fat electrons

electronics, humour Old-time hacker David Cargill's theory

on the cause of computer glitches. Your typical electricity

company 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

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.

[Obviously, fat electrons must gain mass by bogon absorption

- ESR]

Compare bogon, magic smoke.

[Jargon File]

(1996-12-08)