The Molly for the month of October goes to Lynna by a landslide.
Now you’ve got to cast your memory back to sometime around Thanksgiving, and leave nominations in this thread for the Molly to be awarded in the New Year. We’ve got our holidays all confused around here, I know.
Lynna!
*clenched-tentacle salute*
Go Lynna!
My nomination is AJ Milne. It’s high time.
Hooray for Lynna. Well done!
My votes go to Aquaria, who I was amazed to discover hasn’t got her Molly yet, and to aratina cage for intelligence and good writing above and beyond the call of duty.
I used to think raven is some kind of one-trick pony, but in fact he/she/it/squid is capable of remarkable snark on a fairly wide variety of topics. That makes a nomination.
Another goes to AJ Milne, who has finally decided to comment more often.
Lynna!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Could we call it Mollyween?
Frivolity aside, my vote goes to Raven who gets 10/10 for scathing.
Congrats to Lynna, OM!!!!
Congrats, Lynna. Well deserved.
My vote goes to aratina cage: insightful writer, great ‘nym.
Congratulations, Lynna!
AJ Milne
Congrats to Lynna, well deserved !
For December I nominate Aratina Cage and AJ Milne.
I think I had someone else on my list, but since I’m on holiday and my list is at home, this will have to do !
Duh. I forgot to congratulate Lynna in my attempt to make a (bad) joke. Congrats! Very well deserved.
Congrats Lynna!
This month I’ll nominate Aratina Cage.
Congratulations to Lynna. Well deserved.
This month I’ll nominate Alan B, for his series of exposés of creationist
geologytheology, and Aratina Cage made his voice heard loud and clear. Aquaria is also over due.Doctor Frankenstien!
Oh wait. that’s the wrong vote.
I guess AJ Milne works.
Congrats Lynna.
My vote: AJ Milne
Okay, time for me to say something I’ve been saying a lot lately, “Holy crap!” This is soooo ripe for an LOL. Maybe I should share the honor with the mormons for providing an endless source of jaw-dropping lunacy.
Now I have to figure out how to add the OM to my Typepad profile. What an honor. I’m going to be aw-shucksing and head-ducking for days. Since I’m the Halloween Molly, maybe I can justify wearing the silver, save-the-world jumpsuit on a regular basis.
Thanks to to everyone for the congrats offered above!
My votes for the Turkey Molly (wait … that just doesn’t sound right…), anyway, aratina cage, AJ Milne, and Alan B.
Congrats to Lynna!
Last month A J Milne was pretty bright and busy, so he has my vote.
Party at my house! Jello for everyone! Maybe the Noo Zeelunders will bring the booze.
Here’s a Lying for the Lord video that BYU has had removed from You Tube about five times, so it may not last long. prime mormon sanctimony — enjoy.
Congrats, Lynna!
AJ Milne, Alan B, aratina cage, Aquaria….
There must be something about starting a pseudonym with the letter A. It must be a gift from Apollo.
Damn, it is already time to plan the next initiation orgy? I guess this should have a mormon theme. I will bring the hat and glasses. Lynna, does that work for you?
It is the dawning of the age of aquaria. Yeah, I said it. AJ Milne also.
Janine @20
I’ve been waiting to see you working with the hat and glasses, Janine. I expect you will be delivering the revelations. (As an aside, my brothers and I were joking about marketing “seer stones” from the PrueHeart Lode — they would probably sell, and then we’d be surrounded by prophets.)
Yay Lynna! I love the Mormon exposé, the scenic photographs, and the fun and knowledge you have brought to Pharyngula. Congratulations!
Now for Molly votes, November was a great month:
Alyson Miers for fatally stomping on Bilbo during a game of whack-a-troll and for succinctly explaining the primary usage of atheism in civilization-building.
386sx for telling us the rest of the story, which came as quite a shocker to Bible man *snicker*.
sasqwatch for the dialogue between two city gents and Mr. Wiggin as he explains the intricacies of the Atheist-approved™ voting booth.
I also would like to mention for your consideration Kichae responding to Nathan, strangest brew in what could be a follow-up to Alyson Miers’ portrayal of atheism as a “bulldozer” (linked above), and gr8hands schooling Lion IRC about the very book that Lion mewed and drooled over until the very end.
Yay Lynna! It couldn’t have gone to a better woman. You carry the banner for us in a breastally assertive manner.
As for next month? So many good commenters, so hard to choose. I’m going to have to go with Aratina Cage, though it’s such a close call.
Another vote for Aratina Cage here, for consistently intelligent, clear and incredibly patient comments and replies.
