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

Hmmmm... the Text-TV news said that George Soros is going to do all he can to prevent Dubya getting re-elected, eh? Well, at least he ought to have the money for it... he's the one responsible for making the value of the Swedish Krona take a serious dive in the 1990ies!

The first toll on a stretch of British motorway opens today, we have tolls on some bridges and tunnels. H will be driving past Z today and he says he is aiming to boycott it.

He is in Docklands (Nodnol) for a meeting, then has to drive up to a seminar past Birmingham in time for the afternoon session. As it is a two day thing, he will be staying overnight, so Cassie is looking forward to a kip on the empty side of the bed.

As 2003 has already been declared the warmst year on record, I think my chances of this winter are low. Unless I can persuade H to go somewhere snowy for a week in February are successful.

I don't think we'll get much either. It's already half way through December and we haven't seen a flake. In bad snow years we usually see something in October even though it doesn't last.

The pressure is dropping. Hurrah!

Now I'll have to read Cryptonomicon to find what what I've been volunteered for.

Snow
A local saying:
"Dinna showt till March is owt"

North Pennine UK dialect.
location: TEESDALE
town: Middleton-in-Teesdale

More Heriot than the TV Heriot.
Visit at will!

[d'E]
[]

OO and pack send waggy tales and yawns of pleasure to Zep.
NB "yawn" does not mean the same in K9 communication as "we" think of it meaning boredom. It means comfortable and secure in K9!
Excuse me Lil but I love dogs.

Caer, I hope he's boycotting the motorway not me, it's at times like this I'm grateful for the cross city line. I wasn't allowed to get the train home from the school on Wednesday, because apparently it wasn't in a "safe area" and I spent two hours in a traffic jam it would have been much quicker by train.

Z

No, Z, H is only boycotting the M6 toll road. Mind, he rang an hour or so ago to say he has now got to call in to the partner company on the project in Reading en route.

So if he hits Brum as the traffic starts build up, he may be sorely tempted to use it if it saves time.

I would like to say that I have no objections to toll roads per se, but drivers in the UK are already severly taxed, on fuel, fuel expense claims and company car/car allowances as well as road tax.

Getting some new toll booths? Have fun. I always suspect that those things are part of a big scam, though I've not really thought it that greatly to avoid contributing fifty cents once in a while.

50 cents would be all right, we were amazed at how low the tolls are in the US, but then so is the price of petrol. We did well over 1000 miles leaf peeping and 3 tank fulls came to less than one tank full in the UK!

The toll on the M6 is £2 for 27 miles, is that about $1.50?

Just looked up curretn exchange rates and £2 = $3.50!

Good morning everyone. Our snow soon stopped and its only souvenir are a few crusty spots on the north side of the house.

I'm having a new experience this morning; one of my neighbors does some kind of reiki, and I am going to stretch out on her healing table. This woman is also a Lego fanatic!

Sporky is still reading Cryptonomicon and evidently others soon will be, so let's defer finishing the casting of the movie. Affi, the book you're thinking of is Neuromancer by William Gibson, who also wrote Count Zero and a fine book of short stories called Burning Chrome. And lots of other books, but those I cited are the core of his reknown in the SF world.

Cryptonomicon is not a scifi book, although Stephenson has written some excellent scifi, such as Snow Crash and The Diamond Age. Cryptonomicon is actually a work of historical fiction with three distinct storylines -- high-tech present, WW II soldiery and WW II Enigma/decryption. It's interesting and in some places quite funny.

Thanks Lil. I am still reading it, though I'm not finishing it as fast as I like. This is mostly because I can only read it for about twenty or so minutes at a time due to the monopoly FFXI has on my life currently.

To drive the length of the New Jersey Turnpike (113 miles) costs $6.45. Various discounts apply if you have an EZPass transponder in your vehicle. Trucks and busses cost more. Toll calculator:

http://www.state.nj.us/turnpike/nj-vcenter-tollrates.htm?tollrates=3&Submit2.x=46&Submit2.y=14

The Garden State Parkway (173 miles) toll schedule makes you do the math yourself:

http://www.state.nj.us/turnpike/gsptollsched.pdf

The two authorities recently merged with the Turnpike Authority taking over. The website is a little sketchy on the parkway information.

I know, you all don't really care that much.

[B4 makes a note to purchase Cryptonomicon, after buying Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, before finishing a compilation by Philip K Dick]

Thanks. When does the 'tree hunt' begin? I'll check back soon, but gotta do some research papers for UoP.

See y'all!

B4thedeadline

Good Morning everyone!

Another Mid-westerner. Yea!

I have always liked Eco but must admit that I didn't enjoy Baudolino as much as his others. I would suggest that someone who has never read him begin with one of his earlier books. Being a librarian, my favorite is The Name of the Rose.

In the scifi/fantasy genre - there is a new Orson Scott Card in time for Christmas called "The Crystal City". It's the sixth Alvin Maker tale. And the 27th Xanth novel has come out. "Cube Route". For the kids and kids at heart there's a new Pern novel, "Dragon's Kin".

Those of you looking for the perfect book to give dieting friends might try "The Sound of One Thigh Clapping: Haiku for a Thinner You" by Meredith Clair. It's a hoot.

Tasty pink grapefruit -
significantly less so
after the eighth day.

Buns of steel abound.
Airport metal detectors
in state of chaos.

For cat lovers everywhere, there is "Zen Cat" by Judith Adler and Paul Coughlin. This small book is very special. It has photographs of cats across from inspirational sayings. An example is a picture of a black and white cat standing on a step in front of a closed door with the number 42 on it. The saying is "The truth knocks on the door and you say, 'Go away, I'm looking for the truth' and so it goes away." Robert Pirsig.

And for mystery lovers there is "The Murder Room" by P.D. James, "Rumpole and the Primrose Path" by John Mortimer, the fourth puzzle mystery by Parnell Hall called "With This Puzzle, I Thee Kill" and a new Lew Fonesca novel by Stuart M. Kaminsky called "Midnight Pass".

So many books.....so little time.

There is a new Eddigns book out as well. I got it this weekend and am enjoying it so far. The trouble is that it is part of a series, and I hate waiting for subsequent books to be released. I had no idea that this one was due out either.

[{Courtesy}]

*appears at the top of the stairs, clutching his broad-brimmed hat*

Scuse me ladies and gentlemen and ants and all. I have brought up the rig, out front at F38024?thread=355779 and me and Bonnie and Clyde are all ready to take you on yer tree hunt.

*nods and clatters down the stairs and back out to the wagon, followed by Matina, who is carrying a basket of provisions*