On Tue, 16 May 2006, Michele Riccio wrote: > On 16 May 2006 at 15:12, Kenneth Gorelick wrote > > > >> In fact, the very purpose of the Cycle might be to set up that > > >> joke, and when somebody tells it the small invisible lights will, > > >> without any fuss, go out. > > >> > > >> > > > Only if it is told 9 billion times, with 9 billion variations. > > > > > > Snarkhunter > > And I thought no other living person had read that one... > > Were we not supposed to get the reference? I assumed people would recognize the premise and last sentence of one of the classic SF stories (freely available on the web, incidentally, but no link since I'm not sure about the copyright status).