16 lines
2.6 KiB
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16 lines
2.6 KiB
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?>
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>fat electrons</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../F.html" title="F"/><link rel="previous" href="fascist.html" title="fascist"/><link rel="next" href="fat-pipe.html" title="fat pipe"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">fat electrons</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="fascist.html">Prev</a><EFBFBD></td><th width="60%" align="center">F</th><td width="20%" align="right"><EFBFBD><a accesskey="n" href="fat-pipe.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="fat-electrons"/><dt xmlns="" id="fat-electrons"><b>fat electrons</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">n.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> Old-time hacker David Cargill's theory on the causation of computer
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glitches. Your typical electric utility draws its line current out of the
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big generators with a pair of coil taps located near the top of the dynamo.
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When the normal tap brushes get dirty, they take them off line to clean
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them up, and use special auxiliary taps on the <span class="emphasis"><em>bottom</em></span>
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of the coil. Now, this is a problem, because when they do that they get
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not ordinary or ‘thin’ electrons, but the fat'n'sloppy
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electrons that are heavier and so settle to the bottom of the generator.
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These flow down ordinary wires just fine, but when they have to turn a
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sharp corner (as in an integrated-circuit via), they're apt to get stuck.
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This is what causes computer glitches. [Fascinating. Obviously, fat
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electrons must gain mass by <a href="../B/bogon.html"><i class="glossterm">bogon</i></a> absorption
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—ESR] Compare <a href="../B/bogon.html"><i class="glossterm">bogon</i></a>, <a href="../M/magic-smoke.html"><i class="glossterm">magic
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smoke</i></a>.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="fascist.html">Prev</a><EFBFBD></td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../F.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"><EFBFBD><a accesskey="n" href="fat-pipe.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">fascist<EFBFBD></td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"><EFBFBD>fat pipe</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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