The New Hacker's Dictionary by Eric S. Raymond (each kindness read aloud TXT) 📖

>Node:Black Thursday, Next:[1469]blammo, Previous:[1470]Black Screen of

Death, Up:[1471]= B =

Black Thursday n.

February 8th, 1996 - the day of the signing into law of the [1472]CDA,

so called by analogy with the catastrophic "Black Friday" in 1929 that

began the Great Depression.

Node:blammo, Next:[1473]blargh, Previous:[1474]Black Thursday,

Up:[1475]= B =

blammo v.

[Oxford Brookes University and alumni, UK] To forcibly remove someone

from any interactive system, especially talker systems. The operators,

who may remain hidden, may `blammo' a user who is misbehaving. Very

similar to MIT [1476]gun; in fact, the `blammo-gun' is a notional

device used to `blammo' someone. While in actual fact the only

incarnation of the blammo-gun is the command used to forcibly eject a

user, operators speak of different levels of blammo-gun fire; e.g., a

blammo-gun to `stun' will temporarily remove someone, but a blammo-gun

set to `maim' will stop someone coming back on for a while.

Node:blargh, Next:[1477]blast, Previous:[1478]blammo, Up:[1479]= B =

blargh /blarg/ n.

[MIT; now common] The opposite of [1480]ping, sense 5; an exclamation

indicating that one has absorbed or is emitting a quantum of

unhappiness. Less common than [1481]ping.

Node:blast, Next:[1482]blat, Previous:[1483]blargh, Up:[1484]= B =

blast 1. v.,n.

Synonym for [1485]BLT, used esp. for large data sends over a network

or comm line. Opposite of [1486]snarf. Usage: uncommon. The variant

`blat' has been reported. 2. vt. [HP/Apollo] Synonymous with

[1487]nuke (sense 3). Sometimes the message Unable to kill all

processes. Blast them (y/n)? would appear in the command window upon

logout.

Node:blat, Next:[1488]bletch, Previous:[1489]blast, Up:[1490]= B =

blat n.

Syn. [1491]blast, sense 1. 2. See [1492]thud.

Node:bletch, Next:[1493]bletcherous, Previous:[1494]blat, Up:[1495]= B

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bletch /blech/ interj.

[very common; from Yiddish/German `brechen', to vomit, poss. via

comic-strip exclamation `blech'] Term of disgust. Often used in "Ugh,

bletch". Compare [1496]barf.

Node:bletcherous, Next:[1497]blink, Previous:[1498]bletch, Up:[1499]=

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bletcherous /blech'-rs/ adj.

Disgusting in design or function; esthetically unappealing. This word

is seldom used of people. "This keyboard is bletcherous!" (Perhaps the

keys don't work very well, or are misplaced.) See [1500]losing,

[1501]cretinous, [1502]bagbiting, [1503]bogus, and [1504]random. The

term [1505]bletcherous applies to the esthetics of the thing so

described; similarly for [1506]cretinous. By contrast, something that

is losing' orbagbiting' may be failing to meet objective criteria.

See also [1507]bogus and [1508]random, which have richer and wider

shades of meaning than any of the above.

Node:blink, Next:[1509]blinkenlights, Previous:[1510]bletcherous,

Up:[1511]= B =

blink vi.,n.

To use a navigator or off-line message reader to minimize time spent

on-line to a commercial network service (a necessity in many places

outside the U.S. where the telecoms monopolies charge per-minute for

local calls). This term attained wide use in the UK, but is rare or

unknown in the US.

Node:blinkenlights, Next:[1512]blit, Previous:[1513]blink, Up:[1514]=

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blinkenlights /blink'*n-li:tz/ n.

[common] Front-panel diagnostic lights on a computer, esp. a

[1515]dinosaur. Now that dinosaurs are rare, this term usually refers

to status lights on a modem, network hub, or the like.

This term derives from the last word of the famous blackletter-Gothic

sign in mangled pseudo-German that once graced about half the computer

rooms in the English-speaking world. One version ran in its entirety

as follows:

ACHTUNG! ALLES LOOKENSPEEPERS!

Das computermachine ist nicht fuer gefingerpoken und mittengrabben.

Ist easy schnappen der springenwerk, blowenfusen und poppencorken

mit spitzensparken. Ist nicht fuer gewerken bei das dumpkopfen. Das

rubbernecken sichtseeren keepen das cotten-pickenen hans in das

pockets muss; relaxen und watchen das blinkenlichten.

