notable immane weird machines

universal physics (science n.): finding a single law that crosses the scales of a phenomenon. Rare?

paperwork pollution (econommics n.): great word for what bureaucracy does to a society; same kind of externality and maybe even worse in time terms.

delusion box (AI safety n.): self-modification allowing the system to systematically ignore / confabulate inputs.

weird machine (theoretical CS n.): a system which is Turing-complete when you wouldn't expect it / when no one intended it. e.g. Peano arithmetic, Magic the Gathering.

to bugsplat (US military v.): to murder by use of a drone.

screenshot-dunking (internet n.): to printscreen someone's online behaviour in order to mock them. In passing this spreads their message, of course. By analogy with the trial by ordeal of water. Twitter is of course a dunking machine by design.

homoglyph (code n.): character which looks almost exactly the same as a character with a different Unicode. Impressively awful security problem since they started allowing Unicode into URLs in 2003.

inside baseball (US n.): administrivia; boring insider gossip.

bofa (internet null): both of; dumb lead-in for "both of deez nuts!". This is good.

mooning (digital currency v.): to grow very fast.

glimflashy (arch. sl. adj.): angry, salty.

apple polisher (business pej. n.): yes-man; executive assistant; holder of a bullshit job. Great insult

Extremely Online (internet adj.): of the 26% of US adults who claim to be literally constantly online during waking hours.

hairdye NKVD (internet pej.): mean hyperbole for SJW. (My SJW friend calls their hair "alternative lifestyle coloration", in jest.)

Classpect (internet n.): a personality archetype in Homestuck. Very complicated and I don't get it.

plogging (internet v.): picking-litter-while-jogging. I'm sure it's a nice impulse under all the bs.

landrace (biology n.): domesticated local variety of a species that has changed greatly due to isolation from other populations.

on the edge (cloud computing adj.): located on the exit node of a network; buzzword meaning "fastest".

seeding trial (US pharma): marketing conducted in the name of research; bribe paid to doctors in the guise of a bonus for enrolling patients in a "trial".

immane (arch adj.): huge, monstrous

chulaka (??? n.): Used by Jonathan Meades and no-one else. Possibly "handful of water" in Hindi.

QAnon (internet n.): a dumb, possibly insincere 4chan conspiracy about Trump and Hillary and whatever. See also The Storm, The Great Awakening.

Sand-Grown ‘Un (Northern n.): person from Blackpool or the wider Fylde.

Third wave of coffee (internet n.): Ridiculous word for the current artisanal fad.

online programme managers (OPMs): weird word for online universities / MOOC slingers like Coursera.

N.B.G. (UK military arch. adj.): No bloody good

lascar (UK arch. n.): sailor from the Subcontinent.

jacktar (Brit military n.): sailor in the Royal Navy

gopwo (WWII Brit military n.): Grossly Over-Promoted Warrant Officer. Memes are so old.

indefinite pessimism (grand cultural n.): used by Thiel to mean general malaise; complaining not about particular problems or systems but hunching down and awaiting something awful passively. He thinks Europe is like this now, I'm not sure. Compare Permanent agnosticism.

labour hoarding (economics n.): in which a company does not lay off employees when it otherwise would (e.g. recession). Reduces profitability but guarantees skills will be available (not available to competitors) when growth resumes.