Concur on the thanks to Margaret T. for speaking up. The fact is, public words are all we have to speak to the community at large. Since this is a community issue, it would be shirking our Buffista duty to do it all backchannel.

Also, thanks to Cindy for your timeline of angst. I am sorry you were so angstful, but, clearly, you bit the bullet for several who were thinking about it. (As I think I mentioned, 2 people had brought it up to me privately, and in cowardly fashion I said, "Sounds like a carfaffle!!")

Also, while I find my returns diminished a good 16 hours ago, I know how Bureaublahblah works and neither can nor would legislate against hobbyhorse-riding until it becomes disruptive. I agree with David that the disruptiveness in this thread is coming from Trudy only, and everybody else is being staggeringly, annoyingly sincere and polite.

Also, I am personally calling out Aimee for Luther Vandrossing in my Bureaublahblah thread, and Allyson for implying that elephants shit bullshit. You ladies are on The LIST!!

Natter 49: Harrison Ford in His Prime.

(Not the Miss Jean Brodie kind of prime.)

Cindy, Thomas Pynchon has a famous novella called The Crying of Lot 49. I didn't particularly love it or anything, but still.

Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49

I don't think I'm intellectual enough to post in a Pynchon-titled thread. I'm also afraid we're setting ourselves up for pain. Haven't we had prophetical thread titles before?

I'm also afraid we're setting ourselves up for pain. Haven't we had prophetical thread titles before?

Just the Ides of Natter.

Are you afraid the thread will be auctioned off? (That's what the "crying" is referring to.)

I don't think I'm intellectual enough to post in a Pynchon-titled thread.

You know in Vineland, his characters talked about TV alot. One of them got off on watching CHiPs.

I don't think I'm intellectual enough to post in a Pynchon-titled thread.

DUDE! You went to an IVY! with lots of super intellectual types. that's intellectual by proximity. DUH!

DUDE! You went to an IVY! with lots of super intellectual types. that's intellectual by proximity. DUH!

And, you went to high school with Matt Damon!!

Thank you for saving me from asking msbelle what she meant by "pynchon".

I've seriously had a "Shock the Monkey" earworm (talk about a timeline of angst) since Monday, because it came on an internet radio station as the e-mails were flying fast and furious. So Natter 49 is always going to be a "Shock the Monkey" reference for me, even if we call it Natter 49: Shame Us.

If Gus is really dead, he's laughing at all that. If he's really alive, he's laughing at all that, and kicking himself for not being able to chime in.