Er, Teresa, that comment thread link doesn't go to Unqualified Offerings but to some site called Making Light....

This is the link you want.

Posted April 11, 2006 8:01 AM by Dave Langford

Hello, Dave, and a belated Happy Birthday to you. I just tracked down the problem, which was a missing equals sign. The link should work now.

Posted April 11, 2006 8:11 AM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Predicate-free self-referential expression of admiration.

Posted April 11, 2006 9:32 AM by Steve Eley

Expression of surprise that no one has thought of this before.

Posted April 11, 2006 9:38 AM by Fragano Ledgister

hillarious. that reminded me of this song by Davinci's Notebook.

Posted April 11, 2006 10:09 AM by cleek

I remember this from alt.callahans; it's called an existential argument.

Just to play along: Largely content-free reference to obscure baseball statistics orthogonal to original point asserted.

Posted April 11, 2006 10:13 AM by D.

It reminds me of Kuro5hin's "Confusingly titled meta story" from 2001.

Posted April 11, 2006 10:25 AM by Norman David Gerre

String of letters indicating much laughter, expressions of thanks for the link.

Posted April 11, 2006 10:33 AM by Sisuile

Point of information that it has been done before.

Posted April 11, 2006 10:35 AM by Grant Barrett

Reference to something similar that I am reminded of by this post.

Posted April 11, 2006 11:00 AM by Christopher Davis

O fishhead tree!
O fishhead tree!
How squamous are your branches!
They writhe!
They throb!
They vibrate so!
Just like the mob on Arsenio!
O fishhead tree!
O fishhead tree!
You adumbrate flanges!

Posted April 11, 2006 11:34 AM by hypochrismutreefuzz

Well, Grant - I see that the date stamp on your link is August 24, 2001.

Don't you know that 9/11 changed everything? Therefore, your link doesn't count.

Posted April 11, 2006 11:46 AM by Jim Henley

I am somehow reminded that one of the tracks on the original Woodstock album (various artists) was entitled "Rain Dance" and consisted of the audience making its own music in a deluge when nobody was game to go on stage. Since my memory is notoriously prone to slippage, this may not be true. But it ought to be.

Posted April 11, 2006 12:01 PM by Dave Luckett

To my mind, this is an established and efficient method of communication.

Posted April 11, 2006 12:29 PM by Benja Fallenstein

Dave, now that you've brought up 60s/70s music:

Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing Me Softly with his song...

A sad song about someone singing a sad song about someone, that seems like it could be about the singer singing the song (not the singer sung about), that seems like it could be about me (when I'm in a certain mood). It's also a song about how humiliating it can be when a cheap pop song pushes all your sentimental buttons, which is in itself a cheap pop song that pushes all your sentimental buttons. So it's self-referential along more than one axis. (Furthermore, it puts me in the position of being a man listening to a woman singing about listening to a man singing about a woman. Reflective symmetry?) Kind of a neat philosophical trick for a song I don't even particularly like.

That does it. Now I've got to write a book called "Goedel, Escher, Flack."

(It's also proving to be a fairly resilient earworm. Apologies to anyone I may have infected.)

Posted April 11, 2006 12:58 PM by HP

Quote of observation that it has been done before.

Dry agreement: additional examples linked cleverly within statement.

Posted April 11, 2006 1:05 PM by Leigh Butler

Metainformation. (Possibly even metaphor. Not to mention metonym.)

Posted April 11, 2006 2:14 PM by Charlie Stross

Obscure and longwinded commentary, beginning vaguely on-topic, but winding its way through linguistics, physics, and chemistry, eventually ending up as a seemingly endless list of integers having some odd property that the poster never explains, and that apparently is supposed to be obvious.

Posted April 11, 2006 2:34 PM by Xopher

Obligatory attempt to one-up previous links to other examples with one dated even earlier.

Posted April 11, 2006 2:48 PM by Ann

"Quote"

Lame pun.

Posted April 11, 2006 2:55 PM by Stefan Jones

entirely off-topic remark from poster who is unclere on teh comcpet of thredded coments deoide of punctuashun or capitollization and annoingly misspellede with added typoes for youre amusemnte

Posted April 11, 2006 3:00 PM by fidelio

Dsmvwlld cmmnt!!!

