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

Welcome to the Atelier! Here are diverse entities who share a liking for substantive discourse as long as it's not serious ALL the time. If you haven't been here before, please check our forum page at A304354 to find out more about who we are and how we work.

New members: Milla and B'Elana and scorpiodellydoo. Welcome to all of you! We also have a renamed mystery visitor, and on that I happily await developments.

Our scribes this time are; Lil, Tod, and Hypatia. Irv had also volunteered and certainly had completed his work for the salon, but has been out in the field and unfortunately could not contribute. Tod deserves special honours for stepping in and completing a second dose of conversation! *Chloes steps forward and hands both Tod and Hypatia a linen cloth-lined basket containing a bottle of their favorite wine, a small round of cheddar and a block of Jarlsberg cheeses, a tee shirt with "99X" on the pocket, a moleskine notebook and a quill pen* Additionally for you, Tod, Chloe will keep you supplied with the beer or ale of your choice for the rest of the conversation.

Who was the last to the forum? I think it was B4. Am I wrong?

1st LED roll of honor
minichessemouse (FTTF)
Mol
Santragenius V
Kelli
Amy P
Mr. Dreadful
Titania
Teuchter
Hypatia
Witty Moniker
Bald Bloke
Irving Washington
----
Agapanthus
FG
Marv
Lentilla
Todaymueller
Montana Redhead
GDZ
Vip
Wandering Albatross
Titania
Br. Magwitch
David B
ltp (42) (and 142)
Bookmouse
Phil
Pedros_ecosse
Milla
d'Elaphant
Mysterious Stranger (maybe)
KerrAvon
egon
B'Elana
Bagpuss
gandalfstwin
Beatrice
Solnushka
Z
The Thinker
Ben
space cadette
Taff, Agent of Chaos
b4 at post 602

The first health news bulletins of the thread were good: Sporky finally came home, after a month in hospital, and Lil began to notice subtle changes as soon as she commenced treatment with the chiropractor. Phil found some relief from knee pain via ultrasound treatment, while Teuchter was deemed fit enough to be weaned off her steroid program. Egon took an early lead in the competition for bizarre bath injuries.

GDZ began accelerating his way toward his wedding weekend.

Ag got Her Own Dang Job™.

MR got ticketed on her way to work and wound up getting her trunk jimmied open, which led to another ticket. This event launched an interesting discussion about police powers, searches and the Second Amendment (of the US Constitution). Even Marv had a lot to say.

On the wedding day of GDZ and J, salonistas held an outdoor cocktail party in their honor. The party continued as we segued into Phil's birthday.

Consternation spread through the salon at the news that some skins were about to be retired.

MR endured a 4.7 earthquake and Kelli's eggs exploded, leading to some great tips for egg boiling.

By the time the 500th post rolled past, the salon was conducting three discussions (besides the usual chat), two of them rather substantive. First, Irv wondered about the difference between love and infatuation, and how one might guard against mistakes when pair-bonding. Then Lil wondered what salonistas' favorite kitchen appliance was. Then Ben got all philosophical on us and asked how we might articulate a certain kind of dichotomy. This vs. that.

MR experienced a brief lockdown because of a young man bearing a paintball gun, and this launched a discussion about their standards for armed self-defense in the US. And gun control.

Hypatia announced an outstanding summer program for the library at Little Doo-Dah, and GDZ reported back after his honeymoon. Tod instigated a round of haiku shortly before his kayaking holiday, and Marv suffered family for the sake of scattering his father's ashes. Hypatia extolled the Ozarks and mini continued to suffer with migraine. Kelli decided not to kill the Boys. Lil discovered office chair sculling, and then graduated to a wheelchair.

Sundry discussion topics:
The new Star Trek movie and the odd Russian accent
crushed pretzels as a pie crust base
pedicures
Bear Grylls



1000-1500 - scribing by Tod

This segment of the 99Xth conversation started with salonistas still deciding what food they would be; Titania would be pytt-i-panna. Ben was cutting it fine for finishing a report and Magwitch would be garlicky.

Salonistas were having trouble sleeping but still managed to get out to see the new Star Trek movie.Santra decided he would be a rich chocolate dessert and Beatrice a lightly poached egg. Hugging could be banned in schools, apparently. Minichessemouse would be dairy free chocolate.
The Thinker was thinking of taking up skipping, while David B was getting plenty of exercise singing and dancing the Mikado. Hyp went to a play in Joplin and Lentilla researched garlic soup.

Gw7en got a job !

SpaceCadette brought up the subject of counting carbs for diabetics. Bookmouse was having trouble getting an evaluative statement thingy under a 1000 words, and meanwhile Lil seached for DRY ginger ale. MR was still working on her document and had got to the Latin, a language she can think in ...

Mr. Dreadful was getting ready for Maelstrom. Sol went to Brighton and the Star ate pebbles ...next time it will be a sandy beach. Kelli also worried about T'boy eating sand and stuff.

MR got stuck between death metal and a children's party. Ag was back from the lake district and a visit to Ben's house.

