Thanks Rebecca, Joe... you two, collectively, have me nailed to rights. I'm in the middle of a very interesting e-mail exchange with Ben, and I'm checking to see if it's alright by him to post a cut down version online. We (Ben and I) really don't think all that differently; I think it's all a matter of how people have interpreted what he's said, and what I've said, and the in-between reactions. I'm just hoping that people are launching into 3000+ for the right reasons, instead of the fact that all the other kids are doing it.

By: grestall

grestall — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 04:33:36 -0800

Perhaps Neale and Ben don't think too differently, but they certainly sounded like they disagreed. I'm with Jason. Long or Short, Tolstoy or Haiku, it's all good.

Or rather, it has the potential for being good.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 05:40:15 -0800

My original point is that it is in fact, all good, there are no "right" or "wrong" reasons to personal writing, and I didn't like seeing Neale insinuate that someone shouldn't write on the web because it's outside the bounds of his personal tastes (I was equally displeased with Ben's original teethmag piece for saying the same thing). Whether or not it was a joke, I didn't like the idea of discouraging anyone from writing. The beauty of the web is that anyone can write anything they want and not only should they feel free to do so, they should be encouraged to do so. Short or long, it doesn't matter, as long as people are writing something interesting, I'll be reading and enjoying it. If it's not interesting, someone else may find it so. It is all good.

By: prolific

prolific — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 05:58:58 -0800

Yeah, it's all good. I too reacted negatively on Ben's original piece. I have no idea why, but the way it was written annoyed me no end. (I'd never read anything by Ben before and have no idea who he is.) I just felt attacked for writing short weblog entries. That's why I reacted perhaps a little more negatively than was called for.

By: harmful

harmful — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 06:16:02 -0800

We all have different stories that we want to tell, and those stories should be allowed to find their own lengths. I find the idea of a "magic number" like 3000 rather silly, and find it difficult to believe that saying nothing in 3000 words is inherently better than saying it in 100, or vice versa.

On the other hand, the one thing that really caught my attention in Ben's SxSW piece was the claim that Powazek had been promoting weblogs at the expense of other types of personal publishing:

"A few minutes ago, Derek was saying that the organizers here at SxSW wanted to do a panel on personal publishing, you know, journals, zines, that sort of thing. And Derek said 'Oh no, that's so uncool now. Do it on weblogs.' and see, that's exactly what I'm talking about here."

Is there any truth to Ben's claim?

By: benbrown

benbrown — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 08:37:54 -0800

Like Neale said, we've been having a big long email conversation, and we really don't disagree too much, and this is what I've found with every single person I've talked to. I don't want people to stop writing their weblogs. The TeethMag piece I wrote, jeez, like a year ago, was a sarcastic bit, and was written when I didn't really read any blogs. Now that I've met these nice folks and read their sites for a while, I've come around on the whole issue. So what I said at SxSW and what I'll say here again is not that I don't like weblogs and think they should go away -- My fear is that people are saying that the future of personal content online is the blog, that journals and zines are evolving into the blog, and that it's so wonderfully easy to do a blog that most people won't even need to make a decision about their content format. I don't want everyone to write a billion words, right? I don't want people to stop writing their blogs and start zines. I just want people to remember that they can, that they aren't limited to the weblog format, and that they may have a lot of creative potential in their heads that they aren't utilizing. (which is not to say that weblogs aren't creative!) The people who heard me talk at SxSW, I think they did realize this, and so now, they've taken a step to trying the longer style. Does this mean you have to? No! Does this mean the weblogging masses have to? No! Did I mean for this whole 3000+ meme to spread to the unwashed masses of geocities webloggers, causing a volcano like eruption of bad journals? Good god no, but that's the beauty of the web, isn't it?

By: CrazyUncleJoe

CrazyUncleJoe — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 08:39:14 -0800

Yes, Derek is the Anti-Christ.

By: harmful

harmful — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 08:39:32 -0800

Ben, get to the important issues. Are you the one who eats your bread with the butter side down, or is that Neale?

By: CrazyUncleJoe

CrazyUncleJoe — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 08:43:24 -0800

Ben's people are the ones with the stars on thars. Or was that Halcyon?

By: benbrown

benbrown — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 08:48:57 -0800

Butter side up for me, cept on bagels. On bagels, it goes in the middle. Never ever eat an openface bagel! What a waste! Round bread is supposed to have a nice crusty (or sugar coated) skin ALL THE WAY AROUND.

By: stefnet

stefnet — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 08:49:16 -0800

There isn't any rage or vitriol behind this post, but I'm just curious as to why the idea of a longer post is so *new* and *revolutionary* to everyone. Do the names Xeney, Anita, and Kim Reed (not to mention me!) mean anything to anyone? These people have been doing weblogs and journals together for quite a while now. Maybe I'm a little jaded to longer posts since I'm so used to the journal scene, but come now folks! Nothing any of us does online is particularly *new* anymore so there's no reason to boohoo about it.

By: CrazyUncleJoe

CrazyUncleJoe — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 08:52:52 -0800

Nope, sorry. No bells. <<duck>>

By: benbrown

benbrown — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 08:53:10 -0800

And nobody has said it's a new thing. It's just that bunch of people have started new essay format projects all of a sudden. And Neale's point about doing it for the right reason is so important. If you actually don't have anything to say, don't! It takes me a whole week to come up with enough crap to say on my page, sometimes more. Blah blah blah, I really should be getting to that developers conference.

By: Succa

Succa — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 09:04:15 -0800

Me, I like a long post, as long as it's called for. Someone who just writes stretched-out and verbose filler on their blogs reserves themselves a special spot on my "grrr" list, but if they have a legitimate reason to be ranting for 4000 words, I'm all over that shit.

By: schlyer

schlyer — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 09:52:58 -0800

I like 'em short. I don't have anything against long writings, I actually liked Jack's saga w/ the girl from SXSW and have found Ben's recent writing interesting as well. However, I wouldn't want all the bloggers, or even a medium-sized group of them, to start writing this way simply because it takes way too much time to read. Dang, I gotta go now, I'll write some more about it later.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 10:09:46 -0800

Schlyer wrote:

However, I wouldn't want all the bloggers, or even a medium-sized group of them, to start writing this way simply because it takes way too much time to read.

But no one has given up their weblogs. They've just added a new section for longer things. If you like someone's weblog, wouldn't you want to hear more from them? More in-depth discussions of something that's on their mind? Even if a good bunch of weblog authors abandoned their format for a long one, it would be their choice and up to the reader to choose to read them or not. I guess part of this is an ownership discussion. Who owns your weblog, You or the readers? I make time to read long posts that I find interesting. Does anyone complain that Lance goes on and on? Regardless of their length, all his things are just great and I set aside time to read each new one, even if it takes me 4 or 5 attempts to get through it all with my MTV-crippled short attention span.

By: dangerman

dangerman — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 10:20:55 -0800

*smirking* Yeah, but Lance doesn't update on a daily/hourly basis. Once again its not the quantity of content, rather the quality of the content.

By: red scare

red scare — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 13:56:23 -0800

hi, im red scare, the guy thay matt and brig linked to about the little agreement of mine with Neale over on neoflux.com ill start off by saying that i dont have anything against long, personal, heartfelt, deep emotionly rooted writing on the web. quite the contrary, when i first began web publishing two years ago all i did was write my life... my most deep and inner life that i would not tell my dog. no password although a constant fear of someone finding out and me being outed at school or something of the like. so when i said i thought brig 3000+ was not impressive, i meant to say that this trend of webloggers - whose sole purpose in my opinion is to post links of their daily web browing and proved a word, sentence, paraghraph, rant of commentary. even that isn't necessary. i just feel this dismay towards the big names of webloggers all assuming that they are doing something different and original. or maybe i'm just bitter that im not popular, i dont know. i also agree with rebecca, the collest weblogger i know next to neale, when she says that what she got from ben's essay is what is wrong. all this moralizing is just more elitism of the web that diguests me and makes me ponder is my reasons for choosing the web lifestyle to get away from the shit real world was in fact a mistake. i just now realise that ben was supporting what i support more than anyone knows; and that is that personal content and journals should continue for they are wonderful. what makes me into an irate russian is that ben brown thinks he is a leader. he assumes that because he loves himself, everyone else does, and that sickens me. i also thought the same of derek and many other web elites, but i have realised that my assumptions are wrong and i apologized to derek for flaming him and attacking him. i dont feel that i am wrong about ben brown. the arrogence he exudes in his daily text disgusts me. i read his long posts, which i do not oppose to whatsoever as long as there is something worth saying, and i feel that he just wants to tell us about how much he wants to get laid, and personally thats not worth knowing. for a while i ran my journal in weblog, short post format, which worked well because it showed my continuous changing feelings throughout the day. then again, my longer essay type journal entries werer just more passionate. to write 3000 some words about how your angry and want sex, is just annoying, im sorry. the web can be art. journals are art. weblogs are art , to an extent, where its more like news or an information buffet. writing is art, as long as it's out to convey the writers point of view and a feeling. my love for neale is beyond most of your comprehention. i have been taking nude pics to show neale because, well, he requested it. the reason neale has been such a prominent web figure for me is because of his dismay towards the elite of the web. the "your not as good as you think you are" attitude coupled with his cynicism and sarcasm makes for wonderful and profound reading. i dont mean to say brig 3000+ is bad writing, it just bored me and so i dont read it. i stick to her blog (which i think is a nice design no matter what sally 10penny says). i read derek, i read saturn and jack more than ever, and i read ben brown... for about two seconds before bringing the blade closer to my wrist. so, i say, do whatever you want! and ill voice my opinions! and ill agree with whomever i want! my favorite quote in this thing by rebecca: I've been a little dismayed by the number of "Oh, Ben was right" posts since SXSW. I don't care if people choose to try the long form; I just don't like the right/wrong aspect of it. I didn't think anyone was doing anything *wrong* before. so, i say everyone can do what they want as long as i say i like it... and i have a profound hatred for ben brown. i somewhat feel bad about that because he's kind of hot... but oh well.

By: red scare

red scare — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 14:01:33 -0800

brig writes:

i wonder why people get so upset and jump to accuse others of being trendy and exclusive when it's really just jealousy over the fact that they're better and more popular?

maybe its because of statements like that where arrogance and elitism just emanate with the worst stench.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 14:14:22 -0800

red scare:

all this moralizing is just more elitism of the web that diguests me and makes me ponder is my reasons for choosing the web lifestyle to get away from the shit real world was in fact a mistake.

I don't see elitism on the web, really, I never have, except when people accuse others of it. If your problem is with "popular" webloggers being recognized for writing longer posts while yours go unnoticed, take a step back and analyze the situation. Why should it matter if webloggers are recognized by Ben for writing long? Who said Ben was a god that is leading us to the promised land? He just put forth an idea that people should express themselves more and some people responded to that. That's all. These elitism discussions go nowhere, but I honestly have never gotten an elitism vibe from anyone on the web. I just plug away on my stupid sites and if people like it, great, if they hate it, that's fine too. If you think some people are elitist and you're convinced they think they're somehow better than you, maybe the web lifestyle was a bad choice after all, because frankly, I don't see elitism existing.

By: brig

brig — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 14:14:34 -0800

funny. that quote was written based on an entirely different topic i happened to be discussing with matt. in relation to this topic, it is occasionally true. look back at the whole derek discussion, where people were ripping into the most wonderful, sweet, kind person accusing him of elitism and exclusivity. merely because he's good at what he does and well-aclaimed for it.

By: precocious

precocious — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 14:25:30 -0800

How about... Oh, this is going to be an incredibly novel idea... How about everyone write about whatever the hell they want in their log, be it in 3000 words or 12. And if you run across that page and decide you don't like it, you can... (Damn, this is going to be an even more novel concept) You can just not read it. *gasp*

By: red scare

red scare — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 14:34:36 -0800

brig writes:

look back at the whole derek discussion, where people were ripping into the most wonderful, sweet, kind person accusing him of elitism and exclusivity. merely because he's good at what he does and well-aclaimed for it.

i have seen the light in that sense and i agree. oh, and i thought your post was in regard to this, sorry. hey matt... so by saying "I don't see elitism on the web, really, I never have, except when people accuse others of it" you are accusing me of being elitist? odd, i had no idea that being upset at the elite subsequently ment you yourself are elite. hmmm, extremely intresting and wrong, sorry. "Why should it matter if webloggers are recognized by Ben for writing long? Who said Ben was a god that is leading us to the promised land? " i never said that. i never said that i am angry that it is ben noticing people, i meant the majority of the web... i am angry at this exclusive clique of webloggers that no one is allowed to. for example, if you werent at sxsw, you really dont matter. thats a vibe ive gotten. and your comment about maybe the weblifestyle was wrong for me is quite juvenile. i never said that everyone on the web is a prick elite asshole, just that the ones who are (ahem, ben brown) really get to me. i see countless of websites with only 50 hits a day that still put more heart into everything they do. the guy from the above link hand draws his art, writes feveroushly, and gets a minimal amount of attention and recognition for it. in a few days will culminate his two years of running his website and he might close it down because it seems as though he has been exausting himself sick week after week, day after day, for no reason because it seems as though no one notices. that pisses me off. fine, derek has A LOT of talent and i respect him tremendously, but others arent doing anything spectacular and proclaim themselves as web gods (not literally, but thats the style in which they write) and them being so full of themselves is quite... infuriating.

By: brig

brig — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 14:47:33 -0800

but, ben isn't a god. he's a sweet, cuddly, nice guy who plays a god on the web. the whole point of doing a site isn't to be famous or popular or make lots of money. it's for yourself. if someone's doing it for any other reason, they're doomed to resentment and anger.

By: Neale

Neale — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 14:51:09 -0800

That's about as much crap from ben as I can take. What the hell is wrong with an openface bagel? A little cream cheese, a little salmon, some onion... after all, how the hell are you going to balance all that on a non-sliced bagel? It's madness, I tell you, madness! Red, thanks for your nice words, but I'd have to say Ben and my arrogance is well on par (at the very least). If you object to his level of arrogance, well, you're shitting on me as well. I think some of the things we're saying have been confused in the heat of the moment. Ben and I doooo disagree on some things... and that's the way people will always be. I think we're heading into the whole blog/journal thing from two very different directions, and some of our views are getting polarised. Jason et al. It's all good. It's just that sometimes you gotta watch out if it's the right good at the right place at the rights time... and there's some (some!) confusion about what ben or I are advocating. Matt, what I said was my personal preference; they'll match up with some views of some people, and go against those of others. That's pretty much par for the course. Most of what I said came of as telling people what they should do (intentionally so), even as I was complaining about someone telling people what to do... heh. So... yeah. The one good thing about being in Australia is the fact that you can read all the reactions at once and post one long sanctamonious reply. Speaking of sanctamonious replies, Ben and I will be posting or chat online, and hopefully we'll be able to set up some sort of bulletin-board like feature for reaction shots. Of course, the likelihood of anyone giving a shit about what two pretentious wankers have to say about the whole thing is slim, but you never know...

By: red scare

red scare — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 14:58:51 -0800

Neale writes:

but I'd have to say Ben and my arrogance is well on par (at the very least). If you object to his level of arrogance, well, you're shitting on me as well.

well, from what i sense, his is genuine "im better than you and what i say is right" whereas i find yours to be more cynical and sarcastic, as i already said. and i think what brig just said, was fantastic and made me think a lot more. im off to work where instead of helping old jewish women who think going to an art house movie thetre makes them cool, ill be studying A.S. Neil and his school Summerhill. That, and postmodernism, i look forward to where this goes further and writing fully what nrig's statement just made me think about. good things...

By: EngineBeak

EngineBeak — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 15:00:01 -0800

hey matt... so by saying "I don't see elitism on the web, really, I never have, except when people accuse others of it" you are accusing me of being elitist? odd, i had no idea that being upset at the elite subsequently ment you yourself are elite. hmmm, extremely intresting and wrong, sorry.

Oh no, oh no, please don't do this.

i see countless of websites with only 50 hits a day that still put more heart into everything they do.

It's been like this forever, in any sort of creative work. Anyhow, I don't see what's so bad about 'just' 50 hits a day.

By: jacksaturn

jacksaturn — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 15:26:08 -0800

i think long, eloquent writing is good when it is done well. and i'm glad people do it. but every time i read "3000+" i feel like cringing. i know it's not your fault, ben, but god, look what you've spawned. people can't put up a new journal-style site without mentioning you or throwing out that numeral above. i know that if such a thing happened to me, i'd be sick for days. it almost makes me want to take my extended writing back to the print zine where it originally resided. weblogs-- that's a trend i could get into for awhile, but god, putting a cheesy meme name on lengthy, personal writing? it just devalues it all. ugh.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 15:35:01 -0800

Let me set the record straight. When I said "I don't see elitism on the web, really, I never have, except when people accuse others of it" I mean that literally. I never see the word "elitism" nor do I ever get the feeling that someone is being elitist *except* for people writing on their site, saying "hey, those people are elitist!" I'm not being elitist saying that, and I'm not saying you (red scare) are either, just that I never see any mention of it except for people pointing out what they think is true about someone. What I'm trying to drive home is that anyone you say is elitist is a perfectly fine person that would talk to you if you walked up to them in real life and introduced yourself. Heck, email them and if they're not too busy (they're not being elitist if they ignore your mail, they probably just get 200-500 messages a day and let some slip), they'll email you back. And that's why I say there's no elitist vibe. When I was a wee web lad, I got email from all sorts of "web celebs" by just asking them thoughtful questions. I never got shrugged off. I never got told my site sucked or I was doing something wrong. As for someone stopping their site after two years of running it, only because they weren't getting hits, well that's not why I ever did a site, and probably why I haven't retired yet. No one I know with a popular website gives a crap about how many hits they get. I do my sites for fun, as an outlet, and if no one visited, I really wouldn't care, I'd still feel better for having done them. I check stats on this server, just to know the ratio of how many people lurk to how many people post, but I rarely check stats at haughey.com. They're a pain to get to and analyze so I don't do it very often, and I'm always surprised that people find any of it worth reading. Popularity isn't at all what the web's about.

By: CrazyUncleJoe

CrazyUncleJoe — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 15:35:55 -0800

this was all just so familiar, I had to pull this from the archives: From: hanibal@primenet.com (Crazy Uncle Joe) Subject: PROPOSAL: Eat the Losers Date: 10 Feb 1997 00:00:00 GMT newsgroups: alt.society.generation-x bmiller@scott.skidmore.edu (ionia) said: the problem is that the listserv *is* exclusionary, and the people on it end up becoming a group that *can* exclude others to the point where it begins to show up on the ng. also, listervs allow the chosen to talk about the rest of us pond-scum behind our backs , which, from what i've read recently, has happened. Actually brooke, you are right, listservs are exclusionary. The original listserv (set up right around the time that I got active on the group) was set up because of various dubious personalities that had infested the group (like R*lph T*ite) - Later on, as people developed closer bonds, it became a place for friends to hang out and talk about things they didn't necessarily want to post in perpetuity (OK, so this was before Deja News, but you get the idea) across the world. Finally, *some* people felt accosted by folks who were regulars, and some regulars abused friendships to the point where they were no longer considered friends. Y'see, sometimes people want to hang out with folks that they are familiar with. Most of the 'servs have gotten too big for that, and I for one stopped feeling as if I could divulge my "innermost thoughts" even on the listserv, but that's due to the fairly open nature of most of the current 'servs (basically you had to have an asshole track record to be kept off, or behave badly on a consistant basis to get *kicked* off...) - Ultimately, listservs are not the same as newsgroups. AFAIK, no listservs were created to talk behind people's backs. Yes, people have felt the need occasionally to bitch about this or that person's behaviour, and usually that has gotten back to the individual in spite of the theoretical propriety of the list. That happens. I'll freely call myself an exclusive a-list bastard, but by that I mean that I reserve the right *not* to invite the entire world to my parties. I also reserve the right to use jokes that are based on a common history amongst my friends. Not everyone will get those jokes, but that's OK. I'm not here to get nominated accessible comedian of the year. i think it's going to end up being the type of thing where the people who have been accepted onto listservs will rally for their continuation, while those who object to exclusionary tactics, or who have been shut out of a listserv will argue against them. I'm curious as to what the argument against them would be... "I'm gonna tell my mom and she'll *make* you play with me"? I haven't seen all that much exclusion going on, and I can certainly understand the rational behind what *has* been done. It may not always be 'fair' - but what is, eh? Sometimes I call up Doug to go to a movie or something, and ya know what? I don't invite anyone else. SOMETIMES, I call up other "A-Listers" on the phone just to chat about stuff... sometimes even stuff that is happening here. YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE? I have a small group of friends that I sometimes send email to, and I actually call the cc: list alias "ALISTERS" !!! I apologize if I seem to be going off on anyone in particular here, but there is so much post traumatic dodgeball stress going on around here, that I want to scream. I know, I know, everyone is still mad because the "popular" crowd didn't include them. High school is out kids. If you are concerned that your group of friends isn't clever, or funny enough, or that you would suddenly have whiter whites if you could just hang out with the right listserv, then perhaps you should get a little perspective. I'm not the the student body president, Doug isn't the captain of the football team, and, lets face it, Erich was *never* popular in school <> - Mostly we're all "misfit toys" that have grown into ourselves. Some of us have even managed to get a little self confidence and a very few have managed a positive self image. Oh, and some of us are friends, and like to chat with each other in more intimate surroundings. We're a pretty open group of friends, so feel free to stop by... If you aren't a dick, chances are we'd be glad to have you. Crazy Uncle elitist a-list bastard

By: brig

brig — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 15:44:19 -0800

Plus Ça Change, Plus C'est La Même Chose

By: chaz

chaz — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 15:57:01 -0800

Everything is everything. It's all good. Talk to the hand. I'm out.

