2 definitions by bikergeek
Generic name for any useless consumer gadget of the sort frequently sold on late-night infomercials. Commonly sold together with a tomato musher. Originally from the comic strip Bloom County. Opus was powerless to resist late-night TV hucksters and ended up with a living room full of turnip twaddlers.
"We'll sell you this amazing turnip twaddler for $29.95! But wait! There's more! We'll throw in this tomato musher ABSOLUTELY FREE! Now how much would you pay?"
by bikergeek November 6, 2012
A low-level computer operator or systems administrator. So named for one of the customary duties of such a position, which was to start backups manually from the command line, switch tapes as needed, and monitor the backup for successful completion.
Storage Area Networks, RAID arrays, tape jukeboxes, and the like have largely rendered such jobs obsolete.
Storage Area Networks, RAID arrays, tape jukeboxes, and the like have largely rendered such jobs obsolete.
"I started out as a third-shift tape ape because I knew a few Unix commands and could use a shell prompt. Taught myself systems administration and programming while watching the tapes spin and now I'm a software developer."
by bikergeek April 19, 2013