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

The Tarot of the Fool? Does this mean I was in Affy's dream?

Styx, if I was the new person you were refering to, yes, indeed I like rats, just so long as rats like me. I suppose I'm the same way with most animals: As long as they don't bite/sting/claw at me, I'm quite friendly with them.

Scorpions do give me the creeps, though.

Two hours and no posts? And now I have to go to work. Try not to fill up too many LEDs before Monday. I predict I'll have to read through 6 (including the rest of this one).

*Decides to be sneaky, and post.*
*Feels good about it.*
*Feels bad about feeling good about it.*
*Feels good about feeling bad about feeling good about it, but still thinks it's evil to start off the 6-LED session.*

*Too late. *

G7

Morning all. Lovely day in Godzone.

Lil, the Discovery Channel's coverage of the 'Adventure Race: New Zealand Southern Traverse' has belatedly been shown on NZ TV. I see what you meant about the stoic Finnish team. Ouch.

I also noted that the Kiwis won

Only 6 LEDs for the weekend? Not with Chris behaving like that. Have you been hitting the punch at the EoEB&C?

Affy, have you been watching Mary Poppins over and over and over again so the tap-dancing penguins are now engrained in your consciousness? The squid could be from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I think Disney movies could explain away your dream easily.

/* Looks jealously at Concorde */
Yea, my old 250 Mhz Mac could use a little updating. They treat me nicely at work though, I have much better machines there.

We've had some glorious storms this afternoon, and I had to stay offline -- sky went yellow-green-black, the streetlights went on, and when I ran out to look up, the clouds were... roiling. Scary wonderful!

Don't be too jealous of Concorde, y'all. You know how quickly the clock speed advances. I just decided to upgrade as far as possible before leaving my utterly trustworthy computer techie shop. You should see the memory in this thing -- it has heat sinks!

Weekends are usually quiet. How shall we fill 6 LEDs? And why has no one else contributed to the 12 Days of Solstice song?

Matina, can you cook Chinese cuisine? Yes? OK, peeps, what shall we plan for a chinese meal?

I'm sure if push came to shove then we could fill 6 leds.
Sounds like a fun afternoon. Me I just managed to pull up half the machine room floor and move some cables only to find it wasn't needed after all Still it was something to do

Raised flooring can be fun. According to the BODH tales you can trap unwary salescritters under the flooring and not have to worry about the smell thanks to the air conditioners.

BODH=BOFH

They'd have to be quite thin to get under the raised flooring at out place

One swerver farm I used to work at had flooring that was abot three feet deep. And if they need to be that thin find a good compressor.

Nah

You just have to jump up and down a lot to get the tiles back in after

Simulpost Marv

Oh well off to work, See who I can upset tonight

Whew! That was some backlog! I can't believe I made it out alive!!!

Hey, all! I'm here, instead of doing all the things I should be. I got all productive this morning, did all the laudry, cleaned the kitchen...and then I made the mistake of sitting down. And I just can't seem to get up again.

G7, I, too, am saddened by Carroll O'Connor's death. He was an alum here in Missoula, and came back a lot to teach and just hang out. I had the honor of meeting him last summer when he was teaching a theatre arts class and would come into work every day for "a mocha, decaf, and don't let my wife know, but could I have whipped cream?". I was expecting Archie Bunker, and got, instead, a very nice man who I'm sure relished every minute of life.

ANYWAY! I really meant to talk about this whole "-ium" and gymnasium conundrum. The word "gymnasium" is actually from the greek, and the school definition is actually the old greek definition. Socrates and Plato taught students in the gymnasium. The meaning, literally, has connotations of "workout", being a workout, in the old sense, of the mind. Some European countries picked up this meaning and ran with it, but others, and the US, just picked up the "workout" part, and turned it into the physical gym most of us think of. And the -ium thing is from both Greek and Latin, indicating a singular, neuter noun.

So much for the grammar lesson...
Glad to hear you got an offer, Lil. Hope it works out!

Not to show my ignorance, but who is Carroll O'Conner?

Given the proper motivation, I'm sure that we can fill 6 LEDs. Its been done here before, after all.

Better than jumping or a compressor to flatten the tiles back down, just move a heavy piece of equiptment over them once or twice. Same effect, less work and/or loud noises to alert others to the trap.

To tell the truth, Lil, I didn't contribute to the Solstice Song yet, because I haven't been able to come up with anything yet. As soon as I do, I'll post it though.

Red, I have to say that I am a bit jealous. I've heard that Mr O'Connor was a charming gentleman, and I'm happy to have that confirmed by someone who actually met him.

G7

Thanks for the most interesting facts, Montana!

So... does this mean the word 'gymnasium' is unique because the activity taking place there stems from the same basis?

*cuddles Springie*

Well, everyone, I've just come back from another Adventure With Science: today's "experiment" (I'm using quotes because this one has been experimented to death ever since model rockets were first introduced), How To Launch A Rocket With An Egg, And Not Have The Egg Crack.

Well, I warmed up the launch pad with my two favorite birds: The Gnome, and the Firestreak. The Gnome was accidentally fitted with a rocket that was too large, and dissapeared into the sky, probably just to start a fire that I'll be hearing about tomorrow. The Firestreak launched correctly, and diployed the safety streamers that help slow the landing, and instantly got trapped in a tree on the way down.

Then, I just took a big silver rocket with no name, and the uncanny size resemblence between the body of the rocket and the containers that Crystal Light Lemonade comes in hit the experiment. So, I put an egg in a ziplock bag to reduce the mess, and surrounded it with other semi-inflated bags and popcorn (inside the Crystal Light Container, that is), and launched it. Well, due to an engine failure, it went up without deploying the parachute, and landed nose first into a nearby empty patch of ground. The nose was buried in the dirt, and the body of the craft continued going. In short, the egg was crushed by the nose cone. So, I got a new egg, kept basically the same egg paddings (without the popcorn, though), and launched the same rocket again. Five minutes later, the rocket was recovered (it drifted a bit when the parachute deployed), and I found an uncracked egg.

The only reason I mention this is that the rocket launching seemed to bear an uncanny resemblence to the fictitious dream that I wrote this morning. So, I have a new hypothesis that I will begin testing: "If a person with any knack for picking up symbolic messages whatsoever should type a nonsensical story at the beginning of the day, at the end of the day there will be elements that are linkable to the story."

I predict the hypothesis will be wrong, but I'll try it anyway.

*has just been packing stuff in the garage and is depressed by the old stuff she has found and, in some cases, decided to keep*

dad's marbles from when he was a boy -- some of them are clearly handmade.

my grandparents' wedding license, 1919, quite florid

a can opener (the kind that punches a vee into the can, which used to be the only way you could open a beer) with advertising from a hardware store I remember from when I was 10

some beautiful cigar boxes, one with partitions that will be wonderful for a shadowbox

dad's gardening gloves

*sigh* I better stay out of there for a while. Time for an Obscure Canadian beer...