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

Eatsmice, meet one of our newest salonistas, Z, a medical student at Birmingham. Z, meet eatsmice, one of the atelier's warrior leat, and notorious arsonist.

So, eats, you just back from the place we weren't allowed to talk about for a while?

Welcome back eatsmice.

It seems to me that the divisions on whether or not the government can track you using gps is ok or whether or not it is a bad thing fall along lines of those who trust their specific governments, and those who don't.

I have a friend who had to leave the country he grew up in because he shifted some boxes for his girlfriend. That activity caused him to be labelled a terrorist-sympathiser. She was not a terrorist, but she *was* a political activist. He could not have left the country if the government concerned had been able to track his car - they could and presumably would have picked him up at the airport.

I am not sure whether I envy those people who trust their governments, but I don't trust mine enough. And just because it may not affect me personally, does not make it ok. "I am all right Jack" is the route to complete dissolution of all civil liberties. "First they came for the Jews", etc.

Someone made the point that you can be tracked via your cell-phone or your credit card - but that data is held by commercial organisations, not by a government agency, and being tracked is part of the deal that you make with them. I choose not to have super-market loyalty cards, because my privacy over what I choose to buy is more important to me than the hundred-quid or so of "freebies" I would get each year if I did have loyalty cards.

Sorry to bang on about this, but it always worries me when "it won't affect me" becomes synonymous with saying "it's ok".

I wish I could change the subject to something nice and fluffy instead, but I am a bit scratchy at the moment.

Sorry.

Ben

[MTG]

[d'E] <-- gaining on the backlog, gaining, gaining, but it just keeps getting longer and longer and longer, and gosh darn it these are the longest postings I've read here in a long time!
[]

Trust the Bush-Cheney-Ashcroft-Rumsfeld government?? Not with this brain. But theoreticall, the NSA is listening to everything I say online now, anyway. Garius's point is, there really is too much stuff to listen to.

Ben, I'm feeling strange, too. I seriously wonder whether it's the increased synthroid dosage. How can I post when I'm convinced that everything I say is intensely narcissistic? I keep trying to compensate, but to my ears it keeps coming out as "That's enough about you, let's talk about me." I apologise if I seem to only be talking about myself. If I'm not talking too much (more than usual) about myself, then I apologise for the apology.

Argh!

And I was just thinking the other day, what would I do if the internet stopped? How would I get in touch with all these dear and valued salonistas again?

It's good to have eatsmice check in. eats, how are the baby eatsmices?

Now we just have to hear from Professor Tonks. We have been all out of San Betan seawater for weeks.

d'E, sounds like you're caught in Xeno's Backlog.

Well, Lil, if you're worried about losing all our contact information in the event of a total internet meltdown, you could always go ahead and collect non-internet related info while we still have a net. I'm not going to post my phone number or address HERE, but if a salonista wanted to email me I'd be glad to provide. Not sure how they feel about email addy's in posts. Are the mod's still uptight about that sort of thing?

wrs7 @ dana . ucc . nau . edu

What moderators? We went self-moderating a few months ago. No, posting your email address is just run-of-the-mill dangerous. Are you on OTD, Irv? That's where we've been doing all the address stashing, albeit not every salonista subscribes to OTD...



Please don't mind me, though. I'm just having these brittle mind-states.

hello, everyone ! Congrats, Z., on passing your exams ! Hello again sea ! I think I talked to you once before on another thread- I didn't know you were a salonista, too !

Mass transit in Salt Lake City is a real pain- but better than it used to be. 2 nights a week I have to walk over three miles because there are no busses on that leg of my trip home. Oh, well, it's good exercise, right? When i work graveyard shifts on Saturday nights, I have to hitch rides of of strangers to get home Sunday morning. I suppose that the reason is Salt Lake City area is not yet populated enough to support a truly comprehensive transit system such as can be found in large cities like New York or Los Angeles.

I am as frightened as any of you by the ability of government to track citizens. Unfortunately i don't see what ultimately can be done to prevent it. The best we can hope to do is slow the process down by screaming like hell at violations of our privacy. But if "they" want to come get me, "they" can.

During the incident in the Moscow theatre, the Gvt persuaded the mobile companies to unlock the encryption codes for all mobiles in the Moscow area... It is Russia, though. The problem here is, that while the whole thing is monumentally ineffecient, so that I know for sure that I'm not being tracked for want of resourses, the mindset of the system is exactly that which I am afraid we will encourage by embracing the things we have been discussing here.

