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Why the overuse of the word hacking? I find it everywhere in situations where it just isn't appropriate. This particular example is an incredibly clever use of chemistry, not hacking. Imagine some chem oriented news site saying that programmers "synthesized" code.

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I hadn't realized that the word had suddenly gotten narrowed down!

I spent then 90's at MIT and was indoctrinated with the term there. It was used referred to any clever solution (no pun intended) or trick, and most especially one that thumbed its nose at authority:

http://hacks.mit.edu/Hacks/by_year/1994/cp_car/

I'll stand by my usage: this qualifies admirably on both counts.

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