I don’t know what I was thinking because I put about seven hyperlinks in an earlier comment and naturally it got selected for moderation. :( If it doesn’t get posted in a day, I’ll try splitting it up. For now, congrats Lynna!
congrats to Lynna!
Conga rats, Lynna!
+1 aratina cage
Congrats, Lynna!
Aratina Cage has my vote this month.
Ha ha.
Well, I’ll continue my habit of voting until I get my way.
That means aratina cage.
Shit. I quoted something on there, but it didn’t show up. And now I can’t remember what I quoted.
Shit.
Early Alzheimer’s moment, I guess…
Nice one, Lynna.
I like what Mr. T wrote @14, too… they’re all deserving, but I’ll highlight AJ Milne this time around just to go with the flow. Been around for quite some time, and provided more than a few chuckles!
Ack, not just you, Aquaria; I think I’m getting early-onset senility too. Mr T. @19, I meant above.
Talk about Mr T, got an eye on that one as a future laureate !
And I remember now who else I had on my list, Alan B of course !!
I’ve done that too, aratina. Very annoying, since I’d deleted my notes after posting. Stupid me.
Congrats, Lynna! Well deserved.
Okay … I’m not exactly sure what’s happened here, but I only have one note made for Novemer: Walton …
Lossa good suggestions already. I’ll add my vote for the indefatiguable Alan B.
aratina and the rest will just have to wait.
And by the way, Sastra should become a Skepchick.
Congrats to Lynna! Don thy tentacles with pride!
My November notes are covered in dried gravy, mashed potatoes, and some orange-y substance that may or may not be squash… so I’ll have to go by memory… and vote aratina cage.
Well done Lynna.
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My nomination goes to Alan b for the science.
Congratulations to Lynna!
Recently I’ve been in the habit of homing in on just a handful of threads, rather than reading everything, so I don’t really have full visibility into who’s been doing the most Mollyworthy commenting overall. That said, based on what I have seen and on the proverbial “body of work,” I agree with the nominations for aratina cage and Aquaria.
In addition, and even though I once long ago got my ears handed to me for mentioning Walton in the Molly discussion, I think Sili has a point; perhaps it’s time to recognize Walton’s (you should pardon the expression) evolution since he first started commenting here.
Thanks to Owlmirror for the line of Conga Rats (an off-broadway production).
Josh, Official Spokesgay, linked to one of my rants, but really I think his inspired skit that took us to the next level of geek glory was better than the rant.
BTW, Josh, I don’t think I ever thanked you for the almost-offer of marriage “even though I am the Official Spokesgay” — I almost accept.
Congratulations, Lynna! Remember, added ironic fun can be had with your new designation if you pronounce it like ॐ.
This month I’m voting for AJ Milne and Aquaria.
For those considering a vote for Walton, I’d like to suggest a better reason than his ‘evolution’ (which for some reason always strikes me as a little patronising.)
When Walton does comment, he usually posts no less than three or four cogent and well thought out paragraphs. Whether or not I or others here agree with his arguments is irrelevant; the fact that he puts effort into making them, and generally making them very well is the point of the Order of the Molly, in my estimation.
Sili and Bill: Thank you, I appreciate it. However, I don’t really want to be awarded the Molly merely in recognition of the “evolution” of my opinions.
I am, as far as I know, the only regular commenter to have “de-converted” from Christianity to agnosticism during the time I’ve been commenting here, and I’ve also become progressively more liberal and open-minded on socio-cultural issues. However, I don’t think I should receive a Molly simply for changing my views on religion or related social issues. The Molly is supposed to be an award for making the most intelligent, reasoned and interesting contributions to discussions, not a reward for changing one’s ideas. Any intellectually honest person should be prepared to change his or her beliefs on the presentation of new evidence or better arguments; doing so isn’t, in itself, something which merits a special award.
The issue is probably academic in any case, since I’m unlikely ever to get the Molly (my political views are too controversial, and there are several people here who vehemently dislike me, such as MAJeff and truth machine). But while I very much appreciate being nominated for the Molly, I don’t think I necessarily deserve it.
Congrats Lynna!
My vote this goes to Aratina Cage and John Morales.
Lynna:
Oy! How on Earth could I have forgotten Josh, OS (not to be confused with the other Josh), who assisted me greatly in a recent thread. Of course, assisting me might well not be seen as any particular service to the larger community, but even so, it was churlish of me not to think of Josh. My only excuse, lame as it is, is that it’s Monday frickin’ morning.
Brownian:
Oh, dear! The last thing I intended was to be patronizing. I nominated Walton long ago, before the evolution in his thinking that we’ve observed and even he has acknowledged, for reasons very like those you mention. At that time, he was still fairly aggressively promoting an ideology that’s anathema to the core consensus of the regular community here, and I got pretty well roasted for the suggestion.