Posted April 11, 2006 3:13 PM by TChem

That does it. Now I've got to write a book called "Goedel, Escher, Flack."

"Google, Usenet, Blog -- an Unending Grammatic Blight" by Hogless Dufstadter

A ponderous and exceedingly self-referential examination of language, thought, communities, and knitting, told in the form of a flamewar between Achilles and the Tortoise over the true nature of Spam.

Posted April 11, 2006 3:27 PM by Jordin Kare

Oh, and of course,

Extremely vile pun.

Posted April 11, 2006 3:32 PM by Jordin Kare

Rueful correction of earlier post--it was called an Existential Flame War.

Admission of having too much time on hands; remark about future conversation with therapist; light chuckle at TChem's comment; enthusiastic non-sequiturization of the dominant paradigm; lunch.

Posted April 11, 2006 3:40 PM by D.

Takes offense at perceived lack of sensitivity displayed by all previous posters.

Posted April 11, 2006 3:41 PM by Laur[ence] Roberts

Comment about the mathematical properties of various permutations of the word "blog", when considered as a 32-bit integer, most significant bit first. This translates into the value 1651273575, which is not prime, but which has the prime factorization 3 x 5 x 5 x 7 x 3145283. The latter number of course resembles pi in a superficial way, but does not otherwise have any relationship to pi, or e, or any other irrational number.

Posted April 11, 2006 3:42 PM by Namedropper von Comment

This is just to comment

I have ignored
the content
that was in
the blog entry

and which
you were probably
hoping
was relevant

Forgive me
rewriting this poem is fun
so silly
and so pointless

Posted April 11, 2006 3:49 PM by abi

Expression of delight at the wittiness exhibited in various comments.

Posted April 11, 2006 3:53 PM by Christopher Davis

Cllng th mdrtrs "fscsts" bcse thy dsmvwlld my wrthwhl cmmnts.

Posted April 11, 2006 3:59 PM by TChem

entirely off-topic remark from poster who is unclere on teh comcpet of thredded coments deoide of punctuashun or capitollization and annoingly misspellede with added typoes for youre amusemnte

Observation that any sufficiently devolved spelling is indistinguishable from work by Geoffrey Chaucer (who hath a blog).

Posted April 11, 2006 4:19 PM by wrye

Request for help right now with a homework project on the phenomena of blogs and comment threads.

Posted April 11, 2006 4:21 PM by Sarah S

off-topic poster retrunss too expres dissmay that comet was ignored fales to undetstadn coment about chaucer and has snit

Posted April 11, 2006 4:24 PM by fidelio

Poster vanishes up own arse. Exeunt, stage left, in confusion.

Posted April 11, 2006 4:55 PM by Charlie Stross

me too

Posted April 11, 2006 6:07 PM by TexAnne

I was just coming down the pass to Keswick when the first Tornado passed me on the left.

Posted April 11, 2006 6:08 PM by Dave Bell

Needlessly posted out-loud worry that one has committed all of these laughable faux pas on other threads, followed by no apology but an unstated resolution to continue in the same way on subsequent threads.

Posted April 11, 2006 6:09 PM by candle

Sudden worry about the plural of faux pas coupled with unwillingness to look it up in a dictionary or on the web.

Posted April 11, 2006 6:10 PM by candle

Query as to current whereabouts of Namedropper von Comment

Posted April 11, 2006 6:17 PM by Jonathan Shaw

Pedantic remark about the correctness fo faux pas as a plural, including customary typo.

Posted April 11, 2006 6:18 PM by TexAnne

Insufficiently pedantic praise of pedanticism, with spurious British spelling.

Posted April 11, 2006 6:21 PM by abi

Irritated correction of spurious British spelling with unsubtle use of pedantry.

Posted April 11, 2006 6:22 PM by TexAnne

Meek retraction of pedantry, in sufficiently florid grammar to render the content of said retraction effectively moot.

(Subtle pun hidden inside, requiring knowledge of at least one dead language or moribund academic tradition to be comprehensible.)

Posted April 11, 2006 6:26 PM by abi

Previous comment in quotes.

Acronym for a physical reaction to something humorous one really never does in real life.

Posted April 11, 2006 6:42 PM by Stefan Jones

On-topic reply with digression in reference to a cat I once knew.

