The Things That Unite Us
Just now, your Editor was fuming about a news item: a man is suing a US-based airline for something he should never have had to contend with: thoughtless airline people. They failed to plan for the fact that he needed help getting from his cheelchair to the plane, and forced him to crawl aboard, and again off the plane. And then did it again on the return journey. Now, the US has laws against this sort of treatment, and even if it didn't, this would be inexcusable. Hence the lawsuit.
When I saw that, it occurred to me that many things divide us in this world: different ideas, different goals, different lifestyles on different continents. At the same time, we're united by many things as well: our mutual concern for one another is one of those things. Lately, a fair number of h2g2ers have had personal issues – family illnesses, emergencies, personal challenges. Our concern for one another comes out in the help and advice offered over the internet in so many cases. You know who you are, and we appreciate you. We hope for good news every day, but when the news is bad, we're there, too.
Freewayriding has drawn us a very cool h2g2 logo, which you can also see on his PS. Thanks to Douglas Adams, h2g2 has two totemic animals: the mice and the dolphins. The mice remind us of the boundless curiosity that is at the heart of the Guide to Life, the Universe, and Everything. You know, the one you're going to write a new Entry for real soon? The dolphins point to our playfulness and general joi de vivre. Like Zaphod, we're collectively so cool you could keep a side of beef in us for a month. At least. And we like to have fun.
Speaking of fun, August's Create theme is 'Soundtrack of Your Life'. You'll want to join it with your musical ideas. To help you out, we've got an Edited Guide quiz about (mostly pop) composers that we think you'll enjoy. You might want to try out the ESL lesson, too, based on one of our personal soundtrack favourites, the evergreen 'MacArthur Park'. Dumbledore has a lot to answer for.
Also speaking of fun, we all love cinema. This week, Awix tell us about The Wolverine. We're really grateful to him for giving us the benefit of his expertise, insight and wit – for 300 reviews now. The prolific output of our contributors continues to amaze. Stop by, read, and say hi to our Post film reviewer. Tell him we're looking forward to the next 300 movies he sees.
benjaminpmoore is here to remind us of the importance of family, and Rod and the Prof want us to know that the situation is still not serious. They'll let you know when it's time to worry. We've got cartoons, and news, and all sorts of surprises. Just take a look.
Enjoy your week, and don't forget to write!
Dmitri Gheorgheni
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