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Wiktionary
blit

n. (context computing English) A logical operation in which a block of data is rapidly moved or copied in memory, most commonly used to animate two-dimensional graphics. vb. (context computing transitive English) To transfer by a blit operation.

Wikipedia
Blit

Blit can mean:

  • Bit blit (BITBLT), a computer operation in which two bitmap patterns are combined
  • Blit (computer terminal), a programmable bitmap graphics terminal
  • BLIT (short story), a short story by David Langford
Blit

Blit can mean:

Blit (computer terminal)

In computing, the Blit was a programmable bitmap graphics terminal designed by Rob Pike and Bart Locanthi Jr. of Bell Labs in 1982.

BLIT (short story)

BLIT (which stands for Berryman Logical Image Technique) is a short science-fiction story written by author David Langford. It features a setting where highly dangerous types of images called "basilisks" have been discovered; these images contain patterns within them that exploit flaws in the structure of the human mind to produce a lethal reaction, effectively " crashing" the mind the way a computer program crashes when given data that it fails to process.

Langford's later short story comp.basilisk FAQ, first published in Nature in December 1999, mentions William Gibson's Neuromancer (1984), Fred Hoyle's The Black Cloud (1957), J.B. Priestley's The Shapes of Sleep (1962), and Piers Anthony's Macroscope (1969) as containing a similar idea. Examples not mentioned include the short story White Cane 7.25 (1985) by Czech writer Ondřej Neff, A. E. van Vogt's War Against the Rull (1959), and John Barnes' Kaleidoscope Century (1996).

Authors Ken MacLeod and Greg Egan both acknowledge the idea with a specific reference to Langford--"the Langford hack" in The Cassini Division (1998) and "the Langford Mind-Erasing Fractal Basilisk" in Permutation City (1994). Charles Stross also refers to a type of magical ward known as the "Langford Death Parrot" in The Fuller Memorandum (2010) and "Basilisk attacks" with "Langford fractals" in Accelerando (2005).

The story has three sequels, What Happened at Cambridge IV, comp.basilisk FAQ, and Different Kinds of Darkness. The last story imagines a post-apocalyptic world where BLIT images are everywhere, and millions have already been murdered by terrorist attacks utilizing them. Television and the internet have been outlawed due to the proliferation of BLIT images. In order to protect children, special chips have been planted in their brains that creates a subjective and artificial darkness (which the children call "type-two darkness") to obscure any possible BLIT image they may inadvertently look at. The main characters, all school children, form the "Shudder Club", where they take turns looking at a BLIT image to see how long they last, inadvertently vaccinating themselves against them.

Usage examples of "blit".

The staff was returned to blitter mode and dipped lightly into the fog.

But I mean, you know, she didn’t, obviously, like I didn’t see that or anything, although I remember sort of dreaming about it before I Blitted, you know?

She caught the tail end of the last of these forms before the last vestiges of the Blit faded.