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

That'll be one led done then. Only five more to go

Just spent 45 minutes watching tv, not something I do very often but it was a rerun of the first episode of the X-Files so I thougth I better make an exception

That's funny, Affy - it sounds very much like a true story a couple of weeks ago...

(oh - and I can't find the original article, so here goes...)

...the Swedish military were testing a kind of Swedish missile, sharp-loaded (?) and one of the missiles went awry, first diving into the water (the test was taking place in the Stockholm archipelago) and changed direction, and then shot out of the water again, and landed - somewhere...

They kept sending out a message over the radio over and over again, telling people to watch out for it, and NOT TO GO NEAR IT if they discovered it. It turned out it had landed in a pasture on an island with childrens' holiday camp... but nobody was hurt.

Afterwards, it turned out one of the rocket engines had malfunctioned, thereby causing a malfunction in the targeting - but did they have to test them fully armed, or whatever the expression is!!!

I watched the X Files too. It suddenly dawned on me - why is it that the Americans seem to distrust their government more than others countries (apart from the obvious exceptions)? Any Americans?

Because all of those rather spectacular 'affairs'?

Well... with the advent of Dubya, *I* would distrust the government...

...and because during the 'terror balance' years, the US was one of the great powers - and I think that politics on that level - and anything connected with it - is bound to be heavily 'confidential'...

Ever since Dubya became president I try to ignore the government -- I just throw them some money every quarter. But it's hard to generalise on how Americans feel about their government, because that feeling runs the full spectrum from the "my country, right or wrong" flag-waving patriot to the gun-hugging secession-minded survivalist. I suspect that, secretly, a lot of people aren't entirely convinced that we need a government. And so, every four years, you see the candidates doing the paradoxical dance of telling the public how anti-government they really are. Dubya did it.

So either you buy the whole line and show up for all the parades, or you become deeply cynical about the process, or you just deaf it out.
Americans tend not to be cynical about the Constitution, though. Even the Supreme Court can demonstrate (as it has) an ideological agenda, but they can't touch the Bill of Rights.

Have another beer, Lil. OK.

Ah, Lil, it can be tough going through those old things. Odd too what we keep. When I was a kid and my godfather died, I was told I could have anything of his that I wanted. I took a broken watch. I still have it. If you feel the need to pack again, go for something neutral. Now you know how to pack eggs so they don't break...

For some reason I read that Swedish missile story as being about meatballs. It takes on a whole different, er, flavor.

And we don't all distrust the government. But consider our recent history - we had the "camelot" of the Kennedy administration followed soon after by "I am not a crook" Nixon. That's a very sudden drop. Since then, with the exception of Jimmy "I lusted in my heart" Carter, every American President has been accused of some wrongdoing, and even earlier Presidents like Kennedy have been "exposed." So it's easy to see how as a nation we swung from idealism right past realism into a horrid skepticism, although after Clinton I think we are more realists than skeptics.

And remember, Mulder and Sculley are FBI, too. It's not the whole government that's bad.

Perhaps the fact that I was unable to vote in any election in my state with a chance to have my vote mean anything made me hate the government in general.

[Amy]

Marv, dear, Carroll O'Connor was one of those actors you would know by his character names....Archie Bunker.

Anyway...the whole American paranoia about the government. I think a lot of it has to do with the way dear, departed J. Edgar Hoover, (closet cross-dresser, McCarthy cheerleader), ran the FBI for so long. Frankly, the man had files on ordinary Americans who just happened to disagree with his white/ Christian agenda. He had files on John Lennon, Martin Luther King, Jr., and many others. This deeply paranoid man ran the Fibbies until the day he died, pretty much, and some of that has to do with, I think, the files I am sure he had on all the candidates. No one who ran for public office would dare to cross him, since he might display your dirt.
Also, too, I think that the Cold War played a part...all that red menace stuff. And the weapons the government developed...and the fact that I cannot think of any other country that has an area like Area 51. There are signs all over that place that inform you that you need to turn around now, and that the use of deadly force is authorized. In other words, you, a tax paying citizen, will be SHOT if you try to see what your tax money is going for.
Frankly, I think Americans have a right to be afraid of their government. Sorry about the rant, but this governmental secrecy thing really torques me. While I understand the need for national security, I strongly believe that the US government goes a bit too far with it.

(stepping off the soapbox now...)

And with that, I think I am off to bed.

Goodnight, Red.

Message for the geeks amongst us: Could you please assemble here http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A537635 with paper and pencil in hand? It's a University Project on computer programming and I feel that some of my fellow collaborators have a rather narrow view of programming and some input from folk with wider experience would be valuable. Concentrate on the content rather than the spelling and grammar. I'll sort that out later.

Trundles off for a quick shufty at what Amy was pointing to.

I would love to contribute Amy, but I am not a programmer. If the conversation goes to network security or networking in general I would be of use. That is what happens when you do support for so long... You tend to get tunnel vision on your topic and ignore all else.

G7, Solid Air's cd is great. I have been listening to it all night and it has some great tracks. I will post the URL to their homepage which has a low-fi mp3 for download on it, at the Other Place.

Marv.

Simulpost there OP. Is it not a little early to be up on a Saturday morning?

I know. I was woken up by a phone caller who I had to tell that this is my number not someone elses
What are you doing up late anyway?

I got home from the bar about 45 minutes ago. Damn places close too early.

Marv, if you could find a minute to look at the project I think your "knowledgeable lay-person's" insight would be very valuable. If it doesn't make sense to you then it certainly won't make sense to someone completely new to the subject.

I thought it might be something like that Marv

*Decides to just fill up this LED before reading backlog.*

*Bwuahahahah!*