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

What's the most interesting and/or useful thing you've learned from reading h2g2? Or from using other sites on the web? Do you buy into the idea that online communities like this are just so much babble? Or do you believe people get practical benefits from them?

Cheers,
Robert

I learnt where the expression "dog's b******s" comes form....which was quite interesting.

I've learnt not to believe everything I read.

Of course you get practical benefits. I, for example, learnt that "Jackdaws love my sphinx of quartz" is the shortest sentence to contain all the letters of the alphabet. But also, it makes me feel much better just to come here and read riotously funny threads.

D*** you guys, Duncan and Mina (please don't be offended)
You replied while I was writing!

But... "Jackdaws love my sphinx of quartz" doesn't include all the letters of the alphabet! Try adding the word "big"

... I learnt that some people are even more pedantic that me, and I learnt how to duck virtual s!

Make that "pedantic *THAN* ME"

And make that "Make that "pedantic *than* me""

Ah yes - I also learnt the law of pedantic reverberation.

I wish I could think of a funny answer, but I would say that Guide ML has given me the courage to advance to HTML and the world is now my oyster.

I don't know if it's something I've learned as such, but having you lot out there helped me to get through a particularly difficult period at work last year. It was great to be able to go somewhere where I felt that people did *think* like me: and to be able to do it while still sitting at my desk.

Sincere thanks, guys!

Believe it or not I picked up an interest in string theory from something I read on H2G2. I might have expected to pickup some internet know-how, find entertainment and meet a huge range of interesting people, but not to regain an interest in abstract maths and physics.
The most useful was definitely an improvement to my favourite garlic soup recipe which has kept me going through many a wet Saturday afternoon.

Hello,

That soy sauce is made from using a fungus and then fermenting soy sauce beans. Also, that Morrisey was originally the head of the New York Dolls fanclub.

This site is awash in esoteric knowledge. That's why I like it.

Yours,
Jake

And I learned... doh!
Never mind.

Most interesting thing I ever learned was right here at h2g2. An immoderate Galaxy Babe explained how god made men with a penis and a brain. And only gave them enough blood to run one at a time.

I have learnt an awful lot from h2g2, so much in fact that I do not know where to start! Duncan Jones gets a special mention for advising me on buying my first classic car!

But more importantly I have met and conversed with people who I met not have otherwise met, who have helped me through the bad and dark times and have always been there for me when I needed them.

I've learnt that I am not the only person with a constant craving for salad cream......mmmm salad cream...

I have learnt: - about many people's toilet habits http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/F19585?thread=105585 - how to satisfy the cravings of nostalgia for my childhood http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A526141 http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A526150 http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A511831 - how to waste my entire day at college instead of writing coursework. How's that for starters? BBS :-)

String theory? Yikes. Care to elaborate on that?

And would you mind posting the link to the garlic soup? That sounds interesting, too.... (Yum)