which, several levels of recursion later, solves the real problem you're working on.
• More explanations: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yak_shaving

Acutally, my whole life is just one big yak shaving exercise. Luckily, these subroutines ARE my life and are very rewarding. […] you have to learn when to say no to the temptation of “endless fiddling” but it is through this fiddling that I sometimes find myself in a new place, sometimes slightly before the rest of the pack. If it weren't for this fiddling, I'd be spending my life solving boring problems for boring bosses. –Joi Ito http://joi.ito.com/weblog/2005/03/05/yak-shaving.html