John Lothrop Motley - "History of the United Netherlands, 1585"

Lyman Abbott - "Laicus"

James Clerk Maxwell - "Five of Maxwell's Papers"

Constant - "Private Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, V8"

New Philadelphia Book Publisher Highlights Local Talent
Book and Publishing News from Publishers Newswire(tm)

Looking for Child to be on Cover of a New Book, 'The Model Child'
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- The Philadelphia literary world will celebrate the launch of two new players today, April 10th: Kay Square Press, a new publishing company focused on Philadelphia-area artists, their stories, and their art; and Kay Square's first release, 'With the Rich and Mighty: Emlen Etting of Philadelphia' (ISBN: 978-0-9815129-0-7), a critical biography by Kenneth C. Kaleta.

FlatSigned Press Alleges Don Imus Remarks Damage Legacy of President Gerald R. Ford
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Nathan Yungerberg, an accomplished model scout and professional child photographer is launching a nation-wide casting call to find the cover model for his highly anticipated book release, 'The Model Child: A Parents Guide to the Child Modeling Industry' (ISBN: 978-0-9817018-0-6).

Books: The New Hacker\'s Dictionary version 4.2.2

V >> Various editors >> The New Hacker\'s Dictionary version 4.2.2




* [4732]face time:
* [4733]factor:
* [4734]fairings:
* [4735]fall over:
* [4736]fall through:
* [4737]fan:
* [4738]fandango on core:
* [4739]FAQ:
* [4740]FAQ list:
* [4741]FAQL:
* [4742]faradize:
* [4743]farkled:
* [4744]farming:
* [4745]fascist:
* [4746]fat electrons:
* [4747]fat-finger:
* [4748]faulty:
* [4749]fd leak:
* [4750]fear and loathing:
* [4751]feature:
* [4752]feature creature:
* [4753]feature creep:
* [4754]feature key:
* [4755]feature shock:
* [4756]featurectomy:
* [4757]feep:
* [4758]feeper:
* [4759]feeping creature:
* [4760]feeping creaturism:
* [4761]feetch feetch:
* [4762]fence:
* [4763]fencepost error:
* [4764]fiber-seeking backhoe:
* [4765]FidoNet:
* [4766]field circus:
* [4767]field servoid:
* [4768]Fight-o-net:
* [4769]File Attach:
* [4770]File Request:
* [4771]file signature:
* [4772]filk:
* [4773]film at 11:
* [4774]filter:
* [4775]Finagle's Law:
* [4776]fine:
* [4777]finger:
* [4778]finger trouble:
* [4779]finger-pointing syndrome:
* [4780]finn:
* [4781]firebottle:
* [4782]firefighting:
* [4783]firehose syndrome:
* [4784]firewall code:
* [4785]firewall machine:
* [4786]fireworks mode:
* [4787]firmware:
* [4788]firmy:
* [4789]fish:
* [4790]FISH queue:
* [4791]FITNR:
* [4792]fix:
* [4793]FIXME:
* [4794]flag:
* [4795]flag day:
* [4796]flaky:
* [4797]flamage:
* [4798]flame:
* [4799]flame bait:
* [4800]flame on:
* [4801]flame war:
* [4802]flamer:
* [4803]flap:
* [4804]flarp:
* [4805]flash crowd:
* [4806]flat:
* [4807]flat-ASCII:
* [4808]flat-file:
* [4809]flatten:
* [4810]flavor:
* [4811]flavorful:
* [4812]flippy:
* [4813]flood:
* [4814]flowchart:
* [4815]flower key:
* [4816]flush:
* [4817]flypage:
* [4818]Flyspeck 3:
* [4819]flytrap:
* [4820]FM:
* [4821]fnord:
* [4822]FOAF:
* [4823]FOD:
* [4824]fold case:
* [4825]followup:
* [4826]fontology:
* [4827]foo:
* [4828]foobar:
* [4829]fool:
* [4830]fool file:
* [4831]Foonly:
* [4832]footprint:
* [4833]for free:
* [4834]for the rest of us:
* [4835]for values of:
* [4836]fora:
* [4837]foreground:
* [4838]fork:
* [4839]fork bomb:
* [4840]forked:
* [4841]Fortrash:
* [4842]fortune cookie:
* [4843]forum:
* [4844]fossil:
* [4845]four-color glossies:
* [4846]frag:
* [4847]fragile:
* [4848]fred:
* [4849]Fred Foobar:
* [4850]frednet:
* [4851]free software:
* [4852]freeware:
* [4853]freeze:
* [4854]fried:
* [4855]frink:
* [4856]friode:
* [4857]fritterware:
* [4858]frob:
* [4859]frobnicate:
* [4860]frobnitz:
* [4861]frog:
* [4862]frogging:
* [4863]front end:
* [4864]frotz:
* [4865]frotzed:
* [4866]frowney:
* [4867]FRS:
* [4868]fry:
* [4869]fscking:
* [4870]FSF:
* [4871]FTP:
* [4872]-fu:
* [4873]FUBAR:
* [4874]fuck me harder:
* [4875]FUD:
* [4876]FUD wars:
* [4877]fudge:
* [4878]fudge factor:
* [4879]fuel up:
* [4880]Full Monty:
* [4881]fum:
* [4882]functino:
* [4883]funky:
* [4884]funny money:
* [4885]furrfu:
* [4886]fuzzball:
_________________________________________________________________

