Dead Ken Lay?

July 10, 2006 9:00 AM

"I wanna see the body," wrote a commenter at Metafilter.com. Another simply wrote, "$."...

July 2000, meet July 2006: "I want a coroner's report, pictures, and a DNA test of the body," wrote one commenter at Metafilter.com.

'John Brown's Ken Lay's body lies a-mouldering in the grave, But his soul goes marching on...'
Many commented, few were quoted. Ah, the fickle fifteen minutes of anonymous fame.....
posted by y2karl to MetaFilter-related at 9:00 AM (45 comments total)

The "$" was a play on the infamous "." when someone dies, right? I mean, outside of that, it doesn't make much sense. Why would the NYT quote that?
posted by keswick at 9:07 AM on July 10, 2006

Wake me when the NYTimes finally quotes a comment that is more than a line or two long. I hate the fact that they use snark as filler in their articles. It's beneath such a great paper to resort to such lazy writing. Quote a three paragraph dhartung or Miguel comment and perhaps I'll respect the quotation as praise for MetaFilter.
posted by SeizeTheDay at 9:11 AM on July 10, 2006

Well, upon further research, I see Tom Zeller has quoted MetaFilterians many a time. In a just world, we would smell royalty checks right now...
posted by y2karl at 9:13 AM on July 10, 2006

One day, I hope one of my snarks will be included in the NYT. Oh, what a proud day that will be.
posted by keswick at 9:14 AM on July 10, 2006

I wonder if he's ever seen the "FUCK TOM ZELLER" quotes?

Hrm, google seems to not have heard of them either. Perhaps I was hallucinating. I remember some MeTa thread or another from a while ago.

Well, nothing like self fulfilling a prophecy: FUCK TOM ZELLER.

No, I don't think it's a great honor to be fucked stolen from quoted in your noteworthy esteemed has-been old dead tree fishwrap.

MERV GRIFFIN.
posted by loquacious at 9:20 AM on July 10, 2006

All right, when do I get quoted by NYT?
posted by Astro Zombie at 9:22 AM on July 10, 2006

I'd like a quote on a solid medium term blue chip equity.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 9:33 AM on July 10, 2006

I've just been issued a very strong buy on It's Raining Florence Henderson...
posted by loquacious at 9:36 AM on July 10, 2006

*waves at Tom Zeller*
posted by matteo at 9:39 AM on July 10, 2006

Apparently, the Gray Lady is not fond of my dick jokes.
posted by horsewithnoname at 9:45 AM on July 10, 2006

well, we're getting quite the reputation, aren't we?
posted by pyramid termite at 9:45 AM on July 10, 2006

with nearly every fugitive or famous person whose death remains, at least for some people, a matter of debate — from the rapper Tupac Shakur and the comedian Andy Kaufman to the mobster Whitey Bulger.

That was me! I suggested Whitey! GO SOX!
posted by Mayor Curley at 9:46 AM on July 10, 2006

well, we're getting quite the reputation, aren't we?

Healthy skepticism is a good reputation to keep.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:48 AM on July 10, 2006

Wow, what a shitty article. How do you end with "wrote one commenter at Metafilter.com." Now that's a closer!
posted by puke & cry at 9:58 AM on July 10, 2006

hey, that may be the first mention of metafilter on the NYT site that actually links to the site.

Someone taught the old grey lady how to make an A HREF
posted by mathowie at 9:58 AM on July 10, 2006

And their legal department vetted it.
posted by yerfatma at 10:04 AM on July 10, 2006

All right, when do I get quoted by NYT?

I hate to be the one to break it to you, but Astro Zombie 2 has been spending evenings buying drinks for Tom Zeller. If anyone gets quoted, it's going to be him.
posted by languagehat at 10:10 AM on July 10, 2006

and what is the legality of unauthorized quotes from this site?
I thought our comments were copyrighted to us.
posted by chococat at 10:11 AM on July 10, 2006

I don't think there's a lot of intimidating legal precedent re: quotes from website discussions, chococat. Until people start suing the NYT, the legality of it all is pretty much moot.
posted by cortex at 10:13 AM on July 10, 2006

I don't care if the NYT quotes us, but it would be cool if Matt could force them to register every time they tried to read the site.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:17 AM on July 10, 2006

and what is the legality of unauthorized quotes from this site?

News reporting is explicitly listed as a fair use of copyrighted material. See 17 U.S.C. § 107.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 10:26 AM on July 10, 2006

Is the NYT reporting news, now?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:26 AM on July 10, 2006

It's Raining Florence Henderson writes "but it would be cool if Matt could force them to register every time they tried to read the site."

