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From Notebook
Hi.
I am the Cerebrate[1]), and this is my Notebook.
By Notebook, of course, I mean giant dumping ground of random stuff which I may have found, or expect to find, or might find useful at some point or other, for some purpose or other, or just want to remember (currently 1,163 in stock). That's fairly general, but so is the content of this wiki.
(This has also replaced all of the pages located under siliconcerebrate.com/documents - if you've just been redirected from there, no need for confusion. You were supposed to be.)
Also, it lets me preserve the content of things I've found useful, the Web being, as ever, an annoyingly transient medium.
Also also, it's something of a playground to see how much things cross-link if I Wikify words freely.
Where sources exist, I'm citing them; if you see something without a source that you know has one, do feel free to let me know.
(The main pages of this Wiki are only editable by a select few - just me, at the moment (and me!) - as this is after all my Notebook; but if you want to drop me a note regarding something you see here, feel free to e-mail me .)
As can easily be seen, the Notebook is running on MediaWiki. (Credit for the Notebook concept belongs to Jon Eveland of http://jwenet.net/).
[edit] Finding Your Way About
Probably the easiest way to find pages is through the category list, the index of all pages, or the search box to your left. However, here are some of my most-used categories:
If you find any of the information in my Notebook useful, please feel free to defray our running costs a little... :)
[edit] New Recently
- 22:17, 1 July 2008 Bixen (hist) [214 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{Jargon}} bixen: pl.n. ''Deleted: BIX is dead'' Users of BIX (the BIX Information eXchange, formerly the Byte Information eXchange). Parallels other plurals like [...)
- 22:05, 1 July 2008 TELNET (hist) [441 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{JargonChaff}} TELNET: /tel'net/, vt. ''Deleted: techspeak.'' (also commonly lowercased as telnet) To communicate with another Internet host using the TELNET ([[RF...)
- 22:01, 1 July 2008 TechRef (hist) [345 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{JargonChaff}} TechRef: /tek'ref/, n. ''Deleted: obsolete.'' [ MS-DOS ] The original ''IBM PC Technical Reference Manual'', including the BIOS listing and complete...)
- 21:53, 1 July 2008 'Snooze (hist) [377 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{JargonChaff}} 'Snooze: /snooz/, n. ''Deleted: FidoNet is no longer interesting.'' Fidonews, the weekly official on-line newsletter of FidoNet. As the editorial policy...)
- 21:24, 1 July 2008 Twonkie (hist) [625 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{JargonChaff}} twonkie: /twon'kee/, n. ''Deleted: no evidence of live usage'' The software equivalent of a Twinkie (a variety of sugar-loaded junk food, or (in gay sla...)
- 19:09, 1 July 2008 Touch skin (hist) [219 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{msw}} Same basic meaning as facemail (q.v.) or face time. A meeting arranged to counter the austerity of communicating in cyberspace. "We flew that guy to Redmond ju...)
- 19:03, 1 July 2008 Traction (hist) [155 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{msw}} Increasingly popular term (as of Summer 1997) for progress, movement, or getting ahead. "We’ve got traction on the website app now.")
- 18:58, 1 July 2008 Triage (hist) [213 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{msw}} Not dissimilar to the medical term. The process of deciding which bugs to fix and which to ignore in order to meet a ship date, or which elements in a project to retai...)
- 18:54, 1 July 2008 Truline (hist) [185 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{msw}} (or Tru-Line). (From screenwriting jargon, recently appropriated for Microsoft purposes.) One-sentence summary of a project’s projected appeal or purpose.)
- 18:42, 1 July 2008 Usability (hist) [205 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{msw}} A well-established "process" by which it’s determined which features in a product are most "usable" for "users." "Have you run the MAC version through [[usabilit...)
- 18:41, 1 July 2008 Three-year plan (hist) [125 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{msw}} A projective near-future business plan. At Microsoft, a new three-year plan is devised at least once a year.)
- 18:27, 1 July 2008 Users (hist) [505 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{msw}} Not restricted to Microsoft, this is a piece of terminology that challenges all "players" in the software/Internet arena. Users is a synonym for audience or [[...)
