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

Yes, it's usually six degrees of separation, but isn't connection more important?

Dirk Gently had an almost zen-like belief that connections in the universe pretty much guaranteed that he would get to his destination (solution to a mystery) no matter what direction he went.

It's just that the connections that help you may not be in the sequence you expect. Like a mouse in a maze, you may want to cut *through* walls for a more direct route to the cheese.

So, maybe Dirk Gently might have benefited from some streamlining, as could we all. But even a roundabout path is better than none at all. You get X amount of the way to your goal, and maybe someone else can get the rest of the way. Fermat's Last Theorem A521966 took centuries to solve, but every succeeding effort benefited from knowing what had *not* worked for earlier solvers. A521966 not that I could begin to explain how this process worked. I only know that the successful solver was, like Douglas Adams, a polymath. Someone who knew a lot about very different subjects.

Humanity is still able to make connections thanks to modern technology, including the Internet (Google et al streamline searches tremendously), though face-to-face connections are largely absent unless you're using Zoom or equivalents.


H2g2 has a wide geographical reach. Granted, if you don't know English, you'll need to use Google Translate and hope the translation is adequate. That other website that starts with W says that over two billion people speak English, making it the largest language. And four billion people use Google, with its translation capabilities.

So here's a lot of potential for connection between H2G2 and the rest of the Internet-using planet. And, again with the six degrees theme, those people who do use the Internet to connect may connect with the people around them. Indeed, they very likely do. Some people have an innate gift for connecting. You can call them opinion leaders if you wish (it's been done before).

And, even if some of our guide articles are on topics that are covered on other sites, we spend a lot of time on writing clearly and with an effort to make topics interesting. Like the mice who cut a direct path to the cheese, we want to be the ones who say what we say in such a memorable way that we are the ones who get read and appreciated the most.

Alas, Douglas Adams is not here to guide us into the future. We were lucky to have him as long as we did. I don't blame people who would rather we didn't link to that site that begins with W. It tries to cover *everything,* but things get lost in the shuffle. Yesterday I tried to use it to find global distribution of Cypress plants, but it divided cypresses into dozens of species. The Cypress as a family was not readily viewable on a distribution map.

The monthly user statistics continue to show that we score with our most readable entries on topics of broad interest. And we have an international reach.

That was a longer journal than I realized when I was writing it. So this post will be much shorter.

I can write even shorter

I believe you.

A reporter sat beside Calvin Coolidge one day. She bet she could get him to say three words.

"You lose," he said.

Clever

Meget

Thanks for a good , my friend. I'm turning in now. It's 01.45am here now ...

I hope we can have a longer conversation in the morning, then. I always have so much to say.

Your morning or my morning?
It's 4pm here and I have been busy all day. I'm slow-roasting Bambi's left hind leg with equal parts of and stock of venison, cloves of garlic, herbs, salt and ground black pepper. Should make a great gravy with double cream. I'll fry some slices of boiled potatoes and boil green peas in water with a few grains of salt. Served with a bit of cranberry compote and a nice Italian .
For pudding I'll have a traditional Danish dessert: Porridge rice ccooked in milk and served cold mixed with whipped cream, chopped almonds, sugar and vanilla. And the same cranberry compote I mentioned earlier. Usually it's cherry sauce but I'm not usual
I have had a long video conference with my son and daughter-in-law in Berlin, Germany, and my son, daughter-in-law, two grandchildren plus my daughter and my ex, who were all gathered at grandma's. Of course the children were lively and loud but once their mother took them for a walk we aduæts could hear each other
And now: A nap! Catch you later!

It's 4:00 p.m. there when it's 9:00 a.m. here. it'll be 7:00 p.m. before you read this, probably.

I got Christmas cookies and pumpkin bread ibn a package from my sister this morning. Nothing says Christmas like pinwheel cookies.

Tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. (8:00 p.m. your times) my family will meet by a Zoom session.

I've ordered a blood pressure monitor from Amazon. Maybe eventually my doctor and I will figure out how to get my pressure down into safe territory.

It wasn't until 8.20 pm I read your latest post

"Nothing says Christmas like pinwheel cookies." And here I am not even knowing what they are
Oh well, doesn't matter. I'm not a Christmas person anyway and after googling them I think we actually have something similar

Funny you'll meet your family via Zoom at 1:00 p.m. That's when we had ours today.

with the blood pressure monitor. I've had two. The first was to be strapped around my wrist but I learned that the ones wrapped around one's upper arm are significantly better.
I believe - and hope! - you'll find that your blood pressure will lower when you monitor yourself in your own home after a good rest and with nobody around. That's my experience. White coat syndrome is a very real thing!
I'm told that at my age (67) 140/90 is the limit. If it gets above that one should take medicine. I'm up to 3 tablets per day now but last I checked I was at 138/76 and 131/77 so that's okay.

My doctor is taking this seriously, so I think a solution can be found. What doesn't help is that the entire medical establishment is stressed out from Covid-19. They don't have much energy left for anything else. My doctor assumes I'll be okay because I haven't keeled over yet. he even thinks I could survive Covid-19. I don't want to have to find out if that is true.

Very true. Some hypotheses should never be put to a test

With the world the way it is now, many hypotheses won't be tested because everyone's priorities are being channeled toward coping with the virus.