Feature request: Matt please set all login cookies that are requested from NYT referrer's and IP addresses to expire in, oh, say five minutes.
posted by Mitheral at 10:29 AM on July 10, 2006

stro Zombie 2 has been spending evenings buying drinks for Tom Zeller. If anyone gets quoted, it's going to be him.

Is it my fault that we both like a delicious Pimms cup?
posted by Astro Zombie 2 at 10:30 AM on July 10, 2006

God damn you.
posted by Astro Zombie at 10:31 AM on July 10, 2006

Hey, with our luck,it'll probably be Astro Zombie 3 that gets quoted first. Can you imagine?
posted by Astro Zombie 2 at 10:33 AM on July 10, 2006

Ha! Yeah, he'd be all "GRR RRAR GRRR LAY DEAD GRR."
posted by Astro Zombie at 10:34 AM on July 10, 2006

Anyone have a working open account for the NYT? Veganporn stopped working, and it was the only one I could remember.
posted by Deoridhe at 11:06 AM on July 10, 2006

bugmenot

histrionic12
histrionic12
posted by ajpresto at 11:13 AM on July 10, 2006

Someone taught the old grey lady how to make an A HREF

Now if only someone had taught iconomy to make an IMG SRC back when she was posting nude photos of herself on her user page.

"I wanna see the body," wrote a commenter at Metafilter.com.

Speaking of old grey ladies, that is...
posted by y2karl at 11:14 AM on July 10, 2006

horsewithnoname writes "Apparently, the Gray Lady is not fond of my dick jokes."

She's not the only one!
posted by OmieWise at 11:19 AM on July 10, 2006

Pearls before swine.
posted by horsewithnoname at 11:45 AM on July 10, 2006

I thought it was more prarie oysters before diners.
posted by OmieWise at 11:51 AM on July 10, 2006

Argh, I was hallucinating. It was "Fuck Zell Miller" that I was thinking of.

-Todd "Fuck Tom Zeller" Lokken.
posted by loquacious at 12:02 PM on July 10, 2006

I thought it was more prarie oysters before diners.

Are the bull testicles not to your liking, señor? Come back after the matador loses and I shall serve you a smaller dish.
posted by horsewithnoname at 12:10 PM on July 10, 2006

Yeah, they pick the truly memorable stuff from this site to quote, don't they?

Fuck the New York Times. And that Tom Zeller guy too!
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 1:40 PM on July 10, 2006

Can we please call a moratorium on 'The Grey Lady' sobriquet on account that it is annoying me for some unanalyzed reason?
posted by dgaicun at 2:36 PM on July 10, 2006

The "$" was a play on the infamous "." when someone dies, right? I mean, outside of that, it doesn't make much sense. Why would the NYT quote that?

Well, lots of people here said they thought he killed himself to protect his assets from class action suits or whatever, right? The $ sign could be interpreted that way in the eyes of someone who has no clue about the mourning dot.
posted by zarah at 3:14 PM on July 10, 2006

I thought it was just the cosmos, finally getting around to that backlog on Instant Karma.
posted by Tuwa at 3:19 PM on July 10, 2006

Wake me when the NYTimes finally quotes a comment that is more than a line or two long. I hate the fact that they use snark as filler in their articles.

I agree in general, but the Link by Link column seems intended in part to highlight the snark of the week, so it's not really filler in this case.
posted by footnote at 3:35 PM on July 10, 2006

This NYT, does it vibrate? Does it SMS? Does it play HL2? Does it do anything more than line the birdcage?

Didn't think so.
posted by five fresh fish at 5:17 PM on July 10, 2006

A HREF DREF BUTTER EATER

... and I saw somewhere today that the death will set aside the convictions. Hi Tom!
posted by mwhybark at 6:16 PM on July 10, 2006

Come back after the matador loses and I shall serve you a smaller dish.

Ha!
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:43 PM on July 10, 2006

the death will set aside the convictions.

The White Collar Crime Prof Blog has a good summary of how that works. And, you know, much as I despise Lay as an obvious crook, the "finality principle" makes sense on first glance. If someone dies before exhausting their appeals, is it right for the justice system to consider that person convicted? Probably not.
posted by mediareport at 8:30 PM on July 10, 2006

Zeller's quoting of me (and, interestingly, he used my real name) was something serious and non-snarky.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 2:12 PM on July 11, 2006