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condom n.
1. The protective plastic bag that accompanies
3.5-inch microfloppy diskettes. Rarely, also used of (paper) disk
envelopes. Unlike the write protect tab, the condom (when left on)
not only impedes the practice of SEX but has also been shown
to have a high failure rate as drive mechanisms attempt to access
the disk -- and can even fatally frustrate insertion. 2. The
protective cladding on a light pipe. 3. `keyboard condom':
A flexible, transparent plastic cover for a keyboard, designed to
provide some protection against dust and programming fluid
without impeding typing. 4. `elephant condom': the plastic
shipping bags used inside cardboard boxes to protect hardware in
transit. 5. n. obs. A dummy directory /usr/tmp/sh, created
to foil the Great Worm by exploiting a portability bug in one
of its parts. So named in the title of a comp.risks article by
Gene Spafford during the Worm crisis, and again in the text of
"The Internet Worm Program: An Analysis", Purdue Technical
Report CSD-TR-823.
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