### Author:  [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2005, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trees-are-indistinguishable-from-broccoli-thread-should-not-have-been-locked/311978/1 "2005-07-11T12:58:44Z")
hey moderators–whazzup?
just 'cause you think a thread is stupid, don’t mean you should lock it.
I’m in the mood right now to read a stupid thread…(my phone call is on hold, and I’m tired of hearing “please wait on the line”)
so I found myself a good stupid thread----and you locked it. This just ain’t FAIR!!!
The thread didn’t advocate anything illegal, it didnt threaten violence.It just made a simple observation of scientific truth—and offered 6 lucky posters a chance to add some more humor to a silly OP----until you went and locked all the rest of us out of the fun.
I PROTEST !!!
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### Author:  [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2005, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trees-are-indistinguishable-from-broccoli-thread-should-not-have-been-locked/311978/2 "2005-07-11T13:00:15Z")
Well… At least _I_ didn’t start this.
😃
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### Author:  [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2005, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trees-are-indistinguishable-from-broccoli-thread-should-not-have-been-locked/311978/3 "2005-07-11T13:01:34Z")
Yeah, give us our vegetable-forestry discussion back!
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### Author:  [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2005, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trees-are-indistinguishable-from-broccoli-thread-should-not-have-been-locked/311978/4 "2005-07-11T13:17:39Z")
> [@chappachula](#):
>
> just 'cause you think a thread is stupid, don’t mean you should lock it.
> I’m in the mood right now to read a stupid thread…(my phone call is on hold, and I’m tired of hearing “please wait on the line”)
>
> \
> I PROTEST !!!
Free-associate about foodstuffs all you want–saayyy, ever notice how much cauliflower looks like a _brain_?–but do it in MPSIMS.
Just great. Monday morning and some guy pitches a hissy fit because his veggie-lookalike thread was taken away. I can already tell this week is gonna be a winner.
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### Author:  [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2005, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trees-are-indistinguishable-from-broccoli-thread-should-not-have-been-locked/311978/5 "2005-07-11T13:23:18Z")
> [@TVeblen](#):
>
> … Monday morning and some guy pitches a hissy fit because his veggie-lookalike thread was taken away. I can already tell this week is gonna be a winner.
You misspelled “whiner”.
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### Author:  [@Metacom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Metacom)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2005, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trees-are-indistinguishable-from-broccoli-thread-should-not-have-been-locked/311978/6 "2005-07-11T13:25:11Z")
> [@chappachula](#):
>
> I’m in the mood right now to read a stupid thread…
Try [this one](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=6352583#post6352583); it should satiate your “stupid thread” hunger.
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### Author:  [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2005, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trees-are-indistinguishable-from-broccoli-thread-should-not-have-been-locked/311978/7 "2005-07-11T13:30:27Z")
> [@TVeblen](#):
>
> –but do it in MPSIMS.
that’s what I’m bitchin’ about, Mr moderator.
You didnt move the thread to MPSIMS–you **LOCKED** it. You could have moved it, but, no, you acted like a Nazi!! (no, not the german kind, the soup kind)
(can you tell that I’ve been put on hold again) 🙂
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### Author:  [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2005, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trees-are-indistinguishable-from-broccoli-thread-should-not-have-been-locked/311978/8 "2005-07-11T13:37:07Z")
> [@](#):
>
> I did mean to put it there.
>
> Which doesn’t alter the fact that most people will wonder why I put it anywhere at all. It’s too MPSIMS for my own brain.
So **Lobsang** pretty much admits that it was a worthless OP. Then what’s the problem?
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### Author:  [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2005, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trees-are-indistinguishable-from-broccoli-thread-should-not-have-been-locked/311978/9 "2005-07-11T13:39:25Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#):
>
> So **Lobsang** pretty much admits that it was a worthless OP. Then what’s the problem?
Worthless = Mundane = Pointless
So why wasn’t it moved to MPSIMS?
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2005, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trees-are-indistinguishable-from-broccoli-thread-should-not-have-been-locked/311978/10 "2005-07-11T13:39:58Z")
Anyway, trees _are_ distinguishable from brocolli; if you’re close enough to chop them and put them in a steamer, trees are readily distinguishable from broccoli because \* they look like trees\* - if you’re flying high over the rainforest in a helicopter, they are readily distinguishable from broccoli because _you’re flying high over the rainforest in a fricking helicopter_.