Node:face time, Next:[4887]factor, Previous:[4888]eyeball search,
Up:[4889]= F =

face time n.

[common] Time spent interacting with somebody face-to-face (as opposed
to via electronic links). "Oh, yeah, I spent some face time with him
at the last Usenix."
_________________________________________________________________

Node:factor, Next:[4890]fairings, Previous:[4891]face time, Up:[4892]=
F =

factor n.

See [4893]coefficient of X.
_________________________________________________________________

Node:fairings, Next:[4894]fall over, Previous:[4895]factor, Up:[4896]=
F =

fairings n. /fer'ingz/

[FreeBSD; orig. a typo for `fairness'] A term thrown out in discussion
whenever a completely and transparently nonsensical argument in one's
favor(?) seems called for, e,g. at the end of a really long thread for
which the outcome is no longer even cared about since everyone is now
so sick of it; or in rebuttal to another nonsensical argument ("Change
the loader to look for /kernel.pl? What about fairings?")
_________________________________________________________________

Node:fall over, Next:[4897]fall through, Previous:[4898]fairings,
Up:[4899]= F =

fall over vi.

[IBM] Yet another synonym for [4900]crash or [4901]lose. `Fall over
hard' equates to [4902]crash and burn.
_________________________________________________________________

Node:fall through, Next:[4903]fan, Previous:[4904]fall over,
Up:[4905]= F =

fall through v.

(n. `fallthrough', var. `fall-through') 1. To exit a loop by
exhaustion, i.e., by having fulfilled its exit condition rather than
via a break or exception condition that exits from the middle of it.
This usage appears to be really old, dating from the 1940s and 1950s.
2. To fail a test that would have passed control to a subroutine or
some other distant portion of code. 3. In C, `fall-through' occurs
when the flow of execution in a switch statement reaches a case label
other than by jumping there from the switch header, passing a point
where one would normally expect to find a break. A trivial example:
switch (color)
{
case GREEN:
do_green();
break;
case PINK:
do_pink();
/* FALL THROUGH */
case RED:
do_red();
break;
default:
do_blue();
break;
}

The variant spelling /* FALL THRU */ is also common.

The effect of the above code is to do_green() when color is GREEN,
do_red() when color is RED, do_blue() on any other color other than
PINK, and (and this is the important part) do_pink() and then do_red()
when color is PINK. Fall-through is [4906]considered harmful by some,
though there are contexts (such as the coding of state machines) in
which it is natural; it is generally considered good practice to
include a comment highlighting the fall-through where one would
normally expect a break. See also [4907]Duff's device.
_________________________________________________________________

Node:fan, Next:[4908]fandango on core, Previous:[4909]fall through,
Up:[4910]= F =

fan n.

Without qualification, indicates a fan of science fiction, especially
one who goes to [4911]cons and tends to hang out with other fans. Many
hackers are fans, so this term has been imported from fannish slang;
however, unlike much fannish slang it is recognized by most
non-fannish hackers. Among SF fans the plural is correctly `fen', but
this usage is not automatic to hackers. "Laura reads the stuff
occasionally but isn't really a fan."
_________________________________________________________________

Node:fandango on core, Next:[4912]FAQ, Previous:[4913]fan, Up:[4914]=
F =

fandango on core n.

