Jargon Watch
Barfogenesis That seasick feeling some people get with virtual reality headsets. Caused by a conflict in the brain: the eyes register movement, but the inner ear doesn't feel it.
Bruised Rationals The numbers that appear when a computer fouls up while converting from decimal to binary, and vice versa. For example, if it's the number 5 you're after, you'll end up with 4.999999 instead. The term was readily thrown around during discussions of the Pentium floating-point bug story.
E-tailing Another one of those dubious "e-" abbreviations. This one is for "electronic retailing."
Flash Crowds Swarms of users on a computer network that appear, then disappear, in a flash. The term originates from a short story of the same name by Larry Niven. In the story, riots break out when thousands of people pour out of teleportation booths to see major social events.
Nut Cluster Happens on college campuses when a group of obsessive MUD (Multi-User Dimension) players takes over an entire computer cluster, or a row of terminals, to hold an all-night MUD session.
Pomosexual People who claim to be bisexual because they think it's hip but would never have a sexual encounter with someone of the same sex.
A tip o' the beret to: Sean Carton, Robert Lauriston, Steve Roby, Kevin Kelly, Bruce Sterling, Daniel Modell, and Jessica Wing