By: chaz

chaz — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 15:59:39 -0800

One more thing: just like everything in weblogging, often it's not really the message but the messenger. Neale and BenBrown both have a... unique... way way of making their points, which is bound to rile some folks, which is their intention in the first place. so again it's all good.

By: Neale

Neale — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 16:27:02 -0800

The whole elitism thing is captured quite nicely in Sally's little reply to Kevin's e-mail and adam's poking (it's all good! and all via brig). In a community, people will always feel some sort of elitist divide going on; it's not helped in the weblog community with things like the Hot List and Beebo Ratings as ever present indicators of "how well your blog is doing". Now, thanks to Anthony, i'm fairly obsessed with my stats, but i'm trying to phase them back out of the way I view my blog (i didn't even have stats until i change hosting services). I'll say it feels nice to get lots of hits - i'd be a big fat liar if I said it didn't - but I like the e-mail I get from people a lot more, and the little corner of the web I can call mine that I can pump into all the creativity that's stifled each day at work. The 3000+ meme is a worrying one to me (maybe it's not All Good). But maybe it's a misleading name, or one that's been run with, without people thinking about where they're running to. All this is tied up in how people perceive themselves, and how other people perceive them, and how other people perceive how other people perceive themselves, and how people perceive how other people perceive how they perceive themselves (that does make sense). I don't know what people think of me, except for the rude e-mails I get and the death threats I find slipped under the door. I don't want to be part of anyone's elite, but the more popular wetlog get's the harder it is to remove myself, in some webloggers eyes, that i'm become part of the weblog cabal (hey, that doesn't give you a good excuse to stop reading, you faithful 12 readers each day [six more than last month]). I do think it's great that, in the blog community, there are forums like metafilter that people can voice these types of concerns, and that there are people willing to say, "hey, swollen heads, get back down to earth". You all sure as hell have permission to tell me that any time you like (those that don't already). So. It's All Good. Talk It Out. Don't Hear, Listen. And other such rot.

By: anitar

anitar — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 16:44:54 -0800

Ben said he worried about: "a volcano like eruption of bad journals" ha! it's too late, that happened along with the eruption of good journals, in 1996. , you know. Thanks for pointing to me, stef! re: the elitist thing, the heartburning over this in the online world is as nothing compared to the lindy hop dancers. But it exists in every social group. It's all in your point of view. "We are a pleasant group. *they* are a snobby click [sic]!" The fish doesn't notice the water. Anita of Anita's BOD and Anita's LOL

By: anitar

anitar — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 16:47:15 -0800

D'oh! we (I mean me) really need the edit your post function. Ben said he worried about: "a volcano like eruption of bad journals" ha! it's too late, that happened along with the eruption of good journals, in 1996. , you know. Thanks for pointing to me, stef! re: the elitist thing, the heartburning over this in the online world is as nothing compared to the lindy hop dancers. But it exists in every social group. It's all in your point of view. "We are a pleasant group. *they* are a snobby click [sic]!" The fish doesn't notice the water. Anita of Anita's BOD and Anita's LOL

By: benbrown

benbrown — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 17:13:01 -0800

re: benbrown is an elitist asshole and this comes through in his writing style. this is kinda off topic, but in reference to whoever it was that said that I was obviously genuinely an ass based on my writing -- Lately, I've been writing in a kinda first person, present tense, internal dialogue kinda way, and so if I think, even passingly, "this guy is a jerk, I am the most beautiful person alive," I write that down. I find it amusing because it is so obviously not true. You've seen pictures of me, right? It is an act of self parody. Anyways. I feel icky justifying my writing style so I'm going to stop. Re the 3000+ Meme: Barf. I really wish that would go away. heh. I mean, write something long, sure. But when we get into categorizing things as diverse as webpages, you get into retarded conversations like this and everyone just gets pissed off at everyone else because we can't tell who is being serious and who is just joking around. In a completely unrelated topic, I was at this horribly boring XML conference today, and one of the weblogging masses, the guy from Whump recognized me and we had a nice little chat and he's a really nice guy. And I'm really glad he did that because we're doing the same shit, you know? And I love meeting people and talking to people in the same biz. Even webloggers. :)

By: wendell

wendell — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 17:14:46 -0800

Well, THIS page is certainly 3000+. 1000+ of them repetitions of the phrase "It's all good". I just hope this discussion ends pretty soon by itself or I'm going to have to bring up Hitler.

By: CrazyUncleJoe

CrazyUncleJoe — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 17:30:01 -0800

You can only do that because I already posted an old link from usenet. (2 more posts, max.)

By: benbrown

benbrown — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 17:42:20 -0800

ass

By: wendell

wendell — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 18:18:18 -0800

Uh, oh. Looks like somebody's taking this weblog thing a little too seriously. Somebody's cruising to become the next Scamworld...

By: Neale

Neale — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 19:02:12 -0800

One day there's gonna be a knock at my door. I'll answer it to find four burly men with baseball bats in the landing. Goon 1 is going to look me in the eye and say, "This is a little message from the weblog community - SHUT the FUCK UP". And then I will be hurt. A lot.

By: CrazyUncleJoe

CrazyUncleJoe — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 19:10:24 -0800

Who told?

By: Neale

Neale — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 19:24:40 -0800

matt - the old softie.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 21:37:47 -0800

Ha, you know I love ya don't ya Neale? If Brig gives you a kick in the pants when she sees you in a few days, it wasn't from me. I swear. :)

By: schlyer

schlyer — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 21:42:53 -0800

oh, how easily we forget:

mathowie: No one I know with a popular website gives a crap about how many hits they get

think of this in terms of money, a rich man doesn't care how much money he has because at some point it becomes a non-issue. but a poor man... As for the supposed 'elite', I don't think they really exist. Sure, there is a group of bloggers who are more popular, but thats unavoidable. And tagging somebody with an 'elitist' tag just because they are popular isn't very fair. Not sure, but maybe the people who think of some bloggers as elitist think that way because of the appearance of constant name-dropping - when its really just friends talking about friends.

By: brig

brig — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 21:57:12 -0800

dammnit. i wanted to surprise neale with the baseball bat (the one with the blogger logo stamped on it, right next to "this is a message from the weblog community..."). it's no fun if he's waiting for it.

By: red scare

red scare — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 23:19:28 -0800

yawn, i come home and there are 24365236452570183576548 posts and i am way too lazy to read them, that and i have homework. so, i think everyone is right... to each his own yes?

By: chaz

chaz — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 23:23:40 -0800

the funny thing about the whole thing is that there's a lot of love in the room right now, isn't there? We all love this weblogging thing! BenBrown may have been a lil' slow to catch on but can you blame him? He seems like a fairly busy guy and all. In the end we're all just amazed that we can just type out a few thoughts, maybe throw in a link, throw it up and ten seconds later and people actually READ it! Holy shit what a concept. We're all sitting on an intellectual goldmine here and we're sitting around arguing about what's the better way to do it because we care about it so much and.... it's all good. everything is everything.

By: chaz

chaz — Wed, 29 Mar 2000 23:27:19 -0800

btw does anyone else want the next metafilter feature to be spell check? or am i just anal

By: bradlands

bradlands — Thu, 30 Mar 2000 00:03:24 -0800

Dang, but it's overwhelming to settle in for a pre-bedtime MetaFilter fix and discover that there have been 60+ comments posted since my last visit. And then to discover that they're mostly from the Department of Navel Contemplation. Well, sigh.

We keep returning to these themes of popularity, elitism, incestuous linking and internecine metametametastuff, both here and in dozens of weblogs. I'd wager that at least 40 per cent or more of the weblogs I regularly read are given over to "blogging culture" trivia, personality wars and other minutae. (I don't have hard figures to back it up, but this is the contemporary web after all. I can assert something such as this with only some vague anecdotal evidence and have it taken as true.)

As Captain Picard asked, in the opening moments of "Star Trek: Insurrection", "Does anyone remember when we used to be explorers?".

So, then, popularity? I think I can speak with some authority on this subject, since I am THE MOST POPULAR WEBLOGGER ALIVE (tm). Actually, I'm not. I am one of those earnest little websites that "red scare" alluded to earlier. I get 50-60 visitors per day, a rate that -- with only occasional spikes -- has remained constant almost as long as I've kept a weblog, since mid-1998.

A few weeks ago, though, I tweaked the nose of the weblogs.com hotlist -- you may remember, it caused a little moment -- and, for 24 hours, through guile and deceit, catapulted to the top of the list. I decided thereafter to retain the mantle I had claimed for that brief time. I would be and thusly proclaim myself (with tongue planted in cheek), despite any future evidence to the contrary, THE MOST POPULAR WEBLOGGER ALIVE. I have no need of independent verification, Beebo, Bloat, Mr. Blackwell or otherwise.

There's a sign over my desk that reads "Fame is what they give you. Success is what you give yourself." As far as this mincing about popularity is concerned, that's all I need to know.

Elitism? Please. Any assertion that anyone who wasn't at SXSW doesn't matter is, you'll pardon the expression, deep-fried bulldung on a stick. I went to Austin knowing no one, having corresponded with only one or two of the folks I would end up spending the bulk of my time with. I left having met and made friends of some two dozen folks who enriched me emotionally and creatively. Everyone -- "webgod" (Please.) or otherwise -- was warm, approachable and generous of time and spirit. As I tried to be in return.

One of the most wonderful moments I experienced during the whole week was sitting in a dark nightclub with three or four of the people routinely singled out as "elite" or "cliquish." We spent an hour and a couple of rounds of Shiner brainstorming ways -- financial or otherwise -- that we could help make the wonderful experience we were having more accessible to more people next year. If there were, in other quarters, secret cabals meeting to conspire to leave out "lesser" mortals, I wasn't invited to those parties. I doubt Janeane Garofalo was either.

With luck, next year I'll meet at least two dozen more new friends and catch up with some old ones. Maybe Ben and I can compare notes on feather boas; I scarcely got to say "hi" to him this year and I should have made more effort to do so. He's pretty cute.

This more-meta-than-thou nonsense is tiresome and played out. The whole web -- blogs, journals, diaries, dancing hamsters -- is, as has often been said, "just people doin' stuff." I have one remaining thing to say about the weblog "community" and I'll say it on or about June 4, in The BradLands. Until and after then, I'm seceding from the weblog nation; no more meta-stuff or cross-talk in my weblog. I'll either find another place for it or stop it altogether. It's not doin' stuff, it's just talking about doin' stuff.

Pardon the screed. It's past my bedtime and I probably have another 60 comments to read by now. A year ago, I published Why I Weblog. Some well-intentioned hyperbole aside, the "why" hasn't changed. The "how" is evolving. The true "community" will come, eventually, as long as we all keep doin' stuff.

By: tomcosgrave

tomcosgrave — Thu, 30 Mar 2000 11:35:00 -0800

Jeeeeeeeezuz! Calm down folks...do what you want to do. To quote the MetaFilter motto, "It's your web, log it". 'Nuff said.

By: wendell

wendell — Thu, 30 Mar 2000 12:23:37 -0800

Brad, don't start getting serious on us NOW! I'm enjoying the show and enjoying being part of the show, partly as an entertainment in itself, partly as an education in how a self-defining community evolves and how a subset of a subset of a communications media evolves, only occuring at a hyperspeed that makes heads spin and necks ache. Maybe the Medium is the Message, maybe the Messenger is the Message, maybe Content is King, maybe Content is Crap, maybe I DON'T HAVE THE FOGGIEST IDEA WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!! I'll just say it is NOT all good, but IT IS ALL BETTER THAN LATE-NIGHT INFOMERCIALS ON CHANNEL 12.

By: EngineBeak

EngineBeak — Thu, 30 Mar 2000 12:43:07 -0800

The realdeal's frontcover sez, "The Medium is the Massage".

By: cedar

cedar — Thu, 30 Mar 2000 12:48:20 -0800

Now this is just silly...does anyone see the irony in the length of this thread?

By: chaz

chaz — Thu, 30 Mar 2000 14:55:10 -0800

irony? what's that?

By: mrmorgan

mrmorgan — Thu, 30 Mar 2000 14:56:18 -0800

From the Naive Optimism Department: In a web that is trying its best to become the world's largest mail-order catalog, I'm glad to see so many people worked up over writing. Really. I had half become convinced that writers were going to be replaced by the thousand monkeys project. All this passion over mere words just makes me feel better about the future of the Internet.

By: wendell

wendell — Thu, 30 Mar 2000 14:57:25 -0800

It's the Energizer Bunny of MetaFilter strings. It was 17 postings ago that I pointed out that we'd gone well past 3000+ words. How do we stop this out-of-control rhetorical train? Maybe if Mathowie moved it to the MetaTalk page...

By: gsh

gsh — Thu, 30 Mar 2000 18:32:18 -0800

Oh you wacky weblogger folks - you're all growed up now! Infighting, accusations of elitism and popularity. By god, you're ready to play with the big boys. JournalCon, baby. Can you handle it? http://www.journalcon.com

By: August

August — Thu, 30 Mar 2000 19:29:36 -0800

Since when is 637 words long? As a semi-professional writer, my publisher would [pardon the expression] bitch-slap me if I tried to submit something that short.

By: bradlands

bradlands — Thu, 30 Mar 2000 21:20:34 -0800

It figures. Someone has to try to bust my bubble. After eschewing so-called measures of popularity (or measures of so-called popularity), I was e-mailed a link ostensibly proving that, while I am more popular than Mahir (?!?!), I am slightly less well regarded than Jenni or The Lance. Color me surprised. (Spread the meme: is the emoticon for irony.)

By: Neale

Neale — Thu, 30 Mar 2000 21:22:30 -0800

Yay August! If you look at putdownthekeyboard compared to the other articles I write, you'll notice is was a lot shorter. I knew the word length would eventually come up, and was tempted to make it 666 words long, but how much of a wanker can one be? Bitch-slap away!

By: mathowie

mathowie — Thu, 30 Mar 2000 21:46:31 -0800

But Brad, you're more useful than the JenniCan. that's kind of like getting the Miss Congeniality award...

By: bradlands

bradlands — Thu, 30 Mar 2000 22:17:42 -0800

Hmmm...talk about damning with faint praise. Incidentally, that call to meme above should have read "< Fe >" is the emoticon for irony.

By: jason

jason — Thu, 30 Mar 2000 22:18:59 -0800

Yeah, and though he's just as fast, he's not as easy. Sorry, Brad, had to.

By: sixfoot6

sixfoot6 — Fri, 31 Mar 2000 00:31:32 -0800

Word.

By: maura

maura — Fri, 31 Mar 2000 07:42:05 -0800

i'm sorry, but the phrase 'it's all good' gets to me when people talk about web stuff. because you know what? it's NOT all good. that phrase steamrolls the idea of critical thought, both on the part of those producing and on the part of those consuming. and in today's overglutted age of information, the ability to discern what is 'all good' from what is not is crucial. sure, go into things with an open mind, don't hate things on their face because of the form of expression of what-have-you, that's fine, but allow the post-consumption thought-process to, you know, kick (your head) in from time to time.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Fri, 31 Mar 2000 08:39:29 -0800

(trust me Maura, I hate hearing that phrase more than anything, even though I've had to use it more often in the past month than my entire life combined) I guess the phrase "it's all good" is being used from the perspective of authors and not readers. This all started with Ben and Neale, joking or not, suggesting that people *not* write someting a certain way. And the backlash to that is the idea that anyone who feels like writing anything should, regardless of what anyone might think. If you write with that in mind, sure it might be crap, but someone else might find it worthy of reading, or even if we can all agree it's crap, writing crap might help you develop into a better writer, or at least better than if you never tried. I guess I don't like the idea of anyone saying someone shouldn't do something like write a personal page. And I get pissed when I think of someone reading Ben or Neale or anyone else's articles about the wrong or right way to do things and getting discouraged from doing something on the web. The web, like life, is already 90% crap and wading through that is a chore, but that's what we do everyday, that's how we've developed our critical thinking skills all our life - finding the gold among all the crap. I guess I'd prefer my 90% of crap if it were personal, created by real people with stories and dreams, instead of a web chock full of e-commerce sites.

By: CrazyUncleJoe

CrazyUncleJoe — Fri, 31 Mar 2000 08:55:55 -0800

Maura, I think (at least from my perspective) that "it's all good" refers to the form, not the product. Long form as a valid mode of expression == good. Short form == good. Medium form with pictures==good. That doesn't mean that every journal out there is good, or that every weblog is good - not at all. Most of it, from a critical standpoint, isn't "good". My stuff isn't good from a technical standpoint (although I hope that it's at least passable from an entertainment standpoint), but that doesn't mean that the format is bad. It means that I didn't pay attention in my writing classes.

By: CrazyUncleJoe

CrazyUncleJoe — Fri, 31 Mar 2000 08:56:42 -0800

Uh... I guess Matt said what I was trying to say while I was trying to say it. Nothing to see here folks, move along.

By: bradlands

bradlands — Fri, 31 Mar 2000 11:38:42 -0800

Go thread, go!! (Next week, more filter, less meta, or your next visit's free.)

By: wendell

wendell — Fri, 31 Mar 2000 12:39:38 -0800

I'd sure like to see what happens when this thread reaches 100 comments...

By: wendell

wendell — Fri, 31 Mar 2000 12:40:00 -0800

...and I'm willing to do my part...

By: wendell

wendell — Fri, 31 Mar 2000 12:40:19 -0800

...to help make it happen.

By: dangerman

dangerman — Fri, 31 Mar 2000 12:55:21 -0800

At 100 post I think Matt grows a third eye or something

By: Awol

Awol — Fri, 31 Mar 2000 13:23:47 -0800

Good lord! This makes me very anxious about entering into the fray with my new weblog. Maybe I'll just keep it a secret...and write mile-long posts!

By: brent

brent — Fri, 31 Mar 2000 13:49:30 -0800

Growing a 3rd eye? Will there be pictures if/when 100 posts happens? Where is this going? I liked the short version but then it became funnier as posts grew longer. It at least made me laugh as people continue to write in.

By: wendell

wendell — Fri, 31 Mar 2000 14:19:15 -0800

Does this mean we're a couple links short of a full weblog? And wouldn't that take the discussion full circle back to what constitutes a full weblog? Or have I just put the keyboard down and back away from the MetaFilter? (Yep, definately having too much fun... too much fun...)

By: wendell

wendell — Fri, 31 Mar 2000 14:21:28 -0800

TAKE TWO: Does this mean we're a couple links short of a full weblog? And wouldn't that take the discussion full circle back to what constitutes a full weblog? Or have I just fallen off the end of the end of the internet? (Warning: blatant self-promotion) Or should I just put the keyboard down and back away from the MetaFilter? (yep, definately time to go outside and play in traffic)

By: bradlands

bradlands — Fri, 31 Mar 2000 14:27:48 -0800

Ah, yes. Topic drift. We're definitely getting into Usenet/listserv territory. Steve will be so proud. Giggle.

By: Neale

Neale — Fri, 31 Mar 2000 18:39:38 -0800

Back on the "It's all good" meme, and the idea of preventing critical thinking... As the term "weblog" is still in the definition phase it makes it very hard (and probably intentionally so) to say, "hey, that's a weblog" or "hey, that's not a weblog". What I have in my mind about weblog is commentary about the outside world, usually in short format, which includes links to the topics being talked about, updated at ir/regular intervals. Now, weblogs are starting to point inwards, (though some, eg. Jack have been doing that for yonks - unwadded the undies, thanks), which starts to tear down the inward/outward arguement; but when you go for a definition of something, you tend towards the norm, rather than the exceptions (eg... there may be a green cat, but you would never define cats as being green). Now the "idea" of what a weblog is will always stay fairly general; but you know one when you see one. Just like you know a journal when you see one. And there is a difference between the two. Length and subject matter are the main differentiators. We might start seeing blournals, or jogs, which are a mixture between the two. They might work, they might not. But blogging, in it's present form, is working, and working well. Some of the longest running site I can think of (eg. Kumite.com, which has been running a virus blog loooong before the word started cropping up). There shouldn't been a huge problem with accepting that certain styles of writing work for certain media. You wouldn't write for a newspaper the same way you write for an online scientific journal. It may be a fantastic statement, or revolutionary piece of artwork, but it won't become the norm. It won't work. Now, I don't know if jogs will work. They may well turn out to be fantastic. But, if they don't, only one or two truly talented people will be able to pull them off with any kind of success. So. There. IT'S ALL GOOD! If this thread gets to 100 comments, I'll consider it my April's Fools Day Joke, through lack of anything better.