This silliness dates back at least as far as 1959 at Stanford

University and had already gone international by the early 1960s, when

it was reported at London University's ATLAS computing site. There are

several variants of it in circulation, some of which actually do end

with the word `blinkenlights'.

In an amusing example of turnabout-is-fair-play, German hackers have

developed their own versions of the blinkenlights poster in fractured

English, one of which is reproduced here:

ATTENTION

This room is fullfilled mit special electronische equippment.

Fingergrabbing and pressing the cnoeppkes from the computers is

allowed for die experts only! So all the "lefthanders" stay away

and do not disturben the brainstorming von here working

intelligencies. Otherwise you will be out thrown and kicked

anderswhere! Also: please keep still and only watchen astaunished

the blinkenlights.

See also [1516]geef.

Old-time hackers sometimes get nostalgic for blinkenlights because

they were so much more fun to look at than a blank panel. Sadly, very

few computers still have them (the three LEDs on a PC keyboard

certainly don't count). The obvious reasons (cost of wiring, cost of

front-panel cutouts, almost nobody needs or wants to interpret

machine-register states on the fly anymore) are only part of the

story. Another part of it is that radio-frequency leakage from the

lamp wiring was beginning to be a problem as far back as transistor

machines. But the most fundamental fact is that there are very few

signals slow enough to blink an LED these days! With slow CPUs, you

could watch the bus register or instruction counter tick, but at

33/66/150MHz it's all a blur.

Finally, a version updated for the Internet has been seen on

news.admin.net-abuse.email:

ACHTUNG! ALLES LOOKENSPEEPERS!

Das Internet is nicht fuer gefingerclicken und giffengrabben. Ist

easy droppenpacket der routers und overloaden der backbone mit der

spammen und der me-tooen. Ist nicht fuer gewerken bei das

dumpkopfen. Das mausklicken sichtseeren keepen das bandwit-spewin

hans in das pockets muss; relaxen und watchen das cursorblinken.

This newest version partly reflects reports that the word

`blinkenlights' is (in 1999) undergoing something of a revival in

usage, but applied to networking equipment. The transmit and receive

lights on routers, activity lights on switches and hubs, and other

network equipment often blink in visually pleasing and seemingly

coordinated ways. Although this is different in some ways from

register readings, a tall stack of Cisco equipment or a 19-inch rack

of ISDN terminals can provoke a similar feeling of hypnotic awe,

especially in a darkened network operations center or server room.

Node:blit, Next:[1517]blitter, Previous:[1518]blinkenlights,

Up:[1519]= B =

blit /blit/ vt.

[common] To copy a large array of bits from one part of a

computer's memory to another part, particularly when the memory is

being used to determine what is shown on a display screen. "The

storage allocator picks through the table and copies the good parts up

into high memory, and then blits it all back down again." See

[1520]bitblt, [1521]BLT, [1522]dd, [1523]cat, [1524]blast,

[1525]snarf. More generally, to perform some operation (such as

toggling) on a large array of bits while moving them. 2. [historical,

rare] Sometimes all-capitalized as `BLIT': an early experimental

bit-mapped terminal designed by Rob Pike at Bell Labs, later

commercialized as the AT&T 5620. (The folk etymology from `Bell Labs

Intelligent Terminal' is incorrect. Its creators liked to claim that

"Blit" stood for the Bacon, Lettuce, and Interactive Tomato.)

Node:blitter, Next:[1526]blivet, Previous:[1527]blit, Up:[1528]= B =

blitter /blit'r/ n.

[common] A special-purpose chip or hardware system built to perform

[1529]blit operations, esp. used for fast implementation of bit-mapped

graphics. The Commodore Amiga and a few other micros have these, but

since 1990 the trend has been away from them (however, see [1530]cycle

of reincarnation). Syn. [1531]raster blaster.

Node:blivet, Next:[1532]bloatware, Previous:[1533]blitter, Up:[1534]=

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blivet /bliv'*t/ n.

[allegedly from a World War II military term meaning "ten pounds of

manure in a five-pound bag"] 1. An intractable problem. 2. A crucial

piece of hardware that can't be fixed or replaced if it breaks. 3. A

tool that has been hacked over by so many incompetent programmers that

it has become an unmaintainable tissue of hacks. 4. An out-of-control

but unkillable development effort. 5. An embarrassing bug that pops up

during a customer demo. 6. In the subjargon of computer security

specialists, a denial-of-service attack performed by hogging limited

resources that have no access controls (for example, shared spool

space on a multi-user system).