In the intervening time, two things have happened:
1. By moderating his formerly doctrinaire L-word-arianism, Walton has mitigated what once seemed to be a strict bar against even considering him.
2. Walton has demonstrated an ability to take onboard the arguments of others, question his own premises, and revise his thinking (without, it’s worth noting, simply facilely throwing his former views overboard)… an ability which is, in my experience, rare as pearls in the blog/commentosphere, and also right in line with what I take to be the skepticism/science-inspired values of this community. That’s what I meant by “evolution,” and I intended it as a pure, unfiltered compliment.
I for one am glad that discussions about Walton have been reduced to just the monthly(ish) Molly thread.
Walton:
Timing is amusing, isn’t it? Based on timestamps, I’m guessing you hadn’t seen Brownian’s comment (@38) as you were composing yours (@39), and I obviously hadn’t seen yours as I was composing mine (@41). Without meaning to belabor the point, I think both your commitment to cogent, rational argumentation (ref. Brownian) and your cognitive flexibility (ref. me) make you at least worthy of consideration.
Ooops, HTML FAIL. No doubt I mistyped the first closing tag as blockqutoe, which is my typical error in this situation. <sigh>
I once had a terrible case of blockqutoe… terribly painful… had a difficult time walking for about a week.
I got better.
Congrats, Lynna!
I abstain, because I can barely remember yesterday.
Brownian, Bill et al.: Thank you.
My vote this month is cast for Alan B. Also, congratulations to Lynna.
Congratulations, Lynna!!
My votes this month to aratina cage and Alan B.
Heartiest congratulations to Lynna! Cheers!
Next votes: AJ Milne and John Morales. Top work.
I’m evidently in the doghouse with TypePad again, but now Movable Type works. Love the log-in roulette.
Awash in a sea of end-of-semester-ness, and hitting the road for travels soon, so in the event that I’m a little more unavailable, Happy Monkey wishes to everyone, safe travels wherever you’re headed, best wishes for the new year and all that.
Still learning,
Robert
Walton,
Stop digging.
Sometimes you’re really sounding like a bigger whiny arse titty baby than me.
Not everyone will love you all of the time. Get used to it.
I nominated you for a specific comment this time. No reference to your growing up. That said, you have shown tremendous development and that is both something to be proud of and worth recognising. And as Brownian sez, it’s not like you’res stupid.
A reminder of who is really being honoured:
Molly Ivins Quotes — Molly Ivins (1944-2007)
I’m not sure who gets to vote on this, but if I do, I also vote for aratina cage , having just read yet another thread where he articulated my thoughts better than I would have.
Everyone gets to vote, Forbidden Snowflake, there are no qualifiers (that I’m aware of anyhow)…
And I’m a bit disappointed in the thread turnout for the Molly this month… 53 comments seems like such a sparse amount…
Oh well…
Congratulations and welcome, Lynna! A worthy inductee.
Next, AJ Milne.
Looks like my former comments will be held eternally in link limbo, so here is what I wanted to say:
Yay Lynna! I love the Mormon exposé, the scenic photographs, and the fun and knowledge you have brought to Pharyngula. Congratulations!
Now for Molly votes, November was a great month:
Alyson Miers for fatally stomping on Bilbo during a game of whack-a-troll and for succinctly explaining the primary usage of atheism in civilization-building.
386sx for telling us the rest of the story, which came as quite a shocker to Bible man *snicker*.
sasqwatch for the dialogue between two city gents and Mr. Wiggin as Wiggin explains the intricacies of the Atheist-approved™ voting booth.
I also would like to mention, but not vote for, a few people for everyone’s consideration: Kichae responding to Nathan, strangest brew in what could be a follow-up to Alyson Miers’ portrayal of atheism as a “bulldozer” (linked above), and gr8hands schooling Lion IRC about the very book that Lion mewed and drooled over until the end.
Alan B for being from England.
aratina cage for creationists weakened.
Sven DiMilo for liking graphs.
AJ Milne for liking laughs.
And lastly but not formers,
Megan Fox for Transformers.
Hey, don’t know if anyone’s going to check this old thread anymore…. but I have a nomination:
Can I nominate someone for their comments on another blog?
I followed a link one of your commenters put up about another blog that was attacking your “Courtier’s Reply” (I believe their post was called “Courtier’s Reply Reply”) and followed the comments there to find Tulse in a great debate with the blog host. Masterfully done in quite a long comment thread and mostly unassisted.
Anyway… not sure you’re going to look here, or if this is inside the Molly rules, but I’m going to be looking forward to whenever Tulse comments anyway.
Cheers.