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

In World War II, during the invasion of Normandy, American soldiers had a sort of code: if they saw an unidentified person they would say "flash." Then if the person in question said "thunder" it meant he was on your side and if he didn't it meant he was German. I don't know for certain whether the British and Canadians did the same thing, but I assume so.

I thought of it because the one formerly known as Count Zero was talking about something similar they did in the Pacific.

What would they do if the person actually flashed them?

Thanks for explaining flash and thunder. Must confess I'd never
heard of that one. I remember something about clicking toys,
those little metal frogs that had a piece of spring metal that
would make a clicking noise; one click, two clicks.

>>..talking about something similar they did in the Pacific. <<

And I'd never heard of Lallapolooza being used either.
It was Philadelphia the Japanese couldn't pronounce.
Read that in an Arthur Miller novel I think.


~jwf~

And I read that the Dutch used to use the name of the seaside town of Scheveningen as a password. No one not Dutch could possibly pronounce it right - and certainly not the Germans.

Actually, I think that is in the Diary of Anne Frank.

Scheveningen was mentioned in the same wiki article where I read about lollapalooza.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibboleth#Notable_shibboleths

1 gram of DNA can store the same amount of information as 100 billion DVD's.

Some people confuse Arthur Miller with Norman Mailer.

~jwf~

General internet knowledge holds that the DNA in a single sperm contains approximately 37.5 GB of data and a single ejaculation contains between 200 - 300 million sperm. Therefore the data transfer rate of sex is 1.4 to 2.2 TB/sec.

There are (were) 32 distinct aboriginal languages
indigenous to the area now known as the province
of British Columbia.

Some tribes were only discovered during the construction
of the Alaska Highway by the American Army Corps of
Engineers, in WW2.


~jwf~

So - c'mon, someone was gonna ask - could we use sperm as flash drives?

Ick.

Well, it would confirm the theory about where men do their thinking...

Taxi for KB....

Big news today about the success of a male birth control
pill. It only works in mice so far. But 'scientists hope'.

Somehow the noun scientist and verb hope don't sit well.

Anyway, man-on-the-street interview "Would you use a male
birth control pill, knowing it is essentially a spermicide."

Most answered "Sure, it's about time men took responsibility."

And one guy (I can't believe I heard this on the radio) said,
"Nope, not me. I'm only having sex with myself anyway so
what's the point?"


~jwf~

[useful alert]

Here's a much more promising male contraceptive that is already in use in some areas around the world.

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/04/ff_vasectomy/

[/useful]

But, yea. I can empathize.


BaronGrim, proud member of VHEMt. http://www.vhemt.org/

"Les U Knight"?
Hmm.. that sounds 'counter-productive'.

But I like their ECO depth scale guage:
http://www.vhemt.org/gauge.gif


~jwf~

Many years ago, women were asked their opinion on the male pill (purely theoretical at the time). Most of them said that they wouldn't trust men to take a pill, as the men weren't as affected by an unwanted pregnancy. This was late '70s or early '80s. Men's attitudes may have changed since then, but I wouldn't trust a man to take 'the pill' unless we were in a very stable relationship.

That last bit was a useless fact. I'm happily married and I'll be postmenopausal by the time the male pill is available, so hubby won't be able to take it.

Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, did not return to Earth in his spacecraft, the Vostok 1. The Soviets had not yet designed a braking system that would work well enough to slow the craft to a survivable velocity. Rather, they had their first few Cosmonauts eject and parachute from 20,000 feet.