HAIKU ERROR MESSAGES


From a contest sponsored by online Salon Magazine (2/10/98 except "anonymous" items were taken from an email not attributed to Salon): Honorable Mentions

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

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

ABORTED effort:
Close all that you have worked on.
You ask way too much.

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

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

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

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

Having been erased,
The document you're seeking
Must now be retyped.
          — Anonymous

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stay the patient course
Of little worth is your ire
The network is down
          — Anonymous

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

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

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

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

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

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

Three things are certain:
Death, taxes, and lost data.
Guess which has occurred.
          — Anonymous

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

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

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

With searching comes loss
and the presence of absence:
+ACIMy Novel+ACInot found.
          — Anonymous

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

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