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

OK, here’s the thing. One of the presents I got this season was software, including an off line / online casino with one of my favourite mindless things to do- slot machines. It has the usual suspects, enchanted forest machines, machines that are cheap copies of adventure stories, pirates, gemstones etc.. I came to notice that the best payoff ratios are two machines, one of a US football nature and another called *Heroes* which is completely and utterly military. Then I noticed that the *pay glass* or chart that indicates what the payoffs are told an interesting (at least to me) story. Here are the payoffs, with only the top pay shown, that is to say how many points one would get if they got five symbols in a row.

Five star general- 3000

Uncle Sam- 1500

Badges of the four services- 500

Machine gun- 500

US flag- 400

Ammunition box- 200

Purple Heart medal- 200

Red Cross symbol- 100

Soldiers kit- 100

Dog tags- 80

OK, fair enough I hear you say, a five star general should be in charge. But twice as valuable as the symbol of the government and six times the value of the symbols of the services? By the way, when the Uncle Sams or flags lines up for even two adjacent squares a rounding rendition of the national anthem fires up and when the machine gun hits it fires rounds at the glass of your computer, complete with bullet holes. The bottom five don’t even get a *bong*. The descending payoffs are the worst for the Red Cross, the kit and the dog tags.

Now call me paranoid and suspicious, but surely (don’t call me Shirley!!!) this is the general perception of the military if not the actual working system. Medals, medicine and the nuts and bolts of the army, navy, airforce and marines are unimportant- medicine, guts, glory and the common man mean nothing next to the chain of command which is entirely separate from any democratic control.

I still play it but I wonder now and then what the reaction would be if two small changes were made, change the national symbols to Italian ones and replace Sam with Mussolini. (Or Franco, or Stalin, or Mao, or any number of others). Would it still be fun to play? Or am I just being paranoid along with being silly?

>>..a rounding rendition of the national anthem fires up..<<

Any way to turn it off? For me, that 'feature' would render the game unplayable...

check "preferences" - maybe you can change it to 'hail to the chief'

that one's great because whoever's in range gets to throw hail at the president when it plays and then claim temporary literal mindedness as a defense. it only works in the winter, of course, and is why the administration has been so keen on increasing global warming.

Perhaps you would be better to avoid online/offline gambling and spend your time watching . . .





'Mamma Mia'! F19585?thread=6181147







and Mazursky's 'Tempest', of course.




(do I detect rum in the air?)

I think the facts that Mama Mia is the number one film in Britain right now combined with the fact that Alexandra Burke's rendition of Hallelujah is the number one song is a clear indication of the downfall of Western Civilization, the final decline of the British empire and a sure indication of the Apocalypse.

That and the casino game.

Boom De Ya Da!

( F19585?thread=3875581&post=73716366#p73716366 )

I hootoo


boom de ya da...

It just occurred that in the day of the *What's wrong with...* I would have been thoroughly pilloried for the above thread.

The Discovery song post?

What's wrong with it?