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

...so does mine My h2g2 birthday is in about a month. 3 years, it will have been. I always forget my birthday (well, I have the previous two times... I think) so I'm loading two birthdays into one journal - kind of how you'd celebrate two family members whose birthdays are a few days apart at the same time so you don't have to make two cakes.

I'm not as artistically talented as Waz, or as poetic as some of my other friends here, but all I can say is that my faith was restored tonight - not because of a Christmas miracle or a good deed, but because a minor flame war erupted tonight over the future of the site. I took it as a relief to know that emotions were still held so firmly over this home, this great nexus of opinion, this h2g2 of ours. What with all the doom-sayers, I felt my confidence erode for a while, but even today I see a whole army of researchers and friends, content to spend their time in the one thing many of us share.

I should hope I won't be here tomorrow and the next day though Merry Festivus (ooh whoops, I guess it's the day after Festivus, but... pah) to all, and to all a good night.

By the way, if anyone wants a Present for me, they can always join the UnderGuide We always need some fresh new miners and, to a lesser extent, polishers. No experience required (some of our very finest miners came out of no-where and I'd never heard of them when they volunteered. Some great folks have come out of my friends list too, which is who I expect will be reading this)

A minor flame war? I must have missed that!

Merry Christmas Jodan!

I would love to, mate, but I seem to rather highly committed as it is

Okay, then I shall require a very expensive sheep saddle.

Merry Christmas eve, now, all.

Merry Yuletide Jodan

Happy h2g2 birthday in advance, in case I'm on holifday when it turns up

Most of the time online recently has been writing my Scrooge blog, so contributing to Underguide may have to wait.

Pimms

Scrooge blog? Link?

F116773?thread=1477182 Soory Jodan, I should have included it. I thought you might be subscribed to it already or be able to find it by going to my Personal Space (it doesn't change so quickly that you'd miss it )

Nollick Ghennal

I am subscribed too it I'm just not very good at keeping up with my MP list. The moment you said blog, my mind jumped to the conclusion that you were doing something somewhere else - cheating on hootoo

What was everyone's favorite gift given/received? My favorite was four original Eisenhower campaign buttons from the 1950s

I'v enever really done a proper blog, but I think my h2g2 thread approaches the diaristic method of the true weblog. There is the MSN space though, but I only used that for the photos (that can't be done directly on h2g2), not for any blog.

No exceptional presents this year. Apart from books (that I bought for myself and let my wife give me ) the thing I've got most pleasure from so far is a tin of florentines from Fortnum and Mason's

Which books? I got one by an Iraq war veteran I'm looking forward to.

I can't recall exactly
Orson Scott Card, The Crystal City (a volume of the Alvin Maker series)
David Baldacci, Hour Game
Terry Pratchett, Going Postal
and one or two more.

and two I received late (yesterday in fact, from a brother):
Teach Yourself Latin
Does Anything Eat Wasps? A collection of questions and answers from New Scientist

Tell me, Pimms, does anything eat wasps?

*Wasp, mayonnaise and lettuce sandwich halfway to his mouth, he pauses and waits for a response*

I haven't read that answer in the book yet

also (having checked)
The Ode less travelled by Stephen Fry (a guide to writing different poetical forms)
Arthur & George by Julian Barnes.

... all our staff are currently busy with other queries, please hold... Your call is important to us...
...

I got Going Postal too! I also got the new Lynne Truss book on manners, which I think is quite terrible in comparison to her previous work.

Happy birthday, Jodan, and as I'm reading through the backlog of the past two weeks I look forward to stumbling on the flame war.

Apparently lots of species east wasps - birds, frogs, fish, other wasps. Often they are eaten as grubs. It doesn't make clear whether only familar yellow/black banded stinging wasps are meant - there are many species of wasps, some of which are much smaller eg fig wasps that pollinate figs.

Honey buzzards do; they used to be known as 'bee buzzards' for their habit of attacking nests

Happy birthday Jodan.
No pressies for Festivus though.