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

Hurrah for David! Yes!

Can I have a go hiding under the cushions now? Just for the heck of it? And
to hide from the ironing?

Oops. Sorry about misspelt first post. I thought I had nabbled it in time.

Wonderful news, David.

I wish I had a good singing voice. Sigh.

[MTG]

*David vacates the cushions to make room for Ag and takes a bow in order to distract the ironing*

How could I possibly change the subject word, when it's so dear to hy heart?

David

Ahhh heartburn.

Ag if you're getting it reguarally you don't need to actually have it when you go to the doctor.

We used to think it was due to stress but now people have found out that it can be due to an Chronic Infection with H Pylori which can be sorted with antibiotics, - so worth getting it checked out.

for David.

And thank you all for the s for Dad. I found that really moving. And yes - we are alike, Hyp. He'd have loved the Internet. *sigh*

Marv, you are bang on the money about Enigma. Did I tell y'all I went to Bletchley last summer with a couple of friends of my mothers who where There at the Time. On the Japanese Section with Ma.

Dunno why I am so maudlin today.

s for all.

B

Oh No!

I'm so sorry

I replied to Ag and I missed the to your Dad

*raises glass in a belated toast*

Forgot to change subject.

Did I give y'all a link to the entry I wrote about Dad? It's here. A3097424

Ben
*not wallowing as much as it seems as if she is*

I have found that asking myself if it is worth crossing the street to ask for a smoke does wonders, it never is and there have been multiple opportunities.

*raises her to Ben's Dad and ANZAC Day*

One thing that has been cool is that I've had two calls out-of-the-blue from agents asking if they can send my CV to x y or z company.

Hopefully I won't end up unemployed this summer, like I was last summer and the summer before.

Ben

i think i was around the atelier before we even acknowledged lurkers

Actually, while we're in this sort of mood, could I ask for a toast for my dad, too? His birthday is this Saturday (he would be 84), and he had a distinguished military career. After going to air school at San Marcos Field in Texas, he was shipped to England with the 8th Air Army Corps, from whence he flew 30 missions as a navigator on B-24's. Then he went to Korea, where he navigated B-25s as a member of the Blackbirds, a night-time Tac-Recon squadron. He received a Purple Heart, and Air Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross.

But he never made it very high in the ranks because of an altercation he had with a commander back in World War II. He told me the story, which was rare for him, cos he wasn't a loquacious person (and he never said a peep about the Blackbirds cos it was classified).

Anyway, he said there was this pompous captain git called X who flew once a month in order to keep his rating but otherwise refused to get in a plane. On this occasion, X decided that he would pilot the plane that Dad navigated, and he led the formation off across the channel.

Eventually, as always happened, they encountered flak. Now, the golden rule was that, in flak, you just flew straight ahead and prayed. Not X. As soon as he saw the black puffs of smoke, he called back to dad to set a new course. Remember, this was pencil and paper stuff. Dad had been figgerin for a few minutes when the call came back to set yet another course: X had seen flak ahead in their new bearing.

This went on a couple more times, and finally dad shouted, "Plot your own damn course!!" and tore off his headphones. Immediately X shot a red flare, dropped out of formation and headed back to England, where dad went up before the captain's mast.

Of course the rest of the crew was sympathetic, and X was reviled as a coward who wouldn't fly a plane straight, but rank prevailed.

Here's to you, Dad!

Congratulations to David . What's your first production?

for B. I reread your lovely piece about your father - and felt rather envious of your memories.
My father died when I was 8yrs old - so my memories of him are through a child's eyes. I've always found it quite difficult meeting people who remember him. Part of me is very proud that he was a good man who is remembered with affection - and the other bit of me is very jealous that they have a sense of him which I don't.

Matina - please can you take that bottle of Maudlin back to the kitchen - I think I've had a tad too much.

*raises his to Lil's dad*

Thanks, Teuchter. My first production will be Me and My Girl. There are some concerts before that, though, and if I want a main role (fingers crossed for Gerald), I'll have to endure another audition.

*raises a glass to Lil's father

He sounds like a brave man who stood up for his beliefs.

>>
Marv, you are bang on the money about Enigma. Did I tell y'all I went to Bletchley last summer with a couple of friends of my mothers who where There at the Time. On the Japanese Section with Ma.


Ben, Enigma was but one of the broken cyphers that helps the Allied forces win (if there is such a thing as a winner in combat) the war. It's my estimation that the battle of information was the key in both world theatres. The allied breaking of Enigma and other German chyphers was possibly the only thing that allowed the invasion of normandy. I rather want to visit Bletchly some day myself. The place where cryptoanalisis became something to be done by the bombe, rather than with pencil and paper... That chapter of the conflict is likely the most facinating to me.

*raises a glass to Lil's Dad, and another for Teuchter's *

Well, the Poles' contribution was to the Enigma codes, Marv. I am well aware that there were other codes cracked at Bletchley: as I said - my Ma was in the Japanese section and learned Japanese while she was there - well enough Japanese to translate weather forecasts and shipping news.

The information about Bletchley in Cryptonomicon is ... how shall I put this? ... probably the best of the romances written about the place.

The truth of the matter is that it was a massive Allied effort, and as you say, it contributed to the successful and early end of the war.

Ben