added some more docs/comments
dynamic parent versions don't work...

Unfortunately maven requires the parent version not only to be
specified but to also be a constant (as opposed to an expression). this
seems like it’ll become a maintenance nightmare and the ticket to make
this optional has been around for several years
http://jira.codehaus.org/browse/MNG-624 with no resolution…

That said, the flatten plugin offers some hope
http://mojo.codehaus.org/flatten-maven-plugin/usage.html (trying next)
but committing this junk now so i can roll back if it all goes to pots