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

The monkeys haven't even gotten here yet. Your is safe from everyone except you!

that'd be my worst nightmare .. if my is safe from me

So don't have that nightmare.

I had a nightmare in which the book publishers all collapsed, and there weren't any books to put on the shelves of the world's libraries. As a stopgap, the different library networks hired authors to write the kinds of books that readers would want, and then they published them and sent them out to libraries.

... "write the kinds of books that readers would want" .. that's not a nightmare .. that's surrealism

crazy; books that people want, wot next. I want a book on beer, 1001 things to do with ale before you drink it.

I had a dream last night, morning. I don't know what it was about.

must be one of the smallest s ever written

Yep, sure is.

On the contrary, there are *many* books about beer. Even Michael Jackson wrote one.

aye, but "1001 things to do with ale before you drink it"? i don't think so

I'm afraid I wouldn't be interested in such a book even if it existed, Pierce.

But I gather, from Internet sites, that it was useful for some of the following purposes:

1. In Wales, it could be used to pay part of your rent to the King or whoever your landlord was.

2. Enjoying the fun facts associated with the history of ale and beer and spirits in general

3. If you make an ale from barley, you can let the ale turn into vinegar, and use the vinegar for a multitude of cleaning purposes, or to make into salad dressings or other foods.

4. If we can mention used of beer, I used to have a very good recipe for cheese and hot dog soup in which beer was a key ingredient.

Number 3 shows the mpst promise because there really are books about handy household uses for vinegar. If the vinegar came from ale, then there's your connection.

I was thinking more of ;

put in glass

admire it

smell it

look through it

take photo of it

warm it with a hot iron

look at it again

taste it

gargle it

blow it through the nose back into the glass

shine a light through it

count the bubbles

skim the head

blow the head off

I can't count

you lost me at 'taste it', PAL

I thought of some more artistic uses, some involving the itself, and others involving the ale in its bottles. Gotm instance:

1. Frozen into ice sculptures

2. In fountains

3. As props in songs like "100 bottles of on a wall."

4. as artistic displays

5. As bottles for a juggler to juggle.

6. In Carmen Miranda's hat on those days when the markets are fresh out of fruit

did anyone consider the option of drinking it?

yes

ah good so I'm not the only deviate

I thought that drinking the ale was assumed by all parties. The exercise we were working on was what could be done with the ale *before* drinking it.

After we finish with ale, we may have to move on to beer, stout, port, and so forth.

ah yes, at long last some common sense

but ... aahh .. "what could be done with the ale *before* drinking it" ??? absolutely the only thing acceptable would be to pour it.. in a glass ..

If that's what you would prefer to do, then that's cool!

yes, good point .. some people like to cool their ..

not too cold. 8 to 12 Celsius is best