By: jason

jason — Fri, 31 Mar 2000 19:55:11 -0800

Why stop at 100? Make this thread its own weblog. Oh, wait, it already is.

By: EngineBeak

EngineBeak — Fri, 31 Mar 2000 19:57:26 -0800

Approximately 9700 words. "it's all good" appears 13 times. "meme" appears 7 times. Make that 14 & 8, respectively.

By: Neale

Neale — Sat, 01 Apr 2000 05:11:59 -0800

That's it. We're pushing this puppy to 10k. It's like that seinfeld episode, where Kramer and the car-salesman (i think) are driving a car for as long as they can with the gas slowly dwindling, driving for the pure experience of reaching the bottom of the tank. I was thinking about seinfeld as a comparison to weblogging (and there's the whole e/n scene). I was thinking that journals point outward, weblogs inward. I still think that webloggers may sometimes speak about themselves on their blog, but there are very rarely any true moments of introspection; about as often as their are on seinfeld. Sometimes I think that weblogs don't even have the "everything" advantage that the e/n community does, and that weblogs talk a lot about nothing. Now, I know that's not true. And I'm probably suffering from weblog overload; i've only been doing it for 6 months, and i'm wondering where the hell i'm gonna go with it. I've been watching a documentary series about modern art over the past few weeks, and find myself associating the weblog community with the modern art world; one artist, name instantly forgotten, painted a thirty foot long canvas filled with names of other modern artists - sort of a "hot list" (actually called the "hip list") for modern art, as modern art. If that doesn't come close as an analogy to bloat or the blogbloggers, i don't know what does. has the entire weblog community entered the realm of self parody? Have I? I find myself associating with Dali, in the realm of modern-artists-as-webloggers. Shamelessly self promoting, stirring trouble, infatuated with sex, and popularity, and yet bizarrely incapable of normality at home, or at work... I like this place. I've settled down here. But, like ben has said (and I can no longer recall if it's here, or in the page i haven't put online yet), too many creative minds have abandoned great websites for blogs. As did i... i haven't updated my first site since the turn of the century, and may never do so (i'm thinking of porting it all to wwgb.com, archiving it and putting it down). Six months. Seems weird, and now I get e-mails from complete strangers who read the site and hate what I say... hmm... and I wonder, does it matter? I didn't know the blog community until a blogger introduced me to it. Is it that insular, or has the recent press stirred up enough outside knowledge to make it open? Aaaack. Too much thought process. And now that I'm going to have to devote time to a meatspace book, will I still find time to blog, or enough creative energy to fuck things up around here? Ah well. I only post this here, as opposed to wetlog, because I know noone is going to check this thread anymore, and that it will soon drop off the end of the metafilter main page.

By: Neale

Neale — Sat, 01 Apr 2000 05:17:54 -0800

Well, that pushed it well beyond 10k. And after this post, there's only another five posts needed. Wendell? Unky J? Adam, you've got my back... right?

By: wendell

wendell — Sat, 01 Apr 2000 07:38:28 -0800

But since Mathowie put up his April 1st format, you can't see how many comments there are! And, hey, how can you do a DaveClone without adding exclamation points? It's all good! barf

By: wendell

wendell — Sat, 01 Apr 2000 11:00:11 -0800

What? Nobody's spoofing Ben Brown for April Fool's Day? I was planning on going medieval on his site, but it's a real drag to write a parody of 3000+ words.

By: bradlands

bradlands — Sat, 01 Apr 2000 13:22:43 -0800

Alas, if RL-intrusions on my spare time and FTP woes hadn't come to pass, you might have been treated to "8888 Words About 44 Webloggers" (with props to The Nails) for my All Fool's Day homage to Ben. But, prithee, is it not all Much Ado About Nothing?

By: wendell

wendell — Sat, 01 Apr 2000 14:03:22 -0800

Even without the 8888 Words, BRAD NAILS IT.

By: bradlands

bradlands — Sat, 01 Apr 2000 14:59:50 -0800

Whoops! Looks like the 100th post didn't give mathowie an extra eyes. In fact, in the new site design, his head has disappeared completely. Aieeeee!

By: spacecoyote

spacecoyote — Sun, 02 Apr 2000 10:47:31 -0800

The 'us vs. them','insider vs. outsider' weblog circle jerk never fails to amuse me. Not to be too harsh, but most of you people bore the hell out of me, what with your whining and name dropping. What you're doing ain't that important or earth shattering! In fact it reminds me of the high school bullshit that I ran from screaming. As far as weblogs go, do what you like: everything else is bullshit! Enough already, I've got my own weblogs to work on. . .

By: tomcosgrave

tomcosgrave — Tue, 04 Apr 2000 17:08:32 -0800

Looks like Coyote summed it up....but I got the last post ;-)

By: Neale

Neale — Tue, 04 Apr 2000 17:34:21 -0800

No you didn't.

By: wendell

wendell — Tue, 04 Apr 2000 18:33:31 -0800

Nope, not even close.

By: bradlands

bradlands — Tue, 04 Apr 2000 19:02:31 -0800

Incidentally, can we move the 'us vs. them','insider vs. outsider' weblog circle jerk to Friday this week? I have a conflict on Thursday.

By: brent

brent — Tue, 04 Apr 2000 19:06:53 -0800

Well for good humor, you may wish to run this chain through the dialectizer, shredder, or Valley Girl.

By: Neale

Neale — Thu, 25 May 2000 17:26:22 -0800

I still want the last word. And wendell, I won't let you get there. Call me petty. Call me immature. You know I'll go through with it. Remember the meta?

By: Neale

Neale — Thu, 25 May 2000 17:30:19 -0800

I mean it. I really do.

By: Neale

Neale — Thu, 25 May 2000 19:18:33 -0800

It's a challenge I can't ignore. "Yes, it would be meaningless, but what of that?". I quite agree. It would be meaningless. Quite. And immature and selfish for me to try and prevent it. Especially when there are so many against but one. Ah well. I'm in it for the long haul.

Neale — Thu, 25 May 2000 19:29:16 -0800

23.5.00

By: mathowie

mathowie — Thu, 25 May 2000 20:16:06 -0800

All right, that's enough kids, break it up, break it up. Do your parents know where you are right now? How about if I give them a call, have 'em come down to the station and pick you u... is that alcohol on your breath Neale? How about you Wendell twins? You been buying hooch for little Neale here? You know you're contributing to the deliquency of a minor in doing that, I can run you all in on that....

By: Neale

Neale — Thu, 25 May 2000 20:16:09 -0800

By: Neale

Neale — Thu, 25 May 2000 20:17:38 -0800

My brain hurts.

By: Neale

Neale — Thu, 25 May 2000 20:18:23 -0800

If you've read HST's "Hell's Angels", then you might want to chat with Sonny.

By: Neale

Neale — Thu, 25 May 2000 20:19:00 -0800

86% of consumers disapprove of animal blood being fed to other animals. Not including humans.

By: Neale

Neale — Thu, 25 May 2000 20:20:11 -0800

Post previous comments.... what an ingenious idea.

Neale — Thu, 25 May 2000 21:42:10 -0800

Gotta keep on moving, no time to stop. Post no 168 gone and done. One day I'll reach 1000. Are you prepared for that, Matt? (That's a joke, right?)

CrazyUncleJoe — Tue, 17 Apr 2001 13:43:22 -0800

Oddly enough, Redd Foxx pretty much defined "working blue" ...

By: thirteen

thirteen — Tue, 17 Apr 2001 23:00:01 -0800

One Foxx Two Foxx Redd Foxx Bloo Foxx I made a cake the day Redd Foxx died, I heard about his death as I was frosting it. I wrote on the cake "Red Fox burns in hell". I think I was the only one who ate the cake, because I used to use so much food coloring that it stained your digestive tract, and people get tired of that sort of thing (if they are not me). Many years later my roomate played me a stag record that featured the woman who played Aunt Ester talking dirty and simulating orgasm. I have no idea who that record was marketed towards, as it was of puzzling entertainment value. It's only real reason for being was to say "Isn't that Aunt Ester grunting and moaning, wow I really don't like this take it off." Sanford and son was based on the British comedy Steptoe and son. I will never have a good night of sleep until the guy who played Lamont dies too. I believe his name is Desmond. Other people whose deaths help me sleep are:

A. Lincoln T. Edison F.D.fucking R and possibly Ghandi, as I am really grossed out by his urine drinking fetish

By: CrazyUncleJoe

CrazyUncleJoe — Fri, 27 Apr 2001 14:04:37 -0800

Now that the deja-news articles are available again on google, I can dig up some old A-List references: ======================================= From: irvi2187@sundance.sjsu.edu Subject: Re: Calling ASGX Regulars! Newsgroups: alt.society.generation-x Date: 1996/01/21 ------------------------------------------------ In <4drmgu$n4q@news.cais.com>, acw@ids2.idsonline.com (Amanda Wilson) writes: >rrp@CS.Arizona.EDU (Rob Piltz) wrote: > >>In article <4dom18$2ju@cmcl2.NYU.EDU>, coates wrote: >>> >>> >>>I grep (in no particular order) for hubbard, schwarz, basil, lehmann, >>>steve, wayloo, v-x, katchoo, maia, wise, beaudry, randell, conlon, >>>cooperman, farley, lathrop, berin, kasar, holly... nada. > >Any more questions? > >>What am I? Chopped livah? > >Yeah ... Coates, are you trying to start another A-list flame war? I'll just sit here from my C-list computer and pout...

By: thirteen

thirteen — Fri, 27 Apr 2001 14:06:45 -0800

Wolfgang Flür from Kraftwerk has a beat band called "the Beathovens". A cupcake would be good right now.

By: CrazyUncleJoe

CrazyUncleJoe — Fri, 27 Apr 2001 14:09:20 -0800

Plus, DODGEBALL! ================ From: pippa (pippa@eznet.net) Subject: Re: A GenX Moment (tm): Playground Games Newsgroups: alt.society.generation-x Date: 1996/01/06 ---------------------------------------------- Kelly T. Conlon wrote: > In article <4ch1qe$2s0@news.bu.edu>, Lynda Farley wrote: > > >Other kewl childhood games included: Freeze Tag, T.V. Tag > > You forgot "dodgeball". NOT. Dodgeball was NOT kewl for those of us branded Class Misfit. You see, the other team would gang up and just keep aiming for the CM, and I believe I spent 8 years of phys ed in Catholic grammar school ducking and/or crying. Thank GOD I got to take dance for gym in high school! -- ~pippa Home Page doing Limbo: http://home.eznet.net/~pippa

By: thirteen

thirteen — Fri, 27 Apr 2001 14:14:33 -0800

had, had a band.

By: daveadams

daveadams — Fri, 27 Apr 2001 14:32:36 -0800

What, do you put mayo on pretzels at the ballpark? Mmmmm, that doesn't sound too bad... thanks for the suggestion. I luuuuuv mayo, it goes well on most any sandwich-related food (including hot dogs). But mustard is still better on hot dogs. Relish is for losers, though. ;)

By: daveadams

daveadams — Fri, 27 Apr 2001 14:34:39 -0800

Um, well ... I guess Matthew Broderick isn't so bad. I do wear glasses, too. I was right!! Hey, don't worry about the Matthew Broderick thing. He was the only actor I could think of at the time that I've seen wearing glasses regularly who isn't old. Do you want to be thought of as old?

By: Skot

Skot — Fri, 27 Apr 2001 15:01:40 -0800

Review in which I was compared to Matthew Broderick. Not to steal any of aaron's thunder.

By: Neale

Neale — Fri, 27 Apr 2001 16:35:29 -0800

This list is the very subtle B-List. It's for people who would like to think they're too much of a rebel for the a-list, but who secretly deep-in-their-heart want to join it. I was never an A-lister. If one remembers this, they'll recall I was labelled and enemy of the a-list. All through high-school I was compared with hollywood types depending on my hair - I have a face that sort of is defined by the hair. I've been compared to Matthew Broderick (in the Ferris days), but also the two leads in the first Ewan McGregor flick (you know, the one with the house and the couch and the dead guy), robert downey jnr... and a bunch of others I wont go into... I hate dodgeball. Who invented that shit?

By: sudama

sudama — Fri, 27 Apr 2001 18:35:54 -0800

alt.society.generation-x was a great place to lurk. Speaking of vegetarian hot dogs, does anyone know the difference between Smart Dogs and Tofu Pups? All I know is that one is lighter than the other (color not weight). Also, my phone doesn't work most of the time. Instead of a dial tone, there's a loud electric hum like when you get too close to a bug zapper.

By: youhas

youhas — Fri, 27 Apr 2001 18:40:55 -0800

I've been told I look like Tim Ransom. Well, a pudgy version Tim Ransom playing the role of Bashir's friend Jack the Genetically Souped-Up Guy from one of the later Deep Space Nine epsiodes, anyway. I'm ever-so-proud. Yeah. What's wrong with putting ketchup on hot dogs?

By: redfoxtail

redfoxtail — Sat, 28 Apr 2001 00:05:25 -0800

You know, I've always thought veggie hot dogs were just a step too far in the mock-meat direction. Veggie burgers, resembling meat not at all as they do, seem okay to me as a food in their own right, but vegetarian hot dogs just strike me as wrong. Of course, I was never particularly enamored of hot dogs back when I wasn't a vegetarian, either, so perhaps that's the real problem. Ketchup on hot dogs is unappealing, but not nearly as yucky as mayo. But then, once again, I have some general feelings about the food in question that come into play. Mayonnaise in potato salad, pasta salad, etc: fine. On sandwiches: not fine, unless it's aioli. So perhaps I'm not the best source of information on this subject.

By: gluechunk

gluechunk — Sat, 28 Apr 2001 00:47:02 -0800

Smart Dogs are fat-free and supposedly are more "meaty" than Tofu Pups (which aren't fat-free). Smart Dogs: Ingredients: Water, soy protein isolate, wheat gluten, evaporated cane juice, salt, yeast extract, soy sauce (water, soybeans, wheat, salt), granulated garlic, carageenan, spice extract, natural flavors from vegetable sources, vegetable gum, natural smoke flavor. Tofu Pups: Ingredients: Water, tofu (organically grown soybeans, water, magnesium chloride), Soy protein isolate, soy oil, spices, salt, beet powder, natural vegetable flavors, paprika oil, vegetable gum. Keep in mind that there are also Wonderdogs and Smart Deli Jumbos. All of these are made by the same company. As far as mock-meat stuff, check out Veat sometime (I recommend the nuggets). It's chewy and a bit freaky to consume.

By: thirteen

thirteen — Sat, 28 Apr 2001 13:10:52 -0800

What's wrong with putting ketchup on hot dogs? Other than everything? I am under the impression that the origins of this have to do with Chicago having once been a giant slaughter house. The legend goes, that we had access to very fresh meat, and thus ketchup was not needed to disguise the flavor of rot that had set in by the time the dogs reached the coasts. I don't know if this is true, but I have read "the Jungle", and immediately crossed spice loaf off my shopping list. They really do taste better if you leave the ketchup off, the just do. I seldom get to say this anymore as my wife used the fruit paste on her dogs, and it is now considered picking a fight if I open my mouth in front of her. I prefer Tofu pups when eating that sort of thing, as the texture is nice, and there is no clovey aftertaste. My bun of choice is the potato bun. diced tomatoes, onions and celery salt. When possible, I write thirteen with the mustard (now in katakana). Rogue tomatoes are begining to grow out of my compost pile, spring is here.

By: feelinglistless

feelinglistless — Sat, 28 Apr 2001 13:48:39 -0800

I'm sorry - how can it be wrong to put tomato sauce on Hot Dogs? Go to any Hot Dog veneder in the UK and next to the brown sauce will be the red stuff. In fact, a good way for venders to lose their livelihoods is not to have it there . . . Anyone but Aaaaaaaaagh and redfoxtail read my play? I actually just bothered to re-read it and was amazed to find it's actually quite good (that's not ego - it's amazing it's readable at all considering some of my other epics). Some of the characters are in my latest opus - so I suppose thats actually a bit of a Pilot or preview (depending on your media). Wadya think? Comments (clean comments). If you thought Book of Shadows was madness you try renting Titan AE and getting - to - the - end . . . luckily it was the thrid part of a triple bill with Gossip (The Usual Suspects meets Threesome - pretty good, although lacked focus) and Return to Me (which couldn't decide what story it was meant to be telling, making it Wresting Earnest Hemmingway meets Sleepless in Seattle, which is probably no place to be). To return to the earlier DVD discussion, not much mention made of audio commentaries. For some reason these are more entertaining depending on how young the participants are. Good examples: The Usual Suspects (Brian Singer's second movie), Idlehands (everybody's first film), American Pie (everyone's first film), The Opposite of Sex (directorial debut of a writer). Awful commentaries (usually so bad your hard pushed to get to the end even if the movie itself is any good): The Thomas Crown Affair (John McTiernan), anything by Rob Reiner (who seems to think that silence speaks a thousand words), any of the James Bond technical commentaries (which always seem to consist of - 'I really like that effect.' 'That's a good effect.' 'That's a very effective effect.') American Beauty (although it's nice to hear and English accent for a change, what's the point in having the writer there is he isn't going to say anything?) Special mentions for: Practical Magic (the talky bits with Sandra Bullock and Denise De Nova are actually more entertaining than the film), Out of Sight (for reason I find this film difficult to watch now without the commentary on - aaaaaaaah!) Pleasantville (in which the director spends two hours droning on about the theological significance of his work, punctuated with 'that's my wife/brother/husbad') Return to Me (for proving how incestuous the film industry can be by pointing out what feel like five generations of a family on screen). And while I remember - yes I know it's Beethoven - I was referencing Bill & Ted. Catch you later . . .

By: Neale

Neale — Sat, 28 Apr 2001 16:01:50 -0800

I read the play. I think the Fight Club commentory is the best so far I've heard.

By: sudama

sudama — Sat, 28 Apr 2001 23:08:14 -0800

Pleasantville (in which the director spends two hours droning on about the theological significance of his work, punctuated with 'that's my wife/brother/husbad') Wow. I would not have thought that movie could get any worse.

By: sudama

sudama — Sun, 29 Apr 2001 02:10:50 -0800

Where did everyone go? I am talking to myself again. Asia is rising against me. I haven't got a chinaman's chance. I'd better consider my national resources. My national resources consist of two joints of marijuana millions of genitals an unpublishable private literature that goes 1400 miles an hour and twenty-five-thousand mental institutions. I say nothing about my prisons nor the millions of underprivileged who live in my flowerpots under the light of five hundred suns. I have abolished the whorehouses of France, Tangiers is the next to go. My ambition is to be President despite the fact that I'm a Catholic. America how can I write a holy litany in your silly mood? I will continue like Henry Ford my strophes are as individual as his automobiles more so they're all different sexes. America I will sell you strophes $2500 a piece $500 down on your old strophe America free Tom Mooney America save the Spanish Loyalists American Sacco & Vanzetti must not die America I am the Scottsboro boys. America when I was seven momma took me to Communist Cell meetings they sold us garbanzos a handful per ticket a ticket costs a nickel and the speeches were free everybody was angelic and sentimental about the workers it was all so sincere you have no idea what a good thing the party was in 1835 Scott Nearing was a grand old man a real mensch Mother Bloor made me cry I once saw Israel Amter plain. Everybody must have been a spy. America you don't really want to go to war.

By: redfoxtail

redfoxtail — Sun, 29 Apr 2001 09:06:45 -0800

Hey there, Mr. Ginsberg, America wants classical strophes. Where's your Greek chorus? We don't hold with these new-fangled modern strophe things.

By: thirteen

thirteen — Sun, 29 Apr 2001 20:29:57 -0800

I got called a troll.

By: daveadams

daveadams — Sun, 29 Apr 2001 20:51:47 -0800

Are you saying you aren't a troll? And all this time I thought...

By: Neale

Neale — Sun, 29 Apr 2001 22:58:34 -0800

America wants to go to war. Very Dead Kennedys. I'm a troll, but the only person who rises to the bait is me. I don't eat any meat that claims to be otherwise.

By: lagado

lagado — Mon, 30 Apr 2001 00:37:45 -0800

Some statistics for the interested: Neale - 178 posts daveadams - 110 posts thirteen - 35 posts Avagadro - 32 posts cCranium - 27 posts When will daveadams overtake Neale as 1142's top poster? Is anyone else even in the running? This should be more fun to bet on that the 1000th post question.