Hope this helps.
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### Author:  [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2005, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trees-are-indistinguishable-from-broccoli-thread-should-not-have-been-locked/311978/11 "2005-07-11T13:43:16Z")
> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> if you’re flying high over the rainforest in a helicopter, they are readily distinguishable from broccoli because _you’re flying high over the rainforest in a fricking helicopter_.
You’ve never floated above a field of broccoli on a kite, I take it?
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2005, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trees-are-indistinguishable-from-broccoli-thread-should-not-have-been-locked/311978/12 "2005-07-11T13:56:14Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#):
>
> You’ve never floated above a field of broccoli on a kite, I take it?
Not in any sense of what we normally call ‘reality’ - and even if I had, it would be distinguishable from trees because of the growth habit; broccoli is just the flowering structure of a cabbage cultivar; it doesn’t grow closely packed together like a rainforest canopy.
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### Author:  [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2005, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trees-are-indistinguishable-from-broccoli-thread-should-not-have-been-locked/311978/13 "2005-07-11T13:56:24Z")
> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> if you’re close enough to put them in a steamer, trees are readily distinguishable from broccoli… if you’re flying high over the rainforest in a helicopter, they are readily distinguishable…
but what if you are cooking the broccoli in a steamer while flying in a helicopter???
this could cause major confusion, with unpredictable results…
(and yes, I’ve been put on hold, again…) 🙂
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### Author:  [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2005, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trees-are-indistinguishable-from-broccoli-thread-should-not-have-been-locked/311978/14 "2005-07-11T13:58:52Z")
Get a Live Journal account and you can post all the stupid shit you want and never have to worry about someone locking it.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2005, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trees-are-indistinguishable-from-broccoli-thread-should-not-have-been-locked/311978/15 "2005-07-11T14:47:38Z")
> [@chappachula](#):
>
> but what if you are cooking the broccoli in a steamer while flying in a helicopter???
Simple; the trees are the green stuff that’s _far away_ - if this isn’t the case, then I’d venture to suggest that there are more pressing concerns than the correct identification of vegetables.
> [@](#):
>
> this could cause major confusion, with unpredictable results…
anyone attempting it _deserves every morsel of confusion they get_.
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### Author:  [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2005, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trees-are-indistinguishable-from-broccoli-thread-should-not-have-been-locked/311978/16 "2005-07-11T14:49:34Z")
> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> Simple; the trees are the green stuff that’s _far away_
B-b-b-but the steamer is in a different room! There’s trees outside the window! They’re the same distance away from me!
:: head spinning ::
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### Author:  [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2005, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trees-are-indistinguishable-from-broccoli-thread-should-not-have-been-locked/311978/17 "2005-07-11T15:02:07Z")
Not only should that thread have been closed, the computer posted it should have been beat with a sledgehammer, the house where that computer resided should have been torn down, the plot of land where the house was should be sown with salt, and the OP reduced to sitting on a street corner with a sign reading, “will bore you to tears for food.”
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### Author:  [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2005, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trees-are-indistinguishable-from-broccoli-thread-should-not-have-been-locked/311978/18 "2005-07-11T15:04:49Z")
> [@This Year's Model](#):
>
> the OP reduced to sitting on a street corner with a sign reading, “will bore you to tears for food.”
You’ve met **Lobsang** before?
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2005, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trees-are-indistinguishable-from-broccoli-thread-should-not-have-been-locked/311978/19 "2005-07-11T15:34:40Z")
Ever notice how, from high up, those meatball-pruned yew shrubs look like brussels sprouts?
And **Lobsang** resembles an ant, six legs and all.
I’ve got to stop taking the aisle seat.
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### Author:  [@neofishboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neofishboy)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2005, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trees-are-indistinguishable-from-broccoli-thread-should-not-have-been-locked/311978/20 "2005-07-11T16:02:17Z")
> [@TVeblen](#):
>
> … saayyy, ever notice how much cauliflower looks like a _brain_? …
Man, you just \* blew…my…mind…\*
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trees-are-indistinguishable-from-broccoli-thread-should-not-have-been-locked/311978.md?page=2)