Take 5
Created | Updated Jun 21, 2003
Take 5... twice? Every day a number of newly approved entries are recommended on the h2g2 Main Page... These go by unnoticed to most users as they focus around their own page. This weekly article points out and reviews the ten most entertaining and interesting entries of the week, as far as I'm concerned anyway. My tastes do not reflect yours in any way and feel free to have completely different ideas from mine, it is after all a free country.
D.V.D. Video. For all you people who have been living in a cave for the last few years and still think 8 track tapes are state of the art, this article is for you. It will gently ease you into the digital revolution that is D.V.D. It tells you what it is, does and a few of it's advantages over other systems.
Human Beings. Just in case you don't know what one is and need an introduction into this species that inhabits the 3rd planet in the Sol system! After reading this, however, you may still confuse some Homo sapiens with chimps.
Make Yourself a Scanning Tunnelling Microscope. Something no self respecting mad scientist should be without. Not exactly something to knock together in your garage with a few bits of scrap but neither completely beyond the realms of possibility.
Rapids City, Illinois, USA. This little town on the banks of the Mississippi seems to be completely unremarkable in every way and seems to be a very ordinary sleepy place. It's just that, after reading about the only place I could picture in my mind as 'South Park2', I wonder if the place has four obnoxious kids who go by the names of Stan, Kyle, Eric and Kenny?
The British Museum. Now under normal circumstances, unless you can plug it into the mains or it takes batteries, I just ain't interested. I now feel a need, however, to take a trip to London and stare in awe at a 2000 year old Roman army boot which is supposed to be very similar to modern boots (odour eaters not included). Along with the info on the boot this entry gives a brief description of some of the more interesting exhibits, how to get there and where not to eat.
The Knights Templar. A tale of knights and crusades and dragons (well maybe not dragons). An informative piece of how this order came to be, some of their achievements, and the legacy they left behind. Due to a lack of historical information (which is in no way the fault of the researcher) you are left wanting to know more, with more questions than can be ever answered.
The Perfect Bowl of Mashed Potatoes. Food, or to be more precise the common spud. In short this a recipe to get the best out of this popular root vegetable without making chips (or fries) out of it.
St Patrick's Day. For most people who celebrate St Patrick's day, they will have no idea of it's origins and just see it as a day to get drunk. Now I cannot argue with this philosophy as, before reading this, I was probably more ignorant to where it came from than an undiscovered tribe in the Amazon. However for those who wish to know why they must drink 15 pints of Guinness on the 17th of March every year this is for you. You can find out who St Patrick was, the best places to celebrate it and even how to make a Guinness punch (sounds revolting, but that's just me).
Vampires and Werewolves. The myths about these creatures of the night have been around for centuries but where did they come from. As usual these myths have developed over generations and for the most part were propagated by uneducated and frightened peasants. These two entries tell how these terrified yokels tried to explain the strange things they saw. Unfortunately there is no mention of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'.
