1. Parity error is computer language for a piece of data that failed a validity test.
2. The choice of this date seems largely random, but an all night net-surfing session would certainly be more likely to occur on a Friday night.
3. Computer chips are fabricated chiefly from the element silicon.
4. Possibly refers to Internet Relay Chat (IRC), a chat area on the Internet with many different "channels" which act like party lines where people can meet.
5. People were known to disappear into IRC and totally lose contact with reality.
6. General Protection Fault, fatal error message returned by Microsoft (MS) Windows.
7. Like all numbers in this book, Josh uses either the base 16 (hexadecimal) or the base 2 (binary) system. The h denotes hexadecimal and the decimal equivalent of 100h is 256.
8. Refers to a "home page," or virtual presence, on the World Wide Web (WWW), a part of the Internet. 256 hits per hour shows that the site was very popular.
9. Refers to the state of Washington, where Microsoft, a large software company, was located.
10. An avatar is a graphical representation of a person or thing.
11. The analytical engine, although never built, is considered to have been the first idea for a modern computer.
12. surfer - a common term used to refer to those traveling the Internet
13. Josh is taking this journey virtually, and must be tired from typing a significant number of words.
14. Technical support is a term for help that is given to a person in regards to their computer.
15. A port number is an Internet convention for accessing different services on a machine. An IP address the numerical name for any Internet server. A server is any machine that can be accessed by another machine.
16. Nora is Josh's girlfriend. (Web only note to this note: She has dumped me this this was written.)
17. Coder is another way to say programmer.
18. A superuser is term used in conjunction with the Unix operating system to refer to the person who runs the machine and has access to everything on it.
19. Logging on is the term used to describe the process with which a user gains access to a computer.
20. Text in all capitals is interpreted on the Internet as shouting.
21. Newbie is a term used to describe a person new to computers and the Internet.
22. Host is another term for a server.
23. :-) is a type of a figure called a smiley. It is an Internet convention for showing a smile.
24. A Domain Name Server (DNS) is a type of server that lists every host on the Internet and its corresponding IP address.
25. "still have their accounts" - are still living
26. Josh names most of his monsters after computer viruses, and this is one of them.
27. "Crashing" is what happens when an error occurs that brings down the whole system and forces the user to reboot.
28. Herman Hollerith founded IBM.
29. Personal computer
30. Mozilla is the mascot and nickname of Netscape Navigator, a World Wide Web browser.
31. This must refer to Adrian King, who wrote computing books such as Inside Windows 95.
32. Josh's childhood church produced all of its publications with a typewriter.
33. Josh's grandfather uses his typewriter all of the time for letters, envelopes, etc.
34. Linux is a free variant of the Unix operating system for Intel x86 based computers.
35. VisiCalc was the first modern spreadsheet program for personal computers. A spreadsheet is a program with a large matrix of cells that are used to do accounting and math problems.
36. Intrared
37. Pogue is named after a virus.
38. Cupertino, CA is the location of the headquarters of Apple Computer.
39. 1000
40. Information Services personnel provide notoriously bad support for and management of corporate computer systems.
41. In the Unix operating system, files are given read and write permissions that prevent unauthorized use, modification, or deletion.
42. Marc Andreessen is the founder of Netscape.
43. The Unabomber was an anti-technology terrorist who committed repeated bombings over a period of 17 years before being caught in 1996. The quote on line 31 became the first line of a manifesto he had published in 1995 by 2 major newspapers.
44. Drive refers to the disk drives on computers.
45. Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML [pronounced vermul]) is a World Wide Web language for creating objects in virtual reality.
46. Yet another computer virus name.
47. McAfee is a company that makes a popular anti-virus program.
48. The Macintosh was a computer made by Apple Computer that was derided as being a machine for people who had no intelligence for most of its lifetime.
49. "Mouse" is obviously referring to the computer pointing device here, not the animal.
50. Unlike the Unix, DOS, or even to some extent Windows and OS/2 operating systems; the Macintosh OS had no sort of interface that allowed communicating with the computer via typing. All communication was done visually with the mouse.
51. Infectious code is another way to say virus. The Omicron virus has multiple variations and so Josh has it traveling in a pack.
52. Flip is an alternate name for one variant of the Omicron virus.
53. See Note 23. This is a frowning version.
54. A common derogatory term for Macintoshes.
55. A vast plain is the third drive of this circle because drive C is always the hard drive, which is perfectly flat in a computer.
56. Microsoft Works is a software package that comes installed on many new computers. It contains a word processor, spreadsheet, and other components combined into one. There are packages just like this from several other companies as well. They are all generally disliked by those in the computing industry for being knowingly underpowered compared to the stand-alone packages (i.e. Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel [spreadsheet]) from the same companies.
57. Office is a product from Microsoft which contains Word and Excel plus some supplementary software together for a reduced price. This would be the preferred alternative to a Works package.
58. 10
59. Paul Thompson of Cheverly, MD is Josh's father. For several years Josh was forced to use an obsolete old computer because his parents would not buy him a new one.
60. On Usenet newsgroups, the practice of quoting an entire 50 or so line article and then adding only one original line is a serious violation of Netiquette (the Internet's code of etiquette). Also, posting public messages to newsgroups which only say "me too" (usually done in response to a post offering a file of some sort) is considered very rude. The appropriate response is a private one, via e-mail directly back to the poster, thus bypassing the public newsgroup.
61. The appropriate way to deal with these violations is to send a polite e-mail message to the person explaining the correct procedures.
62. The practice of posting a message to dozens of newsgroups (which is not hard with most newsreaders) is another violation of netiquette and has been dubbed "Spamming." This explains the punishment. The "mysterious meat" is Spam.
63. This is a computer term for Read the F*%$#@& Manual.
64. Josh sees what he thinks are layers of different kinds of rock and calls the cliff sedimentary. In fact, the visual effect he sees is a product the alternation of hard disk platter, then emptiness, then hard disk platter, . . . that continues until there are 4 or 5 platters.
65. This is a computer virus name.
66. This almost certainly refers to a type of Internet security method called a firewall, which is designed to foil hackers. The symbolism is that the type of defense that hackers broke is used to guard them in hell.
67. This is a pun on the Unix operating system. The most common Unix environment is called the "C shell," and since most hacking is done via Unix in one way or another, this is yet another symbolic punishment.
68. Probably refers to Jason Garman, a computer nerd extraordinaire who was Josh's friend during high school.
69. Bill Gates, founder and CEO of Microsoft, has been largely criticized for monopolistic practices.
70. Bug is a term used in computing to describe an error or unexpected event in a program. Satan, therefore, is the largest "bug" of them all.
71. This is probably a corruption of the base 2 binary system, which is the basis of all modern computing.
72. This is certainly a reference to Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, the founders of Apple Computer, which was frequently criticized for preserving profit margins at the expense of market share.