Not losing money on a volatile system (forum) and gathering my thoughts on *paper* (my blog).
With thoughts, you mean nonsensical FUD?
How and why is that chain long dead?
Because there is nobody mining on it/using it.
Yes, Bitcoin is limited in that there can only be a maximum number. Allegedly, this is how the P2P put forward by Satoshi is to delimit inflation along with the blockchain (so, arguably, there are two variables of the utmost importance: max. money and record keeping of max money). However, there have been multiple books (blockchains) to keep track of a maximum number of BTC, and for what I understand, there are multiple versions of the blockchain (pre-0.9.5. and post-0.9.5).
Without analyzing this particular event, you are pretty confused. Anyone can create Bitcoin forks within minutes. Actually, there are at-least a few examples of Bitcoin forks where the original balances were kept in some way.
It makes absolutely zero sense to bring this event up now.