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voodoo programming n. [from George Bush's "voodoo economics"] The use by guess or cookbook of an obscure or hairy system, feature, or algorithm that one does not truly understand. The implication is that the technique may not work, and if it doesn't, one will never know why. Almost synonymous with black magic, except that black magic typically isn't documented and nobody understands it. Compare magic, deep magic, heavy wizardry, rain dance, cargo cult programming, wave a dead chicken. |
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VR // [MUD] n. On-line abbrev for virtual reality, as opposed to RL. |
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Vulcan nerve pinch n. [from the old "Star Trek" TV series via Commodore Amiga hackers] The keyboard combination that forces a soft-boot or jump to ROM monitor (on machines that support such a feature). On many micros this is Ctrl-Alt-Del; on Suns, L1-A; on some Macintoshes, it is Cmd-Power switch! Also called three-finger salute. Compare quadruple bucky. |
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vulture capitalist n. Pejorative hackerism for 'venture capitalist', deriving from the common practice of pushing contracts that deprive inventors of control over their own innovations and most of the money they ought to have made from them. |
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