I just learned that TCP/IP has a LoopBack mechanism - when you run decoupled, it defaults to a fixed IP address and routes that to some internal code.   I have for years been calling this the ShuntPattern, and it seems I was wrong, and should have been saying LoopBack all this time.  VincentCoetzee of eBucks.com mentioned this design idiom just in passing.  --AlistairCockburn

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Well, congratulations Alistair. ping 127.0.0.1!