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Results of the Salon magazine challenge to come up with 
computer error messages in haiku form: 
  
WINNERS 
 Three things are certain: 
 Death, taxes, and lost data. 
 Guess which has occurred. 
-- David Dixon 

 Everything is gone; 
 Your life's work has been destroyed. 
 Squeeze trigger (yes/no)? 
-- David Carlson 

HONORABLE MENTIONS: 
 I'm sorry, there's -- um -- 
 insufficient -- what's-it-called? 
 The term eludes me ... 
-- Owen Mathews 

 Windows NT crashed. 
 I am the Blue Screen of Death. 
 No one hears your screams. 
-- Peter Rothman 

 Seeing my great fault 
 Through darkening blue windows 
 I begin again 
-- Chris Walsh 

 The code was willing, 
 It considered your request, 
 But the chips were weak. 
-- Barry L. Brumitt 

 Printer not ready. 
 Could be a fatal error. 
 Have a pen handy? 
-- Pat Davis 

 A file that big? 
 It might be very useful. 
 But now it is gone. 
-- David J. Liszewski 

 Errors have occurred. 
 We won't tell you where or why. 
 Lazy programmers. 
-- Charlie Gibbs 

 Server's poor response 
 Not quick enough for browser. 
 Timed out, plum blossom. 
-- Rik Jespersen 

 Chaos reigns within. 
 Reflect, repent, and reboot. 
 Order shall return. 
-- Suzie Wagner 

 Login incorrect. 
 Only perfect spellers may 
 enter this system. 
-- Jason Axley 

 This site has been moved. 
 We'd tell you where, but then we'd 
 have to delete you. 
-- Charles Matthews 

 wind catches lily 
 scatt'ring petals to the wind: 
 segmentation fault 
-- Nick Sweeney 

 ABORTED effort: 
 Close all that you have. 
 You ask way too much. 
-- Mike Hagler 

 First snow, then silence. 
 This thousand dollar screen dies 
 so beautifully. 
-- Simon Firth 

 With searching comes loss 
 and the presence of absence: 
 "My Novel" not found. 
-- Howard Korder 

 The Tao that is seen 
 Is not the true Tao, until 
 You bring fresh toner. 
-- Bill Torcaso 

 The Web site you seek 
 cannot be located but 
 endless others exist 
-- Joy Rothke 

 Stay the patient course 
 Of little worth is your ire 
 The network is down 
-- David Ansel 

 A crash reduces 
 your expensive computer 
 to a simple stone. 
-- James Lopez 

 There is a chasm 
 of carbon and silicon 
 the software can't bridge 
-- Rahul Sonnad 

 Yesterday it worked 
 Today it is not working 
 Windows is like that 
-- Margaret Segall 

 To have no errors 
 Would be life without meaning 
 No struggle, no joy 
-- Brian M. Porter 

 You step in the stream, 
 but the water has moved on. 
 This page is not here. 
-- Cass Whittington 

 No keyboard present 
 Hit F1 to continue 
 Zen engineering? 
-- Jim Griffith 

 Hal, open the file 
 Hal, open the damn file, Hal 
 open the, please Hal 
-- Jennifer Jo Lane 

 Out of memory. 
 We wish to hold the whole sky, 
 But we never will. 
-- Francis Heaney 

 Having been erased, 
 The document you're seeking 
 Must now be retyped. 
-- Judy Birmingham 

 The ten thousand things 
 How long do any persist? 
 Netscape, too, has gone. 
-- Jason Willoughby 

 Rather than a beep 
 Or a rude error message, 
 These words: "File not found." 
-- Len Dvorkin 

 Serious error. 
 All shortcuts have disappeared. 
 Screen. Mind. Both are blank. 
-- Ian Hughes