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

I dislike them. If we didn't have them at school, it's entirely possible that I'd have been able to encounter some of you lot during the afternoon today when I was logged on (sluggggggggggishly) to H2G2 and looking for minimal-graphics entertainment...

Instead of disliking firewalls, I'd suggest you better dislike the fact that a lot of people all around the world have so little respect for other peoples privacy and possesions that, by spreading virusses and using backdoors, they've created a need for others to protect their local systems/networks with firewalls.

But one thing is not completely clear to me. Normally, a firewall is supposed to only block UNwanted INcoming traffic. If the firewall at school prevents you from coming here, I'd say that even normal surfing the web isn't possible, since all activity here on H2G2 is purely web-based.

The sluggishness however is very clear, especially at school, since quite a few people there may be using the same connection to get on the net. Let's hope that soon much better connections with a higher bandwidth will be possible.

greetz, Festi

Well what the firewall actually blocks is use of AIM, which is on the school computers, but is unusable, blast it.

And another thing, we've got a cable modem attached to the school computers... all the school computers... in the whole smegging county.

Stupid bastards... stupid *cheap* bastards... you know why we have to share a single modem throughout the county? You want to know? Because they blew all the education tax funds on building a really attractive and comfortable office building for the school board employess, that's why. It's nicer than any of the actual schools, and it's surrounded by those huge palm trees that cost $1000 each if you buy them full grown which is exactly what they did.

Bastards.

Such cheapskates should end up against the wall when the revolution comes

*hums the we're-not-planning-a-revolt song cheerily in case anybody is listening*

Hehehe... if I'm not mistaken (but I probably am), my previous line was a quote from one of the books in the "Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy" series

Sounds familiar but hell if I can work out what it had to do with.

A revolt/revolution perhaps?

I have some vague recollection of a planet where something was terribly wrong. Maybe it had something to do with lawyers and/or revolutionaries. Anyway, these guys were always shouting about all those people that should end up against the wall. And they DID.
However, the ones that were shouting so much, ended up there WITH them. After all, who could trust them not to start shouting again in the near future, but then against the people who revolted now?

Something like that. It's a pity I lent somebody all the HHGG books that I had, only to never see him (and therefor the books) again.

So go and find him then.

That'll be very hard. Both him and I have moved since then (I myself moved several times, and over large distances), and I don't remember his name anymore... It's over 13 years ago, anyway.

I'll have to find a new set, I guess, but they're hard to come by in the original Dutch language

You mean the Dutch language comes in flavors?

Nah, you're spoiling the joke...
I meant to imply that HHGG was originally written in Dutch

However, your question is a valid one, since there are at least half a dozen "dialects" spoken in Holland. One of these (called "Fries" - pronounce as "Free's") should even be considered an independant language, which isn't understood by about 90% of the Dutch people. It has its own pronunciation and spelling.
The others are reasonably compatible with eachother. They're mostly written the same way, though the pronunciation may vary. I was born in the region that speaks the most clear and standard variant of the Dutch language.

That sounds downright foolish... I saw we bring martial punishment into the schools... teach the school board a lesson or two about who's best intrests they should have in mind...

*stares thoughtfully at cane whip...

there's this saying about mild cures making things worse. I don't know the exact english phrase

I'd say the school board committed a capital offence, and therefor should recieve capital punishment

(Didn't I see an AC-outlet nearby?)

Exactly