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

I'm going to try something new here, in order to
a) minimize the plain bookmarks
b) help bring new members up to speed.
When these forums get long, I rarely read the whole thing, but I usually read the first, so if I can get the minutes, I will update. Mr. Secretary?

*A ball of paper falls from the monkey's tree to land with a sodden splat. Chairman dons plastic gloves and begins carefully peeling apart the mess.*

All right, let's see... we've got a few ongoing projects here:

Austin Allegro is collecting religious jokes here: http://www.h2g2.com/A289758

Grey Rose is collecting song lyrics that express our beliefs. I haven't added her link to the FFFF page, but I will do so shortly, and it'll be posted here as well, for convenience.

jbliqemp is working on our official artwork, which will serve a dual purpose when finished. It'll occupy a place of prominence at the head of the FFFF page, and, if completed in time, will be our float in the H2G2 parade.

The Hall of Records is always looking for new reviews of books that shake the foundations of the popular dogma: http://www.h2g2.com/a275122

And I would like to direct everyone's attention once again to a brand new link at the bottom of the page, the interview of Douglas Adams by American Atheist Magazine, which was brought to my attention by our silent supporter bluDragon. Good reading, there, even if he does get a bit more serious than we're used to. The atheists in the current atheism vs agnosticism discussion will definitely want to read it, since he expounds on that subject, so they'll get some ammunition from him.

There's some other stuff going on here that I can't quite make out, but I'm sure it'll resolve itself. Alrighty then, the floor is yours, this meeting is officially opened.

*bangs gavel on soaked minutes*

Cynic, the Atheism-Agnosticism discussion seems to have shunted itself off to http://www.h2g2.com/forumframe.cgi?forum=32234&thread=46527 (that's the forum to GB's atheism article), if you're still interested. I think folks here want to get on with other things...

Greetings All!
Upon following instructions from Gargle Blaster I hereby announce my membership and introduce my chair to this table. I am Ado! and my chair is Un-natural Diplomacy. I offer to speak with the weird and unpleasant on your behalf (brief me first) and to intervene in biffo in an unervingly calm way. Please feel free to drop in for a chat at any time. Instructions, briefs, questions, flames, demands, conversations, directions and gossip gratefully accepted. My motto is "Limited Responsibility - Bugger all Care" Ta! ..... Ado!

LOL... excellent, Ado, and welcome.

Lear: I think that's a pretty good idea there, of relocating major discussions from the business thread. I'm sure not everyone is interested in partaking, and they fill us up here pretty quickly. Perhaps we should enact our first bit of policy on that... once something becomes a major discussion/debate, carry it over to a seperate dedicated forum? Your thoughts please, ladies and gentlemen...

That would be a great Idea. Allowing us to partake in discussions that truley interest us personally.
That way we could really keep this forum for "agenda" purposes, and leave links here to get to the real discussions that the Foundation is currently involved in.
It might also keep us from scaring would be joiners, they come to the thread and see 500+ character "posts". It might be just a tad intimidating.

Aye, motion supported. Splendid idea...

Great - so what goes in this forum now? . Yes, I do think it's a good idea. But can we use other threads on the FFFF article if possible?

Yep sounds good.

Just a quick post to say high to all the new guys (Ado!, thanx for the personal intro, and i'll chat to you more at your page) and just to say that it's great to see that this place is really starting to take off.

This is just a bookmark.

But, this could be buisness related, never mind, it's not really.

Welcome to our happy family Ado!

What type of religious teaching is in British state schools? I've never really been aware of this .

Cynic: this thread would retain pretty much the same uses it has fulfilled before, an exchange for news, cool links, place to introduce new members, general conversation, and so on. When a major discussion breaks out, like what we saw with the atheism vs agnosticism thing, the participants could simply start a new thread off the FFFF page (or if there's a more pertinent place for it, it doesn't really matter) and then post the link to it in the business thread, so everyone knows where to go.

That was a joke - I know we won't have trouble filling this forum .

Oh my, however did this happen.... I've been away so long I'm not even sure what's going on!!!

I don't have to give up my chair, do I GargleBlaster....? (Looks at GB plaintively).

Our newest member dropped by to introduce himself on my homepage per someone-or-others instructions, and I realized that I've been absent from what looks to have grown into a huuuuuggge forum. Looks like I have a lot of reading to do.

I have a dissent.

Posting off of Foundation Business forums will require me to bookmark even more forums than I already do, and I find all of our conversations to be topical and pertinent. If I do not bookmark, I would be required to open an extra page before I could open the forum.

I am essentially a lazy person, and would not want to do this, as it involves more effort than I am used to.

Pseudo-contrary

-jb

On moving hot topics to separate threads --
I guess my vote on this should be an agnostic one: maybe we should and maybe we shouldn't.
As if you could ever control Topic Drift!

Welcome, Ado, and thatnks for your message the other day.

Lil

Ooops... I guess Ado misinterpreted me. I told him to introduce himself to everyone, but I meant that just a forum posting here would do the trick. Oh well, can't fault his enthusiasm.

billy: There's no rule saying you have to be present all the time... pop in or out as often as you like.

jbliqemp: I don't think that would be necessary, because we would post the links to those conversations here, but it would give you an opportunity to opt out if it weren't something you felt strongly about. The agnosticism vs atheism conversation is quite spirited at the moment, and while I am enjoying keeping up with it, I'm glad it's not cluttering up this forum. Otherwise, we'd already be opening a new one. Does that do anything to calm your concerns?

I'd like to propose my membership of your illustrious foundation, for the post of 'Science Consultant and Ambassador to the True Underworld'

P

Welcome to FFFF Potholer - glad to have you on the team . Yes, we have been needing an ambassador down to the Underworld - I'm sure you'll prove useful .

And GB, may I direct your attention to:
http://www.h2g2.com/forumframe.cgi?MESSAGES[(THREADID*46949?forumid*32217)THREADS[(THREADID*46949?forumid*32217?subset*0)#

Gargle Blaster: Thanks for the link to my entry on Bumper Sticker Theology on the FFFF page! Though I was a bit surprised to see it listed under "Acedemia" as oppossed to humour. Well I guess it is fine there. A bit lighthearted (its no discussion of Nicea!) but not fiction by any means.

Wowzers, I'm starting to feel as if I belong!

-- ZenMondo

Glad you approve. The current style of groupings doesn't leave much room for something that is somewhere between foolish and abstruce, so I just have to decide which it fits more. So basically, if I think the article makes a valid point and tries to educate, it becomes Academia. My Atheism article was a bit iffy, but I threw it in the humor section. The Approved version, however, would be academia, because all the jokes are gone. I've got a new submission from Webb of Smeg (should be showing up here shortly) that I'm not sure where to categorize.