SPRINGFIELD -- Slashdot recently reported on Homer Simpson's brain "upgrade"
to an Intel CPU. Intel hails the CPU transplant as the "World's Greatest
Technological Achievement". Intel originally planned to install Microsoft
Windows CE (Cerebrum Enhanced) on Homer's new PentiumBrain II processor.
However, due to delays in releasing Windows CE, Intel decided to install
DebianBrain Linux, the new Linux port for brains.
Computer industry pundits applaud the last minute switch from Windows to
Linux. One said, "I was a bit concerned for Homer. With Windows CE, I could
easily imagine Homer slipping into an infinite loop: "General Protection
Fault. D'oh! D'oh! D'oh! D'oh..." Or, at the worst, the Blue Screen of
Death could have become much more than a joke."
Some pundits are more concerned about the quality of the Intel CPU. "Linux
is certainly an improvement over Windows. But since it's running on a
PentiumBrain chip, all bets are off. What if the chip miscalculates the core
temperature of the power plant where Homer works? I can just imagine the
story on the evening news: 'Springfield was obliterated into countless
subatomic particles yesterday because Homer J. Simpson, power plant
button-pusher, accidentally set the core temperature to 149.992322340948290
instead of 150...' If anything, an Alpha chip running Linux should have been
used for Homer's new brain."