Posted April 11, 2006 7:08 PM by Patrick Connors

Post referring fans of Namedropper von Comment to comment #406 in Jim Henley's thread.

Posted April 11, 2006 7:09 PM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Rightwing drive-by attacking liberals for laziness, ad hominems, irrelevance, and statements above poster's head.

Posted April 11, 2006 7:23 PM by Fragano Ledgister

Request for homework assistance is answered with hilariously misleading misinformation.

Posted April 11, 2006 7:29 PM by joann

Witty sonnet by Mike Ford. Sonnets in response by Claude Muncey and Jim Macdonald. Retaliatory double dactyl by Virge and villanelle by Kevin Andrew Murphy. First riff on "This is just to say." Funny quatrain by Avram Grumer summarizing original post. Poem in pre-modern English by one of the regulars. Jo Walton weighs in, impressively, and thread goes into hyperdrive. Moderator declares it a game, starts keeping track.

Posted April 11, 2006 7:31 PM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Thanks from a site admin for the reference in post #7.

Posted April 11, 2006 7:33 PM by aphrael

Misplaced comment about particle.

Posted April 11, 2006 7:40 PM by Stefan Jones

You people have no inkling of the facts.
You people just don't see the situation.
You people sit alone and grind an ax.
You people start and bring your own damn nation.
You people sleep with partners made of straw.
You people'd unconvert old Johnny Knox.
You people sturmed the drang off Godwin's Law.
You people, get your hands out of your socks.
You people, by the merest act of saying,
"You people," spin the prop atop your beanie;
"You people" is your one-string banjo playing,
"You people" goes da capo senza fine.
Here sits a church, the browser is its steeple:
Open the tab, and see the typing people.

Posted April 11, 2006 8:19 PM by John M. Ford

Re D.'s reference to "lunch", long, complicated but delicious sounding recipe (with only one or two ingredients omitted).

Posted April 11, 2006 8:47 PM by AliceB

Post intended for previous entry.

Posted April 11, 2006 9:43 PM by Glenn Hauman

Post intended for long-abandoned thread.

Posted April 11, 2006 10:07 PM by Lizzy L

What astonishes me is that it took until #430 to get to Mornington Crescent.

Posted April 11, 2006 10:09 PM by elise

Post pointing out that it has been done before, while making reference to the good old days on the Internet.

Posted April 11, 2006 10:44 PM by Erik V. Olson

Idle speculation as to Namedropper von Comment being big-endian or little-endian, with a snarky assumption that from his comments one can just tell that he must use the Wrong Operating System.

OS snark is accompanied by an impugning of von Comment's parentage.

Posted April 11, 2006 11:23 PM by protected static

Politely sidelong comment from moderator about not making pinatas of persons long since banned.

Posted April 11, 2006 11:51 PM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

sheepish comment by latecomer, with apology for not being overly funny due to self deprecating excuse.

Posted April 12, 2006 12:17 AM by Greg London

Pathetic and late post by regular lurker to "join in". Now with added quotation marks...

Posted April 12, 2006 12:17 AM by marty

"in a snowstorm, uphill, both ways" post referencing ancient computer hardware.

Posted April 12, 2006 12:23 AM by Greg London

completely unrelated comment by frequent poster.

Posted April 12, 2006 12:24 AM by Greg London

apology by frequent poster confessing that recent post was put on the wrong thread.

Posted April 12, 2006 12:25 AM by Greg London

"I know I'm being pedantic here but" post invoking philosophical arguments to the meanings of several terms used by previous poster ending by proclaiming the previous poster is an idiot, for some definition of "idiot".

Posted April 12, 2006 12:30 AM by Greg London

flamewar ensues

Posted April 12, 2006 12:31 AM by Greg London

attempt by a third party to mediate ongoing flamewar which only reignites topics that had been previously buried and forgotten.

Posted April 12, 2006 12:32 AM by Greg London

original flamers flame mediator

Posted April 12, 2006 12:32 AM by Greg London

mediator drops off list.

Posted April 12, 2006 12:36 AM by Greg London

haiku is posted
which conveys some new insight,
rhymes with "Nantucket".

Posted April 12, 2006 12:41 AM by Greg London

picture of rabbit with a pancake on its head is posted.

