Cell phones, iPods, big-screen TVs and other technology. Politics. Global warming. Family life. Pop culture. Business.

Those seem to be the things that stand out about the 21st century, as we are less than a decade into it — at least as far as making fun of it is concerned.

Those were major themes in our second annual St. Patrick's Day Limerick Contest, which asked for limericks on "Life in the 21st Century." Our readers seemed to take great joy in poking fun at the twists and turns the century has offered so far.

We received lots and lots of entries from all over the state, and even some from out of state. Picking winners was tough. But our judges were impressed by both the ideas and the clever spin our finalists put on things.

Limericks are an old form of poetry. Some historians trace them back to nursery rhymes of the Middle Ages; others say they became popular with soldiers returning to the Irish town of Limerick from France in the 1700s. Shakespeare used them in his works. They received a boost of popularity from Edward Lear in his 1846 "Book of Nonsense."

So, it was fun to see how the old, lilting rhyme can still work with modern times and subjects.

Our first-place winner, Glen Sherwood, receives a $30 gift certificate to Archibald's Restaurant at Gardner Village. Second-place winner, Gay Mitchell, receives a coffee-table book on Ireland. Third-place winner, Shaneen Cloward, gets a CD of Irish music. To fourth-place winner Clair Elmont goes a box of "green stuff," including spinach pasta and green Jell-O. And our fifth-place winner, Don Milne, gets a decorate-it-yourself Irish-green T-shirt.

Our thanks to all who participated. We hope you enjoy these limericks, too.

1ST PLACE

My computer just went on the blink
And my printer it ran out of ink,
With my pencil in hand
I'll write Limericks Grand
But to do that, I still have to think.
— Glen Sherwood, Riverton

2ND PLACE

Joe picked fruit on a ladder quite tall.
He said, "Ring 911 if I fall."
His granddaughter, Jill,
Said, "Grandpa, I will,
If you'll tell me the number to call."
— Gay Mitchell, Salt Lake City

3RD PLACE

There once was a girl name Jo
She wanted to find a new beau.
Her true love she met
While surfing the net