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Page 367

Usenet', often associated with forged postings designed to conceal message origins. Perhaps the best-known and funniest hoax of this type is B1FF. See also tentacle. 2. Notionally, a flamage-generating AI program simulating a Usenet user. Many flamers have been accused of actually being such entities, despite the fact that no AI program of the required sophistication yet exists. However, in 1989 there was a famous series of forged postings that used a phrase-frequency-based travesty generator to simulate the styles of several well-known flamers; it was based on large samples of their back postings (compare Dissociated Press). A significant number of people were fooled by the forgeries, and the debate over their authenticity was settled only when the perpetrator came forward to publicly admit the hoax.
pseudoprime n. A backgammon prime (six consecutive occupied points) with one point missing. This term is an esoteric pun derived from a mathematical method that, rather than determining precisely whether a number is prime (has no divisors), uses a statistical technique to decide whether the number is 'probably' prime. A number that passes this test was, before about 1985, called a pseudoprime (the terminology used by number theorists has since changed slightly; pre-1985 pseudoprimes are now probable primes and 'pseudoprime' has a more restricted meaning in modular arithmetic). The hacker backgammon usage stemmed from the idea that a pseudoprime is almost as good as a prime: it does the job of a prime until proven otherwise, and that probably won't happen.
pseudosuit /soo'doh-s[y]oot'/ n. A suit wannabee; a hacker who has decided that he wants to be in management or administration and begins wearing ties, sport coats, and (shudder!) suits voluntarily. It's his funeral. See also lobotomy.
psychedelicware /sU0268.gif'kU0259.gif-del'-ik-weir/ n. [UK] Syn. display hack. See also smoking clover.
psyton /sU0268.gif'ton/ n. [TMRC] The elementary particle carrying the sinister force. The probability of a process losing is proportional to the number of psytons falling on it. Psytons are generated by observers, which is why demos are more likely to fail when lots of people are watching. [This term appears to have been largely superseded by bogon; see also quantum bogodynamics.ESR]
pubic directory /pyoob'ik dU0259.gif-rek'tU0259.gif-ree/) n. [NYU] (also pube directory /py-oob' dU0259.gif-rek'tU0259.gif-ree/) The pub (public) directory on a machine that allows FTP

 
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