YES THIS IS EXACTLY IT and why I love them SO SO SO MUCH, they look so complicated but they're so easy to do you feel like a goddamn superhero. You don't actually need a special cable needle, either -- anything solid that will hold the stitches is fine (I use an extra smaller dpn when I'm doing cabled socks, for example).

Yeah, that's what I meant about dating really killing Snow Crash -- Diane Duane has a more modern version of the Second Life/VR Omniverse concept in Omnitopia Dawn from 2010.