Q: Why didn’t you include [term]?
A: There are three reasons that happens: 1) I haven’t heard of it, 2) I consider it off-topic or too obscure to have its own entry, or 3) I take it for granted, hence haven’t thought to mention it. Every so often, I discover that I’ve lost my grip on some bedrock concept that I haven’t dealt with since school, inspiring me to rescue it from category 3) neglect.
Q: You got something wrong. How can I set you straight?
A: I’m not a bit surprised. I humbly welcome corrections submitted to ee@eeterms.com.
Caveat: If an E-mail wounds my tender feelings with abuse or scathing sarcasm, I’m almost certain to delete it without reading further. You might get around this by couching your attack in witty, amusing prose, but if that’s really your thing, why not go to YouTube and bash the people who post comments about music videos? I mean, have you ever tried to read those comments? Wow.
Q: Why don’t you have a public-comment forum?
A: For more or less the same reason I don’t pound carpet tacks into my forehead.
Q: What about social media links?
A: Social media has become a cesspool of vitriol, posturing, delusions, and deceit. The occasional funny quip or cute image is poor recompense. Unplug. You’ll have more time for the people and things that matter.
Q: Why doesn’t this site have a search capability?
A: Because I’m not an especially good Web developer. Also, no one is paying me for this. Maybe someday.
Q: You know, Google offers a free search engine service --
A: Google has quite enough online clout already.
Q: 1998 called. It wants its Web site design back.
A: That’s not a question, but I concede the point. As I said on the intro page, this site is hand-coded. I use a text editor, not some frou-frou development platform or CMS that does most of the work for you. No frames, no ads, no interactive content apart from one or two completely optional bits of JavaScript that won’t hold the page hostage if your browser blocks scripts. You say dull and outdated, I say minimalist and retro – and, more to the point, functional.
For a reasoned argument on this very subject, have a look at this.
Q: Your browser-safe colors are ugly.
A: Uh. You got me there. Which hues would you suggest? Seriously. I’m not color-blind, just color-insensitive.
Q: Lots of your definitions talk about malware. I mean lots. I ran a search of your site and found [redacted] separate links to the malware definition, not counting the one I bet you’re going to add to this question if you post it. So are you paranoid or something?
A: What did you use to do this so-called search?
Q: Typographers are very clear that you should use just one space, not two, between sentences. Why do you persist in using two, like some sad dinosaur hunched over a Selectric with a bottle of Wite-Out®?
A: Yeah... just between you and me, don’t they seem kind of, well, twitchy about that?
If they had evidence that the one-space style was in some way superior, I would at least listen. They don’t. They merely assert that two-space text is ugly, one-space text is more aesthetically pleasing, and typographers have all agreed on that.
And that’s where I have them. Aesthetics is, inescapably, a matter of opinion. Need I repeat what my drill sergeant said about opinions?
No, I need not. My site. Two spaces.
Q: You make up these questions yourself, don’t you?
A: Maybe.
Q: Isn’t this whole thing just one of those vanity sites?
A: Not at all. In a 2010 blog post, back before he had gone all the way over the edge, Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams provided the perfect word for what this site is: exobrain, an external supplement to one’s own knowledge and cognitive abilities. We’ve been making exobrains for ourselves since before recorded history, so I don’t know whether or not he originated the term, but that’s a great word.
Q: What did your drill sergeant say about opinions?
A: Oh, all right. “Opinions are like assholes – everybody’s got one.” The unspoken but abundantly clear message being, “There’s nothing special about yours. Keep it zipped.”
Q: Why don’t you give your name?
A: I’m trying not to be seen. If they can’t see you, they can’t get you.
Q: But of course they can still hear you.
A: Well said.
Q: You talk about skipping topics that are “too obscure”, but then you have an entry for Fried coherence length?
A: Have I mentioned nobody is paying me for this?
At the time I added that, I thought it was something I ought to know about. Admittedly, it hasn’t come up much. But I keep remembering Bob Lucky’s thoughts on multiflurging.
Q: What are the funky old drawings on the home page?
A: I like the look of antique tech. It’s made with steel, iron, brass, copper, glass, and finished hardwood – heavy, solid, and built to last. In no particular order, the inventions shown are the Babbage difference engine, a telegraph, an RF spark coil, a Gramme dynamo, and Bell’s telephone transmitter.
Q: Okay, but why the red lines and squiggles between the drawings?
A: Band pass filter. It’s allegorical. You get it, right?