To print this page, select "Print" from the File menu of your browser salon.com > Technology Feb. 26, 2000 URL: http://www.salon.com/tech/chal/2000/02/26/challenge_31 21st Challenge No. 31 Shall I compare thee to a transistor? Shakespearean odes to technology. - - - - - - - - - - - - By Charlie Varon and Jim Rosenau If Shakespeare were to rise from the dead and be plunked down in, say, San Jose next week, what would he write? Dramas of Silicon Valley intrigue, no doubt -- but also poetry. Readers are invited to create up to three rhyming couplets of iambic pentameter that celebrate a modern appliance, convenience or contrivance. A couplet is two lines of poetry; iambic pentameter is a metric scheme in which each line consists of 10 syllables in five "feet" -- primarily iambs (an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one), though occasional variations may be introduced. E X A M P L E The milk, the bread, the yams wrapped tight in foil/All kept from spoiling by your wondrous coils. R U L E S Send your submissions via e-mail only to salon21st@salon.com. Please include your full name and an accurate e-mail address so we can contact you if you're a winner. By submitting your entry you give Salon Technology permission to publish it. Deadline for entries is March 6, 2000. P R I Z E S The winning response will receive a copy of Salon Technology senior correspondent Andrew Leonard's book, "Bots: The Origin of New Species." In two weeks we'll publish a winner and some selected entries -- then start over a couple of weeks after that with a whole new challenge. salon.com | Feb. 26, 2000   - - - - - - - - - - - - About the writers 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 citizens group Californians for Earthquake Prevention and partners in Mockingbird Media, which offers a full line of comic services.