This term has other meanings in other technical cultures; among

experimental physicists and hardware engineers of various kinds it

seems to mean any random object of unknown purpose (similar to hackish

use of [1535]frob). It has also been used to describe an amusing

trick-the-eye drawing resembling a three-pronged fork that appears to

depict a three-dimensional object until one realizes that the parts

fit together in an impossible way.

Node:bloatware, Next:[1536]BLOB, Previous:[1537]blivet, Up:[1538]= B =

bloatware n.

[common] Software that provides minimal functionality while requiring

a disproportionate amount of diskspace and memory. Especially used for

application and OS upgrades. This term is very common in the

Windows/NT world. So is its cause.

Node:BLOB, Next:[1539]block, Previous:[1540]bloatware, Up:[1541]= B =

BLOB

n. [acronym: Binary Large OBject] Used by database people to refer

to any random large block of bits that needs to be stored in a

database, such as a picture or sound file. The essential point about a

BLOB is that it's an object that cannot be interpreted within the

database itself. 2. v. To [1542]mailbomb someone by sending a BLOB to

him/her; esp. used as a mild threat. "If that program crashes again,

I'm going to BLOB the core dump to you."

Node:block, Next:[1543]block transfer computations,

Previous:[1544]BLOB, Up:[1545]= B =

block v.

[common; from process scheduling terminology in OS theory] 1. vi. To

delay or sit idle while waiting for something. "We're blocking until

everyone gets here." Compare [1546]busy-wait. 2. `block on' vt. To

block, waiting for (something). "Lunch is blocked on Phil's arrival."

Node:block transfer computations, Next:[1547]Bloggs Family,

Previous:[1548]block, Up:[1549]= B =

block transfer computations n.

[from the television series "Dr. Who"] Computations so fiendishly

subtle and complex that they could not be performed by machines. Used

to refer to any task that should be expressible as an algorithm in

theory, but isn't. (The Z80's LDIR instruction, "Computed Block

Transfer with increment", may also be relevant.)

Node:Bloggs Family, Next:[1550]blow an EPROM, Previous:[1551]block

transfer computations, Up:[1552]= B =

Bloggs Family n.

An imaginary family consisting of Fred and Mary Bloggs and their

children. Used as a standard example in knowledge representation to

show the difference between extensional and intensional objects. For

example, every occurrence of "Fred Bloggs" is the same unique person,

whereas occurrences of "person" may refer to different people. Members

of the Bloggs family have been known to pop up in bizarre places such

as the old [1553]DEC Telephone Directory. Compare [1554]Dr. Fred

Mbogo; [1555]J. Random Hacker; [1556]Fred Foobar.

Node:blow an EPROM, Next:[1557]blow away, Previous:[1558]Bloggs

Family, Up:[1559]= B =

blow an EPROM /bloh *n ee'prom/ v.

(alt. blast an EPROM',burn an EPROM') To program a read-only

memory, e.g. for use with an embedded system. This term arose because

the programming process for the Programmable Read-Only Memories

(PROMs) that preceded present-day Erasable Programmable Read-Only

Memories (EPROMs) involved intentionally blowing tiny electrical fuses

on the chip. The usage lives on (it's too vivid and expressive to

discard) even though the write process on EPROMs is nondestructive.

Node:blow away, Next:[1560]blow out, Previous:[1561]blow an EPROM,

Up:[1562]= B =

blow away vt.

To remove (files and directories) from permanent storage, generally by

accident. "He reformatted the wrong partition and blew away last

night's netnews." Oppose [1563]nuke.

Node:blow out, Next:[1564]blow past, Previous:[1565]blow away,

Up:[1566]= B =

blow out vi.

[prob. from mining and tunneling jargon] Of software, to fail

spectacularly; almost as serious as [1567]crash and burn. See

[1568]blow past, [1569]blow up, [1570]die horribly.

Node:blow past, Next:[1571]blow up, Previous:[1572]blow out,

Up:[1573]= B =

blow past vt.

To [1574]blow out despite a safeguard. "The server blew past the 5K

reserve buffer."

Node:blow up, Next:[1575]BLT, Previous:[1576]blow past, Up:[1577]= B =

blow up vi.

[scientific computation] To become unstable. Suggests that the

computation is diverging