- 18:26, 1 July 2008 Taxonomy of options (hist) [98 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{msw}} A greatly murkier (and therefore infinitely preferable) way of saying "range of choices.")
- 17:30, 1 July 2008 Sub-optimal (hist) [193 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{msw}} Marketing jargon for "substandard" or "less-than-desirable." Ex: "We could leverage resources to do that, but I’m sure it would produce a sub-optimal conclus...)
- 17:25, 1 July 2008 Whiteboard (hist) [669 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{msw}} Only slightly higher-tech version of, as name suggests, that classic educational aid the blackboard. Meeting crutch, power tool, and sacred hard-data repository all at...)
- 17:21, 1 July 2008 Stake in the ground (hist) [259 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{msw}} A somewhat grandiose, even gory core marketing term, signifying the area or market segment where Microsoft plans to place its hoped-for monopoly. At the proper junctur...)
- 17:08, 1 July 2008 Own (hist) [398 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{msw}} To take responsibility for an issue. Ownership is even more serious than drivership; you can drive an issue without owning it, but it's unlikely that you would...)
- 17:07, 1 July 2008 Process (hist) [303 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{msw}} The complex system devised to deal with a deliverable involving tracing and documenting its progress through every stage of its development. The ideal [[process structure]...)
- 17:05, 1 July 2008 Over the wire (hist) [286 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{Msw}} (Probably not restricted to Microsoft) Online. As increasing numbers of plebes learn to work the phrase "online" into their vocabularies, a new and potentially confusi...)
- 17:01, 1 July 2008 Outsource (hist) [233 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{msw}} To assign a project to off-campus vendors. "We don't have the bandwidth to finish this feature; we'll have to outsource it." Term now spread throughout the ent...)
- 17:00, 1 July 2008 Multitasking (hist) [433 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{Jargon}} Also "multi-tasking." Common technical term pertaining to multiple functions performed by a computer, applied to people in the sense of juggling two or more tasks s...)
- 16:58, 1 July 2008 Nonlinear (hist) [197 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{msw}} Becoming nonlinear is roughly synonymous with "going apeshit"; in other words, irrationally angry. "When he found out the RTM date was slipping, Ed went totally [[nonl...)
- 16:57, 1 July 2008 Nimble (hist) [265 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{msw}} Agile, responsive, quick to react. Generally used to describe smaller software companies, which tend to be able to make decisions and maneuver more quickly than the lumber...)
- 16:46, 1 July 2008 Mode (hist) [129 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{msw}} Frame of mind, usually denoting intense concentration: "Ed's in crunch mode; they're in danger of slipping.")
- 16:45, 1 July 2008 Milestone (hist) [219 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{msw}} Semi-technical term for a predetermined point in the product build at which certain goals have been met. Numbered, as in Milestone 1, Milestone 2, etc. Often in re...)
- 23:16, 30 June 2008 Breedle (hist) [43 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{Jargon}} breedle: n. See feep.)
- 23:09, 30 June 2008 GIYF (hist) [295 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{Jargon}} GIYF: n. Abbrev: Google Is Your Friend. Used to suggest, gently and politely, that you have just asked a question of human beings that would have been better directed...)
- 23:08, 30 June 2008 Get a life! (hist) [653 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{Jargon}} Get a life!: imp. Hacker-standard way of suggesting that the person to whom it is directed has succumbed to terminal geekdom (see geek). Often heard on [[Usen...)
- 23:06, 30 June 2008 Amiga Persecution Complex (hist) [900 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{Jargon}} Amiga Persecution Complex: n. The disorder suffered by a particularly egregious variety of bigot, those who believe that the marginality of their preferred machine is...)
- 23:04, 30 June 2008 Zorch (hist) [1,275 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{Jargon}} zorch: /zorch/ # [ TMRC ] v. To attack with an inverse heat sink. # [TMRC] v. To travel, with v approaching c [ that is, with velocity approaching lights...)
- 23:00, 30 June 2008 Kool-Aid (hist) [1,347 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{Jargon}} Kool-Aid [from a kid's sugar-enriched drink in fruity flavors] When someone who should know better succumbs to marketing influences and actually begins to believe...)
