[SIGCIS-Members] Is it a myth that David Letterman had a Top Ten List about the Pentium bug?

Andrew Meade McGee amm5ae at virginia.edu
Fri Aug 14 20:46:44 PDT 2020


I'd just like to add that this thread tickles me to no end in both its
geniality and its thoroughness. When humor meets citation-checking, it's
serious business indeed.

I can't speak as to whether the Pentium explicitly popped up in a Letterman
Top Ten list, Dr. Spertus, but I can suggest that the January 5th, 1995,
list you mentioned, "Top Ten Signs You Bought a Bad Computer," may include
an oblique reference specific to that time period.  Item "# 2" reads, "The
only chip inside is a Dorito."

I remember the above gag from an edited volume of Late Show lists I was
given.

Link from the Wayback Machine:
https://web.archive.org/web/20061207001549/http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/top_ten/archive/ls_topten_archive1995/ls_topten_archive_19950105.shtml
.

Best,
Andrew

On Fri, Aug 14, 2020 at 10:08 PM Paul Ivanov <pi at berkeley.edu> wrote:

>
> Ellen Spertus, on 2020-08-14 15:00,  wrote:
> > I remain skeptical, because of the information (and absence of
> > information) that I cite, but I think I should drop it if David
> > Patterson is adamant that it happened.It's not a matter of
> > great historic importance, just a minor curiosity.
>
> I think your scepticism is well placed, Ellen, and the Royal
> Society motto "Nullius in verba" ("Take nobody's word for it")
> certainly comes to mind.
>
> I took the liberty of contacting Don Giller, an authoritative
> Letterman archivist (see
> <
> https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/06/fashion/mens-style/david-letterman-late-show-don-giller.html>
>
> or
> <https://donzblog.home.blog/2019/09/26/my-letterman-databases/>
> ) and he categorically rejects the existence of a Pentium bug
> Top Ten list from the show.
>
> As nice of a story as it would have been to have floating point
> humour in the late night show cannon,  it seems that this one
> isn't true.
>
>
> Don Giller, on 2020-08-15 00:27,  wrote:
> > Hi, Paul,
> >
> > First, thanks for the twitter follow. Appreciated!
> >
> > Second, nope, no Top Ten List, ever.
> >
> > The only mention of the Pentium issue was during his monologue
> > on December 15, 1994:
> >
> > "You know, you know what you can do if you have any of those
> > defective Pentium computer chips? You know what I’m talking
> > about? If you have any of those defective Pentium computer
> > chips, get yourself some defective Pentium salsa, uhmm! I’m
> > telling you, unbelievable! Knock yourself out."
> >
> > Don
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > Sent: Fri, Aug 14, 2020 7:46 pm
> > Subject: Letterman Top 10 list about Pentium bug?
> >
> > Hi Don,
> >
> > There's a email thread on the SIGCIS list (Special Interest Group
> > for Computing, Information, and Society) that piqued my interest
> > that you might be in a position to shed some light on.
> >
> > To the best of your knowledge and databases, did David Letterman
> > ever have a top 10 list about the pentium bug? See the original
> > email attached, it seems like if it happened it was in late 1994
> > or early 1995.
> >
> >
> > If you're curious about what other people have said  - see the
> > "Is it a myth that David Letterman had a Top Ten List about the
> > Pentium bug?" thread on the list archives here:
> >
> http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/2020-August/thread.html
> >
> > best,
> > pi
>
> best,
> --
>                    _
>                   / \
>                 A*   \^   -
>              ,./   _.`\\ / \
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>            /  `"~,_     \    \
>      __o           ?
>    _ \<,_         /:\
> --(_)/-(_)----.../ | \
> --------------.......J
> Paul Ivanov
> https://pirsquared.org | GPG/PGP key id: 0x0F3E28F7
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