[Unix/C hackers, from the Iberian dance] In C, a wild pointer that
runs out of bounds, causing a [4915]core dump, or corrupts the
malloc(3) [4916]arena in such a way as to cause mysterious failures
later on, is sometimes said to have `done a fandango on core'. On
low-end personal machines without an MMU (or Windows boxes, which have
an MMU but use it incompetently), this can corrupt the OS itself,
causing massive lossage. Other frenetic dances such as the cha-cha or
the watusi, may be substituted. See [4917]aliasing bug,
[4918]precedence lossage, [4919]smash the stack, [4920]memory leak,
[4921]memory smash, [4922]overrun screw, [4923]core.
_________________________________________________________________

Node:FAQ, Next:[4924]FAQ list, Previous:[4925]fandango on core,
Up:[4926]= F =

FAQ /F-A-Q/ or /fak/ n.

[Usenet] 1. A Frequently Asked Question. 2. A compendium of
accumulated lore, posted periodically to high-volume newsgroups in an
attempt to forestall such questions. Some people prefer the term `FAQ
list' or `FAQL' /fa'kl/, reserving `FAQ' for sense 1.

This lexicon itself serves as a good example of a collection of one
kind of lore, although it is far too big for a regular FAQ posting.
Examples: "What is the proper type of NULL?" and "What's that funny
name for the # character?" are both Frequently Asked Questions.
Several FAQs refer readers to this file.
_________________________________________________________________

Node:FAQ list, Next:[4927]FAQL, Previous:[4928]FAQ, Up:[4929]= F =

FAQ list /F-A-Q list/ or /fak list/ n.

[common; Usenet] Syn [4930]FAQ, sense 2.
_________________________________________________________________

Node:FAQL, Next:[4931]faradize, Previous:[4932]FAQ list, Up:[4933]= F
=

FAQL /fa'kl/ n.

Syn. [4934]FAQ list.
_________________________________________________________________

Node:faradize, Next:[4935]farkled, Previous:[4936]FAQL, Up:[4937]= F =

faradize /far'*-di:z/ v.

[US Geological Survey] To start any hyper-addictive process or trend,
or to continue adding current to such a trend. Telling one user about
a new octo-tetris game you compiled would be a faradizing act -- in
two weeks you might find your entire department playing the faradic
game.
_________________________________________________________________

Node:farkled, Next:[4938]farming, Previous:[4939]faradize, Up:[4940]=
F =

farkled /far'kld/ adj.

[DeVry Institute of Technology, Atlanta] Syn. [4941]hosed. Poss. owes
something to Yiddish `farblondjet' and/or the `Farkle Family' skits on
"Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In", a popular comedy show of the late
1960s.
_________________________________________________________________

Node:farming, Next:[4942]fascist, Previous:[4943]farkled, Up:[4944]= F
=

farming n.

[Adelaide University, Australia] What the heads of a disk drive are
said to do when they plow little furrows in the magnetic media.
Associated with a [4945]crash. Typically used as follows: "Oh no, the
machine has just crashed; I hope the hard drive hasn't gone
[4946]farming again." No longer common; modern drives automatically
park their heads in a safe zone on power-down, so it takes a real
mechanical problem to induce this.
_________________________________________________________________

Node:fascist, Next:[4947]fat electrons, Previous:[4948]farming,
Up:[4949]= F =

fascist adj.

1. [common] Said of a computer system with excessive or annoying
security barriers, usage limits, or access policies. The implication
is that said policies are preventing hackers from getting interesting
work done. The variant `fascistic' seems to have been preferred at
MIT, poss. by analogy with `touristic' (see [4950]tourist or under the
influence of German/Yiddish `faschistisch'). 2. In the design of
languages and other software tools, `the fascist alternative' is the
most restrictive and structured way of capturing a particular
function; the implication is that this may be desirable in order to
simplify the implementation or provide tighter error checking. Compare
[4951]bondage-and-discipline language, although that term is global
rather than local.
_________________________________________________________________

Node:fat electrons, Next:[4952]fat-finger, Previous:[4953]fascist,
Up:[4954]= F =

fat electrons n.

Old-time hacker David Cargill's theory on the causation of computer
glitches. Your typical electric utility draws its line current out of
the big generators with a pair of coil taps located near the top of
the dynamo. When the normal tap brushes get dirty, they take them off
line to clean them up, and use special auxiliary taps on the bottom of
the coil. Now, this is a problem, because when they do that they get
not ordinary or `thin' electrons, but the fat'n'sloppy electrons that
are heavier and so settle to the bottom of the generator. These flow
down ordinary wires just fine, but when they have to turn a sharp
corner (as in an integrated-circuit via), they're apt to get stuck.
This is what causes computer glitches. [Fascinating. Obviously, fat
electrons must gain mass by [4955]bogon absorption --ESR] Compare
[4956]bogon, [4957]magic smoke.
_________________________________________________________________

Node:fat-finger, Next:[4958]faulty, Previous:[4959]fat electrons,
Up:[4960]= F =

fat-finger vt.

