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

Edisto River, South Carolina

The 4:30 AM Sunday departure was carefully planned to coincide exactly with the weekly activation of the automatic sprinkler system. I hear soft curses from Mrs. Phred who has decided to give one last hand-watering to her new flowers and is standing with her back to a sprinkler head. I have to retrieve a key for the back gate from the top of another sprinkler head where I thoughtfully left it for the lawn people. We dry out before we hit the Georgia state line,

We are camping in a run-down RV park in South Carolina. We stop early to read. I’m anxious to read the new Harry Turtledove “Homeward Bound” book and see what happens in book eight when the human “big uglies” carry the war back to Tau Ceti. You need to read these in order, starting in 1942, when The Race interrupted WWII by taking on all sides. It is not much of a plot spoiler to let you know that Dr. Henry Kissinger, chief negotiator, died in Cold Sleep on the 60 year trip.

We are just across the road from Colleton state park. It’s on the Edisto River, one of the longest blackwater rivers in South Carolina. There is a 50-mile, 12-hour canoe float down river to here. There was once a ferry to Charleston that launced at this location. Charleston is 50 miles distant in the other direction. Here there are alligators, water snakes, heron, egrets live oaks, bald cypress and Spanish moss.

I Google South Carolina State Parks and realize that one could easily spend several months just exploring their dozens of parks. So much to see. So little time.

A blackwater river is very acidic. Usually the water has very little dissolved minerals and they are nearly sterile. The dark water color comes from dissolved tannins from decaying leaves. Visibility is often very good, nearly 30 feet. The water here has been compared to slightly contaminated distilled water. The water chemistry inhibits the proliferation of insect larvae so these types of southern rivers tend to be much less “buggy”. This would be a good place to explore by SCUBA.

...you left at 4:30 AM to go to S. Carolina, to READ?

As long as you don't get into the reading-by-SCUBA habit...makes the pages soggy.

Thanks for explaining 'black water'. (How did Ronny and Kenny do it?)

Hm. I gots nothin' agin Phred as a handle, good buddy, but mebbe the missus might like something different...?

Blackberry Jam

Thought I'd put my money where my mouth was...for grits 'n' shins, this is my first attempt to use the devilce attached to my belt. All typing done by large thumbs on keys the approximate size of rice grains. If this stupid thing has a spellchecker, I don't want to know. (Approx. 10 wpm)

You'd think they'd see the need for a voice recognition program in those things, cram in a little more memory, and let you talk/type.
Maybe in the Tiger Mark IV model?

LeoAlpha,

When you put it like that, I admit it sounds a little strange. I blew all my Barnes & Noble gift certificates on an armload of books serveral weeks ago. These were crammed into the RV and pointedly ignored in favor of library books.

So I thought...why not get up at 4:30 AM Sunday, avoid the traffic, cruise 500 miles north to a nice park and find out what happens in book eight?

Probably not with Tannin. Mrs. Phred is a ethnically a princess...I suppose could go with something like that. Is this another ploy to cause trouble like your ex-PFC Wintergreen fiasco?

MY ex-PFC Wintergreen fiasco?!?

I know this is a bit random, but on the front page of today's Wall Street Journal Marketplace section there was an article on management by someone cleped--- get ready: Phred Dvorak.


Is Mrs. Phred a feminist? Cuz then she'd not only object to the "Phred" but also the "Mrs."
I think it's time for a DMC in the Phred family.

Oy gevald

DMC Meaning?

DMC Devastating Microphone Control (Run-DMC)
DMC Chief Draftsman-Illustrator (naval rating)
DMC Dallas Muslim Council (Texas)
DMC Damage-Mitigating Control
DMC Damm Music Center (Wichita, Kansas)
DMC Darryl McDaniels (rapper)
DMC Data Management Center (University of Washington)
DMC Data Management Conformance (AISC)
DMC Data Management Controller
DMC data mode control (US DoD)
DMC Dayton Motorcycle Club
DMC DeathMatch Classic (Half-Life modification)
DMC Defense Management Council
DMC Defense Manpower Commission
DMC Defense Material Code
DMC Defense Mega-Center
DMC Defense MegaCenter (Defense Information Systems Agency)
DMC Defense Movement Coordinator
DMC Defense of Marriage Coalition
DMC Del Mar College (Corpus Christi, TX)
DMC Delhi Metro Corridor
DMC Delivery Mode Code (Canada Post)
DMC Delorean Motor Company
DMC Delorean Motor Corporation
DMC Demercaptanization (crude oil)
DMC Desktop Multimedia Conferencing
DMC Destination Management Company
DMC Destination Marketing Committee
DMC Detroit Medical Center
DMC Devil May Cry (video game)
DMC Dhaka Medical College (Bangladesh)
DMC Dial Modem Connector (Codex)
DMC Digital Map Computer
DMC Digital Mars C/C++ Compiler
DMC Digital Microcircuit
DMC Digital Microscope Camera
DMC Digital Must-Carry (AT&T)
DMC Dipolog Medical Center (Philippines)
DMC Direct Maintenance Cost
DMC Direct Manufacturing Cost
DMC Direct Marketing Center
DMC Directional Minimum Check (airlines)
DMC Director of Meetings and Conferences
DMC Directory Migration/Configuration
DMC Disco Mixing Club
DMC Discrete Memoryless Channel
DMC Distributed MILSATCOM Conferencing
DMC Distribution Management Center
DMC District Municipal Corporation (Karachi, Pakistan)
DMC Document and Material Control
DMC Dough Molding Compound
DMC Dow Medical College (Karachi, Pakistan)
DMC Downtown Management Corporation
DMC Drive My Car (Beatle's song)
DMC Dynamic Motion Control (animation)
DMC P,P,'-Dichlorodiphenyl Methyl Carbinol

There is also Phred sofytware. "The Phred software reads DNA sequencing trace files, calls bases, and assigns a quality value to each called base".

Microsoft also came out with a helpful program called Bob a few years ago, but it flopped in the marketplace.

(My real name is Mr. Earl.)

1. Oy Gevalt! Translation: uh oh !

2. No! Her mother was an early feminist. Mrs. Phred was very active in civil rights demonstrations and the antiwar things, but lately she mostly gets her hair and nails done frequently.

I did a bit of protesting in the 60's myself. But in Webb City we were pretty much out of things. It was sort of like being wrapped in a cocoon with a little peep hole on the rest of the nation. My coming of age experiences seemed to always happen when I was someplace else for the summer. I spent part of the summer of '64 in the deep south, for example. That was a kicker for a 15 year old raised in a homogenious community.

Yes, you innocent, insulated mid-Americans are the butt of many of our sophisticated coastal jokes.

DMC= Deep Meaningful Conversation.

Gosh, I hope you didn't spend too long compiling that list, Phred. Really! All you need to do was find a teenage girl and ask!

Mrs. Phred worked with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). She was arrested and hauled off to jail twice in Tallahassee for lunch counter demonstrations and again after leading a demonstration at the Florida pavillion of the NY World Fair. This consisting of three ninteen-year old very dangerous girls holding signs saying "We don't want a World's Fair, We want a fair World" ..(made prime-time on all three networks)...Walter Conkite...made her Mom watchng the news.

I was thinking Digital Must-Carry (Crackberry).

Drastic Marital Change.

Before you get too smug and condescending, Leo, I would note that I made up for my boring and banal childhood during the late 60's, 70's and 80's. I daresay I have as many interesting stories to tell as most folks.

Besides, there is something to be said for growing up in a safe, non-threatening environment. My childhood was pretty much "Leave it to Beaver". Well, the hillbilly version of it.