By: lagado

lagado — Mon, 30 Apr 2001 00:51:58 -0800

A contribution to the discussion re: vegetarianism to expected body size. 1. vegetarian -- one who eats no meat or fish or (often) any animal products 2. vegetarian -- one who eschews mains in favor of dessert.

By: thirteen

thirteen — Mon, 30 Apr 2001 07:16:16 -0800

I'M #3! I'M #3! Anybody know where I rank in Bens? I am so damn tired, I ended up with a poor 3 hours of sleep last night.

By: snarkout

snarkout — Mon, 30 Apr 2001 07:24:39 -0800

You are a troll, Thirteen; in fact, you're a greater troll. You are a chaotic evil creature with 6 to 8 hit dice, an armor class of 4, and 3 HP regeneration per round. Only a mighty warrior (or magic-user, or cleric) can defeat you!

By: thirteen

thirteen — Mon, 30 Apr 2001 07:41:26 -0800

If she had called me Drow I probably would not have been ruffled. I want you all to know, that I am really Lawful Neutral, armor class 10 + 1 dex bonus +2 leather jacket (d20 system), with 29 Hit points.

By: thirteen

thirteen — Mon, 30 Apr 2001 08:06:34 -0800

Ladies and Gentlemen, that last post, was my 1000th post to Metafilter. In honor of the event I will be rerunning the best of Thirteen here in 1142 over the next few days. I hope you will enjoy reading them, as much as I enjoyed bringing them to you. Here is a post where I go toe to toe with my arch enemy Dodgypunk:

Trying to define punk is a futile gesture. There was too much of it happening in too many places for a single definition to stand without contradicting some other equally valid form. The trick is to pick a definition you can live with and properly argue at parties. In my as yet unwritten treatise "Who is the Candy Rocker?" I will lay out the Platonian view that will put an end to the what is punk question once and for all.

>turn on lantern You switch the brass lantern on. Sloping E/W Canyon You are in an awkward sloping east/west canyon.

By: iceberg273

iceberg273 — Mon, 30 Apr 2001 10:55:44 -0800

[Offtopic Musing] Would the superhero Straw Man be good or evil?
*That's right, Fallacy Boy! Llama Girl has incorrectly stated the Mayor's position on the school bond proposal. Fortunately, I've brought along the Conclusive Ray Gun of Logic!*
*Holy truth tables, Straw Man! You've turned Llama Girl into an Irrelevant Conclusion.*
*Yes I have, Fallacy Boy, Yes I have.*

By: cCranium

cCranium — Mon, 30 Apr 2001 10:58:55 -0800
I wish you people would remember to close the tags when you leave! Do you think I'm made of electricity?! I don't want to pay for the whole neighborhood to be italicised, Dammit! Aw, shit, Skot, tell me it isn't so... Sonofabitch. Or rather, Aw crap. Hey thirteen, when/where did you get called a troll? I missed that completely. norm: Getting 1k posts is like watching a pot of water boil. It'll happen in the same amount of time as it would've if you weren't paying attention, but it's much easier to get distracted and not notice time pass if you're fucking around on MetaFilter. redfoxtail: I was going to light the torch, but I forgot to pick it up, and I didn't even know we had a lantern. > i

By: bradlands

bradlands — Mon, 30 Apr 2001 11:08:29 -0800

>i You are carrying: a wicker cage (which is open but empty) a small bottle (which is empty) a brass lantern (providing light) some tasty food a set of keys >

By: iceberg273

iceberg273 — Mon, 30 Apr 2001 11:21:11 -0800

I forgot to close a tag just now. Thus, the sole purpose of this post was to close the tag. I blame my 56K modem.
But cCranium beat me to it. So now this post has no purpose.
But I'll post it anyways.
Also, I was hunting for fossils in Ohio this weekend, and so I missed the First Annual 1142 Vegetarian Hot Dog Discussion. This makes me sad, but in an eclectic way.
It's hard to find flowering plants that like to grow in the shade.
close wicker cage

By: thirteen

thirteen — Mon, 30 Apr 2001 11:44:43 -0800

cCranium, that would be in 7307: A thread that will live in infamy.

By: bradlands

bradlands — Mon, 30 Apr 2001 11:49:56 -0800

>close wicker cage You close the wicker cage. >

daveadams — Wed, 02 May 2001 13:34:29 -0800

cCranium, I would like to be user #6 (the first perfect number!) please.

gluechunk — Wed, 02 May 2001 20:35:39 -0800

By: gluechunk

gluechunk — Wed, 02 May 2001 20:35:53 -0800

for

By: gluechunk

gluechunk — Wed, 02 May 2001 20:36:01 -0800

rapid

By: gluechunk

gluechunk — Wed, 02 May 2001 20:36:15 -0800

posting

By: gluechunk

gluechunk — Wed, 02 May 2001 20:36:30 -0800

1000 by midnight pst!

By: gluechunk

gluechunk — Wed, 02 May 2001 20:48:58 -0800

user ID# 1142 has never posted a comment!

By: anildash

anildash — Wed, 02 May 2001 21:01:39 -0800

Thirteen, I'm not DPG. I'm just not that cool. Also, I don't have the short-term memory and attention span that would be necessary. Norm, I am not cooler than c-list. I've got the server logs to prove it. Also, Brad can attest how pathetically low my self-esteem is, whereas the a-list is clearly in love with themselves, no? But more interestingly, gluechunk makes me wonder how many MeFi members are pure lurkers. Or, even more compellingly, how many sub-1k MeFites are pure lurkers. The mind reels!

By: bradlands

bradlands — Wed, 02 May 2001 21:03:21 -0800

>take dwarf Oh, come on! The dwarf is gone. Deal with it. >

By: anildash

anildash — Wed, 02 May 2001 21:06:26 -0800

Also, I think it's kinda cool and also kinda disconcerting that i'm referred to as Anildash. Not that it's inappropriate at all, because, hell, it is my member ID. But it's just my first and last name mashed together and feels weird to me, i've never seen that done before. Anildash. Anil Dash. cC is cool, though, I love Rob's abbreviation. Speaking of Rob, I thought I answered your objection before: We were too goddamn busy at SXSW to post! We were interacting with each other! In all seriousness, though, the only time I used my laptop on the entire trip was on the flight there and the flight back. I think maybe Jish or I used one of our machines for directions on the first day. There just weren't enough hours in the day to get to blogging. Now, on the other hand, I have nothing to do at all. Somebody give me a job.

By: gluechunk

gluechunk — Wed, 02 May 2001 21:11:52 -0800

Holy moly! I was sitting here, waiting for 1142 to fully load via my 56K modem when I realized how to fix my broken powerbook 100. Thank you slow load time.

By: norm

norm — Wed, 02 May 2001 22:11:03 -0800

Back in the old BBS days, I went by Deathpuppy, and would sign my posts dP. There's a user here that does that (I think it's Darkpony). How interesting. However, the four letter 'norm' needs no abbrev., which is v.g. OTOH, I still want to know who DPG is. What's the # on the posts? I'm at home now, and I have not been able to make the "recent comments" thing work on IE. At work, running NN 4.5, it works like a charm.

By: norm

norm — Wed, 02 May 2001 22:14:46 -0800

While I was poking around in the archives, I found this MeTa thread that proves I learned my very first HTML from cC. Wow! I had forgotten who clued me in. To think; only two months later I had a blog (and not many more coding skills, I assure you). Thanks cC and MeTa!

By: gluechunk

gluechunk — Wed, 02 May 2001 22:33:27 -0800

Why doesn't it show you the number of comments? Don't you see the following if you sort by My Comments? posted by mathowie at 8:45 PM PST on Mar 28 - 979 comments (2 new) - Post a Comment

By: thirteen

thirteen — Wed, 02 May 2001 22:57:51 -0800

Here is the drawing I mentioned last night. It is not terribly exciting, but I can crank these out like sausage. I'm going to bed.

By: redfoxtail

redfoxtail — Thu, 03 May 2001 05:34:10 -0800

Don't you see the following if you sort by My Comments? *smacks self in forehead*

By: cCranium

cCranium — Thu, 03 May 2001 05:37:03 -0800

I was doing some math during my morning shower, and kind of scared myself. Each time the thread is hit, we request > .5megs of data. To visit the thread, preview a comment and post the comment, we use 1.5 megs of data. Yesterday there were approximately 142 messages posted. (Which is an interesting number in itself) I say approximately because there's a good chance I missed a few and added a few extra (it's still early :-). 142 * 1.5 = 213. That's 213 megs of data we transferred yesterday, just posting the messages. True, it doesn't always require 1.5 megs to post a message because we're not always starting from scratch, but 213 doesn't take into account the times I reloaded the page, or came to the thread and didn't post anything, so I'm guessing we're doing even more than that. That's a lot of fucking bandwidth. Do this 4 days in a row and we've sucked up a gig of data. While I don't know if Matt has to pay for bandwidth usage, Ev probably does. If we make Ev have to shell out cash to keep supporting MetaFilter, he may say screw it. I'm loving this thread, but we may screw over our free ride. So, until I get 142.org (which is now resolving for me) up and running, I really really think we should move to 1143. There's an ice cream freezer over there and everything. I would be very happy to see this as the last post in this thread until the site gets up and running. I'm sure the last thing any of us want to do is piss Matt off.

By: redfoxtail

redfoxtail — Thu, 03 May 2001 07:54:19 -0800

Okay, I'm up for driving this puppy to a thousand posts. Do you think a thousand posts is like a thousand plateaus? If you're at all familiar with A Thousand Plateaus, by the way, you will share my amazement that it appears on a business site under "biographies and primers."

By: redfoxtail

redfoxtail — Thu, 03 May 2001 08:05:06 -0800

Oops, I really have no idea where that mistyped URL on "a thousand plateaus" came from. Try this instead. Or, you know, don't.

By: norm

norm — Thu, 03 May 2001 08:08:50 -0800

Well, I must say I'm glad this will finally happen. I'm going to leave on an impromptu Bizness Trip in a few moments, so I guess I'll just check back in a few hours and see what happened. Surely Matt's been monitoring the progress...?

By: daveadams

daveadams — Thu, 03 May 2001 10:04:01 -0800

[cC] what I figured I'm going to do is allow classification into x categories, where x is some number that will display well in a drop-down Or you could do it like Bill Humpries's More Like This, and just have a really long list of categories as check boxes so that each post could be in multiple categories (a feature that my own blogging software sorely lacks). However, again, that's probably more trouble than it's worth.

By: daveadams

daveadams — Thu, 03 May 2001 10:07:36 -0800

Just 13(12) posts left till 1000.

By: daveadams

daveadams — Thu, 03 May 2001 10:08:23 -0800

I guess we must now find a new milestone. 1142 perhaps? But we'll get there by tomorrow at this rate.

By: daveadams

daveadams — Thu, 03 May 2001 10:10:16 -0800

Actually, someone needs to think of something really cooool to post as post #1000 to commemorate the moment and avoid a fiasco.

By: daveadams

daveadams — Thu, 03 May 2001 10:16:24 -0800

[cC] That's 213 megs of data we transferred yesterday, just posting the messages. Well, that number may be a bit high (because often we post in bunches, so each successive post only consumes one more meg, although it's probably upped by the ever-increasing size of the thread and reloads like you mentioned). But 213MB in a day isn't really all that much. My pair webmaster account allows for 400MB/day in traffic. But I think Metafilter is housed in Pyra's offices, which are probably on a T1-class line at least. So... (1.5Mb/s x 60s/min x 60min/hr x 24hr/day) / (8b/B) = 1.62GB(ytes!)/day. So yes, we are consuming quite a bit of that, but there's plenty left for expansion to post 2000 and beyond!!!!

By: daveadams

daveadams — Thu, 03 May 2001 10:18:58 -0800

I'm not ashamed: I'm allergic to chocolate.

By: daveadams

daveadams — Thu, 03 May 2001 10:23:46 -0800

Not that I can't eat it. The first couple of bytes usually make me sneeze. Then I'm okay for a while. But if I eat too much at once... well... back when I was six or seven or so, I went trick-or-treating and got a HUUUGE bag of candy. I was so excited... there were tons of candy bars, so I ate and ate and ate and ate until I was sick to my stomach. I went to bed and in the middle of the night I woke up screaming. My mom came in and my entire back was covered in big ol' blistering hives. I don't remember much about it except that it hurt really really bad. But I've tried to avoid eating quite that much chocolate all at once ever since.

By: daveadams

daveadams — Thu, 03 May 2001 10:24:49 -0800

HA! I typed "bytes" instead of "bites" in that last comment. I guess I had bandwidth on the brain.

By: daveadams

daveadams — Thu, 03 May 2001 10:26:51 -0800

I usually bring a lunch to work, but I always end up eating it before noon. I have no self-control.

By: Avogadro

Avogadro — Thu, 03 May 2001 10:27:19 -0800

Folks, since this whole thread has been Neale's baby from the start (and believe me, I could go into long, drawn out metaphors about how his article provided the genetic material for Matt's post, but we don't really want to get into sperm and egg discussions, not to mention giving Neale the opportunity to shout "Who's yer daddy?!?!, do we?), with Neale nurturing the thread during its adolescence when he was the only one who loved it, witnessing 1142's first trouble with the law, and watching it grow up to be the slightly dysfunctional adult that it now is, Neale must make the 1000th and last post before officially retiring this thread and giving birth to the community that is the 1142. Somebody, please wake up Neale so that he can do the honors. (this is comment 996)

By: gluechunk

gluechunk — Thu, 03 May 2001 10:27:57 -0800

Four more!

By: daveadams

daveadams — Thu, 03 May 2001 10:28:02 -0800

I have a very devious plan. You will all hate me for it.

By: gluechunk

gluechunk — Thu, 03 May 2001 10:28:07 -0800

Three more!

By: gluechunk

gluechunk — Thu, 03 May 2001 10:28:23 -0800

Two more?!

By: gluechunk

gluechunk — Thu, 03 May 2001 10:28:40 -0800

Mr. 1142!

By: daveadams

daveadams — Thu, 03 May 2001 10:30:50 -0800

"Two more?!" as the 1000th post?!

By: daveadams

daveadams — Thu, 03 May 2001 10:32:41 -0800

[daveadams] I have a very devious plan. You will all hate me for it. Well, I had a very devious plan, and you would have all hated me for it.

By: Avogadro

Avogadro — Thu, 03 May 2001 10:32:43 -0800

Dammit gluechunk, that was comment 1001!!!

By: Avogadro

Avogadro — Thu, 03 May 2001 10:36:52 -0800

Allright, this thread must end at comment 1142. (However, I love the absurd way we hit 1000.)

By: gluechunk

gluechunk — Thu, 03 May 2001 11:27:58 -0800

Ok, I messed that up. Sorry. In any case, I guess we now know that MeFi doesn't break if a thread hits 1000. I will now be able to sleep better at night. A big hand I saw come out of the sky last night.

By: sudama

sudama — Thu, 03 May 2001 12:23:18 -0800

I know the screen name of an Active Buddy but you'll have to come over here and ask me nicely to get it.

By: bradlands

bradlands — Thu, 03 May 2001 15:50:23 -0800

I think comment #1142 -- so long, farewell and amen -- should include this thread's final weight in bens.

By: Neale

Neale — Thu, 03 May 2001 17:58:24 -0800

This thread will officially close at post 1142. I reserve the right to that post. cC is right. This is sucking way too much bandwith. A wholehearted move to 1142.org, which I'm going to use as a free-form web experimental art shelf, will be made. I heardby sound the death knell of 1142.

By: Neale

Neale — Thu, 03 May 2001 22:58:28 -0800

Of course, I may not have permission to use it as a free-form web experimental art shelf, but that won't stop me.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Fri, 04 May 2001 16:08:55 -0800

I added a comment counter right below the thread starter, just for you guys. You still have a way to go to acheive 1142, but I'll close it when it hits.

By: Lirp

Lirp — Fri, 04 May 2001 16:22:41 -0800

Well, as long as I know what I'm doing (thanks Matt!) I'll do my part to run up the counter. I'll be stopping aroung 1130, though. I'd hate to ruin anyones (anyone's?) fun. >take rock

By: thirteen

thirteen — Fri, 04 May 2001 16:32:02 -0800

Thanks Matt! When I was little, we would sometimes go to a large hill in the winter time where there was some organized sledding going on. On one particularly frigid day, I saw a woman jokingly pull at her boyfriend's mustache (this was the 70's) which was all icy. She pulled away a good hunk of the skin beneath the hair by accident. He howled in incredible pain, and his violent gesture upset me lots. There was blood, think and dark, but mostly I remember the floppy half mustache dangling below his nose. I wonder how often stuff like this happens? >chop snake

By: redfoxtail

redfoxtail — Fri, 04 May 2001 17:07:06 -0800

That is incredibly horrid. Thanks, Thirteen!

By: cCranium

cCranium — Fri, 04 May 2001 21:25:20 -0800

I am just completely in love with Matt tonight. You totally fucking rock, man.

By: Mahogne

Mahogne — Fri, 04 May 2001 21:44:27 -0800

Ms are falling behind the Jays tonight. Go Jays!!

By: sudama

sudama — Fri, 04 May 2001 21:45:49 -0800

1016 says "counters are cool."

By: youhas

youhas — Sat, 05 May 2001 09:23:05 -0800

The end is nigh, eh? Damn. Makes me wish I had some pithy and non-lame thing to say right now. ... Ah, well, I'll work on it. I've still got 100+ posts to work with. Should give me 'til at least mid-afternoon, knowing this bunch. :-)

By: feelinglistless

feelinglistless — Sat, 05 May 2001 09:44:55 -0800

Better leave something before we close for business. But what? I have five minutes before I have to go out . . . I was at the cinema today killing time (by the way 'The Hole' is really, really poor). As usual in the outer-hebridian screen 10, no one was there. I sat trying to work my way through a vitriolic article about the actors strike, when I hear, in a gruff old voice: 'Hello mate.' I ignore it. Surely he's not speaking to me. 'Hello mate, errr' I turn. An old man is standing on my shoulder in a dirty brown coat, his face a mess, wracked with too many wars. I nod and continue reading. 'The Hole?' He says. 'Pardon?' 'The Hole?' 'Oh.' I say. 'Yes.' 'Whensitfinish.' He says his lips loosing the power to speak. I shrug. I think he's asked when it starts. 'Half and hour.' 'Ten past three.' He says, answering his own question. 'Yes.' I nod. I carry on reading. 'Don't go see 4.' I'm caught off guard. 'What?' 'The film. In 4. Don't see it. It's shit.' 'Right. OK' Then there is a deathly silence. 'Right.' He says and turns and goes to sit three rows behind me. For the next ten minutes I can feel his eyes in the back of my head. Every time I turn around, he's looking at me and smiling. I slink back down in my seat. My bladder starts to hurt. I grab my magazine and head for the exit. 'Where are you going?' Asks Travis Brickles granddad. I nod at him. I'm good at nodding. It answers some questions. When I return from the toilet, a few more people have arrived. But as the film starts I can still here him. Coughing. Spluttering. Getting uncomfortable. Talking to himself. But you can't say anything. You just sit there. If you says something, you're actually afraid of what's going to happen. He's old and odd, but there might a madness in there as well. What are you supposed to do? Has anyone else been there?

By: feelinglistless

feelinglistless — Sat, 05 May 2001 10:03:52 -0800

So anyway, for my few postings it's been a bit fun . . . see you (maybe) at 1142.org) . . . Zagra-boor-astra-gaaa - hootrimanshion-bantriatooo

By: feelinglistless

feelinglistless — Sat, 05 May 2001 10:04:05 -0800

So anyway, for my few postings it's been a bit fun . . . see you (maybe) at 1142.org . . . Zagra-boor-astra-gaaa - hootrimanshion-bantriatooo

By: iceberg273

iceberg273 — Sun, 06 May 2001 11:30:20 -0800

I've been archiving 1142 as an Excel database for the last 500 comments (that's how I get counts for each person who posts). Once the thread is closed, I'll make the final database available somewhere (If I can find someplace to store the gigantic thing). I'm glad I got back from Chicago before 1142 reached 1142.
It's nice to see that we bungled post 1000 as badly as we bungled post #500. I'm staying away after posting this so that I don't mess up post 1142.
When I was in Chicago, our hotel ran out of rooms for normal people and so we were bumped up to the executive tower. This made the people who actually booked a room in the executive tower kinda mad (imagine if you had shelled out extra cash in order to be pampered and then your hall was over run by graduate students exclaiming over all of the free stuff (food, drink, sewing kits, etc.)). Best of all, us executive tower folks had a private elevator that allowed us to bypass all of the floor full of riff-raff.
I bought a soccer ball last night.
Off to 1142.org . . .

