Nope. I think it will be a forever mystery :)

Any guesses as to identity?  

Thanks for the picture, Carolla. I miss his fuzzy face along with his wisdom. 

Perhaps he is not as far away as you might imagine

Hi paradox3,

Hmmmmm.  I don't know. 

Would the reveal be all, "Oh it was you all this time!" or "Hunh?  Who the heck are you?"  I mean it has been some time since the fuzzball contributed there might be more here who never met with the squirrel than there are those who remember it.

Once cats get out of bags they might not be as much fun as cats in bags.  Provided the bag is breathable cats in bags are a lot of fun.

Grace and peace to you.

John

There was speculation that he was one of our clergypeople, but who can know? 

Maybe he is a she.

I don't recall any objection on EZed's part when we referred to "him" as "he". 

Oh, come on. Seal it tight and put a poison capsule inside on a randomized timer. Is the cat dead or alive before you "let the cat out of the bag"?

#Schrodinger

Mendalla

That was all part of the master plan, though, to put us off the trail.

Mendalla

Please tell me you are not planning to seal the bag and put a poison capsule in with EZed. 

Could be.

Do you think EZed is anyone's sockpuppet? Anyone we know? 

One of the worst things Wondercafe could have done, I feel, would be to make it someone too close to the UCCanada. It's be too difficult for the person to keep things so secret for so long. In any event, I predict all will be disclosed before the day Wondercafe closes down shop.

Jae, 

The EZ Answer Squirrel (of the video) and EZed the poster are not one and the same. This was clarified for us by Admin back in the day. 

When I first arrived at Wondercafe, I thought that EZed (the poster) was one of the Admins. 

Yes, paradox, that sounds like good, logical thinking.

Just checked EZed's profile. He identifies as a male squirrel. 

Alter egos can be different genders though :)

True enough, Chemgal. The mystery continues . . . 

What, EZed the biggest mystery?

I always thought the Triple Paradox was wondercafe's biggest mystery.

EZed is the most clever Reverend the United Church could come up with to answer our questions. Richard Bott, maybe?

RevJohn is pretty clever, too, Arminius. Just saying. 

RevJohn joked quite a lot about getting process cheese in his beard after EZed's thread re: process theology. 

A clue? Or not?

I thought someone lost EZed in a tree or something.

No, that would be Schrodinger's Squirrel, a blatant violation of quantum mechanics. 

My assumption was that ezEd only postd by the title of EzEd. 

good one

Squirrels don't usually get stuck in trees but you never know. 

Hi Mendalla,

Two things from this experiment.

1.  Without observing we cannot know if the cat is dead or alive.

2.  Peta and other animal rights groups would condemn you for actually seeking to replicate this thought experiment with a live cat.

I am not a cat person.  Which is why cats in bags amuse me.  I wish no harm upon any cat.

Grace and peace to you.

John

Hi Dcn. Jae,

But WonderCafe.ca didn't do that.

In fact when friend EZed first showed he claimed the EZ name.  Admin at WonderCafe.ca called foul and the user jumped to EZed since WonderCafe.ca is part of The United Church of Canada.  Eh.

In the early days there was quite a bit of suspicion that EZed and indeed others might be plants by The United Church of Canada for nefarious purposes.  EZed and the WonderCafe.ca Admin have been very clear that EZed is not now nor ever was part of the Admin team.

EZed is, all things considered, a user here with no higher or lower rank or priviledge than you or I.  If he is held in higher esteem than either (or lower as the case may be) that is because he earned that reputation for himself.

As to the difficulty of keeping secrets . . .

It isn't hard at all.  Provided of course you actually intend to keep the secret and not try to use the secret for some advantage.

Grace and peace to you.

John

Hi Arminius,

I don't know that EZed is the most clever.  I hold him in high regard.

As clever as Richard Bott is and as highly as I regard him.  I am confident that he is not EZed.

Grace and peace to you.

John

Hi paradox3,

That is very kind of you to commit to the internet.

Alas, I am not EZed.

Grace and peace to you.

John

Hi paradox,

It may or may not be a clue.  Although to be fair, EZed's starting that post is probably the biggest clue.

Grace and peace to you.

John

Oh yes. The two outdid each other roasting me when I joined wondercafe in 2007. I said to them, "I am glad you Christians don't roast your heretics at the stake any more, just in good clean fun."

Well, I deserved some good clean roasting, putting on a show of superiority with the wisdom I had derived from practicing Zen, not realizing that the monastic/contemplative tradition of Christianity offers the same wisdom.

In retrospect I compliment both of them on the sensitivity and good taste with which they roasted me. Thanks to wondercafe, I'm a somewhat more palatable cosmic nut now!

So EZed is a process theologian?

Panentheist?

Arminius - I find it fascinating to look back at my thoughts and beliefs several years ago.  For some reason I thought that 'you grow up and then just get older' - which is (from my viewpoint now) rather simple minded!  We change our beliefs as we go - we toss out things that are no longetr useful to us - we introduce new practises - join and leave interest groups - live and (hopefully) learn.

Unfortunately though I didn't learn who EZed was!.  

A few years ago, some wondercafe users met up at a More Franchises conference in Toronto. I recall that at least one user told us she had met EZed at the conference.

But I don't remember who that user was!

Yes, I believe so. EZed also knew a lot about the United Church which led many of us to think he was probably a clergyperson. 

Hi Arminius,

Good question.  Possibly.

I know he is fond of a specific philosopher whose thought can be considered process philosophy.  I don't know if that automatically makes all theology that he reads or does process theology in narrow terms.

Grace and peace to you.

John

When I arrived in 2007, this speculation was still going on about EZed. 

LoveJoy was also suspected to be a plant by some members of wondercafe. 

Does anyone remember her "LoveJoy makes an offer" thread? It led to speculation that something fishy was going on. 

Hi paradox3,

You aren't thinking of this thread are you?

http://www.wondercafe.ca/discussion/church-life/squirrel-more-franchises

EZed asks who is going, Panentheism says "See you there!!!"  I don't know that Panentheism is a confidant of EZed or not.

Pinga says, "Had I known the squirrel would have been there . . ."  I don't think Pinga is a confidant of EZed either.

Nobody admits to having met EZed.

Grace and peace to you.

John

Good detective work, RevJohn.

It might have been on another thread but my memory of the conversation is fuzzy. 

I overheard EZ in the corridor one day, mumbling: "These folk are nuts. That's what I most like about them!"

We're talking about different things. You're talking about the wondercafe member who went by (goes by?) the username EZed. I'm talking about the identity behind the actual EZ squirrel.

Hi Dcn Jae,

You mean the actual squirrel from the video?  

That's easy.  It really is Andy Serkis (of Gollum fame) and cutting edge CGI.  Check Andy's IMDb page.

Grace and peace to you.

John

Wouldn't surprise me a bit!

EZed paid me a really good compliment once . It was so good, I don't remember it.

EZed gave me a high five for a post on a word game thread.

Funny how this has stuck in my mind. It must be the EZed mystique :)

wow -- i always thought it was E-Z-ed....hmmm, it is E-zed ...d'oh  I feel foolish

If EZed ever comes back, Pinga, we can ask him how to pronounce his name. For all we know he might be in the trees outside watching us.  

Wise squirrel

Cautioned me once regarding my behaviour towards someone.

I understood the logic...listened.  decided to proceed.

appreciated the counsel even if I ended up not taking it fully.

squirrel's like that are hard to find.