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

things that should be invented:

a word to describe what i feel at most times:

Euphoria at being alive and able

a strong feeling that i'm missing something important

resentment at having to contribute in some way in order to
fulfill my desires

Did you want a reply to this:

'(In my opinion, people ought not to be allowed to have children which will be supported by the taxpayers.)'?

Convicted felons, teenage mothers, seriously developmentally disabled and insane people, and physically disabled people are *all* supported by taxpayers. Children born into poverty don't actually have much choice in the matter. But, if you really feel that way, you could solve a lot of problems (like saving Britain's meat industry) by just implementing Jonathan Swift's 'Modest Proposal'.

These 'people' are not only not contributing to society, but also eating up *your* taxes. Turnabout is fair play, isn't it?



As for everything else you said, I decline to engage, on the grounds that doing so would serve no purpose.

I put 'rant and long post' warnings on such posts, so those who find them abrasive can simply skip them. I am sure many people do. That is the idea. If people *choose* to read, then they are not really in a position to complain about the length of a posting, are they?

Arrogantly ridiculing *everyone* at h2g2 (and the rest of Humanity), because this person says I do, and given her status as Mother of God and Empress of the Universe she would know...

Auntie, for LeKZ
none too keen on hubris and/or blasphemy

Xordin: You want something invented so you don´t have to give to recieve, sounds like a good idea.

I don´t think they mean we need to get immigrants to do our dirty work. Just that we need more people to be able to keep the economics up. And what is so wrong about immigrants doing labour for small money. Better than them not getting any money at all.

And someone on here mentioned inventing something so potatoes didn´t get those little growths. I´d personally just get rid of all the potatoes, they taste horribly. But instead you could also try and put an apple into the bag, it should work.

What a thoroughly nasty thread.

I am incapable of seeing a statistic without prodding it for reality.

Two were quoted earlier: 'one third (33%) of all girls, and one quarter (25%) of all boys - socioeconomic class irrelevant - are REPORTED to have been sexually abused'. (This is then described as a conservative estimate based on the FBI).

And later in the same paragraph the writer says 'Those of us who have worked in this field know that only about 1 in 10 instances of sexual abuse of children is reported to any authority.'

And finally with supreme irony: 'YOU do the maths.'

Well if I do the maths I make that 330% of all girls and 250% of all boys.

Sorry. But that just ain't possible darling.

For the record - I had a happy childhood. I was loved, nurtured, cared for and well educated. I was not abused in any way. I had my share of frustrations, and my family have their share of quirks. But I am not one of those 330% of girls who have been abused.

I better stop now or this will turn into a rant. A rant against ranting.



***B

There is overlap between the 1 in 10, and the percentages.

Incidents, plural, occur to the same individuals. 1 in 10 of those *incidents* is reported to the Police or any other authority. On the basis of those 1 in 10 reports, the FBI compiled their statistics.

FBI stats for the USA 1990 were 33% of girls and 25% of boys are sexually abused before the age of 18. Not all children who are abused ever have *any* incident reported. Many have one, sometimes more, reported. The stats as accepted in the field are closer to 50% of girls and 40% of boys, but are non-verifiable except using retrospective studies of adults. Such studies (refs on request) seem to bear out those speculated statistics, rather than the ones quoted by the FBI.

That was not very clearly stated. Thank you for pointing that out so I had the opportunity to clarify.

Auntie, for LeKZ

Thanks. That makes much more sense. I really dislike shoddy statistics, and there are so many of them around.



Things that should be invented?

An anti topic-drift filter, perhaps, though I think that has been suggested already.

***B

Ditto re shoddy stats. I was ranting, remember...?

It's an emotional topic, and emotional buttons got pressed. It is also off-topic.

A device for delivering intraveinous tranks the moment the cpu senses a rant coming on?