By: lia

lia — Sun, 06 May 2001 12:23:35 -0800

This is post 1023 -- 113 posts to go! And as we've seen previously, Neale is perfectly capable of posting at least half of those in the next 24 hours.

By: Neale

Neale — Sun, 06 May 2001 18:06:08 -0800

Indeed I am.

By: Sean Meade

Sean Meade — Sun, 06 May 2001 19:52:15 -0800

post 1025 (pre-preview. just to ease your accounting.) speaking of 13, John got me 'Snow Crash' and it rocks. i've read 200 pages since lunch. can you really call a book 'good' if it doesn't keep you up past your bedtime? well, we had tornado sirens today, but no real action. since we're Tornado Alley they can pinpoint funnel clouds down to the intersection. it's pretty amazing. we're on watch until 1a. i, for one, will be sleeping soundly. good night 1142. wonder what i'll find tomorrow...

By: thirteen

thirteen — Sun, 06 May 2001 20:35:39 -0800

1. One massive headache. 1. One class left of introductory Japanese. 2. Two unanswered questions that might screw up my Monday. 6. Six Day until I start stripping paint off my storm windows. Sean bought me a book too. I liked Microserfs just as much as I liked Snowcrash, so I think it was an excellent exchange. In the movie 2001, which part takes place in 2001? Is it 2001 when they find the slab on the moon? Or 18 months later when they find the other slab near Jupiter? Neale? Do you know Neale? Neale? NEALE! Anil is supposed to be friends with me so that I can get on the A-list. What starts out as a relationship between unequals would settle into a situation where we become casual, and Anil's relative fame would no longer make a difference. I will name my first son Anil, he will name his 13, and we will buy houses next door to each other. Fabulous bar-b-q's would happen almost daily, and an offhand comment will spark a shared idea between us that will save the internet from ruin. Neale might well be jealous, and will have to settle for watching water swirl counter clockwise down any draion he might come across. OR, I might be beaned on the head, and Neale will take my place in the cheery story above. Today is my Metafilter birthday.

By: Neale

Neale — Mon, 07 May 2001 04:13:35 -0800

Happy MeFiBDay. Anil Dash is my unborn love-child.

By: Avogadro

Avogadro — Mon, 07 May 2001 06:31:34 -0800

This is pretty pathetic; I haven't a witty thing to say for one thread, much less 1143 and the ultra-groovy 1142.org. So I'll content myself with contentless tripe until I have two thoughts that could be strung together.

By: thirteen

thirteen — Mon, 07 May 2001 08:44:42 -0800

I would like to change the second 1 in my previous post to a "0". as in 0. Zero is the number of times I fact or spellcheck before posting. I do use the spell checker, but it does not always load, and I am left terrifyingly alone with my own poorly keyboard pecked words. I just realized that if you rearranged the letters in Anil, you can get Nial pronounced Neale. I don't know what this means, but DPG is out there somewhere. If he or she would just write me a letter and tell me who they are, I am sure I could figure out this whole Anil morphing into Neale problem. I will be back later when I figure out what "avogadro" can be rearranged to spell out. It is sure to be sinister.

By: thirteen

thirteen — Mon, 07 May 2001 09:01:19 -0800

AVOGADRO: do ova rag Ragtime does not excite me, and there are no do overs. a avg. odor That one is okay, not evil as I believe most of us have average odor's. a gov. road Like the one that leads to area 51!!!! What are you trying to pull here Avogadro, or should that be Commander Avogadro? I am watching you.

By: Avogadro

Avogadro — Mon, 07 May 2001 11:19:13 -0800

Aaaaaaugh! *hides under basket*

By: Avogadro

Avogadro — Mon, 07 May 2001 11:22:16 -0800

hey...wait a minute... *exits basket, squints eyes* THIRTEEN: the inert Right, nothing to fear here; take your best shot.

By: thirteen

thirteen — Mon, 07 May 2001 12:34:35 -0800

I have been claiming to be inert for years now. >Put Avogadro in basket >Close Basket >wait

By: daveadams

daveadams — Mon, 07 May 2001 21:44:08 -0800

Wow, I was away for a few days and so much has happened. Well, not much in this thread, but elsewhere lots of interesting stuff is going on. The music festival was great fun. Dave Matthews, Johnny Lang, Koko Taylor, and Bob Dylan all rocked my world. The walking and standing, however, didn't agree with my ankles all that well....

By: lia

lia — Tue, 08 May 2001 01:49:36 -0800

Someone, anyone, please buy me a book. I'm currently broke and have been reduced to borrowing books from my boyfriend (who has begun to buy books from my reading list for himself, the stinker).

Sean, here's a neat little coinkydink -- I read Snow Crash last night for the first time. And given that I'm half a day ahead of you, we were probably reading it at the same time. What are the odds on that?

(I finished it in two and a half hours, and went to sleep pissed at myself for not having read it when it first came out. Great book.)

By: youhas

youhas — Tue, 08 May 2001 04:29:34 -0800

Whoa, creepy further coincidence: I inherited a copy of Snow Crash from a coworker just last week and was on the precipice of reading it for the first time. I was mulling over how long it would take to read and whether it'd be worth the effort or not... and just like that, a MeFi opinion appears from the void. Keen! The 1142 thread is magical, I tell ya. Under other circumstances, I might buy you a book. However, my place of employment did the dot-com death dance just last Tuesday - I inherited the book during the ensuing desk-emptying rituals, truth be known - so I'd best be hoarding my pennies for the time being. Sorry.

By: samsara

samsara — Tue, 08 May 2001 10:25:46 -0800

Just wanted to make my 200th comment in the most appropiate place. I almost want to /shout DING!, but then I realize I've been playing too much EverQuest when I should be working :)

By: Avogadro

Avogadro — Tue, 08 May 2001 10:37:58 -0800

*quietly shakes fist from inside basket*

By: Skot

Skot — Tue, 08 May 2001 11:30:50 -0800

Help is on the way, lia.

By: thirteen

thirteen — Tue, 08 May 2001 14:08:39 -0800

>Open basket >Put food in basket >Close basket

By: thirteen

thirteen — Tue, 08 May 2001 16:20:06 -0800

Does Brad no longer visit?

By: Neale

Neale — Tue, 08 May 2001 16:42:08 -0800

Well, 100 comments to go. This is getting creepy.

By: southisup

southisup — Tue, 08 May 2001 19:10:05 -0800

You have a rival. 631158 bytes here, 507257 there.

By: southisup

southisup — Tue, 08 May 2001 19:31:25 -0800

Bugger. That's a suitably ignominious way to break a lurk here, I suppose. Here's the rival. 631467 here, 507257 there.

By: Neale

Neale — Tue, 08 May 2001 20:28:11 -0800

We'll need about 20,000k per post to beat that if we wish to stay ahead. BTW: I'm doing some minor upgrades on wwgb... any volunteers for testing? The changes should be obvious.

By: lia

lia — Wed, 09 May 2001 02:19:44 -0800

Yeeesh, perhaps we should start a 1142 book club, ala randomwalks's randomBooks.

Skot! You da man! The shipping'll probably cost you as much or more than the book (but don't let that stop any of you from getting me something if you so desire).

By: cCranium

cCranium — Wed, 09 May 2001 06:14:51 -0800

I'll volunteer, Neale.

By: samsara

samsara — Wed, 09 May 2001 07:55:38 -0800

You know, the meaning of life is 42. I haven't figured out what 11 stands for other than the topic appears May 11th in this FAQ. Does anyone know what 1142 might mean in the Torah?

By: samsara

samsara — Wed, 09 May 2001 08:04:16 -0800

5.1.11 (it's section...how did I get may 11th?) The topic must have overloaded my brain as I was also trying to find 1142 in pi....which I would not doubt existance. spooky

By: samsara

samsara — Wed, 09 May 2001 08:12:12 -0800

The more I think about it, did I actually predict when this thread will reach 1142? May 11th?

By: thirteen

thirteen — Wed, 09 May 2001 08:59:25 -0800

None of you will find this funny, but I did As a Viking (sung to "In the Navy" by the Village People) Where can you find pleasure Search the world for treasure Learn the Norse Deities Where can you begin to make your dreams all come true On the land or on the sea Where you learn how to fight Play with swords and big knives Study Norse Theology Sign up for the big band Or sit in the grandstand When your team and others meet As a Viking Yes, you can sail the seven seas As a Viking Yes, your beard grows to your knees As a Viking Come on people, make stand As a Viking, As a Viking Can't you see Tyr needs a hand As a Viking Come on, protect your homeland As a Viking Come on people, make a stand As a Viking, As a Viking, As a Viking(As a Viking) They want you, they want you They want you to plunder and loot If you like adventure Don't you wait and enter The Chief's house fast Don't you hesitate There is no need to wait They're signing up new oarsmen fast You are never to young To join up today As long as you can lift a sword For I'm sure there will be Always a good Viking Horde Protecting the land and sea As a Viking Yes, you can sail the seven seas As a Viking Yes, your beard grows to your knees As a Viking Come on people, make stand As a Viking, As a Viking Can't you see Tyr needs a hand As a Viking Come on, protect your homeland As a Viking Come on people, make a stand As a Viking, As a Viking, As a Viking(As a Viking) (Who me?) They...Want...You...(As a Viking) They...Want...You...(As a Viking) They want you to plunder and loot (As a Viking) But, but, but I'm afraid of water Hey, hey look Man, I get seasick even drinkin' it They...Want...You...As a Viking Oh my goodness What am I gonna do on a Viking longboat They...Want...YOU...AS A VIKING!!! I like Vikings.

By: redfoxtail

redfoxtail — Wed, 09 May 2001 09:29:26 -0800

Yay, sleep! That's where I'm a Viking!

By: Skot

Skot — Wed, 09 May 2001 10:06:13 -0800

The shipping'll probably cost you as much or more than the book . . . Not quite, but close. ;) Nothing makes me sadder than the idea of someone without a damn book to read. I'm a total junkie, so it strikes me as the equivalent of not having food.

By: thirteen

thirteen — Wed, 09 May 2001 21:31:02 -0800

A box without hinges key or lid/ yet golden treasure inside is hid? Lia, have you read Cryptonomicon? Does anybody want to talk about Cryptonomicon? It was the highlight of all the codebreaking books I read last summer, and there were a lot of codebreaking books last summer. I have a pet hermit crab, and I have great affection for it. Possibly greater than I should, as it is very detached. I spritz it with a spray bottle dilligently, and constantly rearrange the cage to give it new climbing experiences. 1142

By: lia

lia — Thu, 10 May 2001 03:55:12 -0800

Haven't gotten my grubby little hands (actually clean and slender, but "grubby little" is the standard phrase) on Cryptonomicon yet (see posts above for reason why), but I'm looking forward to reading it when I do.

By: redfoxtail

redfoxtail — Thu, 10 May 2001 05:46:06 -0800

I would think Hobbit Pie would have hobbits in it. But then, chess pie doesn't have chess in it. And no Lady Baltimores were harmed in the making of Lady Baltimore cake. So perhaps not.

By: Avogadro

Avogadro — Thu, 10 May 2001 05:58:17 -0800

Does that mean there are no flies in "Shoo Fly Pie"? Am I the only one that thinks the idea of mincemeat pie is repulsive?

By: cCranium

cCranium — Thu, 10 May 2001 07:00:31 -0800

I'll talk about Cryptonomicon. I haven't gotten a copy of Snow Crash yet, so it's the only Stephenson stuff I've read other than that "In the beginning there was the command line" thing that's online somewhere. I thought it was a good book.

By: thirteen

thirteen — Thu, 10 May 2001 08:06:11 -0800

I guess I was curious if you knew that a good hunk of it takes place in your part of the world. I wish I knew how to spell Corriegadoor. I wish I knew how to spell. Anybody who reads Cryptonomicon and does not want to run Linux has no soul, And anybody who reads it, and does not load up PGP has no brain. I made a public key using the highest level of encryption, and had a 30 character password. I had the Public key posted on my website for 8 months, and I begged someone to send me a letter using it, just to try it out. Nobody ever did. I am still not really sure if I know how to use the program. That just reminds me that I have been putting off servicing my home machine. I need to wipe the drive, and reload syste software. I hate the way they come from the factory, and it has never behaved entirely correct-like. The PGP write over open space feature fails, and I know I would be using that all the time. Avogadro, how did you get out of the basket? Nevermind, I am glad you are here. I go back and forth trying to decide if I like Snow Crash or Diamond Age better, they are both so satisfying for different reasons. They are also like dessert when compared to the fantasticness that is Cryptonomicon (which is like a rich, heavy meal). I don't like that last sentence, but I will leave it in to help with Neale's byte count. I would like to eat a fistfull of poppy seeds some time, it would be like edible black sand.

By: Avogadro

Avogadro — Thu, 10 May 2001 08:50:19 -0800

Actually, I'm still in the basket; it's really quite cozy in here, and due to its porous construction, I am able to breathe. I can also pretend to be a serpent, so I am waiting for some turbaned guy to play some funky tune, perhaps Anil. I myself would like to wear a turban on a daily basis, and I curse JFK for contributing to the downfall of men's millinery (I keep wanting to refer to hatters as haberdashers, but I realize that's incorrect). As a child growing up in Texas, I used to spend much time in my closet (not that closet) because I feared wide open spaces. Now that I live in the middle of Cleveland, I find myself drawn back to open space. I can never reach that middle ground.

By: norm

norm — Thu, 10 May 2001 09:25:43 -0800

Don't eat the poppy seeds, 13, at least if you want to test clean on piss tests. As for books; I work as the shipping manager here, and therefore I have access to all kinds of shipping systems. I was wondering if anyone wanted to do any book trading/loaning with me? I would send a box with an airbill, you would place your book inside the box, then send me the book. I would loan you fine books like Atlas Shrugged, which I own, being a 100% Randian (oh, no!). I could also loan you the Satanic Verses or my Molly Ivins book, which is impeccably well written, funny, and in many cases wrong (it's from the early 90s and contains many testable predictions). What is Snow Crash? Isn't that a computer game featuring Snowmobiles? I think I have it. Upon reading this, it seems like my reading choices, although chosen to reflect a certain degree of whimsy and good humor, make me out to be the cranky libertarian. That's so inaccurate. I still think of myself as the pinko liberal, even though my politics aren't at all consistent with pinko liberals. What's my problem?

By: snarkout

snarkout — Thu, 10 May 2001 10:06:51 -0800

I would loan you fine books like Atlas Shrugged, which I own, being a 100% Randian (oh, no!). I would be happy to take part in such an activity, Norm, but you would have to promise not to send me Atlas Shrugged, because I think it's an excretable book by an excretable novelist. What sort of reading material would you be looking for?

By: cCranium

cCranium — Thu, 10 May 2001 10:33:39 -0800

And anybody who reads it, and does not load up PGP has no brain. Whoops, I _KNEW_ my skull was missing something. Actually, I've loaded PGP in the past, so I may be exempt. :-)

By: norm

norm — Thu, 10 May 2001 10:37:29 -0800

Oh, I don't know. SOmething good. I'm always on the lookout for good books. For my birthday six weeks ago or so, Sean Meade gave me an Amazon gift certificate, that I just now got around to redeeming this week. I saw so many praises for that Fast Food Nation book that I decided I should probably read it (especially considering how little I eat fast food, it will make good Smug reading for me. On the other hand, I worked at a Hardee's, too, so I bet I know most of this stuff anyway). But yeah, that's basically my position. Just want to learn stuff. And read good books. Actually, on the Rand thing; I've been trying to slog through the Fountainhead now for about a month and can't even break page 100. I mean, this is the most godawful tripe I've ever read; and boring too. Boooooooooooooooring.

By: Skot

Skot — Thu, 10 May 2001 10:40:51 -0800

I [heart] Neal Stephenson, and have read everything he's written save for Command Line, which, inexplicably, I can never find in bookstores. You guys know he also writes novels under a pen name, right? Stephen Bury, the titles are Interface and Cobweb, Interface being by far the superior. 13, I loved Cryptonomicon (though not as much as the incomparable Snow Crash and Diamond Age), but did not try out PGP, though I was tempted. The reason, as usual, is that I'm functionally too stupid. Technology, particularly computer technology, though I love it so, still weirds me out and makes me feel a priori dumb. Did you also read The Code Book by Simon Singh? Excellent. Can someone help me remove the image from my mind of snarkout excreting Ayn Rand? Did you mean execrable? (Says the fucking pedant. What a pain I am.)

By: Skot

Skot — Thu, 10 May 2001 10:45:36 -0800

Oh, also, pace Mr. Stephenson, his first novel The Big U has been re-issued over the author's strenuous objections. Stephenson has long screamed, "No! It's a terrible novel! Never shall it see the light of day!" to which the publishing company replies, "Sorry, there's money to be had." So now it's out there. It's . . . okay. Pretty clearly a first novel. You can see the germs of his later stuff, but who likes germs?

By: anapestic

anapestic — Thu, 10 May 2001 11:31:56 -0800

What's wrong with mincemeat pie, Avogadro? You don't like suet-based foods? Mincemeat recipes fascinate me: I get so much more from reading them than I would from making or eating the mincemeat.

By: Avogadro

Avogadro — Thu, 10 May 2001 11:54:16 -0800

Suet just gives me the heebie-jeebies, yet I have no problem at all eating menudo (the mexican tripe-based stew, not the puerto-rican boy-band). Kudos by the bye on your comments in this thread. That was very cool and enlightening. What took you so long to find 1142? *still in basket, weaving a sweater*

By: thirteen

thirteen — Thu, 10 May 2001 12:18:38 -0800

The Code Book by Simon Singh was book two read during last year's CODE BOOK SUMMER extravaganza. >Open basket >put books in basket >close basket >phone Brad >ring >ring >Brad is not home right now, please leave a message. >Brad, I don't know what to do with Avogadro anymore, please help. Sorry about the harsh PGP comments, I was trying to match it up with that Churchill quote.

By: anapestic

anapestic — Thu, 10 May 2001 12:53:54 -0800

What took you so long to find 1142? I found 1142 a couple weeks back, but I didn't want to post until I was sure it would be around for a while. Heh. Actually, I thought I should read the whole thing before I posted, but then I realized that was just silly. Anybody got the executive summary handy? You can use butter instead of suet. Just be careful not to spill any on your sweater.

By: daveadams

daveadams — Thu, 10 May 2001 13:01:20 -0800

I thought I should read the whole thing before I posted, but then I realized that was just silly. We don't take kindly here to newbies just going wild and posting without having read the entire thread first. Ever hear of basic netiquette? Some people. :) Just teasing.

By: snarkout

snarkout — Thu, 10 May 2001 13:30:03 -0800

Execrable. Yes. That's the one. Ha ha. Hrrm. I have a large vocabulary, I swear. [slinks back into corner] It's . . . okay. Pretty clearly a first novel. That's for rootin'-tootin' sure. Of his early work, I think Zodiac was by far the better book. (Haven't read the Bury.) I actually didn't think Cryptonomicon was that hot; a lot of it seemed to be... I dunno... self-conscious. "I will write a Pynchonesque epic! With Sterlingesque everything-but-the-kitchen-sink engineering talk! And I will have an ass-kicking girl, because that's what my fans like!" Fine and dandy, but not something that I think I'll ever want to reread.

By: cCranium

cCranium — Thu, 10 May 2001 14:06:15 -0800

hey, anapestic, your presence has been officially requested over here. 49 comments after this one before that's our only choice.

By: thirteen

thirteen — Thu, 10 May 2001 14:22:46 -0800

But before you post over there make sure you read it all.

By: anapestic

anapestic — Fri, 11 May 2001 05:43:45 -0800

your presence has been officially requested I feel like Pandora. You post a couple of messages to 1142 and your life is reduced to complete anarchy. Not that I had that far to go to begin with. Please, please, please tell me there's no www.mandatoryreadinglist.1142.com. The last thing I need is to stay up all night rereading the Illuminati trilogy and Diary of a Mad Blogger.

By: Avogadro

Avogadro — Fri, 11 May 2001 11:58:01 -0800

I think that I will stay in this basket, just like Julia Butterfly Hill did with that tree, except that I am raising awareness of..., well..., um..., baskets...

By: bradlands

bradlands — Fri, 11 May 2001 12:15:34 -0800

Brad moved next door.

By: norm

norm — Fri, 11 May 2001 14:11:00 -0800

I read the Illuminatus! trilogy. I am convinced I should have read it while on drugs; that seems to be how it was written. I liked it though. I read it around the same time I read Ishmael. I didn't like that book, however. I thought it was like reverse Ayn Rand; self serving pseudo logic to reach the preordained conclusion. Booooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnggg.

By: Neale

Neale — Fri, 11 May 2001 16:07:13 -0800

This place is closing down. I feel sad, yet relieved. Like when you pull the plug on your comatose sister.

