I just came across a parody of Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky that I was once very fond of, but hadn’t seen (or even thought about) for years. I’m pleased at how current it still seems.
I had photocopied this poem from a 1982 issue of Byte magazine, enlarged it and pasted it to posterboard. It graced my computer work area for many years, and now I don’t even recall what has happened to it.
If anyone has this 24-year old issue of Byte, I’d be eternally grateful for even a glimpse of that page.
Hmm…
Perhaps this would have gone over better in Cafe Society.
That is very good!
I wish I did have a 1982 copy of Byte. That was a good read back in the day…
jack stack is my dad. he passed in aug 2008. i have a copy of his datawocky poem with illustration. contact me and i will forward a copy
Quick! Someone try to get the word to bughunter that his poem has been found! When was he most recently active here. (The OP was 8 1/2 or so years ago.)
If Dr. Seuss Wrote Tehcnical Manuals
by Gene Ziegler, 1995.
Here’s an easy game to play.
Here’s an easy thing to say:
If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port,
And the bus is interrupted as a very last resort,
And the address of the memory makes your floppy disk abort,
Then the socket packet pocket has an error to report!
If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash,
And the double-clicking icon puts your window in the trash,
And your data is corrupted 'cause the index doesn't hash,
Then your situation's hopeless, and your system's gonna crash!
You can't say this?
What a shame sir!
We'll find you
Another game sir.
If the label on the cable on the table at your house,
Says the network is connected to the button on your mouse,
But your packets want to tunnel on another protocol,
That's repeatedly rejected by the printer down the hall,
And your screen is all distorted by the side effects of gauss
So your icons in the window are as wavy as a souse,
Then you may as well reboot and go out with a bang,
'Cause as sure as I'm a poet, the sucker's gonna hang!
When the copy of your floppy's getting sloppy on the disk,
And the microcode instructions cause unnecessary risc,
Then you have to flash your memory and you'll want to RAM your ROM.
Quickly turn off the computer and be sure to tell your mom!