Posted April 12, 2006 12:43 AM by Greg London

Diatribe about latest political situation, sparked by a coincidental similarity of newly elected politician's name to the poster in comment #47.

Posted April 12, 2006 1:04 AM by oliviacw

Reply to Elise, showing off Mornington Crescent/ISIHAC in-knowledge by sly dropping of phrases "in nid" and "double-platform loop".

Plays Definitions on "blog." Begins to sing One Song to the Tune of Another.

Posted April 12, 2006 1:44 AM by Kathy Li

Fawning and obsequious apology to moderator and list participants for transgression that apparently only occured in the poster's version of reality.

Posted April 12, 2006 1:55 AM by protected static

Post attributing controversial statement to incorrect commenter, followed by sharp attack on misidentified commenter's ability to reason clearly.

Posted April 12, 2006 2:10 AM by Larry Brennan

another lurker unlurks with nothing particularly interesting to say just to get in on the fun

Posted April 12, 2006 2:46 AM by Dawno

spam spam spam spam spammity spam, wonderful [abrupt deletion and adjustment to filters]

Posted April 12, 2006 3:28 AM by John M. Ford

Increasingly digressive tangential subthread among two or three posters.

Posted April 12, 2006 3:53 AM by Julie L.

Apologies for making needed correction. False claim of hating to rain on anyone's parade. Gleeful assertion that previous poster mispelled $PHRASE as $UTTERLY_DIFFERENT_PHRASE. Belligerent enquiry as to which part of $SOME_OTHER_PHRASE said poster finds so hard to understand. Hackneyed gibe concerning battle of wits and unarmed foe. Avoidance of responsibility by insertion of final smiley.

Posted April 12, 2006 3:58 AM by Dave Langford

Post with very little to say, merely agreeing with all previous posters, including those with contradictory positions.

Posted April 12, 2006 4:02 AM by Keir

Shake of head at one's own pathetic inability to come near the tremendous cleverness of all the other commenters.

Posted April 12, 2006 4:09 AM by David Goldfarb

Pleading for mental processes regarding pre-pubertals.

Posted April 12, 2006 5:00 AM by Therese Norén

Plaintive remark that I blogged this two weeks ago, in detail. Link to blog named after obscure part of human brain.

Posted April 12, 2006 5:21 AM by ajay

Blindingly erudite post in foreign language (German?). Reply in more obscure foreign language (ideally dead; Latin? Sumerian?). Learned chortle from third poster at unsuspected ambiguity in Sumerian post. Question about making replica clothes of obscure Oriental dynasty. Long conversation between at least four people who know all about said clothes and wear them in their spare time. Offer to sell mysterious item of clothing, nature unknown except to above four people. Parody of Dante. Reference to Early Church Father. Interjection about emergency medicine.

Posted April 12, 2006 5:27 AM by ajay

Long, bloodcurdlingly detailed advice from James D. Macdonald about what to do in event of some dire emergency (heart stops, house floods, leg falls off, children attacked by whale, etc.) Posters stunned into silence. Long, contemplative pause as commenters look thoughtfully at own houses, children, legs, etc. Timid, Piglet-like question. Terrifyingly learned and hope-destroying reply.

Posted April 12, 2006 5:31 AM by ajay

Sexist comment.
Complaint about censorship by feminazis.

Posted April 12, 2006 5:59 AM by Zarquon

Disemvowelling all around, followed by acerbic warning from TNH. Applause.

Posted April 12, 2006 6:21 AM by Lizzy L

ntntnlly dsmvwlld wtty cmmnt, whch ll Mkng Lght rglrs cn rd s qckly s rdnry prs, bt whch bffls ts trgts ntrly.

Posted April 12, 2006 6:41 AM by abi

Indignant post blaming the moderators for disemvowelling an innocent party.

Posted April 12, 2006 6:42 AM by abi

Orphan post appears after thread abandoned.

Posted April 12, 2006 6:48 AM by Fragano Ledgister

Incoherent exclamation!

Posted April 12, 2006 6:51 AM by Fiendish Writer

Politely snarky request that persons posting recipes please ensure that quantity of all ingredients are listed. Bemoans loss of last of last year's rhubarb, weeks before new crop availability.

Posted April 12, 2006 7:27 AM by JennR

Reference to mini-play starting ~25 minutes into episode 241 of This American Life.

