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

Seems like the certification racket that I have to deal with, Z. If I did not work for the Borg, a CCIE exam would run me $200 for the written and $1500 for the lab. Oh, you can only take the lab in Borg locations so a CCIE proctor can watch you take it. Very few people pass the first time. As I am of the Borg, I can take it free of charge three times.

*A Mammoth emerges after tramping slowly through the backlog, with bits of backlog still stuck in his wool*.

*Strokes Greensleeves Gentley with trunk*

*Apolgoises to Martina for eating the entire secret stash of buns in one go*

[GDZ]

Ah... ah... ah.... ti-i-i... i-i-i-i... shoooo!

*Greensleeves sneezes, blinks, rolls over on the sofa and goes back to sleep*

I've got mixed feelings about paying for it all, it's a lot of money. The GMC is the regulatory body, so the fact that it's funded by the proffession means that it's more on our side than a government funded regulartory body.

Because the Royal College of Physicians is funded by it's members: people who have passed the exam, then it's got an inherent interest in maintaining the standard of the exam. I'd rather fail an exam that means something than pass a worthless exam that any fool can pass.

Hmh: I think we come from different bases because I don't believe in things that can't be proven, and this energy you talk of can't be proven. I only believe in the germ theory of disease because it can be proven, and there's no evidence that traditional chinese accupuncture works, there's ok evidecne for western accupuncture which doesn't use 'imaginary energy'.

Welcome, Woolly Mammoth!

By now it seems that it's raining everywhere exept here. It's so weird to see birches all yellow at this time of the year.

Stones are fascinating, so are stone walls. My mother is obsessed with stones, she carries them home from bob knows where. Carries, not drives.

Tobacco stickers were ugly. I had to smoke two cigarettes in one go. And I gave my vote (though obviously I had to cheat with the postal code). They never want my opinion, not even those infamous bbc surveys.

*Peers down trunk at Greensleeves*

*wipes trunk*

>> Ben, as someone who's looking at forming an online community to make a community stickier, how does one make it sticky, exactly?

Serious question? How long have you got....?

What's your community for? Why do you want it to be sticky? How do you want people to contribute to it? Why should they come to your community? Why should they hang out there? What will your site offer them that would make them a community rather than a gaggle of random visitors? How can you foster links between members? How can you foster contribution, volunteering, dedication and an investment of time, commitment and emotion by your members? What's in it for them?

For the answers to these and many more....

Actually, I don't have answer-answers, but these are certainly the questions I would ask in order to work out the answers.

Have you read the DNA guidelines here on the BBC site? http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/hub/Help Personally, I'd have thought the content of that section of the DNA sites would have been company confidential, but then the BBC has never really understood what it had ahold of here.

Personally, I find the Meatball Wiki site impossible to navigate, but there is good stuff there: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MeatballWiki
Or there was, the home page doesn't seem to be working: http://www.usemod.com/cgi-bin/mb.pl?MeatballWiki

Amy. This is the sort of thing that Amy knows about.

Lil knows in practical terms too, given that she has created a very sticky place here in the Atelier.

If you want more, we can take this offsite.

Ben

>> there's no evidence that traditional chinese accupuncture works

Is that because no-one's done the trials and therefore there isn't any evidence, or is that because they have done the trials and found no evidence?

How does Western accupuncture differ from Chinese accupuncture?

I want footnotes and references please!

Ben

PS it IS nice to have you back here, I've missed you online. And Hati. I've misse you both.

*wanders in wearing three pairs of flippers*

I'm back in Quirm having cleaned - and said goodbye to - my old Nest. The journey up to Quirm was amazing with rainbows touching the sea .

Note to self: Must talk with Z about scientific method.

*sets diving watch to 1341* I'm off to explore the depths of the backlog. Don't wait up. *pulls mask over face*

*resurfaces briefly*

Simulpost with Ben. What am I supposed to know about?

*disappears*

Ok, some bloke (well ) once told me that there wasn't any evidence that TCM actually worked after several trials, but he was a practioner of TCM and western accupuncture who gave up the TCM because there was better evidence for Western Accupuncture.

I confess to not having done a through literature review to prove him right or wrong.

*Calls out after Amy*

.... forming an online community to make a community stickier... ickier.... ickier..... er.... er.... er....

Oh well. Never mind. It's good to have her back, and she'll catch up with herself soon.

Ben

>> I confess to not having done a through literature review to prove him right or wrong.

*sigh*

You just can't get the footnotes these days....

*sigh*

A Mammoth plods off to the library and starts to look up things on medline.

mikerhike - the place I was talking about is out near Loch of Skene. Sorry I can't remember the name of the estate. They always had fantastic conker trees.

I have but 16 more working hours till my trip to Vegas. It's going to be over 100F here and muggy muggy muggy. What's a desert boy like myself to do?

In other news, it's something of a war zone here. There is quite a lot of flying material in the air. I think that it is time to ressurect the Nerf armoury.

las vegas was a real shock to me when i went out. all that glorious heat and no humidity - i was in heaven...


until my sinuses caught up.

That's what I am looking forward to Sporky. I love hot dry heat. Give me a desert any day over a coastal swamp.

Looks like we may have a disappearing LED...