:bixie: /bik'see/ /n./ Variant {emoticon}s used on BIX
(the Byte Information eXchange). The {smiley} bixie is <@_@>,
apparently intending to represent two cartoon eyes and a mouth. A
few others have been reported.

:black art: /n./ A collection of arcane, unpublished, and (by
implication) mostly ad-hoc techniques developed for a particular
application or systems area (compare {black magic}). VLSI
design and compiler code optimization were (in their beginnings)
considered classic examples of black art; as theory developed they
became {deep magic}, and once standard textbooks had been
written, became merely {heavy wizardry}. The huge proliferation
of formal and informal channels for spreading around new
computer-related technologies during the last twenty years has made
both the term `black art' and what it describes less common than
formerly. See also {voodoo programming}.

:black hole: /n./ What a piece of email or netnews has fallen
into if it disappears mysteriously between its origin and
destination sites (that is, without returning a {bounce
message}). "I think there's a black hole at foovax!" conveys
suspicion that site foovax has been dropping a lot of stuff on
the floor lately (see {drop on the floor}). The implied
metaphor of email as interstellar travel is interesting in itself.
Compare {bit bucket}.

:black magic: /n./ A technique that works, though nobody really
understands why. More obscure than {voodoo programming}, which
may be done by cookbook. Compare also {black art}, {deep