entombed in the shrine of zeroes and ones

I read the last few hundred pages [of Neal Stephenson's Anathem] while in bed with a fever, and I don't know if the ending was the book or the fever.
        — Adam Thornton

I'm not sure where Neal Stephenson was living during the time he wrote Snow Crash, but i note that it was published in 1992, and it was 1991 when Frank "The Big Hurt" Thomas started swinging a taped-up piece of rebar in the on-deck circle.  Redneck katana or "good gadget"?  Coincidence or conspiracy?

Neal Stephenson's version of clench racing:

<dem> one game I enjoy while reading his books: how many entire pages consist of 1 paragraph.
<dem> so far, he has failed to make 1 paragraph span two entire pages, but he came close.

Neal Stephenson tricked me again... he wound me up with a good book and then STOPPED. WRITING.  Cryptonomicon is a good, if highly nerdy, romp, until he decides, "OK, i'm tired of writing about protagonist A, so i'll just kill him off.  Hmm, and protagonist B was going to get married, but i have these loose ends, so i'll have him tie them up.  That frees me up to use protagonist C to... oh, fuck it.  Explosions.  Sex.  More explosions.  Exeunt."  That bit about the psychopath with the bow and arrows was so random and gratuitous, i still don't get the point.  FUCK YOU NEAL STEPHENSON AND YOUR BROKE CYCLE SEE IF I READ IT `CAUSE I WON'T.  JERK.

Maybe that's the thing... LucasArts, in a hurry to put out KOTOR 2, hired Neal Stephenson to write its ending.

If anyone has a copy of the edition of Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age that actually contains an ending, i would greatly appreciate it if you lent it to me. The one i read seemed to be missing it.