1. To introduce a typo while editing in such a way that the resulting
manglification of a configuration file does something useless,
damaging, or wildly unexpected. "NSI fat-fingered their DNS zone file
and took half the net down again." 2. More generally, any typo that
produces dramatically bad results.
_________________________________________________________________

Node:faulty, Next:[4961]fd leak, Previous:[4962]fat-finger, Up:[4963]=
F =

faulty adj.

Non-functional; buggy. Same denotation as [4964]bletcherous,
[4965]losing, q.v., but the connotation is much milder.
_________________________________________________________________

Node:fd leak, Next:[4966]fear and loathing, Previous:[4967]faulty,
Up:[4968]= F =

fd leak /F-D leek/ n.

A kind of programming bug analogous to a [4969]core leak, in which a
program fails to close file descriptors (`fd's) after file operations
are completed, and thus eventually runs out of them. See [4970]leak.
_________________________________________________________________

Node:fear and loathing, Next:[4971]feature, Previous:[4972]fd leak,
Up:[4973]= F =

fear and loathing n.

[from Hunter S. Thompson] A state inspired by the prospect of dealing
with certain real-world systems and standards that are totally
[4974]brain-damaged but ubiquitous -- Intel 8086s, or [4975]COBOL, or
[4976]EBCDIC, or any [4977]IBM machine bigger than a workstation.
"Ack! They want PCs to be able to talk to the AI machine. Fear and
loathing time!"
_________________________________________________________________

Node:feature, Next:[4978]feature creature, Previous:[4979]fear and
loathing, Up:[4980]= F =

feature n.

1. [common] A good property or behavior (as of a program). Whether it
was intended or not is immaterial. 2. [common] An intended property or
behavior (as of a program). Whether it is good or not is immaterial
(but if bad, it is also a [4981]misfeature). 3. A surprising property
or behavior; in particular, one that is purposely inconsistent because
it works better that way -- such an inconsistency is therefore a
[4982]feature and not a [4983]bug. This kind of feature is sometimes
called a [4984]miswart; see that entry for a classic example. 4. A
property or behavior that is gratuitous or unnecessary, though perhaps
also impressive or cute. For example, one feature of Common LISP's
format function is the ability to print numbers in two different
Roman-numeral formats (see [4985]bells whistles and gongs). 5. A
property or behavior that was put in to help someone else but that
happens to be in your way. 6. [common] A bug that has been documented.
To call something a feature sometimes means the author of the program
did not consider the particular case, and that the program responded
in a way that was unexpected but not strictly incorrect. A standard
joke is that a bug can be turned into a [4986]feature simply by
documenting it (then theoretically no one can complain about it
because it's in the manual), or even by simply declaring it to be
good. "That's not a bug, that's a feature!" is a common catchphrase.
See also [4987]feetch feetch, [4988]creeping featurism, [4989]wart,
[4990]green lightning.

The relationship among bugs, features, misfeatures, warts, and
miswarts might be clarified by the following hypothetical exchange
between two hackers on an airliner:

A: "This seat doesn't recline."

B: "That's not a bug, that's a feature. There is an emergency exit
door built around the window behind you, and the route has to be kept
clear."

A: "Oh. Then it's a misfeature; they should have increased the spacing
between rows here."

B: "Yes. But if they'd increased spacing in only one section it would
have been a wart -- they would've had to make nonstandard-length
ceiling panels to fit over the displaced seats."

A: "A miswart, actually. If they increased spacing throughout they'd
lose several rows and a chunk out of the profit margin. So unequal
spacing would actually be the Right Thing."

B: "Indeed."

`Undocumented feature' is a common, allegedly humorous euphemism for a
[4991]bug. There's a related joke that is sometimes referred to as the
"one-question geek test". You say to someone "I saw a Volkswagen
Beetle today with a vanity license plate that read FEATURE". If he/she
laughs, he/she is a geek (see [4992]computer geek, sense 2).
_________________________________________________________________

Node:feature creature, Next:[4993]feature creep,
Previous:[4994]feature, Up:[4995]= F =

feature creature n.

[poss. fr. slang `creature feature' for a horror movie] 1. One who
loves to add features to designs or programs, perhaps at the expense
of coherence, concision, or [4996]taste. 2. Alternately, a mythical
being that induces otherwise rational programmers to perpetrate such
crocks. See also [4997]feeping creaturism, [4998]creeping featurism.
_________________________________________________________________

Node:feature creep, Next:[4999]feature key, Previous:[5000]feature
creature, Up:[5001]= F =

feature creep n.

