progamer124's definitions

LD50

Lethal Dose, 50%. Refers to the dosage of a given drug required to kill 50% of a test population. The LD50 is usually measured in units of mass of drug per units of body mass; for example, mg/kg. This type of measurement is used to help ensure that the size of the specimen has no effect on the dosage measurement, as a large specimen can generally take a larger dose of a toxin without fatal effects. The measure is often known colloquially as the "semilethal dose;" while it may not always be lethal to a given subject, it will be lethal around half the time.

The LD50 for nicotine in rats is around 50 mg/kg, but it is only 3 mg/kg in mice. What's the LD50 for humans, you ask? Well, if you're willing to participate in the experiment to find out, go buy some cigarettes and knock yourself out (literally).

by progamer124 May 16, 2004

socialite

Someone who has money and doesn't work, instead devoting his/her life to being "socially active." Socialites go to parties, gather media attention, and essentially "work" at being popular. This often comes at the expense of any meaningful contribution to society or culture (outside of catchphrases-that-aren't-really-catchphrases, like Paris Hilton's "That's Hot").

Paris Hilton is a classic example of a socialite.

by progamer124 January 3, 2005

blackhat

n. (Hacker Lingo) Hacker who uses his or her skills for malicious purposes and/or personal gain. Defacing websites, writing viruses, stealing personal information, and booting people off chat programs are all considered blackhat activities.

The blackhat is loathed by many in the hacker culture, who prefer the chivalrous vigilanteism of the whitehat to the blackhat's destructive and selfish tendencies. However, blackhats generally do deserve respect for their remarkable abilities - the exception of course being the script kiddie.

by progamer124 February 5, 2004

gizka

Small, froglike creatures seen in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Because of their unbelievable reproductive rate, gizka are often thought of as pests; as few as two gizka will easily fill a warehouse in a month's time, and are therefore almost impossible to get rid of. The most effective method is to use a poison designed specifically for them. The most common brand causes the gizka to attack each other, infecting the rest of the population through their attacks.

Gizka may be pests to most, but some enjoy them as pets - assuming, of course, that they only have one of them.

by progamer124 March 30, 2004

sporkeh

AKA sp0rkeh.
A computer virus that masquerades as a hack for the game Counter-Strike, often used by members of myg0t. Among other things, Sporkeh changes window text to a l33t derivative of "sporkeh owns you," switches screen relolution to 640x480, switches right-click and left-click on your mouse, slows the mouse cursor to a crawl, and prevents any EXE files from being run.

See www.pwned.nl for an example.

by progamer124 April 13, 2005

whitehats

n.(Hacker Lingo) One who hacks to find system loopholes, then uses that information to secure the system. Hackers employed with security firms, as well as hacker "watchdog" groups, would be considered whitehats.

Though whitehats have the best of intentions, their effors are often rewarded with lawsuits and criminal charges.

by progamer124 February 5, 2004

slashdot effect

A.K.A. Slashdotting, Slashdotted, etc.

Refers to the effect a Slashdot post has on a website. Because of slashdot's gigantic audience, any link placed there quickly goes down; very few sites can handle such huge traffic coming to their site.

Though the slashdot effect is similar to a denial of service, most webmasters don't mind the huge publicity and traffic to their site.

by progamer124 May 12, 2004