h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yeah... who knows how my life would have turned out differently had that not "lost" my lab report.

I was quite aimless at the end of my high school days. When I went to college, I didn't know what I wanted to major in. I briefly considered a law degree. The Paper Chase was a popular show on TV and I equated doing geometry proofs with making a case in court, (like you do). One anxiety attack over a late Composition I paper, and I desperately chose to major in a hobby, photography.

My favorite classes, even in college were science classes. I was a "curve buster". If I had focused on physics instead, who knows where I'd be now?

I'm grateful that you're here now.

Maybe you'd be working at NASA.

Or growing potatoes on Mars.

Even at NASA, you can feel like you're stuck in a boring, dead-end job.

No kidding!

Do you like to read science fiction? I didn't think I was much of a fan of the genre, but in the last couple of years I've gotten hooked on some terrific sci-fi novels. "The space between the stars" was one recent one that I couldn't put down.

Oh, yeah. When I was in school I read almost every story Robert Heinlein ever wrote, not an easy task. My other early favorite writers were Clark, Asimov, Pohl, Herbert, Niven, and Adams (of course).

The last, best scifi book I've read was Neil Stephenson's _Seveneves_.
http://www.nealstephenson.com/seveneves.html
It's the apocalyptic book I wish I'd written, but much better.
Neil Stephenson is probably my favorite contemporary scifi writer.

I'm looking forward to see what Spielberg did with Ernest Cline's _Ready Player One_, that was just a really fun read.

I loved Stephenson's "Snow Crash," but every time I think about it I get this strange desire to have someone deliver pizzas to my door.

I can arrange for someone to deliver pizzas to you, too. With maybe a side order of Rat Thing fries, courtesy of uncle Enzo.

Today I learned I can't recognize a lower case G in a line up. (Most people can't.)

http://releases.jhu.edu/2018/04/03/jhu-finds-letter-weve-seen-millions-of-times-yet-cant-write/

Gentlemen, let's not haggle over wiggly letters that nag at us.

I REALLY thought I picked the correct one, but I had the wrong sided loop. At least I got the serif right.

I got it wrong, too. I was thinking "Nothing is ever printed in a font like that!" - then I glanced at the newspaper on the table beside me.......

I recognised it from the choices, but I'm not sure I could have drawn it accurately if asked.

Looking at the set of 4, I picked the correct one, but then seeing them separately I was undecided between 2 options (one of them correct). Maybe it depends what sort of handwriting you were taught?

At primary school I learnt loopy joined up writing, but at secondary they made us do a much plainer less joined up style. So mine is a bit of a mess now, unlike my mother's beautiful loopy style.

I think my cursive g is what through me off. The down stroke for the lower loop comes off the right side of the top loop on my g, so I paid more attention to that rather than which way the loop curls.

The lower case g and the lower case q confuse me

Today I learned of The Zoo Hypothesis.


The Fermi Paradox posits that in this infinitely huge universe with infinite stars and infinite planets around most if not all of those stars, there should be intelligent life somewhere out there. So why haven't we found it.


One possible answer is called the Zoo Hypothesis, that maybe intelligent alien civilizations are aware of us and are intentionally keeping us isolated.

Another theory is that much of the intelligent life close enough to realize our existence is on water planets, where space is of less interest than the watery realms. If they wanted to have rockets or big telescopes, maybe they don't have much dry land available for mounting them.