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

Instead I have made an apology.

And lost count. Sorry.

Mol

Or a Haiku can
be used so poignantly
a fresh led born

Great we've made it to a new page so we can stop that now. Whew!

IIRC the answer to the music-room puzzle is in a screenshot on the back of the game box. It's in one of the screenshots here, too (a place where you can legitimately buy Starship Titanic for download, and play it on modern machines): http://www.gog.com/game/starship_titanic

I must have solved it the hard way.

Still got my original copy, plus a poster.

<BB<

It was because of Starship Titanic that I ended up here.


I was desperate for news considering the monumental delays involved in Starship Titanic. Deadlines were making wonderful whooshing noises past U42 's head to the point he had to hand off the book writing to Terry Jones. So, I must have signed up for emails regarding the game through http://www.tdv.com The Digital Village. Then one day, I got an email inviting me here. It was a curious, enigmatic message. Or possibly a curious, enigmatic series of emails. I wish I still had it/them, but they've been lost to the ravages of Moore's law and planned obsolescence; I've never been very good about transferring email when I get a new computer.

[SQ]

*waves to Beeblefish* *wonders if anyone can see the message Beeblefish sent* I'm intrigued about your research paper

Cheers

Busy days at the brewery, but if things go as they seem to be, I'll be supplying the house beer into four city centre bars by the end of April!

I remember sleep...

Oh cheers KM! I've been wanting a playable copy of Starship Titanic again for ages now! I still have my original copy but what with computer processing power being different now the last time I tried the video and audio were horribly out of sync and it was unplayable. I've been wanting to introduce my wife to it.

*waves to SashaQ* hey, how's it going!

I wasn't going to mention the paper here until I heard back from you editorial bods, but those on who were on the Atelier of old might recognize it, it is the same project from 11 years ago now chronically the ownership changes of the Guide over time as well as the ongoing politics of the site, stretching back to 1999. It's part paper, part guide history, part (now) demonstration of a methodology for doing longitudinal virtual ethnography (which is a fancy way of saying long-term studies of online spaces). One of the coolest things is that there are not that many online communities that have existed as long as the Guide has, so there are very few long term studies.

The letter SashaQ is talking about is one I wrote to the Guide and Post editors asking if I could do the same thing I did in 2005, which was put an article in Post asking if people wanted to join in on a discussion about the Guide, ownership, community etc. I'm particularly interested in talking about the second move to Not Panicking, as well as everything that has happened since including Field Researchers Incorporated, the Core Team, etc.

I really want to get this set up so I can finish this paper and put it out there. The h2g2 story is a pretty cool one and I would love to share it.

*gets her Lòók on*

Strictly no links that break the page and no flooding!! This is a conversation, not an art installation... I think.... You should also remember to include explanations of your links when you post them, just in case they're not congenial to an office environment or something. Just sayin'.

Re old software: I remember when part of setup was having to state which graphics card you were using. Targa? Creative? STB?

There are about three makers of graphics engines for peecees these days, Nvidia, AMD(Radeon nee ATI) and Intel. Of late, I find myself on the Nvidia side of the fence, and Intel for CPU choices.

Now that Starship Titanic link has made me look into installing Windows on my mac so I can play it again... without having to keep swapping cd's

Anyone got any suggestions for beating stage fright for a first time public speaker? I have less than two days till I am on stage at BSidesSLC.

I assume you have already practised lots. I regularly give presentations to my dishwasher, although it's not very responsive during the audience participation bits.

Have water and don't be afraid to pause speaking to drink it. My mouth always gets incredibly dry when public speaking.

Pauses and silence are fine (you are giving your listeners thinking space in which they can reflect on your words).

Have someone posted at the back of the room, to thumbs up that your volume is OK, and give you 'slow down' signals if you start to rush.

You will be fine

Mol

My first problem was speaking like a run-away train - very VERY fast. Try to keep it sensibly paced, and not all one steady pitch.

And try to not focus too much on any one person, you quickly begin to appear like you are speaking only to that person ... In some really big crowds of very high ranking folks, I sort of blur my vision and pass my apparent gaze around.

*returns from long absence*
Hey. Sorry to be a bore. Am home on sick leave, due to exhaustion and depression. Hardly been on h2g2 since January. Also reverted to telegram style writing - apologies.
*waves at Beeblefish* Nice to meet you!

I echo everybody else's advice about public speaking. Don't rush and don't panic are the main things. Practice, alone or to a friendly audience. And remember, you have the power: you know something your audience doesn't, otherwise they wouldn't be there.

I took a speech class in school. I can't remember why I took it, as I was a tremendously shy kid. But it was one of the best classes I ever took. I don't have to do much public speaking, but I don't fear it. The technical aspects, as others mentioned like keeping a steady pace, speaking to everyone not just one person, projecting your voice, minding your hand movements (not too much, not too little, just relax) are all good things to keep in mind, but not to obsess about.

The best thing to know is that the audience is on your side. They want you to do well and will understand any slips. It can be fun if you let it.