Phil went to a beer festival and Mol got back from camp. Z passed his appraisal and got to move to Barrow-in-Furness. It was confirmed that Alan Sherman wrote and sang 'Camp Granada'. Tod came back from a weekend's kayak fishing in Berkshire, and sun screen and various spf factors were discussed.

SpacCadette got a black eye while wheeling a wheelie bin to the curb. MR finished THE draft at 4 am, Hyp wanted to smack FG for going to California and Tod for going to Scotland.

B4 invited us to have a go at the pelican stew riddle.
Bookmouse's certificates went AWOL and she confessed that black is the theme clothing wise. Milla was in a rut of brown but is now much brighter, and KerrAvon wears either black jeans and T-shirt or military/wild west.

Under age ironing once again reared its ugly head.

Vip was currently wearing corduroy, and Lil's mockingbird was ....erm mocking. Hyp was in a blue period. Ladies' trousers were discussed, particularly in respect of belt loops.

Milla and Magwitch keep their gadgets in their bras. [That's what Tod sez. He didn't say what gadgets. - Ed.] The advisability of mobile phones in bras was discussed as was the advisability of LED's in silicon implants. This led to a discussion (and critique by Z) of scientific studies and the effects of mobile phones.
FG went to visit MR, lapislazuli put in an appearance and Lil's feet were fizzing. Vip was off to maelstrom , Teuchter to Beijing and WanderingAlbertross to Portugal .

James White's Sector General was recommended as god starter SF for Z and Beatrice's son was roadying for the manic street preachers. Marv was contemplating 'pants' and Z started moving into his new house.
Minichessmouse turned 21 and the salon had a mini midnight party.
The difference between Viruses and Bacteria was discussed. Kelli lost her car keys but some kind stranger handed them in. Ben's dress pattern failed to turn up.

Dr. MR gets her PHD! Whether having letters after your name gets you better service was discussed. KerrAvon watche 13 hours of Blakes 7 in one day!



And heeeeeere's Hypatia's contribution:

Posts 1500 – 2000 were filled with discussions on a wide variety of topics, some old and some new. We also met a new entity, the Geoffrey/Jeffrey pile of clothes that lives with Z. According to Ben, Geoffrey is an independent life form, wanders about breeding and is a bit smelly. Recognition of Geoffrey led to admissions from Kerr of harboring an Alec, from Lil of the existence of a Katundra, from Bea of the presence of a Jeffralec (complete with gas) in her daughter's room, and that a creature named Annapurna occupies Teuchter's son's quarters at the Towers.

Many salonistas were on the verge of being flooded. GDZ and Titania decided to build an ark. Hyp lost power, plants and shingles in the third serious wind and hail storm of the season. Lil lost power several times due to storms.

There was news on the medical front from or about Lil, Phil, Kelli, Vip, Bookmouse, Sporky and The Star. This led to an interesting discussion on the relative merits of the NHS and American health care system. Some American salonistas, including Lil, don't have health insurance and MR and Witty are worried about losing theirs. But the NHS isn't perfect either, as witnessed by very long waits to get tests and procedures scheduled. We also discussed open MRIs, sleep deprivation and the pros and cons of sleeping pills, brakes on wheelchairs, rollators, acupuncture, vision problems and charley horses. Z gave tips for getting in touch with consultants directly in order to bypa ss nasty secretaries.

The Library of Doom is moving into temporary quarters briefly until their new facility is ready in September. David and Bookmouse have your scribe's deepest sympathy. She also regrets lto learn that it will now be called the Learning Centre of Doom.

We have travelers, as usual. Santra, bought a new hunting jacket in Michigan. FG visited MR for her hooding and made a trip to the San Diego Zoo (saw the baby gorilla and baby koala) but didn't get to go whale watching. Tod went to Scotland for a kayaking expedition. WA spent some time in Portugal.. Teuchter is in Beijing, again. Vip returned from a holiday, and Beatrice's talented children went to Dublin. In more mundane travel news, London suffered a Tube strike, forcing way too many people onto buses whose routes they didn't understand.

We celebrated World Wide Knit in Public Day with discussions of, you guessed it, knitting and some shared patterns for mobius scarves. We were also greatly relieved to learn that Agapanthus still knits socks. On a related note, the pattern for Ben's wedding dress arrived, but was quite a bit later than promised.

We had several bits of fun news. B4 broke ground for his new house. Ag went to see “Waiting for Godot” so she could drool over Patrick Stewart. Beatrice's daughter was in a musical review and brought down the house with a fab dance routine from “Billy Elliott.” Taff was on BBC Radio 2. Yay Taff! David grew a mustache and continued rehearsals for “Hot Mikado”. Bookmouse sang in the chorus of “Carmen”. Mags planned a party for her husband's 40th birthday and Sol was planning for The Star's first.

Z decided to apply for a “dream PhD” in Brighton. Ben finished a paper on executive leadership but couldn't give it the title she wished. Ben and Witty collaborated on phrases to use on job applications, and the irritating practice of requiring information to be entered twice on online applications was discussed. Marv had a good interview for which we wish him luck.

