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

…I sort of half-forgot about this place. It's been about two years since I last posted here, and while it's true that I probably needed to cut down on the amount of time I spent here to the detriment of my schoolwork, I didn't really intend to disappear entirely. Anyway, it's really hard to jump back into a community like this after so long--I've forgotten all sorts of things about the structure of the community and the customs and everything. And I hope the friends I made here haven't forgotten me. Anyway, I'm going to take it slow and get back in the swing of things here, because of all the online communities I've been a part of, this one has been one of the most fun as well as the most educational!

I'm also somewhat of a different person than I was two years ago--I don't burst into song quite as often, though I still love showtunes, and I've gotten a lot more serious about some of the issues that I think are important. Plus I'm even more of a math geek than I was.

So hopefully I can moderate my usage of this wonderful site better than I have in the past, not too much or to little, and have some fun!

Not bursting into song? *gasps* But a love of showtunes is good, as is seriousness. There's a time and a place for being silly and for being sensible.

Welcome back!

Oh, the silliness is definitely happening! It's just that after so many strange looks from people while bursting into song in a public area, you start to wish someone would just join in with you already.

It's good to be back!

While showtunes aren't exactly my thing, the absurd possibility of complete strangers bursting into song (and knowing the words and even the dance-steps) is simply delicious!

It would be rather fun (in a creepy sort of way)!

So, an xkcd fan, are you?

Yes indeed. XKCD is my compulsive reading, I just wish Randall Monroe could do more than 3 per week.

So, do you have a ny favourite themes or episodes in XKCD?

I love xkcd as well - it's a refreshing dose of surreality. My favourite ones are about the ways to mess with people's minds.

The really geeky math or computer science ones are my favorite--I loved the recent one about "real programmers". Another that comes to mind is the one about embedding NP-complete problems in restaurant orders. I want to try that!

Welcome back It's good to see you again!

I think I like the xkcd episodes which can be 'performed' for real (like the infamous rollercoaster one). But then, I also like the unix/linux ones too. And the SQL-injection attack one. And the absurd physics ones And the ones which describe geeky behaviour (stepping on tiles, factorizing the time, spinning round to rob the earth of angular momentum, etc...)

Hey, perhaps there's no common theme to the ones I like at all?

Mobius Battle was perfect, and just the right timing, too! (I had just had a long discussion with my professor about Mobius strips the day before.)

Was it a 'circular' discussion? With a twist?

Well, we did go round in circles a bit--trying to prove stuff about the genus of a torus, and precisely how, topologically, a Möbius strip is different than a projective plane or a Klein bottle. And after I'd gone around the circle once, I ended up facing the opposite way (but only because I was going out the door instead of in).

Fabulous!