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

Entry: How to Smell a Ponderosa Pine - A87787192
Author: Galaxy Babe - U128652

Thanks everyone, I must say the only good thing about Bonanza was the fact that it had Michael Landon in it

I really didn't want to alter this succinct little entry too much, I was itching to expand/rewrite but I'm not sure it would have worked. There's possibility for a fuller entry on The Ponderosa Pine itself

GB

Updated

I've added some of the info supplied (and links), removed some repetition.

Thanks everyone

Bonanza had cool title music.

any idea about how the tree was named or it it obvious

The name was given to the tree by the Scottish botanist Douglas, who did a survey of North American trees. According to the Online Etymological Dictionary, the name Pinus ponderosa means "heavy pine". It's not named after a place.

There are a few places called Ponderosa which are probably named after the tree, rather than the other way around.

Hi Bob, Ponderosa is a lovely name

Thanks Gnomon, I've footnoted that on the first instance of the Latin name.

GB

Someone can do an entry on the Ponderosa Pine.

Someone else can take on Dr Douglas.

Someone else can take on 'Bonanza' - but beware, I will rant on and on about the this series: where the 1880s were just like the 1950s, only with horses instead of Chevys...

Oh, and somebody can do Michael Landon. I've just looked him up, and wow - there's an interesting story to tell. He went through a lot as a kid.

Can I do an EGE about how Bonanza was supposedly nice family entertainment but was really teaching horrible horrible lessons?

Absolutely! I'll help you collect references.

I used to have arguments with my sisters about that show. They liked it, I hated it. The youngest said, 'If you weren't so smart, you'd enjoy TV more.'

I did not mean to open a

I thought it might take a dozen words and hit on several searches

>Someone else can take on 'Bonanza' - but beware, I will rant on and on about the this series: where the 1880s were just like the 1950s, only with horses instead of Chevys...

Its strange you hit on this, my most vivid memories of "Bonanza" are going to my aunt's house on a particular Sunday evening each fall, to watch the show on her colour TV. The show itself was not the treat, but the advertisement when Chevrolet revealed the new models for the next year! I do remember the 'Corvette Stingray' and the rise and fall of the 'Tail Fins' Those were the days, when you could place the exact date of each car's manufacture by the shape of its fenders and tail-lights. There should be a good, short Entry in there, if only I can find it. (Not the Cartwrights, but the cars)

FS

"Stingray" to me doesn't speak *car* but a beautiful underwater (I won't say dumb because I remember Dmitri's explanation) non-speaking girl who loved Stingray's gorgeous pilot... (and every girl in my junior school class was in love with him, too)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkJjWgjtVlE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkJjWgjtVlE

GB, that is...just surreal...

But definitely better than 'Bonanza'.

Gerry Anderson was a genius. He was also responsible for Thunderbirds, and the unforgettable puppetisation of Cliff Richard and The Shadowshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSQWvaln6mA

All these years I though Cliff Richard was a real person. I never realised he was a puppet, despite the weird hairdo.

They announced the puppet as "Cliff Richard Junior" though, so I thought that was an alternate universe...

I like this - I like the title and I like the way it's set out.

The one question I had was, I wonder how it smells compared to your classic pine smell. But I suppose the answer is, vanillary.

That's a great word

I will attempt to use it in conversation today, when I'm at the dentist

Anything can happen in the next half hour!

If only the props and puppets for Stingray were made out of ponderosa pine wood – please, please, please may it be so!

<BB<