Anyway, while it is self obvious that They wouldn't be monitoring everyone closely all the time, if the had a reason to, they could. And the point that Ben and Irv made that while we would support the tracking of genuine undesirables, it's who decides what a genuine undesirable is that's the problem.

Oh, drat, and Congrats Z! Have a good time in France!

[{Courtesy}]

Still a bit chilly in the mornings here, just +10ºC (50ºF) - and the weather is having a hard time deciding - rain, sunshine, clouds, rain, sunshine - but I saw a on my way home yesterday! I do like rainbows...

I don't know if it was ntl's fault, but none of us could get online last night after 10.00pm But No2 son's fellow Battle Field 42 player was online and there were frantic phone calls for an hour until they finally conceded defeat to the corporation.

T, that image is . I have never seen it, has anyone else?

Welcome back eatsmice! How are the family?

Our run of glorious is due to break today, not without some relief on my part, as last night was very warm and made sleeping uncomfortable. The loft hatch is hanging on by a thread and no one wanted to tackle it to get the electric fans down.

Ben, I am on your side in that I feel distinctly uneasy about GPS tracking. But I suspect it will be something that happens, either that or wireless connections for onboard PCs and tachyometers. This is already being sold commercially anyway.

[Amy]

Eats! How nice to see you in the salon again...how are little Eats and not-so-little Eats, and of course, Mrs. Eats? Hopefully they're all well and good?

So, I know a guy named Dave Nelson, and apparently, he cannot get onto planes without a security check. I am *not* making this up! Apparently, this is really an issue for all men with this name:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2995288.stm

It seems rather odd to me. Dave Nelson? You'd think something *ahem* more ethnic would catch their eye?

Don't worry about feeling egotistical, Lil - I don't know about the other Salonistas, but one of the reasons I come here is to hear about other peoples' lives. The other reason is to test out some of my opinions among people I respect. Oh, and to get great recipies and gardening tips, too, natch.

I sometimes think I tend to do too much of a life-dump here, but it has been a roller-coaster of a year for me emotionally, and it is good to have somewhere safe to express that. (Incidentally, my PL is Out of Radio Contact again till the end of this month, but I am - dea gratias - dealing with it much better than I did before. Mind you - it would be hard to handle it worse. I really will sort out those pics and put a link up online).

On another subject - why is it unacceptable to wear your hair in plaits if you are over the age of 13? It is neat, convenient, you only have to do it once at the beginning of the day, and it leaves the back of your neck cool in hot weather. I *want* to put it in plaits, but I am just about 30 years too old to do so; I will just end up looking like a downtrodden member of a religious cult, or else - if I mixed it with a sexy-t-shirt - I would end up looking like mutton dressed as lamb. I don't mind if I am not cool so long as I can be cool .

Talking of sexy t-shirts did I tell you about this one I saw the other day:

There are five things a woman should do:
1) Find a man who has a gold card
2) Find a man who is kind and considerate
3) Find a man who has a sense of humour
4) Find a man who is good in bed
But it is really important that these four men NEVER meet!



B

Ben, just do it, the plaits that is. As you worry about the government in the UK, what says any other country is any better? At least here they make announcements about these things rather than just implementing them.

If they don't make announcements, then it gets leaked to the press anyway!

H just needs a gold card then

Here's a link to marvel at:

http://www.lipsons.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/escher/ascending.html

When I test drove the Mazda MX5, I found it a snug fit, admittedly I am wider than I would like to be, but at 5' 4" there was definitely not much headroom and I would probably eventually wear a bump in the soft top like shoes worn by someone with a bunion . So Marv, not knowing what size you are, I should think anyone taller than me would have some difficulty especially as the seat height isn't adjustable.

I distinctly remember the time I went out for a drink with a male freind of mine wearing bunches. I must have been 18 or so. Anyway, this chap, being of a somewhat conservative (small 'c') frame of mind apparently spent the whole night in an agonised state (that he should be seen out with anyone that odd). He was still talking about it years later. Admitedly I knew it would get his goat, so that's why I did it What what really made me laugh is that about six monthes later, the vagaries of fasion dictated that everyone should do it.

Anyway. Wear the plaits, Ben.

And I was also going to say that I also come here at least in part because I enjoy hearing about everybody's varied and interesting exploits and thoughts, so there is no such things as too much personal news on that front.