Shub-Internet
Shub-Internet: /shuhb' in't*r-net/ 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 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 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. 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
pinging shub-internet.ims.disa.mil. See also kremvax. - ESR]
[April 1999: shub-internet.ims.disa.mil is no more, alas. But
Shub-Internet lives o^$#$*^ - ESR]
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