Punchline? Who Needs a Stinkin' Punchline? Now It's Your Turn

Sorry, I don't have a punchline yet, but these news items are just to good to pass up. In fact, they're probably begging for the likes of Stephen Colbert or Jon Stewart, but alas their comedy writers are on strike. Or maybe you can supply the punchlines. So here we go....

In the news, the Hormel Institute, a medical research unit of the University of Minnesota, has bought an IBM Blue Gene, supposedly the world’s most powerful supercomputer. While the the supercomputer will ostensibly be used for leading-edge cancer research, can you just imagine how much spam it could put out. (Get it? Hormel is the maker of Spam, a semi-food referred to as "luncheon meat" and the main reason I became a vegan for a while. And spam, of course, is unsolicited bulk e-mail sent out by computers, not unlike Blue Gene.) Okay, there's a punchline in there some place.

Or how about this one....

Microsoft has been heavily promoting on TV Sync, its in-car communications and entertainment system for hands-free activation and control over cell phones and digital music players. But somehow, the reputation Microsoft has for products that "crash" isn't something I find comforting when driving a car. (Software crash. Car crash. Get it?)

By now you understand why I write for Dr. Dobb's, and not Jay Leno or Jerry Seinfeld. So it's your turn. Finish the jokes. The best punchline for Spam and the best one for Sync will get a Dr. Dobb's T-shirt.

-- Jonathan Erickson
jerickson@ddj.com

Posted by Jon Erickson at 10:23 AM  Permalink