Posted April 12, 2006 8:46 AM by Julie L.

Request for clarification of the differences between ingredients in different countries, leading to an exhaustive exposition of the relative properties of approximately equivalent substances.

Irrelevant anecdote about local equivalent substance of which a poster is fond/tried once in the reign of Queen Anne/is violently allergic to but still loves.

Posted April 12, 2006 9:00 AM by abi

Clueless request for unsubscription.

Posted April 12, 2006 9:11 AM by Avram

Profuse apology. Lame excuse. False promise that will never do this again. One of the missing ingredients for recipe with incoherent measurement. Apology.

Posted April 12, 2006 9:14 AM by AliceB

Rambling, dull, irrelevant anecdote about contributions to astronomical science being stifled by academic mafia.

Painful, unsuccessful attempt to relate anecdote to a previous irrelevant comment made three days ago and ignored for several hundred comments since.

Posted April 12, 2006 9:32 AM by Jp

Lame sock puppetry, attempting to attract attention to own previous post by posing as somebody else.

Posted April 12, 2006 9:34 AM by Not Jp

Multiple post.

Posted April 12, 2006 9:41 AM by theophylact

Multiple post with apology for first instance.

Posted April 12, 2006 9:47 AM by theophylact

Lurker thinks of something to say, but is too shy to post it.

Posted April 12, 2006 9:51 AM by Laur[ence] Roberts

Plaintive complaint about browser not displaying last 400 posts.

Posted April 12, 2006 9:54 AM by Janet Croft

Orthogonal and largely tone-deaf comment picking up on some obscure point upthread now all but forgotten by the other posters, now elaborated on at terrifying length. Ammended during Preview to make the phrasing more careful, but twice as tedious.

Posted April 12, 2006 10:03 AM by Dan Layman-Kennedy

Na ravtzngvp cbfg va ebg13 nccrnef.

Posted April 12, 2006 10:04 AM by protected static

Posts own version of recipe earlier posted by someone else, with all ingredients listed, including variants and with sentimntal recollections of previous occasions on which results of said recipe were consumed, as well as persons who had provided recipe to poster, in this and other versions.

Adds, disguised as casual afterthought, remark about remarkable achievement of offspring of sibling, both unknown to most posters and lurkers.

Posted April 12, 2006 10:11 AM by fidelio

Long list of individuals who died under mysterious circumstances and who have no more than four degrees of separation from well heeled individual. How can you deny this evidence?

Posted April 12, 2006 10:46 AM by Avery

Lame comment posted just to mark place where one left off reading, in tomorrow's Last 400 Comments.

Posted April 12, 2006 11:09 AM by Faren Miller

Reminder that some browsers may require you to press F11 twice to see all the comments, posted without thinking about the display glitch causing the people who need to see said comment being unable to do so.

Posted April 12, 2006 11:15 AM by Christopher Davis

Attempt to shanghai thread with long, incomprehensible argument designed to prove malfeasance of previous adminstration ending with poorly spelled insults at all other posters.

Posted April 12, 2006 11:23 AM by Shawn M Bilodeau

Irate posting about lack of responses to previous argument after an immediate refresh showed no additional postings. Intimations about other posters heritage, parentage, social skills and cliquishness.

Posted April 12, 2006 11:26 AM by Shawn M Bilodeau

Complaint about the glitch that causes long threads to go to a blank page with just ads, forcing one to click the back button.

Posted April 12, 2006 11:31 AM by Mary Aileen Buss

Helpful explanation that the blank page with ads is not a glitch, it is a feature.

Posted April 12, 2006 11:43 AM by Shawn M Bilodeau

Commiseration with blank page "feature" problems. Admonition to fellow readers to not talk so much.

Thanks to original recipe poster for corrections. Extended discussion of changes necessitated by loss of rhubarb and incompleteness of recipe.

Posted April 12, 2006 11:58 AM by JennR

Erfcbafr gb ravtzngvp EBG13 cbfg. \/46u3|y 1n5u|71n6 w1771(15m5 1n |3375p34k, pr35um48|y 1n 7h3 83|13f 7h47 n080dy 3|53 (4n r34d 17. 3rny v4fhy6f v4 38613yrr6 whf6 v4 pnfr.

