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

Brilliant bit of satire there m'friend.

Johnathan Swift would have been proud to have written the paragrpah which ends: "The animals themselves are relatively cheap and readily available".

And I envy you the whole piece. The precise clinical details sustain its credibility as you belittle our existence. Excellent work.

peace
~jwf~

Swift, eh?
(3 doyens compared with, several to go)

This is the first Post-piece for a while posted when fresh - which has the advantage that I can still remember what triggered it.

It was the other way round. It wasn't contemplating human insignificance, but (mild) annoyance at the dismissive behaviour of humans towards their pets.

To be truthful, the RL-conversation that spurred it was quite funny as well as sick. The topic was chip implants for pet-tracing, and a guy suggested chip-upgrading his mutt to pedigree-poodle or something.

I played with the idea of spoofing that, but decided it was someone else's joke. This one then sprung out of somewhere instead.

Glad you enjoyed it, anyhow.

Pin (still pondering what he'd do for a CAC-C, if ever)

>> ..still pondering what he'd do for a CAC-C <<

It'll come to you.

Feel free to start building the page though, it's GDML fun at its best. You can always fill in the LINKS as they come to you but please link to at least one item of your own. I would be happy to see Human Pets as one selection.

Now before you say that would be an outrageous act of self-serving editorialising, I suggest you quote me as saying "the entry in question deserves a wider readership". I have already suggested that it compares with Dr Swift and there could be a suitable quote there as well.


~jwf~

If I do a CAC (so to speak) I'd rather not link to myself. Not what it's about, not for me at least.

This an OK place for a Convo, ~jwf~? OK, I'll philosophise.

AGG/GAG was unique. There was nothing else then that sought out 'gems' to borrow back a misappropriated term. There was only the Post, and that ran the other way round - decent editorial standards, but 'you-come-to-us' principles.

We now have a less comfortable sharing of the territory. Silly really, because there's a far lower population density these days. But Miners mine, define their own (arbitrary and often deeply dubious) criteria of excellence for the UG. By so doing, an attitude of CAC-C as spoil-heap develops.

You really interested in picking interesting lumps from someone else's dross? Or is that just a way to get at least some engagement of graphophiles in this dwindling community?

I just keep finding myself thinking that AGG/GAG was nearer to the UnderGuide ideal than the more recent development given that name.

Anyhow, what do I do with my list of 'interesting' pieces? I can tell from the petrified relics of the 42 Weeks of Glory that you had databases - Bossel seems to have had a veritable library. I can't just stuff it all into AWW, to slosh around with all that other sewage.

I could, if you like, start posting quaint A-numbers to a Convo of ours.

I really don't know about all of this, y'know, ~jwf~. There was a time when I disliked the 'writing museum' tendency, to collect the best together into some kind of grotesque "Hootoo's Greatest Hits". My simple belief was : if it wasn't written yesterday, it's dead.

And now I'm not so sure. Maybe a carefully-built museum is a lot better than the anarchy of decadence, with good and bad just piled together.

There is no longer a single forum dedicated to excellence. Not the Post, not the UG, certainly not the EG. Everyone is bent on inclusiveness, on keeping the numbers up by preening the ordinary. I think it's time for a critical revolt, and some serious elitism.

Pin (wondering where that lot came from...?)

If you had been driving instead of thinking-out-loud there I'm sure some police officer would have pulled you over. But the strange thing is I felt myself agreeing with your sentiments even when they swung through 180 degrees - all over the road.

But that is the truth of 'this place called Hootoo' in this universe called cyberspace. It's all over the map. One minute it cries out for control and higher standards and the next sheer anarchy seems the only sensible conclusion.

>> ..an attitude of CAC-C as spoil-heap develops. <<

This attitude developed very early on. A result of the constantly changing environment and a lack of discipline in the quality department frustrated by poorly developed diplomatic skills and a hestitancy to offend anyone. ANYone.

Yes, as you suggest, the reasoning is to:
>> ..get at least some engagement of graphophiles.. <<
in hopes that a writing community would evolve to higher standards. And in spite of rises and falls I think it generally has. This conversation is proof that some of us at least are taking the situation a little more seriously or are at least willing to think and talk about it.

>> My simple belief was: if it wasn't written yesterday, it's dead. <<

A perfectly normal response to the internet medium.
It is almost by definition an immediate medium, like live theatre or today's newspaper, it seems to live only in the moment. And yet we all keep finding 'old moments' that still have life in them, don't we.

These acts of 'discovery' appeal to our traditional concepts about literature and notions of preservation and posterity, of immortality even. This creates a conflict most people do not even recognise and yet no one can deny. There is the one reality of 'print', the function of daily newspapers to die and be forgotten once yesterday rolls around, and there is the conservatory attitude, like your 'museum' of geratest hits. These two responses, though seemingly opposed, exist in parallel.

The immediacy of cyberspace conspires with that reality of disposable newsprint to deny any action that would lead toward a longer living literary immortality - your 'museum'. And yet we all bring that other traditional 'print' based prejudice, the impulses to preserve and honour, that wants to wander in such a 'musuem' or 'library'.

I have to conclude the problem is an organisational one. That's one reason why I keep arguing the point, hoping one day to properly articulate the problem. Once we have found ways to express the situation (get our heads around it) we can begin perhaps to solve the problem (get our hearts into it).

>> I think it's time for a critical revolt, and some serious elitism. <<

Yes it is. And no it's not.
Funny how the temptation to adopt elitist attitudes repeats itself around here. It comes out of frustration when a kind of tired silliness decides to go for a laugh - a kind of self-deprecation, a reminder that perhaps we take things too seriously in the face of unknown quantities and seemingly dying causes.

Amazingly it often works, people take it at face value, no one rises to challenge the faux snobbery, rather they cowtow to the mock authourity and it becomes a real authourity. I have seen other h2g2 organisers unconsciously resort to this sort of psychological maneouvre, and am surprised how often it works.

As a leadership tactic both Jodan and I have postured as 'grand poobahs' with mock imperial aloofness when we needed to motivate others. You too were once accused of 'snobbery' in one of your PR or AWW critiques but it was clear to me that you were merely employing the same devices. I was surprised that someone took exception and commented, usually it either goes over their heads or they just skulk away quietly if offended. So in that regard perhaps there is some progress.

It is good that we are thinking about these things and better still that we can discuss them - but we are still in uncharted territory, surrounded by savages. So like the great explorers we are, we must not force ourselves to decide between guns and butter, but simply keep the kettle steeping and our powder dry. Or as someone said, it'll all seem clearer in the morning.


~jwf~