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

Ouch, that drift was sharp. Haven't seen Red Dragon, but the reviews are pretty unanimous in saying the original version "Manhunter" was better, directed by Michael Mann of Miami Vice and "Heat" fame, among others.

Looks like you're right about it being illegal in the US, because you might get it more reliably and in greater quantity if you gut a whale than if you wait for him to secrete it. Can't remember if it appeared in any of the Hannibal books or movies, but it's still apparently used for perfumes, and necessarily simulated for use in the States. (If you go searching for it, there are a lot of sites about a place called "Ambergris Caye" which will clutter your search, so try keywords "ambergris -caye".)

Whale Hairballs - Not Just For Dabbing Behind Your Ears Anymore!

It seems to be more commonly used as a fragrance, but here are some liquor and chocolate recipes involving ambergris. (See http://www.netstrider.com/documents/ambergris/miscellany/ .) So the title would be most accurate as "Variations in the Fragrance and *Taste* of Whale Secretions." (Sorry it's not poo exactly, but I tried.) I would guess that variations would be caused by how long the globs of stuff float around before washing ashore, how long they dry on shore, whether they are harvested directly from a whale, perhaps the whale's diet....

And this is why we should look over entries before superficially rejecting their ideas as "too extreme". One person's "whale poo" is another person's gourmet ingredient or often-imitated fragrance. A person could easily write an informative entry about this seemingly disgusting substance, and it could give folklore about the early myths of where the substance came from, the history of how it has been used, why it was outlawed, and since the real thing is no longer available legally in some places, an approximate description of what it smells like and (yuk) tastes like.

Just as a matter of interest - what part of a whale is it secreted from?

The lower intestine, apparently. The whale uses it to coat the indigestible beaks of squid so it doesn't irritate the gut. Loverly.

Just as lovely as the excretions of dying molluscs, coated around rubbish...

Oh, a pearl of wisdom there!

look at http://www.netstrider.com/documents/ambergris/summary/

*stepping over driftwood*

I liked this entry very much. I read it before reading the PR thread, and was then quite surprised to see that people found it offensive. I thought it was well-written and hilarious. I laughed out loud, and I intend to show it to my friends. (I doubt we'll end up playing it.) I certainly don't think there's anything wrong with playing card-games in general. I also don't think there's anything wrong with finding humour in disgusting things. If this is more disgusting than what I see on the evening news, then I'm far more maladjusted than I thought, and really ought to just take up heroin and forget about participating in society.

It's too bad this wasn't included in the Uni Project on card games. Weren't you involved in that, Lucinda?

The first time I saw the name of this game spelled out, I misread it as 'Seven Card W**kistan', and imagined it was a game played in a small, obscure, and impossibly dirty Central Asian prison.

In summary, I think this is perfectly fine for the Edited Guide.


GTB

Oops, someone posted this earlier. Apologies for the junk mail.

The University Project on card games....ah, yes.

Bagpuss and I managed to grind that one to a halt by bickering about bridge for the best part of six months



B

sounds like a 10thC British saint - they were all called something-stan!

St. W**kistan of Essex. Patron Saint of Estate Agents, Orchestral Conductors and Members of Boy-bands.

B

While I may be a total newbie who hasn't even bothered to change his default name yet, I must say I think this sort of entry is entirely appropriate for something inspired by the the original Guide. The HHG didn't shy away from horrible topics such as vogon poetry simply because they were disgusting and utterly meritless.

"About as funny as a burning orphanage"? Are we to take it that icky humour involving spit is in any way comparable to children burning to death? It's nice to have a sense of perspective.

I don't know if "pedestrian and boring" is fair comment, as I haven't had time to read much of the edited guide here, but from the peer review threads I've seen so far it sounds more like people are selecting entries for an Official and Very Proper BBC Encyclopaedia rather than something based on the infamous Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. If peer review servers to filter out the weird, amusing and not terribly respectable then in my opinion the edited guide won't be very true to the spirit of the original at all.

I'll agree with all of that.

207414, if you really are a newbie, then I'm sure you'll fit right in - you sound authoratitive enough to have been on this site for ages.

(If you're not a newbie, then you're probably Martin under disguise)

B

I doubt that 207414 is Martin, but I admit I was wondering who it might be!



B

Right, because Martin has so often demonstrated himself too shy to talk directly about controversial issues? Good one.

I'm afraid to hazard any guesses, wouldn't want to say a dirty word accidentally. Anyway I can't understand what people could find so offensive about this. Talking about ways to cook dead animals is offensive to me, but there is plenty of that around that nobody is trying to curtail. Maybe somebody had a traumatic childhood experience involving spit ?

Lucinda, I remember this entry from last year, when you were a scout, and I was still a newbie in Peer Review. I didn't comment then, and I wasn't going to comment now, but I see that this thread is now at over 100 posts...

Trying to push the limits of the Edited Guide is all over well, but it seems perfectly clear that the editors don't want to push the limits to include more teenage gross-out competitions.


As far as the topic is concerned, any three teenagers could probably concoct something in the same league, but the usual response is not to encourage it. Of course it's well-written, but if the topic isn't worth writing about at all, then writing well doesn't make any difference.


What is the point of leaving this here in PR? It is diverting attention away from entries that could actually benefit from comment. It could sit here for months, sucking in time and effort that could have improved other entries, and radiating dreariness and futility in return.

Please, Lucinda, why can't you just take it out of here?

Azara