- 20:34, 29 June 2008 Terminal Server drive sharing UNC name (hist) [923 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{me (Cerebrate)|}} A simple one, today. So, everyone knows that you can share local disk drives with a machine you're connecting to through Terminal Services/[[Remote Desktop...)
- 20:30, 29 June 2008 Zero-content (hist) [59 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{Jargon}} zero-content: adj. Syn. content-free.)
- 20:28, 29 June 2008 Zapped (hist) [386 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{Jargon}} zapped: adj. Spicy. This term is used to distinguish between food that is hot (in temperature) and food that is spicy-hot. For example, the Chinese appetizer [[Bon Bon...)
- 20:25, 29 June 2008 YA- (hist) [225 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{Jargon}} YA-: abbrev. [Yet Another] In hackish acronyms this almost invariably expands to Yet Another, following the precedent set by Unix yacc(1) ([[Yet Anothe...)
- 20:23, 29 June 2008 X (hist) [735 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{Jargon}} X: /X/, n. # Used in various speech and writing contexts (also in lowercase) in roughly its algebraic sense of ‘unknown within a set defined by context’ (compare ...)
- 20:19, 29 June 2008 W00t (hist) [842 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{Jargon}} w00t An interjection similar to “Yay!”, as in: “w00t!!! I just got a raise!” Often used for small victories the speaker dies not expect to be of special i...)
- 20:15, 29 June 2008 V7 (hist) [57 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{Jargon}} V7: /V´sev´en/, n. See Version 7.)
- 20:14, 29 June 2008 U- (hist) [275 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{Jargon}} u-: pref. Written shorthand for micro-; techspeak when applied to metric units, jargon when used otherwise. Derived from the Greek letter micron, the firs...)
- 20:08, 29 June 2008 Talker system (hist) [124 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{Jargon}} talker system: n. British hackerism for software that enables real-time chat or talk mode.)
- 20:07, 29 June 2008 Rabbit job (hist) [203 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{Jargon}} rabbit job: n. [ Cambridge ] A batch job that does little, if any, real work, but creates one or more copies of itself, breeding like rabbits. Compare wabbit,...)
- 20:06, 29 June 2008 Quarter (hist) [469 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{Jargon}} quarter: n. Two bits. This in turn comes from the ‘pieces of eight’ famed in pirate movies — Spanish silver crowns that could be broken into eight pie-slice...)
- 20:01, 29 June 2008 S/N ratio (hist) [131 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{Jargon}} S/N ratio: //, n. (also s/n ratio, s:n ratio). Syn. signal-to-noise ratio. Often abbreviated SNR.)
- 19:55, 29 June 2008 Rain dance (hist) [716 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{Jargon}} rain dance: n. # Any ceremonial action taken to correct a hardware problem, with the expectation that nothing will be accomplished. This especially applies to reseatin...)
- 19:49, 29 June 2008 Barking moonbat (hist) [1,153 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{Source|http://www.samizdata.net/blog/glossary.html}} '''Barking moonbat''', noun: Someone on the extreme edge of whatever their -ism happens to be. (coined by Perry de Havilland) U...)
- 19:43, 29 June 2008 Padded cell (hist) [516 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{Jargon}} padded cell: n. Where you put lusers so they can't hurt anything. A program that limits a luser to a carefully restricted subset of the capabilities of the [[host...)
- 19:34, 29 June 2008 Ob- (hist) [575 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{Jargon}} Ob-: /ob/, pref. Obligatory. A piece of netiquette acknowledging that the author has been straying from the newsgroup's charter topic. For example, if a posti...)
- 19:31, 29 June 2008 N (hist) [1,114 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{Jargon}} N: /N/, quant. # A large and indeterminate number of objects: “There were N bugs in that crock!” Also used in its original sense of a variable name: ...)
- 19:27, 29 June 2008 M$ (hist) [107 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{jargon}} M$ Common net abbreviation for Microsoft, everybody's least favorite monopoly.)
- 19:26, 29 June 2008 M (hist) [58 bytes] Cerebrate (Talk | contribs) (New page: {{jargon}} M: pref. [ SI ] See quantifiers.)
