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blivet


blivet


  2  definitions  found 
 
  From  Jargon  File  (4.2.3,  23  NOV  2000)  [jargon]: 
 
  blivet  /bliv'*t/  n.  [allegedly  from  a  World  War  II  military 
  term  meaning  "ten  pounds  of  manure  in  a  five-pound  bag"]  1.  An 
  intractable  problem.  2.  A  crucial  piece  of  hardware  that  can't  be 
  fixed  or  replaced  if  it  breaks.  3.  A  tool  that  has  been  hacked  over 
  by  so  many  incompetent  programmers  that  it  has  become  an  unmaintainable 
  tissue  of  hacks.  4.  An  out-of-control  but  unkillable  development  effort. 
  5.  An  embarrassing  bug  that  pops  up  during  a  customer  demo.  6.  In  the 
  subjargon  of  computer  security  specialists,  a  denial-of-service  attack 
  performed  by  hogging  limited  resources  that  have  no  access  controls 
  (for  example,  shared  spool  space  on  a  multi-user  system). 
 
  This  term  has  other  meanings  in  other  technical  cultures;  among 
  experimental  physicists  and  hardware  engineers  of  various  kinds 
  it  seems  to  mean  any  random  object  of  unknown  purpose  (similar  to 
  hackish  use  of  {frob}).  It  has  also  been  used  to  describe  an  amusing 
  trick-the-eye  drawing  resembling  a  three-pronged  fork  that  appears  to 
  depict  a  three-dimensional  object  until  one  realizes  that  the  parts  fit 
  together  in  an  impossible  way 
 
 
 
  From  The  Free  On-line  Dictionary  of  Computing  (13  Mar  01)  [foldoc]: 
 
  blivet 
 
  /bliv'*t/  [allegedly  from  a  World  War  II  military  term  meaning 
  "ten  pounds  of  manure  in  a  five-pound  bag"]  1.  An  intractable 
  problem. 
 
  2.  A  crucial  piece  of  hardware  that  can't  be  fixed  or  replaced 
  if  it  breaks. 
 
  3.  A  tool  that  has  been  hacked  over  by  so  many  incompetent 
  programmers  that  it  has  become  an  unmaintainable  tissue  of 
  hacks. 
 
  4.  An  out-of-control  but  unkillable  development  effort. 
 
  5.  An  embarrassing  bug  that  pops  up  during  a  customer  demo. 
 
  6.  In  the  subjargon  of  computer  security  specialists,  a 
  denial-of-service  attack  performed  by  hogging  limited 
  resources  that  have  no  access  controls  (for  example,  shared 
  spool  space  on  a  multi-user  system). 
 
  This  term  has  other  meanings  in  other  technical  cultures; 
  among  experimental  physicists  and  hardware  engineers  of 
  various  kinds  it  seems  to  mean  any  random  object  of  unknown 
  purpose  (similar  to  hackish  use  of  {frob}).  It  has  also  been 
  used  to  describe  an  amusing  trick-the-eye  drawing  resembling  a 
  three-pronged  fork  that  appears  to  depict  a  three-dimensional 
  object  until  one  realises  that  the  parts  fit  together  in  an 
  impossible  way 
 
  [{Jargon  File}]