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

Complex ideas are very difficult to articulate... in prose.

[p]
using agreed symbols to denote that he is not here when he is and that if he were here to say something to add to the conversation he is not doing so

MR, those Von Rankean historians sound a bit daft. What do they do if they find two documents that blatantly or subtly contradict each other?

SG V, that sounds wonderful.

[mags] wrestling the backlog to the ground.

[Bel]

Well, ladies and gentlemen, we have had our first brush with prolongued projectile vomiting. Put milk in, watch Himself splatter it all over the walls. I am covered in dried sick. B is covered in dried sick. The clean clothes which were drying in the hallway are covered in dried sick. The floor was covered in dried sick before I cleaned it. What the state of the carpets upstairs is, I do not like to think about. Never liked carpets. Is it overeacting to use this as an opportuity to rip them out and put in laminate?

Still, his stomach seemed to settle down towards the evening, so hopefully he has enough solids and liquids inside him to be going along with now. Or we may find out of carrots really do look the same coing up as going down.

Sorry, were we having an intellectual discussion?

Sol - hope the Star gets better fast.

Irv, it actually is

The bill for my two MRI sessions is $4,726.00. Or at least I think it's for the two. The date of service only specifies the first session.

*stuffs bill in an envelope to be forwarded to indigent care*

Irv, that's the central problem with Von Rankeans. What it really boils down to is if you find two articles that contradict each other, you go find others, and whichever side has the preponderance of documents 'wins'. Oh, and let's not forget that they're also 'whiggish' in their history -- as in every successive civilization is better than the next. Thus, despite the achievements of the Inca or Aztecs, the European understanding of their cultures as somehow 'less' is, according to most Von Rankeans, valid.

Which may explain why so many newer historians read their work and find it rather quaint.

I've just bought a cheap monitor from PC world and it is awesomely dire. Ex display, but even so. I now have the dilemma of whether I take it back and ask for a refund (and I may not get a refund because of it being ex-display), or whether I live with the horror.

Dire in what what why, Ben? In a dead spots and scratches way, or in a oops maybe bunging it on top of that speaker was a bit daft sort of way?

*swaps that stray 'h' for a 'a'*

>>as in every successive civilization is better than the next.

Well, then shouldn't they concede that successive theories of history are better than their own?

It's surprising how hard it is to frame that behavior - you'd think we'd have several words for it, because it's been so prevalent in the last decade. But 'dogmatic vs. pragmatic' or similar should work just fine.

> don't think "i said silence mother fokker"BLAM,BLAM,BLAM

would go down well at PMQs


Hah! The funniest overdubbing I ever saw was a Saturday showing of Reservoir Dogs. I busted out laughing when Samuel L. Jackson screams into the phone "I want my mutual-funding money!"

He he he Irv. Nice one!

Dire as in bleh. It's a very landscape shaped monitor (presumably for watching dvds and tv) and it distorts the image horizontally. On top of that, lines aren't crisp, colours aren't accurate, and the whole image is blobby and nasty. I saw it working, and it was nasty in the shop, but I did not expect to have to deal with ineradicable shape distortion. I could more or less put up with the rest. But it was 40 quid cheaper than their next cheapest.

I've adjusted the settings on the monitor and the ones on the PC (migraines make you very good at adjusting monitors) and the next step would be changing the drivers, and I'm not up for that. I'll take it back on Friday and ask for a refund.

B

> The floor was covered in dried sick before I cleaned it

One of my favorite Rincewind quotes... "Found some roots. Tasted like sick. This saved time."

Ben , how about . Open mind vs Empty head

[]

"I want my mutual-funding money!"

On an in-flight movie which I saw once, something similar was overdubbed with "melon-farming"

evening all