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

About ten years ago my mother changed jobs and found herslf working with the mother of a girl i had been good friends with in school. When she came to visit her mother i went round to see her but it was awful! I had more in common with the mother than with the daughter. My friend hadn't continued her education at all and seemed to have lost the use of her brain cells through neglect. No topic of conversation interested her except tv soaps - which i don't watch, unfortunately. And she seemed to have married a vegetable. It was very sad and has put me off attempting other reunions.

Finally, the dashed physics coursew*rk is out of the way, so I can talk a bit more now.

In response to the comments about genetic engineering, I have very firm views on the topic. As a devoted admirer of the scientific community (by definition the guys responsible for actual advances in human lifestyle and technology), I agree wholeheartedly that genetic engineering is the way forward. However, don't get me wrong...
There are two paths branching off from our new-found genetic skills. One is controlled by the scientific community, the good side. They're going to use the technology to help society and fight diseases. The other path, the one controlled by the general public and commercialism, is the bad side, and wants to use the technology to grow custom-made babies for anyone willing to pay for it. Oh, and regrowing pets that I am sure will only induce more emotional turmoil in their masters by bringing back memories of the now-dead originals.

Basically, one can see it thusly:
The scientific community => fighting diseases/malformations/injuries => good
The general public => breeding an über-race of humans => bad
Thankfully, I have always considered myself as belonging to the former of the two parties.

Regarding problems with roommates, I would like to point out that you've all really put me off university now.

Still, I think you should take a stand, Sea, and sort her out!

I can honestly say that I wouldn't want to see about 99% of my fellow class mates. Indeed, there are only six who I could name off, at this moment. I went to school in a farm community, and unfortunately, most of the time stereotypes hold true.

*sporky, the collegiate drop-out aka the walking vegetable*

Diseases and genetic defects are mother nature's way of saying enough is enough. I'm all for them. It is about the only form of evolution we have left.

Eh? You want evolution, do ya? Interesting....according to the theory, evolution occurs through time and great need. Humans can adapt to nearly every situation. Hence, evolution, if it works the way we think it does, probably won't go very quickly for us physically.

My primary concern about genetic manipulation is what it would cause to happen in relations between those who do genetically alter themselves and those who don't. While the odds of it are great, Xenophobia tends to be a problem we humans have had through history.

who asked about XP as compared to ME? i was on ME until it suffered a spontaneous function failure, then i changed to XP. it's much more stable, and while the new toolbars and such take a while to get used to, i like it a lot more. and, incidentally, you CAN change the settings so the toolbars are the same.

summary: ME , XP

as for roommates.... eh. we'll see. i'll give them until after spring break, and then i'll decide how to go about telling them to shape up.

I had to live in the dorms my first year of university. My roomate was a fundamentalist Christian opera singer and I was...well, I was me. Anyway, we got along fine unless she had her friends over. For some reason they would hang out on my side of the room, eat on my bed, use my stuff, and make complete pests out of themselves. I was happy when I finally moved out.

On the subject of genetic manipulation, there are so many pros and cons I don't know where I fall on the issue. I can see the benefit of eliminating Parkinsons or other genetic degenerative diseases. But so much of it brushes up against eugenics which I thought the world had decided was wrong in the aftermath of the Holocaust. Plus, I have strong reservations about eating genetically modified food.

oh, i HATE when people use my stuff! i'm fine with them sitting on my bed, on my desk (if they dare), on my chair... but when they eat my food or touch my computer... death! (incidentally, my comp. is both password protected on startup and coming out of the screensaver)



yes, i'm territorial.

XP is better than ME - and the beta of XP is even better than the released XP - but I still say go with Linux.

*sips *

*cough* *cough* *OSX* *cough*

Oh, I wasn't planning on contacting any of the names I looked up -- it's been like 35 years since I saw some of them. But one chap in England, a doctor who's done very well (and I'm glad for him), he and I made a pact back in the 70's that if neither of us was married at the age of 51 we would marry each other. We shook on it.

I could be a character straight out of a Bronte novel, arriving at his back door, saying "But you promised..."

Mainly, I'm happy to see that these men and women are doing well, and I hope they're happy in their lives. And that goes for the ones who were mean to me as well!

As regards genetic manipulation, a sentence sticks in my mind from a book I was reading last night. The science itself is neutral: the moral conditions are in the minds of the scientists.

[Hati]

Morning all. Interesting news on the mucus front as posted in the yarn's fora. Apparently, the stuff used to stick CDs to magazine covers is affectionately known in the trade as gorilla snot

Amy, about 25 years ago, me and a few friends arranged to all meet at a park bench outside my home towns sleasiest pub on the days we turned 60. The first one comes up in about five years time according to my list of birth dates. I'll be there

Your sentence, Lil, could equally apply to the atom bomb.

Science may be neutral, but that doesn't mean everything that can be done, should be done.

Reunions? I've only been to one - I hadn't seen them for 20 years, when we were all 15 years old...

...depressing, it was, in most cases - so many of them had gone for the 'easy' educations, got w*rk, and never bothered to put any effort into further education...

...most depressing of all were some of the 'bad' guys who spent more time getting into trouble than in school - unemployed, living on social allowance, several kids...

...and one of the guys admitted to being a grandfather because 'he he, he he, I had a 'bun in the oven' (Swedish slang for making someone pregnant) already at the age of 16' - and when he said that, he sounded exactly like he did when he was 15! Still immature, uneducated and refusing responsibility!

I wanted to stand up and yell 'Get a life! Do something with your life, dammit!'

I went to a reunion late last year. Only half a dozen people turned up. I didn't remember most of them but they remembered me. Would I do it again, probably. It'd still be nice to get in touch with a few of the people who I was really good friends with though.

Spam: when it doesn't drive me crazy(-ier) I am sometimes amused by it, this is something I received today:

'Now Offering for your Sensitive Delight ... NEW & IMPROVED [brand name removed by me] Ragga Dagga Exotic Pipe-Smoking Substance!'

Riiiight... I think I prefer... *drifting into kitchen and returning*

Matina, a Y please... *pours*

...a any time! Cheers!

Spam: when it doesn't drive me crazy(-ier) I am sometimes amused by it, this is something I received today:

'Now Offering for your Sensitive Delight ... NEW & IMPROVED [brand name removed by me] Ragga Dagga Exotic Pipe-Smoking Substance!'

Riiiight... I think I prefer... *drifting into kitchen and returning*

Matina, a Y please... *pours*

...a any time! Cheers!

Spam: when it doesn't drive me crazy(-ier) I am sometimes amused by it, this is something I received today:

'Now Offering for your Sensitive Delight ... NEW & IMPROVED [brand name removed by me] Ragga Dagga Exotic Pipe-Smoking Substance!'

Riiiight... I think I prefer... *drifting into kitchen and returning*

Matina, a Y please... *pours*

...a any time! Cheers!

Let's see if I can manage a triple posting...

Spam: when it doesn't drive me crazy(-ier) I am sometimes amused by it, this is something I received today:

'Now Offering for your Sensitive Delight ... NEW & IMPROVED [brand name removed by me] Ragga Dagga Exotic Pipe-Smoking Substance!'

Riiiight... I think I prefer... *drifting into kitchen and returning*

Matina, a Y please... *pours*

...a any time! Cheers!

Let's see if I can manage a triple posting...