Lil introduced us to the Dunning-Kruger Effect. Tod learned the difference between a teuchter and a toonser. Amy got Faith's room sorted. Santra went on a concert ticket buying spree. Mini is bored being home alone. MR celebrated a birthday.

We learned the difference between spousal digital abuse and spousal analog abuse. Ag entertained with an oh so amusing story of a loud customer in a book store who seemingly failed to realize she wasn't inside a sound-proof shield of some sort while making injudicious remarks on her cell phone. This led to nostalgia for old fashioned phone booths.

And last but not least, there was the discussion of Servalan, cult classics, bdsm spokespersons, drag queens and the danger of being the guest of honor at a Chinese dinner party.



And now comes Tod with extra scribing past 2000:


We learnt that a female is a quine and a male is a loon from WA, and Lil had a cominng together of clothes and pizza, which event led to a confessional discussion of messy eating habits and large busts. Teuchter was in stormy Beijing behind the Great Chinese Firewall and lots of salonistas were having trouble sleeping. David B had an opening night in Hot Mikado.

We learned that Hyp and GT are morse/lewis fans, while Titania watched hairy bikers in the middle of the night. Sol told us the star had started teething, which prompted a discusion on dentistry in general. Beatrice had a wardrobe failure on the way to a big important meeting and her daughter was in a production of high school musical. Z did a study and had the balls to post it, having also decided to go to Barrow rather than work n his Ph.D. (for the time being). Lentilla's electricity was not going where it should.

The Library of Doom was in turmoil as its contents were packed and moved to the Temporary Library of Doom: the building may be different, but wherever David B works will always be the LoD. The summer solstice came and went.

Michael Jackson died and caused massive interference with normal news reporting, while European salonistas began to melt from the heat.

Z lost his wallet and had a flat bat on his mobile. Taff had a hole in the road, which prompted a discusion on holes. We established that there were indeed 4000 holes in Blackburn Lancashire.

Ag was having a bad week so the salon gave her a collective hug. Tod went mullet fishing and came home in the dark. Phil announced he was going to the Kraftwerk concert and #2 joined Teuchter in BJ. MR ran into financial idiocy in respect of her fellowship, and was obliged to make a mortal enemy before she sorted it out.

Other topics:
self-important businessmen booking in at airlines
The Bayeaux Tapestry and the battle of Hastings
the pro's and cons of cable TV
James Burke and Connections
acupuncture and ultrasound
Bellman jokes and cat poetry
pros and cons of running
statistics
grow-your-own mushrooms
NHS Direct and Walk-In Centres (and health care was a prominent topic throughout the thread as Lil's medical odyssey continued)
Henry VIII , beheading and dissolution of the monasteries

the conversation continued apace with lots of discussion about what salonistas are reading, what they'd rather be reading, and books for children. By the end of the conversation we had got on to the topic of weddings, wedding paranoia, and the joys of small ones (weddings). MR was going to see Spamalot. And then she met Eric Idle! That left the salonistas recalling favorite Python skits.

Marv got a job, a terrific climax to a protracted conversation.

Well, here we are again with a tidy salon, fresh tea in the samovar, newly-baked mbougatses and cinnamon rolls at the butler's hatch, and a smell of frebreze emanating from the upholstery. Let the new conversation begin!

Am I first?

I love the smell of a new conversation in the morning.

*Matina brings the hypervigilant GDZ an irish coffee in a FTTF mug*

[ltp]

Eeeech. Was so busy wittering on the old thread that I only just realised.

*lands with a bump*

First LED.

Skids into the first LED. Now I'm off to read the intro.

Great scribing

Gosh = first LED and I'm at work. This isn't right.

The other conversation ended before I could add my to the Python sketch discussion.

I agree with FG. There are way too many great ones to pick a favorite. Some of the sight gags were wonderful. Like Terry Jones (I think) in old lady drag sitting in a rocking chair on top of a moving vehicle. It's been so many years I don't remember if it was a bus or a lorry. John Cleese in the Ministry of Silly Walks. And the fish slapping dance some of you have mentioned was fabulous. I also liked the practice for the ascent of Everest by crawling up a sidewalk. And I loved Ron Obvious. Remember when he was going to jump the English Channel carrying a load of bricks? Then there was Confuse a Cat. What a hoot.

*notices we are all avoiding mentioning the dead parrot sketch and the cheese shop*

[]

First LED?

Hyp, does a conversation really ever end?

I don't have a favourite Python sketch. I like so many of them. The man who chooses his form of execution to be chased off a cliff by a horde of topless women comes to mind, however.

I rather liked that scene from Meaning of Life myself Marv.

Are you serious Marv? Is there really a sketch like that?8)

Brilliant scribing, by the way!

*hiding behind a potted plant, wondering why he's a (maybe)*

[mags] to the scribing

I am getting rather excited. My new boss is writing my offer letter as I type... He is going to let me know when it is done and then I am coming in to the office to accept it.

That's such good news, Marv.

Of the movies, I can't decide if Holy Grail or Life of Brian is my favorite. I watch both of them two or three times a year.

*glad Mysterious Stranger is in place behind the aspidistra*