By: samsara

samsara — Sat, 12 May 2001 11:36:33 -0800

I really found this as to be an odd coincidence.

He wrote some facinating stuff...Hitchiker's Guide being of my favorite books. While he will be sorely missed, at 49, he lived well past his 42.

By: Neale

Neale — Sat, 12 May 2001 16:40:49 -0800

< snark >I believe that Mr Adams found out this thread was closing and just gave up after that.</ snark > Incidently, I have a signed copy of Starship Titanic.

By: Ms Snit

Ms Snit — Sat, 12 May 2001 16:43:34 -0800

I noticed that lil coincidence as well, samsara. I tell you, there's something evil going on in this thread...eeeevvviill!

By: gluechunk

gluechunk — Sun, 13 May 2001 18:31:29 -0800

this building is pretty empty on a sunday evening. on think there are just two people on this floor. and i keep sneezing. where is the 1142 book club?

By: thirteen

thirteen — Sun, 13 May 2001 18:37:39 -0800

Nice things are generally more expensive.

By: samsara

samsara — Mon, 14 May 2001 10:55:17 -0800

I don't think it's evil. Just odd. Like that one time I caught a cold and tried to take over the world. The result, unfortunately, is that all nice things are now more pricey (except for web development of course).

I'm really thinking no more predictions for me. I've deleted my moonmage character on DragonRealms as a precaution until this whole 1142 thread thing boils over.

Oh, btw, anyone think G. Bush is going to win the next election?

By: dhartung

dhartung — Mon, 14 May 2001 18:27:39 -0800

I would just like to drop in and note that I've been watching this thread on and off yet due to neglect I am tremendously behind. I'm doing my homework: I'm up to April 25, 2001. I promise to read one week a day until I catch up with this post.

By: dhartung

dhartung — Mon, 14 May 2001 20:29:30 -0800

Well, I'm up to April 28. Some notes, which will amuse me when I catch up: Jason Priestley? Jason Priestley? Does Jason Priestley resemble this? Plus, I can act halfway better than that. You haven't seen my King and I ship captain. A play? How lovely, thirteen. I skimmed it disinterestedly until I accidentally got the joke, then I read it undisinterestedly. I still missed the H2G2 joke. R.I.P. DNA. And the Japan WWII backgrounder, Steven, was a treat.

By: Neale

Neale — Mon, 14 May 2001 20:34:10 -0800

I think a 1142 bookclub over at 1142.org would be a fucking excellent idea. of course, I don't read anything I didn't write, so...

By: samsara

samsara — Tue, 15 May 2001 07:37:29 -0800

dhartung, maybe you'd be interested in the cliff notes

By: cCranium

cCranium — Tue, 15 May 2001 10:21:15 -0800

dhartung: You may want to step that up. As you'll no doubt discover soon, we've mostly moved, and there's already almost 2800 posts over there. There is an 1142 bookclub at 1142.org, gluey requested it shortly after he (you are a he, right? I don't want to mispronoun.) mentioned it here.

By: Avogadro

Avogadro — Tue, 15 May 2001 13:09:00 -0800

Hmmm.. We've got 1091 posts here, and perhaps about fifty members. We've have a text-based adventure, a movie in the works, accounts of dead former classmates, several haikus, botched landmark comments, the birth of a new community, the assorted rantings and humor of Neale, and some actual conversation about the topic at hand (remember it?). But what we could really use is an honest-to-goodness troll. Yeah, a troll of our very own, to love and squeeze and pet and call "George".

By: gleuschk

gleuschk — Wed, 16 May 2001 13:29:41 -0800

Much as I like eavesdropping on you guys, there's no way I'm plowing through the volume you're putting out over there at 1142.org. So here endeth a long and satisfying lurk. Thanks, kids.

By: norm

norm — Wed, 16 May 2001 14:34:41 -0800

You know, gleuschk, I'm glad to hear you say that, if only to just make me feel more secure that not many people will dig enough to find... oh never mind.

By: cCranium

cCranium — Thu, 17 May 2001 06:33:45 -0800

Actually catching up really isn't necessary to figure out what's going on at 1142.org. In fact, with the exception of the text adventure, there's really no ongoing threads there. :-)

By: thirteen

thirteen — Fri, 18 May 2001 12:12:05 -0800

This is my 1142nd post. > Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's. >Let Avogadro out of the Basket. This will be my final post to this thread, I am growing tired of waiting for it to load. Neale, ride this thing home, and don't forget to remind Matt to lock the door when you get it there.

By: Neale

Neale — Sat, 19 May 2001 00:21:00 -0800

I'm taking this baby to Vegas.

By: kathryn

kathryn — Sat, 19 May 2001 05:56:30 -0800

Hi, my name is Kathryn and I haven't slept in two days. I have a horrendous assignment that is due in negative 18 hours. 1142 has provided me with the strength to go on. Not to mention wondrous sources of procrastination. My faith in humanity has been restored. It is 5:40 am on the West Coast. Every day at this time I hear a mysterious thump. I believe my upstairs neighbor is pushing his significant other out of bed. But every time I pass by his window, no one is inside. Should I be frightened? Avogadro, when is your book coming out? It's nice to see that we bungled post 1000 as badly as we bungled post #500. I'm staying away after posting this so that I don't mess up post 1142. So what happens if we're all afraid to post and the thread hangs, forever, in limbo, at comment #1141? It's like when you're walking alone a narrow path and someone is coming in the opposite direction and you move left and he also moves in that direction so you move to the right and he also moves in that direction and you do the silly-trying-to-read-the-other-person's-mind game for a few seconds. Or when you're at a four way stop and for a brief moment all the other drivers think somebody else has the right of way. He was at Mefi in 1106 and died in 1142.

By: Neale

Neale — Sat, 19 May 2001 17:29:42 -0800

That St William post is FREAKY. My GOD... it was all PRE-ORDAINED! The time has come... the end hath come... there is no going back... and when the end of 11(42) comes about, the world will end with it. BWAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

By: sudama

sudama — Sat, 19 May 2001 18:31:34 -0800

I was in a Denny's walking alone the narrow path to the men's room when a big burly truck-driver type came out and for a moment it looked as if we were going to play the mirror game but he simply said, under his breath, "I ain't dancin' with ya," and the spell was broken. All the nights I misspent at Denny's and that's probably the coolest thing that ever happened at one.

By: dan_of_brainlog

dan_of_brainlog — Sun, 20 May 2001 03:43:23 -0800

Ooh! Ooh! The first person to contribute to 1142 in over a year! And even before it hit the "one year ago" link. Who wants to shoot for 2000 posts?

By: dan_of_brainlog

dan_of_brainlog — Sun, 20 May 2001 03:45:21 -0800

(Or am I? Damned MeFi doesn't include the year next to the comment dates...)

By: gluechunk

gluechunk — Sun, 20 May 2001 12:46:43 -0800

The first person to contribute to 1142 in over a year!...Or am I? You are not. Most of the comments above are from the past month or so. 40 more comments to go....

By: register

A new MetaFilter record? kathryn, how can you pass your neighbor's window and see anything but the ceiling if your neighbor lives upstairs?

By: kathryn

kathryn — Sun, 20 May 2001 20:35:36 -0800

Well, it just seems really odd to me that all the lights are on. And the window is open. And music is playing. But I can see the top of an empty chair. When I walk by, I'm not directly underneath his window because our building is built in the space of a U. Maybe he's throwing dead bodies onto the floor after a murdering spree. But I also live on the dumpster side of the building and I haven't seen any blood dripping when I pass by. Hmmrph. Internet Explorer and the "end" key really hate this thread.

By: register

while you're looking at the dumpster at 6am, your neighbor is getting laid. that Mefi link is eerie.

By: Neale

Neale — Sun, 20 May 2001 21:36:53 -0800

If you add this and this you don't even come close to this. I feel secure.

By: dan_of_brainlog

dan_of_brainlog — Sun, 20 May 2001 23:10:57 -0800

I stand corrected. Here was a whole sub-community phenomenon and I wasn't even allowed to be in on it. I wonder how many people have participated in this thread...

By: dan_of_brainlog

dan_of_brainlog — Mon, 21 May 2001 00:12:14 -0800

Damn my curiosity! Out of 1107 posts, not including this one, there are 83 unique contributors. Number of posts per contributor, sorted by activity:

Neale	193
daveadams	189
thirteen	78
cCranium	77
bradlands	70
Avogadro	47
iceberg273	44
redfoxtail	39
Skot	37
norm	29
gluechunk	27
CrazyUncleJoe	18
samsara	18
wendell	17
feelinglistless	15
snarkout	15
zempf	15
sudama	14
mathowie	11
anildash	10
Lirp	10
sonofsamiam	10
chaz	6
youhas	6
benbrown	5
lia	5
Mahogne	5
red scare	5
brig	4
lagado	4
Aaaugh!	3
adam	3
anapestic	3
dan_of_brainlog	3
dhartung	3
EngineBeak	3
jason	3
Sean Meade	3
Steven Den Beste	3
anitar	2
brent	2
dangerman	2
harmful	2
kathryn	2
MarkAnd	2
register	2
rory	2
schlyer	2
southisup	2
tomcosgrave	2
wendellseviltwin	2
werty	2
aaron	1
August	1
Awol	1
cedar	1
Ezrael	1
gi_wrighty	1
gleuschk	1
grestall	1
gsh	1
holloway	1
jacksaturn	1
Jeremy	1
jess	1
lbergstr	1
maura	1
mrmorgan	1
Ms Snit	1
precocious	1
prolific	1
r-boogie	1
rabi	1
rebeccablood	1
Sapphireblue	1
SelfPostGuy	1
sixfoot6	1
spacecoyote	1
stazen	1
stefnet	1
Succa	1
sylloge	1
timothompson	1

cCranium — Thu, 21 Jun 2001 08:08:37 -0800

Have I mentioned yet that you kids are nutty?

By: MarkAnd

MarkAnd — Thu, 21 Jun 2001 11:53:13 -0800

Take THAT, Dave Adams!

By: norm

norm — Thu, 21 Jun 2001 16:52:23 -0800

I wonder just how long this can continue to grow before Matt cuts us off? How many times have we wondered that?

By: Avogadro

Avogadro — Fri, 22 Jun 2001 07:53:10 -0800

By: norm

norm — Mon, 25 Jun 2001 17:15:07 -0800

Sixy does not deserve the last word in here. Neale does.

By: iceberg273

iceberg273 — Mon, 25 Jun 2001 17:19:44 -0800

Neale? Neale? NEALE??

By: Avogadro

Avogadro — Tue, 26 Jun 2001 05:43:37 -0800

<Balki>Well, of course I don't deserve the last word in here. Don't be ridiculous. Cousin Neale! Cousin Neale! Where are you!?!</Balki>

By: norm

norm — Tue, 26 Jun 2001 08:59:39 -0800

And if Neale won't take it, I'll make sure YOU don't. Hee hee hee.

By: iceberg273

iceberg273 — Tue, 26 Jun 2001 09:17:27 -0800

Get your hot dogs! Get your hot dogs! Ballpark hot dogs! Get 'em here! (If there's gonna be a last post fight, there will be spectators. I figure I'll make some cash as a hot dog vendor.)

By: norm

norm — Tue, 26 Jun 2001 13:23:29 -0800

THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE.

By: iceberg273

iceberg273 — Tue, 26 Jun 2001 13:48:27 -0800

One hot dog, coming right up!

By: norm

norm — Wed, 27 Jun 2001 00:21:46 -0800

(sneaks behind Icy in dead of night)

By: Neale

Neale — Wed, 27 Jun 2001 04:02:27 -0800

Fools. I now have cable.

By: werty

werty — Wed, 27 Jun 2001 07:01:07 -0800

[requisite post to mitigate disappointment in having only contributed twice to this thread thus far]

By: werty

werty — Wed, 27 Jun 2001 07:02:45 -0800

Ah, much better.

By: iceberg273

iceberg273 — Wed, 27 Jun 2001 08:07:47 -0800

Norm! Wait! You forgot your hot dog! And it's getting cold!

By: norm

norm — Wed, 27 Jun 2001 12:11:06 -0800

You fools! That last comment was supposed to be Neale's!

By: iceberg273

iceberg273 — Wed, 27 Jun 2001 13:07:19 -0800

He'll be back. He now has cable.

By: norm

norm — Wed, 27 Jun 2001 17:32:49 -0800

Even with my DSL, this still takes a little bit to load. I wonder how many Bens this weighs in at?

By: Neale

Neale — Sun, 01 Jul 2001 00:43:07 -0800

Going on 28 Bens. Oh yeh.

By: Avogadro

Avogadro — Tue, 03 Jul 2001 08:21:32 -0800

And if Neale won't take it, I'll make sure YOU don't. See norm, I would have happily let Neale take the last comment (I did propose many posts ago that Neale cap this thread at 1142), but I cannot allow your insolence to go unchecked. *winkyface*

By: Avogadro

Avogadro — Tue, 03 Jul 2001 08:24:12 -0800

*throws hot dog at norm*

By: CrazyUncleJoe

CrazyUncleJoe — Tue, 03 Jul 2001 10:31:24 -0800

I'm only here for the hot dogs.

By: iceberg273

iceberg273 — Tue, 03 Jul 2001 11:49:47 -0800

Avo, you'll still need to pay for that hot dog. norm, you'll need to get those ketchup and mustard stains out right away. How many hot dogs can I get for you, CrazyUncle?

By: iceberg273

iceberg273 — Tue, 03 Jul 2001 12:02:15 -0800

______________ .-' `-. (____________________) ( ) ( `----------------' ) `------------------' On the house. Happy Independence Eve.

By: cCranium

cCranium — Wed, 04 Jul 2001 14:30:25 -0800

If there's hot dog throwing going on, I wanna try catching a long pass in my mouth. Hang on, lemme run out there.

By: iceberg273

iceberg273 — Wed, 04 Jul 2001 14:56:27 -0800

Here, catch! (IE only) ______________ .-' `-. (____________________) ( ) ( `----------------' ) `------------------'

By: CrazyUncleJoe

CrazyUncleJoe — Wed, 04 Jul 2001 23:50:17 -0800

You could sell ad space on that thing.

By: CrazyUncleJoe

CrazyUncleJoe — Wed, 04 Jul 2001 23:51:23 -0800

I know, I know, "If I had a dollar for every time someone said *that* to me..."

By: ZachsMind

ZachsMind — Thu, 05 Jul 2001 00:33:14 -0800

This thread's too damn long to read. [ducking]

By: lia

lia — Thu, 05 Jul 2001 10:34:54 -0800

Dammit, why didn't anyone tell me you guys were still here?

By: iceberg273

iceberg273 — Thu, 05 Jul 2001 11:32:11 -0800

1200!

By: ZippityBOP

ZippityBOP — Mon, 09 Jul 2001 11:40:49 -0800

Zippity BOP!

By: norm

norm — Mon, 09 Jul 2001 11:40:49 -0800

The Icy manipulator strikes again. I don't think in here counts for the Triple Dog Dare on the Marquee tag, though.

By: daveadams

daveadams — Mon, 09 Jul 2001 11:49:46 -0800

There is no cabal.™

By: Zippity Bop"

Zippity Bop" — Mon, 09 Jul 2001 11:51:26 -0800

Poseur.

By: Zippity BOT

Zippity BOT — Mon, 09 Jul 2001 11:51:49 -0800

Zippity BOP! STOP THAT YOU VILE HEATHEN!!

By: ZippityBOP

ZippityBOP — Mon, 09 Jul 2001 12:11:36 -0800

Flaneur.

By: Zippity Bop"

Zippity Bop" — Mon, 09 Jul 2001 12:16:33 -0800

Will everybody just shuddup!!!!! geez this is a long thread...

By: Skot

Skot — Mon, 09 Jul 2001 12:21:50 -0800

Snogg Boggen!

By: iceberg273

iceberg273 — Mon, 09 Jul 2001 14:51:49 -0800

I don't think in here counts for the Triple Dog Dare on the Marquee tag, though.
Does this?

By: jason

jason — Mon, 09 Jul 2001 17:03:20 -0800

Ohmyghods is this thing still on?

By: jason

jason — Mon, 09 Jul 2001 18:03:23 -0800

Is this other thing still on? > wait for another dwarf > say Hey, Warwick Davis! What was the big idea with all those Leprechaun movies, eh? I'm so going to suffer for that.

By: dchase

dchase — Mon, 09 Jul 2001 19:58:14 -0800

Anyone know a good place to get pancakes around here? Or maybe some ice cream. Or how about pancakes with ice cream. Mmmmmm.

By: Avogadro

Avogadro — Tue, 10 Jul 2001 05:30:19 -0800

Well Known Fact™ #1 (collect them all)

The ice cream cone was invented in St. Louis at its 1904 World's Fair. Waffles were used as the first cones, thus attesting the superiority of waffles.

By: Neale

Neale — Thu, 12 Jul 2001 05:27:59 -0800

People! People! Enough already! I'm thinking there needs to be a server just for this thread... remember 1142.org. Remember... remember... remember...

By: thirteen

thirteen — Thu, 12 Jul 2001 07:43:11 -0800

I said I was not going to post here anymore, but you guys have trashed the conditions so badly that I return without guilt.

By: Skot

Skot — Thu, 12 Jul 2001 08:27:19 -0800

/me urinates in the corner

By: daveadams

daveadams — Thu, 12 Jul 2001 08:42:43 -0800

/me urinates in Skot's corner. Whoops, sorry Skot, didn't see you there.

By: iceberg273

iceberg273 — Thu, 12 Jul 2001 08:54:14 -0800

This becomes more and more like a baseball stadium every day.

By: CrazyUncleJoe

CrazyUncleJoe — Thu, 12 Jul 2001 10:02:48 -0800

Ice Cream! Get your ice cream here! Ice Cream!

By: kathryn

kathryn — Thu, 12 Jul 2001 10:56:28 -0800

We want a pitcher, not a belly-itcher!

By: rorschach

rorschach — Fri, 13 Jul 2001 10:16:11 -0800

Hey ump, you couldn't call a cab!

By: rorschach

rorschach — Fri, 13 Jul 2001 10:18:23 -0800

Daaarrrrylllll......Daaarrrryllll.

By: holgate

holgate — Fri, 13 Jul 2001 13:17:28 -0800

Dear. Sweet. Jesus.

By: sonofsamiam

sonofsamiam — Fri, 13 Jul 2001 13:24:26 -0800

"Some of these players have a bad attitude, Skip."

By: kathryn

kathryn — Fri, 13 Jul 2001 18:36:39 -0800

Hey, peanuts!

By: Avogadro

Avogadro — Mon, 16 Jul 2001 05:27:10 -0800

"Coooooold BEER!... Coooooold BEER!"

By: rorschach

rorschach — Mon, 16 Jul 2001 09:12:43 -0800

Hey Clemens, take off your coat, you're inside!

By: Avogadro

Avogadro — Mon, 16 Jul 2001 12:04:28 -0800

Well Known Fact™ #2 (collect them all)

3' 7" 65 lb. dwarf Eddie Gaedel was the shortest player ever to play in a Major League baseball game, and he appeared on "Falstaff Day", celebrating 50 years of the American League and Falstaff Beer.

By: Skot

Skot — Mon, 16 Jul 2001 12:28:39 -0800

That pitch appears to be well out of his strike zone. His roughly baseball-sized strike zone.

By: iceberg273

iceberg273 — Tue, 17 Jul 2001 11:25:22 -0800

STEEEEEEEEEEE-RRRRRIIIIIIIIKKKKKE!!!!!!!

By: thirteen

thirteen — Tue, 17 Jul 2001 16:48:20 -0800

I am so close to giving up my nice guy act. Don't you people push on me!

By: sixdifferentways

sixdifferentways — Wed, 18 Jul 2001 19:26:43 -0800

Foucoult called, he wants his idea back.

By: fidelity

fidelity — Wed, 18 Jul 2001 19:50:23 -0800

What was the first thing that made you say "wow, this isn't just a place for freaks after all?"

By: CrazyUncleJoe

CrazyUncleJoe — Wed, 18 Jul 2001 21:12:02 -0800

It isn't?

By: Neale

Neale — Thu, 19 Jul 2001 01:18:11 -0800

No.

By: lia

lia — Thu, 19 Jul 2001 05:16:48 -0800

Are you sure? I coulda sworn...

By: lia

lia — Thu, 19 Jul 2001 05:20:01 -0800

does Skot still smell like piss?

By: lia

lia — Thu, 19 Jul 2001 05:24:19 -0800

and why hasn't baby jesus been here yet?

By: MarkO

MarkO — Thu, 19 Jul 2001 07:07:39 -0800

I'm so confused... here I am doing nothing at work, trying to get a grip on the very essence of 1142, and something caught my eye... WHAT happened between May 30 and Sept 27 of 2000? How about then till Feb 11? My guess is black hole.

