fat electrons

fat electrons

(electronics, humour)Old-time hacker David Cargill's theoryon the cause of computer glitches. Your typical electricitycompany draws its line current out of the big generators witha pair of coil taps located near the top of the dynamo. Whenthe normal tap brushes get dirty, they take them off line toclean them up, and use special auxiliary taps on the *bottom*of the coil. Now, this is a problem, because when they dothat they get not ordinary or "thin" electrons, but the fatsloppy electrons that are heavier and so settle to the bottomof the generator. These flow down ordinary wires just fine,but when they have to turn a sharp corner (as in anintegrated-circuit via), they're apt to get stuck. This iswhat causes computer glitches.

[Obviously, fat electrons must gain mass by bogon absorption- ESR]

Compare bogon, magic smoke.