[common] The result of [5002]creeping featurism, as in "Emacs has a
bad case of feature creep".
_________________________________________________________________

Node:feature key, Next:[5003]feature shock, Previous:[5004]feature
creep, Up:[5005]= F =

feature key n.

[common] The Macintosh key with the cloverleaf graphic on its keytop;
sometimes referred to as `flower', `pretzel', `clover', `propeller',
`beanie' (an apparent reference to the major feature of a propeller
beanie), [5006]splat, `open-apple' or (officially, in Mac
documentation) the `command key'. In French, the term `papillon'
(butterfly) has been reported. The proliferation of terms for this
creature may illustrate one subtle peril of iconic interfaces.

Many people have been mystified by the cloverleaf-like symbol that
appears on the feature key. Its oldest name is `cross of St. Hannes',
but it occurs in pre-Christian Viking art as a decorative motif.
Throughout Scandinavia today the road agencies use it to mark sites of
historical interest. Apple picked up the symbol from an early Mac
developer who happened to be Swedish. Apple documentation gives the
translation "interesting feature"!

There is some dispute as to the proper (Swedish) name of this symbol.
It technically stands for the word `sevärdhet' (thing worth seeing);
many of these are old churches. Some Swedes report as an idiom for the
sign the word `kyrka', cognate to English `church' and pronounced
(roughly) /chur'ka/ in modern Swedish. Others say this is nonsense.
Other idioms reported for the sign are `runa' (rune) or `runsten'
/roon'stn/ (runestone), derived from the fact that many of the
interesting features are Viking rune-stones. The term `fornminne'
/foorn'min'*/ (relic of antiquity, ancient monument) is also reported,
especially among those who think that the Mac itself is a relic of
antiquity.
_________________________________________________________________

Node:feature shock, Next:[5007]featurectomy, Previous:[5008]feature
key, Up:[5009]= F =

feature shock n.

[from Alvin Toffler's book title "Future Shock"] A user's (or
programmer's!) confusion when confronted with a package that has too
many features and poor introductory material.
_________________________________________________________________

Node:featurectomy, Next:[5010]feep, Previous:[5011]feature shock,
Up:[5012]= F =

featurectomy /fee`ch*r-ek't*-mee/ n.

The act of removing a feature from a program. Featurectomies come in
two flavors, the `righteous' and the `reluctant'. Righteous
featurectomies are performed because the remover believes the program
would be more elegant without the feature, or there is already an
equivalent and better way to achieve the same end. (Doing so is not
quite the same thing as removing a [5013]misfeature.) Reluctant
featurectomies are performed to satisfy some external constraint such
as code size or execution speed.
_________________________________________________________________

Node:feep, Next:[5014]feeper, Previous:[5015]featurectomy, Up:[5016]=
F =

feep /feep/

1. n. The soft electronic `bell' sound of a display terminal (except
for a VT-52); a beep (in fact, the microcomputer world seems to prefer
[5017]beep). 2. vi. To cause the display to make a feep sound. ASR-33s
(the original TTYs) do not feep; they have mechanical bells that ring.
Alternate forms: [5018]beep, `bleep', or just about anything suitably
onomatopoeic. (Jeff MacNelly, in his comic strip "Shoe", uses the word
`eep' for sounds made by computer terminals and video games; this is
perhaps the closest written approximation yet.) The term `breedle' was
sometimes heard at SAIL, where the terminal bleepers are not
particularly soft (they sound more like the musical equivalent of a
raspberry or Bronx cheer; for a close approximation, imagine the sound
of a Star Trek communicator's beep lasting for five seconds). The
`feeper' on a VT-52 has been compared to the sound of a '52 Chevy
stripping its gears. See also [5019]ding.
_________________________________________________________________

Node:feeper, Next:[5020]feeping creature, Previous:[5021]feep,
Up:[5022]= F =

feeper /fee'pr/ n.

The device in a terminal or workstation (usually a loudspeaker of some
kind) that makes the [5023]feep sound.
_________________________________________________________________

Node:feeping creature, Next:[5024]feeping creaturism,
Previous:[5025]feeper, Up:[5026]= F =

feeping creature n.