Posted April 12, 2006 12:09 PM by Jules

Comment posted almost entirely for the sake of making a Buffy reference.

Posted April 12, 2006 12:41 PM by Dan Layman-Kennedy

Pointed comment noting that, given the language skills evident on this site, simply mixing ROT-13 and /33+ is insufficient to mask the real !/\/5u|7. Suggestion re: using an Aramaic translation cypher from ancient Celtic followed by 133+-ing the Enigma -engined output of said translation, just to make it a little bit of a challenge.

Posted April 12, 2006 1:05 PM by Shawn M Bilodeau

with syntax bizarre unpunctuated comprehensible and barely by non-native just psychotic or english speaker poster post

Posted April 12, 2006 1:26 PM by Xopher

poster same for apology english bad "syntax bizarre with" be should saying post

Posted April 12, 2006 1:29 PM by Xopher

Poster expresses deep and abiding fear of lobsters.

Posted April 12, 2006 1:34 PM by Charlie Stross

Heh. Indeed.

Posted April 12, 2006 1:40 PM by Glenn Reynolds or someone claiming to be him for amusement value

Mandatory Roomba tie-in comment.

Posted April 12, 2006 1:40 PM by Larry Brennan

Random rant about The Evils Of New York Publishers who do not recognise talent when they see it. Polite flame war explaining difference between employer's website and personal blog.

Posted April 12, 2006 1:57 PM by Julia Jones

Request for help identifying half-remembered story/movie/TV show seen once when poster was home sick at age 10.

Posted April 12, 2006 2:00 PM by TexAnne

Arcane string of semi-logical connections and deductive leaps constructed for the sheer joy of pointing out how all this relates to dinosaur sodomy.

Posted April 12, 2006 2:15 PM by Sarah S

Irrelevant post for the purpose of seeing one's name on a popular thread.

Posted April 12, 2006 2:20 PM by Magenta Griffith

Post ruefully noting that Sarah S beat me to the dinosaur sodomy link.

Posted April 12, 2006 2:22 PM by Stefan Jones

Seriously out-of-touch poster demads explanation of how dinosaurs, in combination with sodomy, could be either relevant or amusing to original topic.

Posted April 12, 2006 2:39 PM by fidelio

Urgent post with added emphasis, said urgency leading to effed-up html tag.

Posted April 12, 2006 2:55 PM by Michael Weholt

Inquiry as to whether a story lacking in dinosaurs can make up for it by removing some sodomy and adding lobsters. Includes comment that suggests (inaccurately) that poster had guessed correctly about Mr Stross's phobia.

Posted April 12, 2006 3:26 PM by Jules

Note that comment by "Glenn Reynolds or someone claiming to be him for amusement value" was posted by someone (cough cough) with an e-mail address at "NOSPAMyahoo.com"; suggestion that this must be an alternate-reality-based e-mail hosting service.

Posted April 12, 2006 3:30 PM by Jules

Nostalgia about similar thread , uninteresting to and unfamiliar to all except [at most] one other poster here.

Posted April 12, 2006 5:38 PM by Sandy B.

Return sonnet, destroyed in preview page due to structural and personal awkwardness.

Posted April 12, 2006 5:53 PM by Sandy B.

Startling link of thread topic to some unspeakable knitting project; general wiggins ensue.

Posted April 12, 2006 6:45 PM by Dan Layman-Kennedy

Dramatic, terse, presumably colonial lobster recipe, including phrase "boiled well until they be dead".

Posted April 12, 2006 7:01 PM by Larry Brennan

Long, detailed discursion on the malfeasance of a vanity press or other publishing scam, culminating in eventual comeuppance for the culprit du jour. (Paranoid conspiracy followup about font-kerning and Photoshop artifacts in POD books.) Gratuitous nudibranch reference.

Posted April 12, 2006 7:05 PM by Julie L.

Confusion about relevance or otherwise of personal anecdote involving grandmother and cans of coffee shipped across the Atlantic just after the War.

Posted April 12, 2006 7:48 PM by Vicki

Smart-alec remark to the effect that self-referential discourse is the senescence of a medium.

Posted April 12, 2006 8:15 PM by Dave Luckett

Half-dozen comments playing with self-referentiality, just to be polite. (O the embarrassment. All die.)

