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T A B L E__T A L K Open-source Unix users convene to share experiences, questions and advice in the Digital Culture area of Table Talk - - - - - - - - - - R E C E N T L Y The church of Amiga By Greg Lindsay Why do fans of the long-eclipsed computing platform keep the faith? (07/23/98) Let's Get This Straight By Scott Rosenberg Web "virgins" site proves you can fool some of the press some of the time PLUS: Sun's Jini -- front-page news? (07/22/98) Microsoft.orgy By Andrew Leonard When Microsoft started giving away free videoconferencing software, it didn't plan on hosting a global sex party (07/21/98) Let's Get This Straight By Scott Rosenberg How do you retract a story online? (07/17/98) A tangled Web for virgins site By Greg Lindsay New details cast doubt on the "Our First Time" story (07/17/98) - - - - - - - - - - BROWSE THE 21ST CHALLENGE ARCHIVES - - - - - - - - - - _______

BY CHARLIE VARON AND JIM ROSENAU Results of Challenge No. 11: The urge to merge - - - - - - - - - - - - J U D G E S'__C O M M E N T S When it comes to mergers and acquisitions, Salon readers are not to be outdone -- or self-censored. While Salon may not uphold the strictest family values when it comes to filtering submissions, your Challenge judges don't laugh at poo-poo jokes, either. Unless they're really clever. So one of those sneaked through. Thanks to Jon Delfin, we also learned that many of the funniest submissions (like: Xerox+Wurlitzer=reproductive organs) have been around the Net since Gates knows when. Later Guys! = (Purolator + The Good Guys) - - - - - - - - - - - - W I N N E R Disney + InfoSeek = DisInfoseek -- James S. Baughn - - - - - - - - - - - - H O N O R A B L E__M E N T I O N S Viacom + ConAgra = Viagra -- Bruce Martineau WorldCom + Time-Warner + 3M = WorldWar3 --Julie Frum MCI + Arm & Hammer = MCI Hammer -- Neil Kandalgaonkar Morton Thiokol + Bröderbund = Moribund -- Kevin Best Stop & Shop + A&P = Stop & P -- Ken Meehan Intel + Wonder Bread = Inbread -- Ken Carpenter Lockheed Martin + New York Stock Exchange + Crate & Barrel = Lock Stock & Barrel -- Samuel Goldstein Oklahoma Texas Longhorn Association + Corel Corp. = OK Corel -- Randy Brown Intel + Chernobyl Seafood Packing = Fission Chips -- Ewan Perrin Lucent + J Crew = Luce Crew [you have to say it] -- Paul May Cisco Systems + Kidder Peabody = Cisco Kid -- Francis and Suzanne Volpe Morton Salt + Dr. Pepper = Salt 'n' Pepper -- Andrea Toback McDonald's + AMD = McDAMD -- Tim Bigham Any + Microsoft = Microsoft -- Bob McLatchie Hitachi + the Philadelphia Phillies = Tachi-Philly -- Robert Murphy Thanks for your submissions -- and check back in two weeks for the next Salon 21st Challenge. SALON | July 24, 1998 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.