Whoa, did you realize that you commented on it 3 years ago in that second reddit link?

Anyway, no harm in sharing willvarfar. First time I've seen your comment!

But this is wonderful! In the context of the discussion..

The guy who had told the story before who had told the guy who had told the story before had forgotten had forgotten.

That got surreal fast!

Yeap, all me. Its one of my fondest recollections of early programming. :)

So sorry it offends you.

Heh, I think it's actually useful. Cross-posting is sort of a form of intellectual cross-pollination; some people are allergic, but others appreciate the second chances. I don't read those other forums, so I'd have missed out on that little nugget.

And I tried to make that last sentence a garden path one, to keep the comment on topic, but jeez it's hard to break the habit of avoiding them. I suspect it's deeply ingrained in me to an instinctual level by my 11th grade rhetoric teacher. (Her whole goal was to, and I quote, "make our insides scrunch when we saw a comma splice." Most who took her class would agree her curriculum was a resounding success, even after she also taught us to break the rules.)

You misunderstand. It doesn't offend me. It is a delightful incident.

herbaceous border disputes has become one of my favourite stories about markov chains. It's part of internet lore for me :)

> Google finds four results of this phrase

> Does your computer beep every time somebody posts about markov chains

I haven't done any actual counting, but I'm like 80% sure Markov Chains have been mentioned more than 4 times on the internet.