By: Neale

Neale — Tue, 24 Jul 2001 01:25:32 -0800

This post is to test the theory most of the other people post here only to prevent me from having the last post.

By: norm

norm — Tue, 24 Jul 2001 08:53:23 -0800

No, I don't think that's why we post... D'OH!

By: daveadams

daveadams — Tue, 24 Jul 2001 09:13:20 -0800

MINE!

By: thirteen

thirteen — Tue, 24 Jul 2001 09:25:40 -0800

There seems to ba a whole army of Mark_'s on MeFi. Do we yet have MarkA through MarkZ?

By: youhas

youhas — Tue, 24 Jul 2001 12:55:38 -0800

Inspired by this comment, I took it upon myself to run Word's autosummarizer over the contents of this thread as well. The results, at the 10-sentence summary level: (2 more posts, max.) posted by Neale at 7:28 PM PST on May 25 posted by Neale at 7:37 PM PST on May 25 ________________ posted by Neale at 3:48 PM PST on March 29 Must post, must post. posted by Neale at 5:22 PM PST on March 29 180 posts. posted by Neale at 8:25 PM PST on March 29 250. posted by Aaaugh! posted by Aaaugh! posted by Neale at 4:28 PM PST on March 31 280. posted by Neale at 5:36 PM PST on April 2 290. NEED MORE POSTS. posted by CrazyUncleJoe at 9:09 PM PST on April 10 NEALE! One post. One solitary post. posted by Aaaugh! On average, Neale posts at 6:03 PM PST. Allowing us to conclude that the two most important parts of this thread are (1) raw obsession over post quantities and (2) Neale. In short, nothing we really didn't know already. I am thoroughly underwhelmed.

By: daveadams

daveadams — Wed, 25 Jul 2001 14:52:40 -0800

Word is doing a poor job. How could I not be included in the summary?

By: Markb

Markb — Thu, 26 Jul 2001 02:39:49 -0800

There seems to ba a whole army of Mark_'s on MeFi. On a tiny Pacific Atoll, far away from the prying eyes of world governments a lone scientist worked feverishly, creating near-perfect copies of himself using techniques previously seen only in science fiction novels. As each clone was created, he was given a suffix denoting his place in the lineage of doom, when the suffix reached Z, the task was complete. To train these harbingers of the apocolypse in the ways of the race they were destined to destroy, they were sent out under the anonymity of the world wide web. Their goal, to learn all they could about the human race and to assimilate themselves into communities, forging bonds which would, in time, allow them to go into the world and appear as one with the population. Many of them came upon Metafilter, a collection of lost souls, feverishly trying to make sense of their world by arguing about Presidents and SUVs, speaking in a coded language only their more dedicated members could follow, where ponies, ice cream and pancakes took on new and fantastical meanings. And they saw that the race they were sent out to destroy could be intelligent, witty, incisive and on the whole, self governing. Mostly. And so they slept. Until such day as the words Zippity Bop are uttered for the thousandth time, whereupon they shall rise up and smite the Zippity Boppers, those claiming to be the Baby Jesus, the McGroins and those whose posts are linkless. Be afraid of that day, humans, for it is near.

By: sudama

sudama — Mon, 30 Jul 2001 14:14:26 -0800

A loaf of bread, a loaf of bread ... gotta remember a loaf of bread.

By: Skot

Skot — Mon, 30 Jul 2001 15:53:40 -0800

. . . a jug of wine, and thou.

By: donkeymon

donkeymon — Fri, 03 Aug 2001 11:45:06 -0800

Here, I will run my own auto-summary feature on this page by randomly selecting sentences from anywhere in the thread:
You want I should cast another doughnut? An absent dog? What the heck? Does this mean I can join the A-list? And I'm glad I made your day, if not your month. :) "a volcano like eruption of bad journals" You close the wicker cage. Has this thread reached the magical 200 posts yet? Can't fight the reaper. You guys are totally screwing me up. FIONA: Err . . . I was sleeping.

By: webmutant

webmutant — Sat, 04 Aug 2001 13:46:11 -0800

Why summarize when you can just make more? Running 1142 through a travesty generator, I get: "The ring city approach is fine in some hidden part of the parts are played on my website and tell me that, Mr. Smarty Man. Does anyone else who'll admit to having Microsoft development experience--know anything about dance, but Julie absolutely loves it, and she sent him to consider a blogspot. I went trick-or-treating and got me through everything." This Means Something.

By: thirteen

thirteen — Tue, 21 Aug 2001 16:14:29 -0800

MeFi returns cold the knives are sharpened and oiled time for us to fight.

By: daveadams

daveadams — Thu, 30 Aug 2001 10:19:53 -0800

I'm not letting you have the last word, thirteen.

By: Avogadro

Avogadro — Thu, 30 Aug 2001 11:38:01 -0800

What, you think you earned the last word, Missouri-Boy?

By: Neale

Neale — Fri, 31 Aug 2001 07:05:16 -0800

I don't think so, either of you.

By: thirteen

thirteen — Tue, 04 Sep 2001 11:22:54 -0800

All I have to do is outlive you guys, and that should not be a problem.

By: CrazyUncleJoe

CrazyUncleJoe — Tue, 04 Sep 2001 20:43:47 -0800

It's no fair if you win by killing your competition. Afraid to go mano a mano with natural causes, number boy?

By: norm

norm — Tue, 04 Sep 2001 22:08:42 -0800

Careful, CUJoe, 13 has seen more people die than I've had sex with. Death does not scare him.

By: iceberg273

iceberg273 — Wed, 05 Sep 2001 07:33:04 -0800

*cowers silently*

By: Skot

Skot — Wed, 05 Sep 2001 10:22:13 -0800

*gnaws on Iceberg's foot, gibbers fearfully*

By: cCranium

cCranium — Wed, 05 Sep 2001 10:26:26 -0800

If I don't get the last word, I could see a certain database suddenly crashing unexpectidly, and managing to recover all users except the one who doesn't give me the last word. That would indeed be tragic... [posted by cCranium to Bald Faced Lies on September 5]

By: iceberg273

iceberg273 — Wed, 05 Sep 2001 10:47:35 -0800

*gnaws on Iceberg's foot, gibbers fearfully* Skot attack!! Skot attack!!! *telephones and asks coast guard to search for abnormal Skot activity in coastal waters*

By: thirteen

thirteen — Wed, 05 Sep 2001 10:52:13 -0800

13 has seen more people die than I've had sex with. Sadly, I have seen more people die that I have had sex with too.

By: Neale

Neale — Tue, 11 Sep 2001 01:37:13 -0800

13 has seen more people die than I've had sex with. Sadly, I have seen more people die that I have had sex with too. Sadly, I've had sex with more dead people than... er...

By: anapestic

anapestic — Fri, 14 Sep 2001 11:29:14 -0800

13 has seen more people die than I've had sex with. So 13 has seen at least one person die. BTW, I can't connect to the daughtership. I'm mellllltinnnnngg.

By: iceberg273

iceberg273 — Mon, 17 Sep 2001 09:29:23 -0800

I'm mellllltinnnnngg. *mops frantically*

By: sudama

sudama — Tue, 18 Sep 2001 09:59:58 -0800

I loaded up 1142 and all I posted was this lousy joke!

By: Skot

Skot — Tue, 18 Sep 2001 11:43:32 -0800

Sudammit!

By: Avogadro

Avogadro — Wed, 19 Sep 2001 12:02:30 -0800

Look, this is a very silly thread, and I don't know what else to say.

By: Steven Den Beste

Steven Den Beste — Wed, 19 Sep 2001 16:17:48 -0800

Would you guys give it a rest? It's no wonder MeFi's server is on its knees. (grumble)

By: Neale

Neale — Wed, 19 Sep 2001 16:25:24 -0800

Would you guys give it a rest? It's no wonder MeFi's server is on its knees. (grumble) Okay. From now on there will be no more posts to 1142.

By: frykitty

frykitty — Thu, 20 Sep 2001 13:28:30 -0800

But I've never posted here! Can't I have just one? After all, Steven, I've bloody well (this is not to show I'm British, but rather just to suck up to any Brits in the room) given up on the rest of the site.

By: anapestic

anapestic — Thu, 20 Sep 2001 13:43:20 -0800

Would you guys give it a rest? It's no wonder MeFi's server is on its knees. (grumble) Let's see now. Before 9/11, the server was pretty good. Now it's on its knees. And there have been fewer than ten posts here in that time and, I'm guessing, significantly more than ten posts on the rest of MeFi. I think somebody's feeling a little left out of the cabal.

By: J. R. Hughto

J. R. Hughto — Thu, 20 Sep 2001 13:45:03 -0800

Don't mind me. What's up, kitty? Pesty! Shhhhh! There is no Cabal!^tm

By: anildash

anildash — Thu, 20 Sep 2001 17:10:20 -0800

No, he's right. Anybody who's posting on this thread right now is just fucking thoughtless.

By: DBAPaul

DBAPaul — Mon, 24 Sep 2001 16:03:38 -0800

My god this thread just lowered my IQ by about ten points. What was the Jenny Ringley scandal last year (I admit being a paying viewer a few years ago.) Just talkin to myself eh?

By: Neale

Neale — Thu, 27 Sep 2001 17:13:24 -0800

No, he's right. Anybody who's posting on this thread right now is just fucking thoughtless. AND has no consideration to Matt, and the other 20 people on his server. Shut it down!

By: J. R. Hughto

J. R. Hughto — Fri, 05 Oct 2001 10:11:22 -0800

bling bling.

By: Neale

Neale — Mon, 08 Oct 2001 22:02:37 -0800

Now!

By: thirteen

thirteen — Tue, 09 Oct 2001 14:39:30 -0800

I realy want the last post now. Don't mind me.

By: Skot

Skot — Tue, 09 Oct 2001 15:36:05 -0800

I exist only to torment Thirteen.

By: Neale

Neale — Tue, 09 Oct 2001 23:38:06 -0800

And I trump both your asses.

By: iceberg273

iceberg273 — Wed, 10 Oct 2001 09:58:31 -0800

You know that we have competition, then? I fired a warning shot.

By: frykitty

frykitty — Wed, 10 Oct 2001 13:37:07 -0800

Will someone remind me this is here occasionally? I keep forgetting to post.

By: cCranium

cCranium — Wed, 10 Oct 2001 13:53:56 -0800

I still think that I deserve the last post, solely on the basis that I have TWO "c"s in my name. TWO!

By: Avogadro

Avogadro — Wed, 10 Oct 2001 14:00:37 -0800

You know that we have competition, then? I fired a warning shot. Wake me up when they hit 1k.

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Wed, 10 Oct 2001 21:29:37 -0800

You know that we have competition, then? I fired a warning shot. Why must it be a competition? Can't we all just get along?

By: youhas

youhas — Sat, 13 Oct 2001 03:18:32 -0800

I do not deserve the last post.

By: J. R. Hughto

J. R. Hughto — Sat, 13 Oct 2001 09:32:22 -0800

Then I shall take it from you.

By: bjgeiger

bjgeiger — Mon, 15 Oct 2001 12:37:11 -0800

Well I was going to wait till forever to comment on this post, But I might die first. So I have now commented.

By: iceberg273

iceberg273 — Mon, 15 Oct 2001 14:18:42 -0800

At this point in the thread, you may be thinking to yourself: "Is a volcano about to erupt in Alaska or on the Kamchatka penninsula?" Well, my friend, question no longer.

By: Neale

Neale — Mon, 15 Oct 2001 20:11:17 -0800

Meta 1142. Almost like the other 1142, but not at all. I just thought that should be mentioned before this thing dies.

By: thewittyname

thewittyname — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 09:33:31 -0800

Sniff....sniff....what the hell is that smell in here?

By: fullerine

fullerine — Fri, 19 Oct 2001 12:38:42 -0800

Have you guys seen this it's the funniest thing I've seen in ages.

By: smt

smt — Fri, 19 Oct 2001 23:08:33 -0800

Oh yeah! Operation: Enduring 1142 is in the house!

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Sun, 21 Oct 2001 19:52:06 -0800

Ah, "Get your war on." The link that killed MetaFilter. You silly little clip art bastard. How I wish I could hate you...

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Tue, 23 Oct 2001 04:07:26 -0800

I love you. Really. I do. I love you like the cheese loves the bread, like Ron Jeremy loves the head, I love you like the big things love the small. I love you more than 30, and I'm not just bein' flirty, I truly, really, love you all. This is not entirely a lie. I need another drink, dammit.

By: iceberg273

iceberg273 — Tue, 23 Oct 2001 08:18:58 -0800

Everybody out! *turns off lights*

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Tue, 23 Oct 2001 09:37:15 -0800

Hey! Turn on the fucking lights! It's dark in here! C'mon, dude! We got half a keg left and I was just getting ready to put on "Monty Pyton and the Holy Grail". C'mon man. I still wanna party. Hello? Fine. You can all leave. I'm gonna stay and party. Par-tay. Whoo-hoo! ... "Carry on my wayward son..." ... Ah, crap! I just stepped in the guacamole! Turn. On. The. Lights. Hello? I can't find the keg... Dudes? This isn't funny. You pussies don't know how to par-tay.

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Wed, 24 Oct 2001 12:09:20 -0800

*sniff, sniff* anybody seen my burrito? ... hello? "Damn it feels good to be a gangster!..." Am I right? Are you with me? Can? You? Dig? It? ... i'm so lonely...

By: thewittyname

thewittyname — Wed, 24 Oct 2001 13:48:04 -0800

Can? You? Dig? It?

SHAFT!!!!

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Wed, 24 Oct 2001 16:04:21 -0800

witty? Can you reach the lights? I'm...uh... I'm a little afraid of the dark. HEY! Was that your hand? ... hello?

By: smt

smt — Wed, 24 Oct 2001 16:05:23 -0800

if 9622 links to 1142 and 1142 links to 9622, would it trap us inside some kind of time loop? if i read both of them, would i stop existing?? damn, i guess i should have asked that BEFORE i linked to it. <shrug>oh well</shrug> er.. i saw a burrito lying in the corner next to skot.. you might not want it anymore

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Wed, 24 Oct 2001 20:43:09 -0800

SMT: For god's sake...please turn the light on. I had a bong around here somewhere... ... hello? ... "We're gonna rock down to Electric avenue/and then we'll take it higher..." if someone would turn the lights on, i could put some other music on the stereo... "Everybody Wang Chung tonight..." ugh. I think I just stepped on a piss soaked burrito... hello? lights? ...

By: thewittyname

thewittyname — Thu, 25 Oct 2001 09:07:44 -0800

....Wait....it must be one of these switches....lets see here... *flip* [merry-go-round starts up] No..no... *flip* [Pancake-o-matic comes online] dammit... *flip* [opens a portal into MiguelCardos's head] cooooooooooooooooool..... ah...yes *flip* [Light] Party on!

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Thu, 25 Oct 2001 10:02:35 -0800

Woo Hoo! Let the celebration continue! Hey, where'd all the ladies go?

By: smt

smt — Thu, 25 Oct 2001 10:37:07 -0800

parties without ladies make Geshe Lakpha sad.

By: smt

smt — Thu, 25 Oct 2001 14:13:19 -0800

(maybe we should turn out the lights and let him have some privacy) *flip*

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Thu, 25 Oct 2001 15:00:52 -0800

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooo.......... .... it's so dark in here. hello?

By: thewittyname

thewittyname — Fri, 26 Oct 2001 09:24:39 -0800

Dammit.... Ok...you know what....I'm putting a clapper on this damn light in here.... *clap clap* [light] The clapper.....god bless technology

By: thewittyname

thewittyname — Fri, 26 Oct 2001 09:24:46 -0800

Dammit.... Ok...you know what....I'm putting a clapper on this damn light in here.... *clap clap* [light] The Clapper.....god bless technology

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Fri, 26 Oct 2001 11:37:52 -0800

Goddammit, Witty! You clapped 'em on and then you clapped 'em right back off! Damn you and damn your double posting hide. If I could find the fucking door in this darkness, I'd leave this party and get on back to 9622. ... hello?

By: thewittyname

thewittyname — Fri, 26 Oct 2001 11:54:25 -0800

:( *clap clap* :)

By: Neale

Neale — Sat, 27 Oct 2001 03:25:53 -0800

Fools. Everyone knows I cannot be beaten. My power is inexoribly linked to 1142... the more you post here, the STRONGER I GROW! The paradox is delightful.

By: lotsofno

lotsofno — Tue, 30 Oct 2001 21:48:58 -0800

your new posting technique is unstoppable.

By: dogmatic

dogmatic — Wed, 31 Oct 2001 15:22:31 -0800

Wow. This thread is still alive?

By: Neale

Neale — Wed, 31 Oct 2001 17:56:35 -0800

Wow. This thread is still alive? Going strong for 1.6 years. Man, Matt should crash and burn this thread.

By: feelinglistless

feelinglistless — Thu, 01 Nov 2001 15:20:23 -0800

The cab I came home in tonight was number 1142. Just thought I'd share that.

By: TacoConsumer

TacoConsumer — Fri, 02 Nov 2001 11:19:59 -0800

I'm confused... are the lights on or off?

By: daveadams

daveadams — Fri, 02 Nov 2001 12:59:09 -0800

I can see.

By: TacoConsumer

TacoConsumer — Fri, 02 Nov 2001 23:24:23 -0800

Oooooh! Look at all the pretty colors! #006699!!! #CCCC00!!!

By: Neale

Neale — Mon, 05 Nov 2001 05:56:57 -0800

WTF? I was posting to 1142.org and ended up here on refresh. DRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

By: TacoConsumer

TacoConsumer — Wed, 07 Nov 2001 17:27:13 -0800

If anyone knows where Jessica is, I'd like to talk to her.

By: Neale

Neale — Thu, 08 Nov 2001 21:33:05 -0800

No can help. Sorry.

By: ZachsMind

ZachsMind — Sun, 11 Nov 2001 23:51:59 -0800

Hey guys! I got a great idea! I'll stand over here and turn the lightswitch on and off real fast like and y'all can dance to Lionel Richie music! It'll be like disco strobe lighting! It'll be really cool! Watch! *starts flicking lightswitch off and on repeatedly* Yeah! Whoohoo!! "All Night Long! ALL NIGHT!" *fuse blows out* ..oops BLACK. END OF SCENE. EXEUNT.

By: tj

tj — Mon, 12 Nov 2001 07:41:22 -0800

encore! encore!

By: ZachsMind

ZachsMind — Mon, 12 Nov 2001 14:30:11 -0800

oh god no encore. PUT THE KEYBOARD DOWN AND BACK AWAY FROM THE METAFILTER!

By: j.edwards

j.edwards — Mon, 12 Nov 2001 17:18:24 -0800

Full circle again? NO LOOSE ENDS!

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Tue, 13 Nov 2001 01:09:21 -0800

The final loop of digression closes, and 1142 disappears up it's own...uhh...eye of the needle? Neale, you're meant to die now, I think.

By: TacoConsumer

TacoConsumer — Mon, 19 Nov 2001 19:49:20 -0800

1142 is brought to you by Verizon Wireless!

By: thirteen

thirteen — Tue, 20 Nov 2001 12:44:55 -0800

Matt! Please close the thread! Preferably with me getting the last word, but if not so be it.

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Tue, 20 Nov 2001 14:39:34 -0800

Yeah, what thirteen said.

By: J. R. Hughto

J. R. Hughto — Mon, 26 Nov 2001 13:46:56 -0800

Sweet 13. Neale must have the last word. Neale?

By: TacoConsumer

TacoConsumer — Mon, 26 Nov 2001 16:36:31 -0800

No one will have the last word; 1142 will never die! Mwah-ha-HA-HA-HA!

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Mon, 26 Nov 2001 19:31:24 -0800

No one will? Are you sure?

By: j.edwards

j.edwards — Tue, 27 Nov 2001 15:40:38 -0800

Frankly, I'd be happy if Matt closed the thread... Right after a post of his own saying that this thread was something he just didn't get.

By: Neale

Neale — Wed, 28 Nov 2001 11:53:38 -0800

Well you went and spoilt that joke. We had a secret pact never to mention that, so that Matt could think it up all by himself and it would appear fresh and funny. Now it's ruined. RUINED! I had a fajita for lunch. What type of fajitas do you like? Discuss.

By: youhas

youhas — Wed, 28 Nov 2001 13:12:25 -0800

I like fajitas. I'm not fussy enough to have a preference amongst them, though. More to the point: this is the 1337th comment in this thread. I am one 1337 k3wL r0x0r d00d now.

By: Neale

Neale — Fri, 30 Nov 2001 07:54:37 -0800

I hereby declare Satan no longer has power over, or influence of, any of the posters to this thread!

By: iceberg273

iceberg273 — Fri, 30 Nov 2001 10:37:01 -0800

well, that's a relief.

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Fri, 30 Nov 2001 14:46:57 -0800

Sure, it's EASY to get rid of Satan. The real question is: how do you keep Miguel out of your thread?

