Editor's Note

past issue

Santa (almost) Breaks the Net

by Jeff Liebermann

The night before Christmas
the office was closed,
and I work my tail off
while others get hosed.

The printers were silent,
the screens did not glow.
All status was normal,
and things were quite slow.

But, then came a ringing
a far network link.
It must be a hacker,
I've got him, I think.

I rush to the map book,
For this is my goal.
It looks like the modem,
from near the North Pole.

I found the connection
Where everything met.
There's someone called Santa,
at North-Pole dot NET.

This cannot be happening
They'll throw him in jail.
while Santa was posting
for help with his mail.

He seemed in a panic,
his words were all flames.
His sendmail was breaking,
on 5 billion names.

Now Santa sends email,
no cards to be tossed.
And without the mailer,
all Christmas is lost.

"talk Santa" I typed,
I knew what was wrong!
But Santa had logged out,
I'd waited too long.

So Christmas did happen,
and we came so near,
to breaking the network,
but wait till next year...