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magic smoke n. A substance trapped inside IC packages that enables them to function (also called blue smoke; this is similar to the archaic 'phlogiston' hypothesis about combustion). Its existence is demonstrated by what happens when a chip burns up the magic smoke gets let out, so it doesn't work any more. See smoke test, let the smoke out. |
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Usenetter Jay Maynard tells the following story: "Once, while hacking on a dedicated Z80 system, I was testing code by blowing EPROMs and plugging them in the system, then seeing what happened. One time, I plugged one in backwards. I only discovered that after I realized that Intel didn't put power-on lights under the quartz windows on the tops of their EPROMs the die was glowing white-hot. Amazingly, the EPROM worked fine after I erased it, filled it full of zeros, then erased it again. For all I know, it's still in service. Of course, this is because the magic smoke didn't get let out." Compare the original phrasing of Murphy's Law. |
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mail storm n. [from broadcast storm, influenced by 'maelstrom'] What often happens when a machine with an Internet connection and active users re-connects after extended downtime a flood of incoming mail that brings the machine to its knees. See also hairball. |
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mailbomb (also mail bomb) [Usenet] 1. v. To send, or urge others to send, massive amounts of email to a single system or person, esp. with intent to crash or spam the recipient's system. Sometimes done in retaliation for a perceived serious offense. Mailbombing is itself widely regarded as a serious offense it can disrupt email traffic or other facilities for innocent users on the victim's system, and in extreme cases, even at upstream sites. 2. n. An automatic procedure with a similar effect. 3. n. The mail sent. Compare letterbomb, nastygram, BLOB (sense 2), list-bomb. |
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mailing list n. (often shortened in context to list) 1. An email address that is an alias (or macro, though that word is never used in this connection) for many other email addresses. Some mailing lists are simple reflectors, redirecting mail sent to them to the list of recipients. Others are filtered by humans or programs of varying degrees of sophistication; lists filtered by humans are said to be moderated. 2. The people who receive your email when you send it to such an address. |
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Mailing lists are one of the primary forms of hacker interaction, along with Usenet. They predate Usenet, having originated with the first UUCP and ARPANET connections. They are often used for private information-sharing on topics that would be too specialized for or inappropriate to public Usenet groups. Though some of these maintain almost purely technical |
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