[from [5027]feeping creaturism] An unnecessary feature; a bit of
[5028]chrome that, in the speaker's judgment, is the camel's nose for
a whole horde of new features.
_________________________________________________________________

Node:feeping creaturism, Next:[5029]feetch feetch,
Previous:[5030]feeping creature, Up:[5031]= F =

feeping creaturism /fee'ping kree`ch*r-izm/ n.

A deliberate spoonerism for [5032]creeping featurism, meant to imply
that the system or program in question has become a misshapen creature
of hacks. This term isn't really well defined, but it sounds so neat
that most hackers have said or heard it. It is probably reinforced by
an image of terminals prowling about in the dark making their
customary noises.
_________________________________________________________________

Node:feetch feetch, Next:[5033]fence, Previous:[5034]feeping
creaturism, Up:[5035]= F =

feetch feetch /feech feech/ interj.

If someone tells you about some new improvement to a program, you
might respond: "Feetch, feetch!" The meaning of this depends
critically on vocal inflection. With enthusiasm, it means something
like "Boy, that's great! What a great hack!" Grudgingly or with
obvious doubt, it means "I don't know; it sounds like just one more
unnecessary and complicated thing". With a tone of resignation, it
means, "Well, I'd rather keep it simple, but I suppose it has to be
done".
_________________________________________________________________

Node:fence, Next:[5036]fencepost error, Previous:[5037]feetch feetch,
Up:[5038]= F =

fence n. 1.

A sequence of one or more distinguished ([5039]out-of-band) characters
(or other data items), used to delimit a piece of data intended to be
treated as a unit (the computer-science literature calls this a
`sentinel'). The NUL (ASCII 0000000) character that terminates strings
in C is a fence. Hex FF is also (though slightly less frequently) used
this way. See [5040]zigamorph. 2. An extra data value inserted in an
array or other data structure in order to allow some normal test on
the array's contents also to function as a termination test. For
example, a highly optimized routine for finding a value in an array
might artificially place a copy of the value to be searched for after
the last slot of the array, thus allowing the main search loop to
search for the value without having to check at each pass whether the
end of the array had been reached. 3. [among users of optimizing
compilers] Any technique, usually exploiting knowledge about the
compiler, that blocks certain optimizations. Used when explicit
mechanisms are not available or are overkill. Typically a hack: "I
call a dummy procedure there to force a flush of the optimizer's
register-coloring info" can be expressed by the shorter "That's a
fence procedure".
_________________________________________________________________

Node:fencepost error, Next:[5041]fiber-seeking backhoe,
Previous:[5042]fence, Up:[5043]= F =

fencepost error n.

1. [common] A problem with the discrete equivalent of a boundary
condition, often exhibited in programs by iterative loops. From the
following problem: "If you build a fence 100 feet long with posts 10
feet apart, how many posts do you need?" (Either 9 or 11 is a better
answer than the obvious 10.) For example, suppose you have a long list
or array of items, and want to process items m through n; how many
items are there? The obvious answer is n - m, but that is off by one;
the right answer is n - m + 1. A program that used the `obvious'
formula would have a fencepost error in it. See also [5044]zeroth and
[5045]off-by-one error, and note that not all off-by-one errors are
fencepost errors. The game of Musical Chairs involves a catastrophic
off-by-one error where N people try to sit in N - 1 chairs, but it's
not a fencepost error. Fencepost errors come from counting things
rather than the spaces between them, or vice versa, or by neglecting
to consider whether one should count one or both ends of a row. 2.
[rare] An error induced by unexpected regularities in input values,
which can (for instance) completely thwart a theoretically efficient
binary tree or hash table implementation. (The error here involves the
difference between expected and worst case behaviors of an algorithm.)
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fiber-seeking backhoe

[common among backbone ISP personnel] Any of a genus of large,
disruptive machines which routinely cut critical backbone links,
creating Internet outages and [5049]packet over air problems.
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FidoNet n.

A worldwide hobbyist network of personal computers which exchanges
mail, discussion groups, and files. Founded in 1984 and originally
consisting only of IBM PCs and compatibles, FidoNet now includes such
diverse machines as Apple ][s, Ataris, Amigas, and Unix systems. For
years FidoNet actually grew faster than Usenet, but the advent of
cheap Internet access probably means its days are numbered. In early
1999 Fidonet has approximately 30,000 nodes, down from 38K in 1996.
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field circus n.

[a derogatory pun on `field service'] The field service organization
of any hardware manufacturer, but originally [5056]DEC. There is an
entire genre of jokes about field circus engineers:
Q: How can you recognize a field circus engineer
with a flat tire?
A: He's changing one tire at a time to see which one is flat.