On Bullet this morning a discussion insued starting with why marketting people are using the term “Blade” for computers which are not at all extremely thin with a sharp, cutting edge.

Anyway, during this kensei said that the use of the term “blade” mean the use of componets attached to a board via some sort of card bus instead of having discrete components on the board.

To me, this doesn’t really give the idea of blades.. it’s more like thin bits of silicon, chips off the block, or flakes. Thinking this further, the term “flake” for a silicon device is very apt and has symetry.

In pre-history and in the “stone age” flint (a form of quartz, silicon oxide) was knapped producing flint flakes which were then processed further to produce cutting blades, arrow heads etc. The cores were also used to make axes etc. Today, we use silicon in our technologies.. the silicon rather than the silicate age.

With this thought, maybe it would be better to name chips, flakes and the process of making them knapping instead of fabrication. Then you’d have flake manufacturing knapping plants! 🙂

Just idle thoughts..