The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by Doug spots comment spam:

Comment #42 wins the thread.

#239 I have had two painful experiences with people who rocketed out of Landmark having disconnected from all common sense, and promptly ruined their lives; I have also reconnected with two good friends whose natural common sense was validated and encouraged by Landmark into new careers and joyful living. Go figure.

Another handy illustration of Momma's Wisdom, "It takes all kinds."

#296 Dobson also wrote The Strong-Willed Child, which recommends breaking the will of children

In Albion's Seed, David Hackett Fischer writes about different colonial groups' typical attitudes toward child-rearing. "Breaking the will of the child" was one way, bending it was another, and I have forgotten the others, but I remember it as a fascinating view of where and how different threads in American culture were spun. The Dobsons we will always, apparently, have with us.

Anna @75, I think Dave @63, 71 was banned for being a jerk, not for his view that there is no supernatural. I did go back and read most of his (view all by), and he's got a history of being a jerk. The internet's a big place; I'm sure he'll find somewhere that amuses him.

43: An equivalent of Makepeace never really had a heyday in German-speaking places, but rough analogues might be Gottlob or Gottlieb.

"Und der Brückner jetzt..." is roughly, "Said the bridgeman..."

Sehr interessant. Und auch beeindrückend, dass er den Werk innerhalb drei Tage nach dem Desaster schrieb. Wobei, Dichtung war vielleicht das Bloggen des 19. Jahrhunderts.

Warum ausgerechnet heute?

ps I repeated the joke over at Unfogged, whereupon someone immediately said, "Pauli was excluded from the joke?" and the next commenter replied "Possibly Schrödinger too."

Perhaps two people are needed, one to do the theorizing, and one to tell the story. And, perhaps one to bring them together?

Heisenberg, Goedel and Chomsky walk into a bar...

What would a Roman military unit have been doing in Siberia? Building a Roman camp, of course.

After all, they were a long way from their home airfield; parts would have to be forged (a forge would have to be built); and winter would probably settle in before the repairs to the zeppelins were finished. Roman Aeroexpeditionary Force units had been lost to the Tuvans before (during Valerian's reign, for example); hence the choice of an island position.

This wing made it home safely. The next one, however, was not so fortunate.

Six to nine cents a word is a hobby, not a profession. Maybe an avocation, if you're more romantic about it. Possibly a loss-leader, if you've got a good plan.

Way back at #2, "What I found interesting was a few of gthe commentators, in the Union Leader, who were complaining that the students were not being taught the "classics," "good role models" and "intact families,""

Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet, King Lear, Julius Caeser, Othello. You don't even have to go looking for a second author.

("You want us to teach just the classics? Yes sir, I think we could do that...")

Just testing my (vab) with the new functionality. Nothing to see.

Y'all might also consider working this from the Paris end. I don't know anybody in the Embassy there, but here is the contact page for Democrats Abroad in Paris:

http://www.democratsabroad.org/node/5878

Here are their counterparts from across the aisle:

http://www.republicansabroad.fr/RAF_Contact.htm

They may not have any direct responsibility, but (1) immigration snags are something that Americans abroad can almost always relate two; and (2) people active in expat communities will often know people at the US embassies, with the bonus of informal lines of communications.

Good luck!

But how would we know that books are alt-history if *we* had zeppelins?

And yet: Pim Fortuyn and Theo van Gogh.

Shenouda III, Pope of Alexandria and the Patriarch of All Africa on the Holy Apostolic See of Saint Mark the Evangelist, does not have a pointy hat, but makes up for it with an awesome title.

Also, the various references to a "pointy hat trick" in the LotR Very Secret Diaries. But I doubt the wikipedians would have enough of a sense of humor for that to last very long in an entry.

Also, "Sentimental Hygiene" could be re-written to fit the title of this post...

"We are reasonable human beings. We can seek out reliable information, and have useful, reasonable conversations about issues that matter to us. So what if we’re not all experts on every possible subject? We can help each other understand."

Hear, hear. This is what I got most from Obama's speech on Rev. Wright and race in America, and I keep getting it from our top officials. Not exclusively, but certainly preponderantly.

Comment #99 posted while I was writing #100.

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