As you may know, today’s Comment o’ the Week award is very special. The winner will actually receive a prize: the right to name next Wednesday’s Afternoon Inquisition. Considering the stakes, I’m sure you’re all on the edge of your seats, waiting to know who is about to be anointed. But first, other stuff!
It’s been awhile since I’ve highlighted tips and tricks for our newest commenters. The intro email you get when you sign up to comment here has this info, but I know a lot of people don’t read it (I probably wouldn’t, though it’s also located here), so, some highlights:
1. Get a picture by your name by signing up at Gravatar.com using the same email address you used here on Skepchick. Follow the directions there and give it some time to work. Your avatar will appear automagically!
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3. Nominate a comment for Comment o’ the Week by replying to it and including the letters COTW somewhere in your post.
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Okay? Okay. COMMENT O’ THE WEEK!
This week’s winner was actually nominated three times, which is tough to ignore. And believe me, I tried to ignore it. Repeatedly. Oh, just kidding. Congratulations Oskar Kennedy (LBB), who wrote this comment in response to Elyse’s AI question asking whether or not love conquers all:
Oskar Kennedy (LBB)
// Feb 23, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Sure, love CONQUERS All, but it has a hell of a time maintaining its grip. Supply lines get so long as to be unmanageable, then you get resistance fighters and insurgencies. The citizens of All refuse to pay taxes, then they start organizing massive street protests that end in rioting.
Then the West starts arming the guerrillas, and before you know it Love’s forces have been ground down and defeated, its local government deposed and replaced by representatives of Boredom and Bitterness. Love withdraws in disgrace.
On the march home, Love often forms a temporary alliance with Lust to occupy Someone Convenient, only to find that the location isn’t all that strategic and the locals just aren’t as interesting as the folks in All. That alliance disintegrates, and Love winds up back where it started, in an uneasy and often contentious partnership with Self.
Runner-up this week was Expatria, with this trouser-snake reference. The irony here is that I hang out with Expatria quite a bit (he happens to be the Boston Skeptics’ Vice President of Doing Stuff) and he comes up with a good Afternoon Inquisition every other day. Maybe next time, Ex.
So, Oskar, please use the contact form to send us your suggested AI topic. If it meets approval, it will go public at 3pm ET next Wednesday. Congrats!
Woo and hoo. And a little weird to find out big news via Tweet, considering I’ve only been using Twitter for a few weeks. But still, woo and hoo.
As is the way of things, when I saw the announcement that the COTW winner would get a shot at an AI, I though “Oh man, I’ve got a great question,” and now it’s completely gone out of my head. I’ll get to work thinking of another one that (hopefully) doesn’t suck.
Congratulations, and CURSE YOU, Oskar Kennedy!
I look forward to seeing what you come up with :)
@Expatria: I was sure that your “the way it should have been written” excerpt from Leviticus would take it. That made me laugh so hard I snorted. Can we sneak in and change the timestamp so it’s eligible next week?
@Oskar Kennedy (LBB): Na, I’ll just have to try to be even more witty and vulgar next week! I’d say I love a challenge, except that most challenges make me curl into a ball and suck my thumb. But this one, well, I’m undaunted!
“Clap, clap, clap!”
Great job!