Ballmer Peak

English Etymology en Q285048 2007 in his webcomic xkcd, after Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft from 2000–2014.https://web.archive.org/web/20230817162217/https://xkcd.com/323/ Randall Munroe Randall Munroe Ballmer Peak xkcd 1 October 2007https://www.dictionary.com/e/pop-culture/ballmer-peak/ Proper noun Ballmer Peak en Internet slang humorous A fictional level of drunkenness (originally stated to correspond with a BAC of 0.129–0.138%) said to confer one with superhuman programming ability. en Domo Scoreboard Request for A10 bonus uw.cs.cs241 https://groups.google.com/g/uw.cs.cs241/c/p9adIjxlnvI/m/tSHQiqjHcdUJ 13 November 2008 I think he's researching drug use and its relation with Ballmer's Peak. en krw Reflow soldering for dummies sci.electronics.design https://groups.google.com/g/sci.electronics.design/c/gGwrLVMNTZo/m/MVXKMkNgAwAJ 1 June 2016 If the programmers writing autonomous vehicle software are in the Ballmer peak, will they get charged with DWI? Kate Julian America Has a Drinking Problem https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/07/america-drinking-alone-problem/619017/ https://archive.ph/O7Pc2 8 November 2021 1 June 2021 At a talk he later gave on wu-wei at Google, Slingerland made much the same point about intoxication. During the Q&A, someone in the audience told him about the Ballmer Peak—the notion, named after the former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, that alcohol can affect programming ability. Drink a certain amount, and it gets better. Drink too much, and it goes to hell. Some programmers have been rumored to hook themselves up to alcohol-filled IV drips in hopes of hovering at the curve's apex for an extended time. References