shub-internet

Shub-Internet
 /shuhb' in'[email protected]/, n.

   [MUD: from H. P. Lovecraft's evil fictional deity Shub-Niggurath, the
   Black Goat with a Thousand Young] The harsh personification of the
   Internet: Beast of a Thousand Processes, Eater of Characters, Avatar
   of Line Noise, and Imp of Call Waiting; the hideous multi-tendriled
   entity formed of all the manifold connections of the net. A sect of
   MUDders worships Shub-Internet, sacrificing objects and praying for
   good connections. To no avail -- its purpose is malign and evil, and
   it is the cause of all network slowdown. Often heard as in "Freela
   casts a tac nuke at Shub-Internet for slowing her down." (A forged
   response often follows along the lines of: "Shub-Internet gulps down
   the tac nuke and burps happily.") Also cursed by users of the Web, FTP
   and telnet when the network lags. The dread name of Shub-Internet is
   seldom spoken aloud, as it is said that repeating it three times will
   cause the being to wake, deep within its lair beneath the Pentagon.
   Compare {Random Number God}.

   [January 1996: It develops that one of the computer administrators in
   the basement of the Pentagon read this entry and fell over laughing.
   As a result, you too can now poke Shub-Internet by {ping}ing
   shub-internet.ims.disa.mil. Compare {kremvax}. --ESR]

   [April 1999: shub-internet.ims.disa.mil is no more, alas. But
   Shub-Internet lives, and even has a home page. --ESR]
    

Shub-Internet

   /shuhb in't*r-net/ (MUD, from H. P. Lovecraft's evil fictional
   deity "Shub-Niggurath", the Black Goat with a Thousand Young)
   The harsh personification of the {Internet}, Beast of a
   Thousand Processes, Eater of Characters, Avatar of Line Noise,
   and Imp of Call Waiting; the hideous multi-tendriled entity
   formed of all the manifold connections of the net.  A sect of
   {MUD}ders worships Shub-Internet, sacrificing objects and
   praying for good connections.  To no avail - its purpose is
   malign and evil, and is the cause of all network slowdown.
   Often heard as in "Freela casts a tac nuke at Shub-Internet
   for slowing her down."  (A forged response often follows along
   the lines of: "Shub-Internet gulps down the tac nuke and burps
   happily.")  Also cursed by users of {FTP} and {telnet} when
   the system slows down.  The dread name of Shub-Internet is
   seldom spoken aloud, as it is said that repeating it three
   times will cause the being to wake, deep within its lair
   beneath the Pentagon.

   [{Jargon File}]

   (1994-11-04)