.

A L S O__T O D A Y Let's Get This Straight By Scott Rosenberg Intel's processor-I.D. gaffe shows how badly tech companies want to know who you are and where you live 21st Log Yahoo buys GeoCities -- pop-up ads and all   T A B L E__T A L K Desperately seeking technical support? Exchange tech questions and answers in the Digital Culture area of Table Talk - - - - - - - - - - R E C E N T L Y Glory among the geeks By Peter Wayner For serious programmers, contributing code to Linux pays off not in dollars but in respect (01/28/98) Microsoft has your number By Andrew Leonard Will Office's new registration scheme stop software pirates or hassle users? (01/27/98) Have my shoe talk to your refrigerator By Janelle Brown Neil Gershenfeld foresees a world in which computers get smart by infiltrating the physical world (01/26/98) Addicted to eBay By Stephanie Zacharek The auction site is the perfect place for Web users to get back in touch with the world of things and stuff (01/25/98) The unbearable realness of virtual being By Andrew Leonard "My Tiny Life" is the best book yet on the meaning of online life (01/22/99) - - - - - - - - - - BROWSE THE 21ST CHALLENGE ARCHIVES - - - - - - - - - - _______

- - - - - - - - - - - - B A C K G R O U N D On Jan. 7, Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson did something unexpected at the Microsoft antitrust trial over which he is presiding: He read into the record several humorous computer error messages -- messages written as haiku poems. What Judge Jackson did not know was that these much-forwarded gems originated here, as responses to a Salon 21st Challenge last year. Judge Jackson said his favorite one was Francis Heaney's submission: Out of memory. We wish to hold the whole sky, but we never will. - - - - - - - - - - - - T H E    C H A L L E N G E Think how much time and paper could be saved if legal briefs were limited to 17 syllables! With a haiku-friendly judge on the bench, now is the time to get started. Readers are challenged to submit up to three haiku-form legal arguments pertaining to the Microsoft antitrust trial. The haiku is a three-line poem in the 5-7-5 form (first line five syllables, second line seven, third line five). Below each poem, you may sign the brief, specifying whether you are writing on behalf of the government, Microsoft or are a friend of the court. - - - - - - - - - - - - R U L E S Send your submissions via e-mail only to salon21st@salonmagazine.com. Please include your full name and an accurate e-mail address so we can contact you if you're a winner. By submitting your entry you give Salon permission to publish it. Deadline for entries is Feb. 8, 1999. - - - - - - - - - - - - P R I Z E S The winning response this round will receive a copy of Salon technology correspondent Andrew Leonard's book, "Bots: the Origin of New Species." In two weeks we'll publish a winner and some selected entries -- then start over a couple weeks after that with a whole new challenge. SALON | Jan. 29, 1999 Charlie Varon is a humorist and playwright. His works include "Ralph Nader Is Missing" and "Rush Limbaugh in Night School." Jim Rosenau is a writer, editor and software designer in Berkeley, Calif. Jim and Charlie are also co-founders of the citizen group Californians for Earthquake Prevention and partners in Mockingbird Productions, which offers a full line of comic services.