Auntie, for LeKZ

I'm sure that even as I type the spooks at Millbank Tower are perfecting just such a device to replace their antiquated pager-based peon control system.

what's millbank tower?

more inventions:

a total shield for my brain, which allows me to think in abstraction
thus freeing myself of desires to be/do better (or in some cases worse )than another person.


i'm talking about a plugin auto meditator maybe

Millbank Tower is the h/q of the British Labour Party, and therefor aparachik central control.

***B

ah!

how about something that allows you to insert your postings right after the post you're repying to? because i really hate it when i see one i want to reply to, but it's 2 dots away and it would look a little silly to reply to it and have the posts be dots apart. yuk.

ommmigosh: yes, that was the one. was trying to think of it but couldn't quite, so used another term.

like that. especially when it's not very relevant to the topic, but since it was a question you want to answer it, even if it might have been (read, "probably was") retorical.

of course, this might make the forums an unreadable mess. it would be good for some of them to not have this, like the h2iq quiz, and the various games like the haiku challenge.

h2g2 feature suggestions page: http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A388352

That is, if you actually want it to happen...

Funny you should mention that, but something similar is here already... http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/F19585?thread=124796&skip=0&show=20 ***B

... mind you I have just switched over to 'expert' mode and the kindest thing one can say about it in Alabaster is that it does not live up to the usability of the rest of the site.

***B

Thanks Rama - reading the conversations this weekend has annoyed me and offended me incredibly.

Another thought - clothes that enable you to fly.

CR (At least ONE IRISH FATHER who could not ever imagine hurting his child, and is wondering why someone would launch such a hurtful ad hominem attack on someone who was just making a point he thought had some merit...)

Woodpigeon~

Which 'someone' are you referring to, please? And which 'hurtful ad hominem attack' against whom, please?

If you are referring to anything I said, I need to know! Could you point out to me precisely where I was ad hominem? Where was I intentionally hurtful, in your opinion? I would *honestly* appreciate a reply to these questions.

I realise that I was over-emotional in my 'rant'. This is a touchy subject for me. I did not intend to say, nor do I recall having said, anything ad hominem. My memory may be playing tricks on me. Anything you can do to clarify would be a big help in my learning not to make the same mistakes.

I do know my facts were accurate, if poorly stated.

The belief that there is a connexion between money and the ability to be a good parent is common. Tragically, it harms many more children than it helps.

If you are concerned about the interchange between MoG and myself, there is a larger picture here. I cannot say, since I don't know, whether you are privy to all the details.

Ireland currently has the highest child-abuse rate in the EU. I hope you did not take that as an anti-Irish remark! It *could* be construed that way, in some contexts...

I was just citing a social statistic. Inner-city African-Americans have the highest infection rate for AIDS in the developed world. Social statistics are not value-judgements. *If* you found a value-judgement against Ireland or Irish people in my words, *please* show me where.

I never want to give the impression that I am bigoted in any way, because to my knowledge, I am not. If I inadvertently did so, *any* assistance you can offer would be gratefully accepted, and I shall publicly retract any bigoted statement, and apologise, as well I should do!

More fathers such as you describe yourself would help make the world a much safer place for children. Fathers who speak out and say they would never hurt a child are examples to all parents everywhere, in my opinion. Thank you for that.

Very concerned - there has been too much bad feeling generated by the wildly off-topic comments at this thread. Since I posted here, I feel responsible for trying to help resolve as much of it as I can.

Please respond when it is convenient for you.

Sincerely,
Auntie, for LeKZ

If we had the means to do it, what things would be great inventions?

Examples

- clothes that clean and iron themselves automatically...
- personal teleportation devices...
- grass that never needs cutting...

Inventions I'd really like to see:

Special lifting butter that makes the toast land 'butter side up' when dropped - or better still, leaves it floating above the floor.

Cat flap that automatically closes when tries to bring in prey.

Oh yeah, and a magic wand capable of ending world poverty, putting a stop to human rights abuses and ending pollution, war, intollerance, dreadful bosses, mortages, red wine stains, spots and bad daytime TV.

N Sane.