LowComDom Acquires Da Joke List
September 15, 1995 - Alviso California
LowComDom Performances announced today that it will acquire Da Joke List from Fred Barling, a Silicon Valley Product Support Geek, and U.S. Presidential candidate. The announcement was made by LowComDom Founder and President Biff Pondwater in a local brew pub.
Da Joke List began during Barling's days at Adobe Systems Inc. Technical Support department. What started as a small list of co-workers in need of a daily laugh has since become an internationally distributed Internet service.
The exact terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but Barling was heard to say, "I haven't seen this much free money since that Adobe-Aldus merger thing! I'm set with burritos for life!" Barling will become LowComDom's Vice-President in Charge of Research and Silliness.
Barling's Gag-O-Matic Joke Server containing Da Joke List will be transferred to LowComDom "as soon as their check clears," according to Barling who estimated a start date of Oct. 1. Internet users who wish to join Da Joke List should send e-mail to info@lowcomdom.com. Current members of the list will continue to receive the daily laughs.
LowComDom will also publish a WWW (World Wide Wackiness) site on the Internet. No opening date for the WWW site was given.
LowComDom is currently funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The company will change business models and sell sponsorships on the WWW site. "We already have the U.S. Army signed for a new 'Be All We Say You Can Be' campaign," said Pondwater. Membership on Da Joke List will remain a free service.
LowComDom was founded in 1985 by Pondwater who found a bag of money behind a restaurant in San Francisco's "Little Italy" and used the money to stage his first performance. The rightful owners of the money sued Pondwater and settled out of court, agreeing to accept two of Pondwater's fingers in exchange for the cash. Pondwater went on to become a genius of Octal Mathematics.
Biff Pondwater, Founder and President, biff@lowcomdom.com
Fred Barling Vice-President in Charge of Research and Silliness, burritos@lowcomdom.com
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