Posted April 12, 2006 9:12 PM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Commenter is put in mind of certain interesting aspects of SS. Barbara, Margaret of Antioch, and Catherine of Alexandria.

Posted April 12, 2006 9:15 PM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Reference made to ancient Particle with a portrait of Margaret's cute pet dragon.

Posted April 12, 2006 9:17 PM by TexAnne

Proprietor posts long cheerful descriptive recipe, which contains no firm quantities or cooking times, lapses into Middle English at several critical points, and includes digressions about reverse distillation and obscure varieties of citrus that run as long as the actual cooking instructions.

Posted April 12, 2006 9:22 PM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Moderator admits has been trying to find that picture again. Makes hazy reference to Jesus eating a guinea pig.

Posted April 12, 2006 9:24 PM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Molesworth's account of skool pla invoked to describe effect of Ajay's comments, other comments as well.

Posted April 12, 2006 9:29 PM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Link to Photoshopped image of SS. Barbara, Margaret of Antioch, and Catherine of Alexandria as The Supremes (w/Queen o'Sheba as D. Ross), found by application of search engine technology that may violate unpublished DHS regulation carrying severe criminal penalties. Link slashdotted, multiply mirrored, and then implodes.

Posted April 12, 2006 9:38 PM by John M. Ford

Belated translation of Whyrf' cbfg.

Posted April 12, 2006 9:55 PM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

brief comment on minor point that is (almost) all one can compass if one attempts to take a day's posts at one gulp.

another brief comment on an entirely different small point -- picked out with some ... liberal ... punctuation (that might suggest speech if living people could speak parends).

Posted April 12, 2006 9:56 PM by CHip

Moderator writes long post describing recurrent friction-generating interactions involving a dozen or so regulars; shakes head fondly, deletes post.

(Moderator catches self reading foregoing, shaking head fondly, and reaching for delete key. Is startled.)

Posted April 12, 2006 10:04 PM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Circular argument

Posted April 12, 2006 10:43 PM by Greg London

ad nauseum

Posted April 12, 2006 10:44 PM by Greg London

ad hominem directed at circular argument poster

Posted April 12, 2006 10:44 PM by Greg London

circular poster bifurcates issue with ad hominem poster

Posted April 12, 2006 10:45 PM by Greg London

non sequitor presented

Posted April 12, 2006 10:46 PM by Greg London

attempts to bring thread back on topic fail as non-sequitor topic becomes hugely popular topic

Posted April 12, 2006 10:47 PM by Greg London

reference to microsoft and bill gates made. Godwin's other law satisfied.

Posted April 12, 2006 10:47 PM by Greg London

Commenter proposes amendment to Godwin's Law stating that infractions of it don't count if absolutely everyone ignores them.

Idle proposal of airshow involving SS. Christina the Amazing and Joseph of Cupertino mutates into discussion of whether bilocation is teleportation or simultaneous presence of two alternate realities: extension, substance, accident report, parking in NYC, evidence of miracles, worse in Bay Area, silicon, AI, can kraut, six bagels, wave asterisk.

Posted April 12, 2006 11:14 PM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

His followers called him MAHASAMATMAN. His friends called him...

Posted April 12, 2006 11:23 PM by Patrick Nielsen Hayden

Random link to pictures of Cats in Zeppelins.

Posted April 12, 2006 11:23 PM by Larry Brennan

Reference to "Serenity" made. Fond memories of "Firefly" recalled.

Posted April 12, 2006 11:29 PM by Greg London

Request made for a Yet Another Story IDentification. Can't remember anything from the entire book other than at one point there is a totally irrelevant scene involving two secondary characters having a conversation about some insignificant factoid. Despite not being able to remember anything of the plot, significant characters or events, poster reminisces about how great it was reading it.

Posted April 12, 2006 11:34 PM by Greg London

YASID request is answered, including book title, author, year published. Also, it is pointed out that half of what was in the original request was actually wrong.

Posted April 12, 2006 11:35 PM by Greg London

Rather long and detailed flame war erupts regarding how Star Trek teleporter technology would be implemented in real life. Two camps emerge: "worm hole tunnels" and "matter disassemblers, transmitters, recievers, reassemblers". Both claim the other side's solution is far too complex to ever be feasible.

Posted April 12, 2006 11:42 PM by Greg London

entire post made in pirate speak. Arr.