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Fri, 30 Nov 2001 16:57:27 -0800

"You got your Miguel* in my 1142! You got your 1142 in my Miguel!" *Replace 'Miguel' with 'Satan' as necessary, depending on your disposition.

By: Neale

Neale — Sun, 02 Dec 2001 15:13:28 -0800

I refuse to let the last post of this thread be about anyone but me.

By: webmutant

webmutant — Mon, 03 Dec 2001 00:59:32 -0800

You will all Neale before Zod. (No, that didn't make sense even to me, now that I stop to think about it.)

By: TacoConsumer

TacoConsumer — Wed, 05 Dec 2001 20:58:07 -0800

Maybe we should start a pool on when Matt kills 1142. I've got March 28, 2010, the tenth anniversary of its creation.

By: Neale

Neale — Sat, 08 Dec 2001 10:07:36 -0800

This is an experiment in Google skewering. Terrorist. Bomb. FBI.

By: fidelity

fidelity — Sat, 08 Dec 2001 19:36:17 -0800

July 14, 2005.

By: juv3nal

juv3nal — Sun, 09 Dec 2001 16:04:42 -0800

is there a world's record for longest active thread and if so, what'd the number to beat?

By: j.edwards

j.edwards — Sun, 09 Dec 2001 21:27:55 -0800

what'd the number to beat? 200,000. Oddly enough.

By: iceberg273

iceberg273 — Mon, 10 Dec 2001 13:23:36 -0800

200,000. Oddly enough. *calls the world record people*

By: jbushnell

jbushnell — Tue, 11 Dec 2001 15:16:39 -0800

I have just been sent here by way of a redirect. That's odd.

By: jbushnell

jbushnell — Tue, 11 Dec 2001 15:21:35 -0800

Or... is it?

By: Skot

Skot — Thu, 13 Dec 2001 11:20:27 -0800

The clouds of unknowing are thick here, child.

By: MUD

MUD — Tue, 18 Dec 2001 13:35:58 -0800

Wow. Over five days since anyone posted a comment. I guess everyone just forgot about ol' 1142. Now I can sit back and bask in the glory of having the last word: Crump

By: Neale

Neale — Tue, 18 Dec 2001 16:28:31 -0800

Crump is a pretty crap last word. What about: Moist. No, my wife would kill me.

By: MUD

MUD — Wed, 19 Dec 2001 14:01:48 -0800

Bombast?

By: Avogadro

Avogadro — Wed, 19 Dec 2001 14:23:15 -0800

Please tell me this is not turning into a "Last Word" contest. GIVE THE LAST WORD BACK TO NEALE!

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Thu, 20 Dec 2001 02:57:10 -0800

*waiting for Neale to come up with the last word, already*

By: corpse

corpse — Fri, 21 Dec 2001 09:20:53 -0800

...

By: TacoConsumer

TacoConsumer — Sun, 23 Dec 2001 09:13:18 -0800

(cricket chirp)

By: dogmatic

dogmatic — Thu, 27 Dec 2001 09:06:56 -0800

Merry Christmas, 1142! (OK, so it's a little late...But no one else got 1142 a present.)

By: Neale

Neale — Thu, 27 Dec 2001 19:32:29 -0800

Well, it's almost 2002. So I'm bringing wetlog back. Tell your friends!

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Sat, 29 Dec 2001 04:16:32 -0800

Hey, friends! You can see Neale's underwear at the wetlog!

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Sat, 29 Dec 2001 04:18:43 -0800

Crap. Neale almost had the last word there. And I ruined it. *cries*

By: Neale

Neale — Sun, 30 Dec 2001 15:56:47 -0800

*cries*

By: riffola

riffola — Thu, 03 Jan 2002 23:25:01 -0800

German Bold Italic

By: Succa

Succa — Fri, 11 Jan 2002 20:47:55 -0800

Ou est le remorse? Ou est le?

By: j.edwards

j.edwards — Sun, 13 Jan 2002 23:35:03 -0800

Le 'thread' a ses raisons, que le raison ne connait point.

By: MUD

MUD — Mon, 14 Jan 2002 16:53:32 -0800

People, I need answers and I need them now. At what point, precisely mind, did this thread turn stale? I need succulence from my cult threads, damn it. All answers must be in the form of a witty comment and should be ~~on my desk~~ in this thread by the end of term.

By: j.edwards

j.edwards — Mon, 14 Jan 2002 23:20:29 -0800

May 21st. No, wait. October 5th. No, wait. January 14th. Yeah, that's the ticket.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Tue, 15 Jan 2002 05:06:55 -0800

I swear by all that's holy, by the sweet unsucked nipples of the mother of jesus, by the small but nonetheless annoyingly itchy watery little bumpy things on the sides of my fingers, by the lords of the underworld and Timmy too, by gum, by gemorrah, by sodom and moloch, by the dirty diapers of the baby jesus, by Aunt Jemima and her god-blessed pancakes, by all the prime numbers up to and including 29, by land (one) by sea (two), by the funniest number that exists (fourteen), in the name of the whiskey and the beers and the holy smokes, by the SUVs and the Naderites, by Chimptacular presidents and semi-masticated pretzels, by the rubble and the crater, by the haiku and the goatsex, by the fat guy and the troll, by the pedant and the pederast, by the vegetarians, the vegans the omnicores the omnivores the omniwhores the carnivores and the single cry in the dark of a lone drunken chicken begging to be eaten, just a fucking nibble you bastards, by the Portuguese scribblers, the Australian nutjobs, the Yankee heroes and the dismemberment of thousand-headed Purusha, by the subtle, supersensuous spiritual essence which pervades all space, by the mythical tortoise which upholds the earth, by the shrimplike scent of my swinging dad-balls, by the sacred and inextinguishable fires of the Magi which alone remain to illumine the horizon, by the dirty little joke, the self-referential injoke, by the ineluctable modality of the fucking boneheaded, by the end of this comment it'll be time for another beer, by the oft-licked nuts of Cerberus, the three-headed watchdog at the gates of Hell, by good intentions, bad intentions, simple misdirection, sleight-of-hand and honest-to-goodness magic, by the great big ball of thread beside the chest of drawers, by the time I figure it out I'll be dead, by the sweet sweet liquor, by the weed and the hash, by the speed and the coke, by the dimethyl goddamn tryptamine, by the wind and the waves, by the quiet talks on the beach and the naked dancing on the rooftop, by the unreachable goal and the short-term workaround, by the self-obsession and the reaching out to a friend, by the pastoral scene and the urban hubbub, by the purple steaming mess that spills out onto the pavement as I die, by the husker and the du, by the #006699 and the #CCCC00, by the Math and the Owie, by the wife, the horse and the moustache, by all that's holy : That was one nice looking plate of chicken, MUD.

By: corpse

corpse — Wed, 16 Jan 2002 13:36:03 -0800

...

By: lagado

lagado — Wed, 16 Jan 2002 20:10:37 -0800

Utnapishtim

By: j.edwards

j.edwards — Wed, 16 Jan 2002 20:38:56 -0800

Shantih shantih shantih.

By: Neale

Neale — Fri, 18 Jan 2002 04:20:39 -0800

Anyone have any ideas what to do for the thread's second birthday party?

By: CrazyUncleJoe

CrazyUncleJoe — Fri, 18 Jan 2002 09:44:59 -0800

Pony rides and pancakes?

By: cashmein

cashmein — Fri, 18 Jan 2002 09:59:29 -0800

Pan rides and ponycakes?

By: Avogadro

Avogadro — Fri, 18 Jan 2002 14:20:24 -0800

Pin the pancake on the bunny!

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Sat, 19 Jan 2002 01:53:57 -0800

Pan rides can be scary.

By: Neale

Neale — Sat, 19 Jan 2002 05:46:33 -0800

I'm not sure I like the way 9622 has almost caught up. This will call for some drastic action. And I do mean drastic.

By: Neale

Neale — Sat, 19 Jan 2002 05:47:08 -0800

Where's the postal crew when you need it?

By: Neale

Neale — Sat, 19 Jan 2002 05:47:21 -0800

Okay, here goes.

By: Neale

Neale — Sat, 19 Jan 2002 05:50:47 -0800

I will be performing beat poetry on the 15th of Feb. Details soon.

By: Neale

Neale — Sat, 19 Jan 2002 05:51:10 -0800

The theme of the evening is "dead bird". therefore I have written the following poem.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Sat, 19 Jan 2002 06:33:57 -0800

Dead bird. Dead bird. Dead bird. Dead bird. Dead bird. Dead fucking bird. Honey mustard sauce. *rumours to the effect that I am the anti-Neale must cease immediatamente.

By: Neale

Neale — Mon, 21 Jan 2002 00:24:11 -0800

Details now on Chateau Talbeau. Anti-Neale? What happens if we meet?

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Mon, 21 Jan 2002 01:03:38 -0800

Lots of empty Hahn Premium bottles? Oh, and the annihiliation of the universe, of course.

By: j.edwards

j.edwards — Thu, 24 Jan 2002 16:08:44 -0800

I will be performing beat poetry on the 15th of Feb. Details soon. BONGO TIME!

By: Neale

Neale — Thu, 24 Jan 2002 20:34:23 -0800

Cha-cha cha-cha cha CHA Cha-cha cha-cha cha CHA Cha-cha cha-cha cha CHA Cha-cha cha-cha cha CHA Oh, that's not right, is it?

jpoulos — Tue, 26 Feb 2002 20:54:57 -0800

neale, are you in here playing with yourself again. :-)

By: goneill

goneill — Fri, 01 Mar 2002 12:28:41 -0800

if i post something will it be in a funny place?

By: goneill

goneill — Fri, 01 Mar 2002 12:29:22 -0800

ah, i see it will.

evanizer — Wed, 06 Mar 2002 19:15:28 -0800

If you want your post to look normal, you have to type

at the beginning of each post. As part of my independant study of CSS, I will attempt to figure out what happened: Matt's tag closer script closes any open tag you type.. So when the evil Neale quoted mathowie, he cut and pasted the code from the source. Since matt's comment was the post's copy, it came under the div class for "copy". At the end of the post, Mefi closed the

with a

MiguelCardoso — Thu, 07 Mar 2002 21:05:28 -0800

You'd think...you'd think the place had been overrun by...*whistles, case of Scotch teetering on his head*...monkeys!

By: tj

tj — Thu, 07 Mar 2002 21:41:25 -0800

By: tj

tj — Thu, 07 Mar 2002 21:44:26 -0800

now?

By: j.edwards

j.edwards — Fri, 08 Mar 2002 00:55:01 -0800

Bad men (and women) go away now!

By: goneill

goneill — Fri, 08 Mar 2002 06:51:08 -0800

it might be just womAn... but i'm not sure.

By: jpoulos

jpoulos — Fri, 08 Mar 2002 07:55:36 -0800

There are no monkeys here, Miguel. Only monkey-lovers.

By: Kafkaesque

Kafkaesque — Fri, 08 Mar 2002 19:06:04 -0800

*sprays baseboards and shadowy corners* That should hold off the infestation for another week or so, Mr. Neale. Don't know how they keep getting in here.

By: Neale

Neale — Fri, 08 Mar 2002 23:54:18 -0800

* sigh *

By: eyeballkid

eyeballkid — Mon, 11 Mar 2002 13:05:28 -0800

but eyeballkid, what were you doing that made evanizer so happy? i don't know. i was curious about that myself. maybe it was the soothing method with which i informed the folks at 1142 that the mother ship was self-destructing? evan?

By: thewittyname

thewittyname — Wed, 13 Mar 2002 13:53:35 -0800

You finally, really did it -- you maniacs! You blew it up! Damn you! Damn you all to hell!

By: evanizer

evanizer — Wed, 13 Mar 2002 14:15:59 -0800

I don't know what you did, eyeballkid. But it sure felt good. Maybe it was the way you stuck it to the man. Maybe it meant nothing. I think 1142 contains mind-control rays that make me lose my mind. I do wear my tinfoil hat when in here, but maybe a few rays slipped through. Do you guys mind if I put on this Rick Wakeman record I found in the basement?

By: goneill

goneill — Wed, 13 Mar 2002 14:46:07 -0800

evanizer, I think you are lying.

By: feelinglistless

feelinglistless — Wed, 13 Mar 2002 15:55:26 -0800

I don't know you're away for months and someone ruins everything (funny though)

By: bjgeiger

bjgeiger — Wed, 13 Mar 2002 18:32:53 -0800

Gee, you guys I don't read this thing for awhile and you go and mess it up.

By: boogah

boogah — Wed, 13 Mar 2002 23:29:31 -0800

hey 1142 folks. long time reader, first time poster. anyone up for a tall stack? i've got the maple...

By: Neale

Neale — Thu, 14 Mar 2002 18:56:34 -0800

* Sigh *

By: j.edwards

j.edwards — Fri, 15 Mar 2002 02:22:47 -0800

Thank you, thewittyname; that was sweet. I think Neale is trying to create a great and powerful gale with his sighing to eject us all from here. You! Obey the gale!

By: Neale

Neale — Tue, 19 Mar 2002 21:30:18 -0800

Time passes.

By: sylloge

sylloge — Tue, 19 Mar 2002 22:16:15 -0800

This is my last post. You all are cunts and you dial in on proxy. Ever since I started using metafilter, by dicks a-strinking six inches, I have got an error message on the last of domain. And every sincere fucko here, is got chalamium on his or her hide. Hide, hide, hide. Is metafilter going to shit, or what??? Things that bother me: of late: (it's mostly about Rory Wyatt): (wait a sec, I've got to go through the blogs & see what bothers me) ..............: Okay, I'm back: dinking declaration: It's "what expurgated sousies have you graced," very obviously frivolous posts, frivolous government shit, my fruit smells like lemon, some people who use the internet as their "online haven" have user names similar to the user names of another, links to particular pieces of art, clocks, links to particular artists, I mean, WHAT'S THE POINT OF THIS SHIT MAN????? Lemon scents, systematic inquiries, I have a site that supports twenty-thousand users, and they all are sincere in bitching at me. September eleveth was quite the happening, I'm a cunt on wheels, [cache]. [will be posted in metafilter >> metafilter-related]

By: ebarker

ebarker — Wed, 20 Mar 2002 09:35:47 -0800

sylloge... *holding up picture postcard of Earth* Having a great time, wish you were here.

By: FreezBoy

FreezBoy — Thu, 21 Mar 2002 06:26:49 -0800

.smallcopy { font-size : 12pt; font-family : Verdana, sans-serif; line-height : 130%;margin-left : 70px;margin-right : 70px;} don't mind me, this style sheet problem is bugging the crap outta me...

By: Neale

Neale — Sun, 24 Mar 2002 04:00:46 -0800

If anyone ever researches the history of weblogs, they will come to realise that this thread contains the total sum of all weblog knowledge. Really.

By: Lynsey

Lynsey — Sun, 24 Mar 2002 21:55:51 -0800

Eek, a mouse! and a keyboard, and a monitor, and a tower, and the longest thread I've ever seen.

By: jpoulos

jpoulos — Mon, 25 Mar 2002 18:42:29 -0800

We need a new name For a "thread" as long as this Perhaps it's "a rope"? :-)

By: MarkAnd

MarkAnd — Tue, 26 Mar 2002 13:40:17 -0800

Why do you want to make Neale sad?

By: MUD

MUD — Wed, 27 Mar 2002 14:22:12 -0800

Nobody wants to make Neale sad. That's not the 1142 way. But yank his thread a little? Well...

By: Markb

Markb — Thu, 28 Mar 2002 05:25:59 -0800

Happy 2nd birthday, 1142. Exits are N, S, W. There is an elf here.

By: TacoConsumer

TacoConsumer — Thu, 28 Mar 2002 06:24:04 -0800

By: riffola

riffola — Thu, 28 Mar 2002 09:50:36 -0800

Nicely done TacoConsumer. Happy Birthday 1142, you are a legend amongst the other threads.

By: Avogadro

Avogadro — Thu, 28 Mar 2002 12:50:48 -0800

That's lovely, TacoConsumer.

By: annathea

annathea — Thu, 28 Mar 2002 15:27:37 -0800

That's so beautiful.

By: daveadams

daveadams — Thu, 28 Mar 2002 17:04:27 -0800

I like the graphic. What's up with the HTML here? This place used to be so cool, back in the day...

By: Skot

Skot — Fri, 29 Mar 2002 11:24:25 -0800

Why are we all crowded in the corner? It feels like a Metallica concert in here. Lovely anniversary post.

By: bjgeiger

bjgeiger — Sat, 30 Mar 2002 18:09:16 -0800

Gee, I almost forgot the birthday. Happy belated best wishes!!

By: Frasermoo

Frasermoo — Mon, 01 Apr 2002 01:30:49 -0800

well, spose i better get my name to this thread. better to arrive at a party late than not at all. at least i can say i was there.

By: starvingartist

starvingartist — Mon, 01 Apr 2002 12:23:08 -0800

Dude, Metallica's playing here tonight? Woot! \m/ <-- devil sign

By: starvingartist

starvingartist — Tue, 02 Apr 2002 11:38:08 -0800

This is bogus, man! I drove all the way from 9622 to see Metallica! Where the hell is Metallica?

By: Neale

Neale — Thu, 04 Apr 2002 18:55:49 -0800

It's my party, and I'll drown Metallica in the bath if I want to.

By: starvingartist

starvingartist — Fri, 05 Apr 2002 07:25:47 -0800

Eh, they were going downhill since "Justice..." anyway. I got some beer left from the trip. And some beef jerky. Anyone?

By: iceberg273

iceberg273 — Fri, 05 Apr 2002 09:33:13 -0800

*is raptured to a better thread, along with all of the other 1142 saints*

By: ebarker

ebarker — Fri, 05 Apr 2002 12:52:36 -0800

So anyway, about this wacky Middle East situation, I think we should....hey, where did everybody go? Hello?

By: dash_slot-

dash_slot- — Sat, 06 Apr 2002 16:34:04 -0800

Oh, hi 'e'. (may I call you 'e'?) errr.. do you come here often?

By: Neale

Neale — Mon, 08 Apr 2002 21:18:45 -0800

I just broke someone's brain. It felt good.

By: ebarker

ebarker — Tue, 09 Apr 2002 12:44:12 -0800

I don't come here often, no. But sometimes I am breathing hard. okay, ew.

By: evanizer

evanizer — Thu, 11 Apr 2002 23:34:10 -0800

I just got a great deal on some 18th century furniture that I though might be just the thing 1142 needs- a redecoration. Here's one of the chairs. What do you think? Silk upholstery, bears the label of Lord Leigh, French, about 1770... I think it looks great in here. The truck's out front. Anyone wanna come help me unload?

By: starvingartist

starvingartist — Fri, 12 Apr 2002 09:21:41 -0800

Any Louis XV chaise lounges? tj seems to have ripped the sofa.

By: evanizer

evanizer — Fri, 12 Apr 2002 11:07:55 -0800

*panting after lugging chaise lounge up stairs* Guys, some help? I'm killing my back here.

By: goneill

goneill — Fri, 12 Apr 2002 11:31:58 -0800

finally somewhere worthy to sit.

By: Kafkaesque

Kafkaesque — Sat, 13 Apr 2002 15:17:07 -0800

Worthy of Liberace?

By: Neale

Neale — Mon, 29 Apr 2002 18:37:19 -0800

I think it's safe to return now.

By: ebarker

ebarker — Tue, 30 Apr 2002 06:38:40 -0800

So that you can have the last word?

By: Sean Meade

Sean Meade — Tue, 30 Apr 2002 09:33:08 -0800

i was here.

By: christian

christian — Tue, 30 Apr 2002 17:08:46 -0800

Okay folks. Let me try and see if this fixes things . . .

By: christian

christian — Tue, 30 Apr 2002 17:10:12 -0800

Right. Now a test?

By: christian

christian — Tue, 30 Apr 2002 17:12:31 -0800

Alas. I have failed as well. *hangs head in shame*

By: christian

christian — Tue, 30 Apr 2002 17:16:47 -0800

Sudden idea. Does this do it?

By: christian

christian — Tue, 30 Apr 2002 22:33:36 -0800

Hm. It seems that the tags close automatically. I should have known. I do hope that Neale or someone pops back in and says something so that me trying to fix a formatting error isn't the last thing 1142 sees.

By: chaz

chaz — Fri, 03 May 2002 20:48:28 -0800

SO... hello guys. Nice to see you're still here. Being in this thread is like getting photographed, it robs a little bit of your soul.

By: ljromanoff

ljromanoff — Thu, 25 Jul 2002 07:54:07 -0800

9622 just doesn't have the je ne sais quoi of 1142. Everyone knows it. Get in on it while you can.

By: timewarp

timewarp — Fri, 20 Sep 2002 09:55:55 -0800

tap... tap... tap... is this thing on?