Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Path: vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!emory!cs.utk.edu!martha.utcc.utk.edu!martha.utcc.utk.edu!dbd
From: dbd@martha.utcc.utk.edu (David DeLaney)
Subject: Re: What the smeg is a "KIBO"?
Message-ID: <1993Dec22.070200.3871@martha.utcc.utk.edu>
Sender: usenet@martha.utcc.utk.edu (USENET News System)
Organization: U. Tenn. Knoxville/Physics Dept.
References: <1993Dec22.045028.15630@scammell.ecos.tne.oz.au>
Date: Wed, 22 Dec 1993 07:02:00 GMT
Lines: 56

pcm@scammell.ecos.tne.oz.au (Peter) writes:
>Hi!
>I've seen the occasional reference to something called
>a "kibo".  What is it?  Is it an acronym?  Is it a
>reference to male genitalia?

He wishes...

>Thanks,
>- Peter.

From the draft (upcoming) Net.Legends FAQ:

Kibo (You're allowed.           --K.): Perhaps the single greatest hallmark of
genius is to do something blindingly obvious that noone else has ever done
before. James "Kibo" Parry, confronted with the vast reality of UseNet, decided
to begin `grep'ing his entire newsfeed for posts containing his middle monicker,
"kibo", in order to look them over and see if they were worth replying to. As a
result, any post mentioning kibo became suddenly apt to generate a followup from
the great one, or at least email from him. As his art was refined, he started
also grepping for "xvob" ("kibo" in rot13 encryption) and anti-grepping for
"ski boots", for obvious reasons. He has become a UseNet term, derived from this
activity: grepping your entire newsfeed is "kibozing", and one who does so is a
"kibozer" (or, depending on how you feel about them, a "kibozo"). I have
recently seen reference on alt.folklore.computers to an operating system
having to "kiboze its hard disk" to find files... He has his own newsgroup,
alt.religion.kibology, which is also his own religion (kibo is a genuine
net.god, along with tale and Shub-Internet (q.v.)) where odd posts happen
(including some regularly from John_-_Winston (q.v.)); he has an imitator,
xibo (q.v.); he has a dog, named Spot. He has said that if he had a
personalized license plate, it would say LCNSPLT. He has what is probably the
canonical example of a supremely warlordable .signature; however, he rarely
uses it, preferring the terse "        -- K.". Several other people have
adapted his newsgrep technique for purposes of their own, including Serdar
Argic (q.v.); Larry Wall, the creator of the language perl (who does it to
answer perl questions); and (reportedly - check the AFU FAQ on this) the
National Security Agency... If you have ever received email from kibo, your
official kibo number starts out as 1; if you have not received email from
anyone whose kibo number is < n, but have received email from someone whose
kibo # is n, then yours is n+1. Fractional kibo numbers are imposters (i.e.,
ted frank (q.v.)); kibo's own kibo number is 0. (A few others have kibo number
zero as well, earned in various ways.) His titles include "Great Leader" and
"He Who Greps"; discussions about kibo tend to attract his attention unless
specific precautions are taken (e.g.: Quibeau), and such precautions, in
general, don't last very long... kibo has no real "haunts" (that I know of)
other than his group and UseNet in general, but *does* read
alt.folklore.computers. Posts from kibo@world.std.com (James "Kibo" Parry).

Hope this clears up some of your confusion.

Dave "hi kibo!" DeLaney
-- 
David DeLaney: dbd@(utkux.utcc | panacea.phys | enigma.phys).utk.edu - collect
them all! Disclaimer: AFAIK, *nobody* speaks for U.T.Knoxville (consistently);
Thinking about this disclaimer (or about high energy theoretical particle  __
physics) may cause headaches. .sig virus: Vicki Robinson v2.24; Kibo #: -0 \/