Posted April 12, 2006 11:46 PM by Greg London

pst lks dsmvwlled bt ws ctlly typd tht wy fr cmdc ffct

Posted April 12, 2006 11:50 PM by Greg London

Combination of YASID, lobster, and coffee can comments into mention of Theodore Cogswell's short story "Emergency Rations".

Posted April 13, 2006 12:18 AM by Christopher Davis

Pedantic correction of error in Latin which would have been recognised and ignored anyway by anyone who cared.

Posted April 13, 2006 12:29 AM by candle

Discussion of vanity presses using POD spawns sub-thread reminiscing about days of hot lead. Side-track to Victorian era equivalents of APAs.

Posted April 13, 2006 12:33 AM by Julia Jones

Query as to whether the author of the YASID ever published a short story in a collection on [theme]...poster seems to recall such, but can't place what the [theme] was, when it might have been published, or any of the other authors or stories in the anthology.

Posted April 13, 2006 1:23 AM by oliviacw

Star Trek transporter squabble expands into discussion of whether a disassembled and reassembled person is the same person as before.

Posted April 13, 2006 1:49 AM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Transporter squabble ranges into the semiotic value of unexpected goatees.

Posted April 13, 2006 1:57 AM by Larry Brennan

"some unspeakable knitting project"

Steals obvious joke from Douglas Adams about "fabric of space-time". Makes obvious and strained reference to HP Lovecraft. Posts. Realises how lame post looks. Retreats in embarrassment.

Posted April 13, 2006 4:55 AM by ajay

Naive request for explanation of every abbreviation (e.g. YASID) and in-joke encountered in the thread to date. Attempted ingratiation. Shrubbery.

Posted April 13, 2006 5:34 AM by Karen Funk Blocher

Insecure commenter's earnest explanation that she knew what everyone meant all along, followed by a clear demonstration that most of the math and all of the foreign language passages were beyond her comprehension, and besides, she has no ready access to rhubarb.

Posted April 13, 2006 5:40 AM by Karen Funk Blocher

Long explanation of how the transporter really works, with formal citations from Stargate SG-1, a 1968 Doctor Who serial, and an episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series. Marathon comment ends with an expression of confusion over words that disappeared when comment was previewed, and rueful complaint about staying up too late reading blog threads.

Posted April 13, 2006 6:04 AM by Karen Funk Blocher

Reference to Red Dwarf.

Posted April 13, 2006 6:34 AM by ajay

Mention of lobster sodomy is ignored by all except one right-wing poster who thinks post was an allusion to Dubya.

Posted April 13, 2006 7:52 AM by Jon Meltzer

Poster asserts Dubya is the anti-Christ.

Posted April 13, 2006 8:50 AM by Fragano Ledgister

Moderator extracts laudably accurate (and hence funny) comment sequences, re-posts them as addenda to the original front-page post.

Posted April 13, 2006 9:01 AM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Fond ramble about Zelazny, triggered by PNH's seemingly random reference. Fervent wish that the guy would've lived longer, at least long enough to write more Amber novels.

Posted April 13, 2006 9:02 AM by A. J. Luxton

Reference to "hot lead" leads to Magnificent Seven aside, leading to samurai/gunfighter discussion, multiply tangenting to Damascus Steel flamewar.

Posted April 13, 2006 9:27 AM by Sandy B.

Outraged flame comparing earlier poster to Serdar Argic.

Posted April 13, 2006 10:20 AM by Jon Meltzer

Gratuitous references to PA, Atlanta Nights and that Pierce fellow, closely followed by three misspellings of the blog owner's name in a single iteration.

Posted April 13, 2006 11:02 AM by Karen Funk Blocher

Another rewrite of "This is Just to Say," written by poster who had failed to notice earlier iterations and thought he was being witty and original. [Poster finally sees earlier iterations as he scans down to re-read his own post. Poster goes and hides under his desk for twenty minutes, making whimpering noises.]

Posted April 13, 2006 11:26 AM by Andrew Willett

Guilty admission that poster may have broken Henley thread with imitation of semi-autistic comment.

Posted April 13, 2006 11:36 AM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

"Dubya is the anti-Christ" leads to a flurry of postings on metaphysical issues, including attempts to define