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

PH: Cher. Specifically since she became a robot.
Normally I wouldn't worry too much as she's one person and usually easily ignorable, but everywhere I go at the moment there are 12ft tall posters of her, particularly on the side of every , which I'm finding a tad intrusive. And not just any tad, I mean a real Baker's Tad.

She was okay back when she was still human. She sang 'I've Got You Babe' with someone called 'Sonny' and that was okay. 'It's in his Kiss' and 'Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves' were strong, solid songs if nothing spectacular. And the highlight of her career was being able to hold her own providing backing vocals for Meat Loaf's 'Dead Ringer for Love'. True, she's no Bonnie Tyler, but she didn't disgrace herself, which is no mean feat considering who she was accompanying (Meat Loaf really is a performer who can be genuinely said to 'give 110%' - when performing he routinely pushes himself beyond his ability to endure, which is why he frequently collapses after and during his performances.)
So Cher was doing really well until the end of the 80s, a good enough singer to outlast most of her contemporaries and she even appeared in a terrible film, 'Mermaids' (1990), which for any fantasy fan expecting a semi-sequel to 'Splash' was a complete disappointment. It should have been titled 'Perfectly normal human women who have legs'.
And then one day in the early 90s Cher woke up and decided to become a robot. Instead of singing any more, the Cher-bot released 'Believe' in which its voice is all fake and artificial. She had her humanity edited out, removing every natural wrinkle, flaw, bump, every unique feature that makes a person a person.
What is left falls heavily in the uncanny valley category – almost, but not quite human any more. You'd think that someone who pretends to be an actress would know that women who win Best Actress Oscars are those who have aged gracefully (this century alone, winners over 50 have included Helen Mirren (61), Meryl Streep (62), Julianne Moore (54) and Frances McDormand (60).) and turned themselves into freaky figurines.

<BB<

Have you seen Cher in the finale for "Mama Mia"?

...-All you say, and more....

I've not seen the film, but I've seen the poster on the . Everywhere I go, there's the . So I don't think I need to see the film. And I heard her 'singing' (if it can be called that) 'Fernando' on the radio.

Besides which, I saw her act in the film made just over a quarter a century ago. Honestly, how that film wasn't prosecuted under the Trade Descriptions Act I'll never know.

Quick timeline:
1989 – 'The Little Mermaid' released. This is an outstanding Disney musical that counts as one of the greatest animated triumphs of all time, leaving audiences desperate for more.
1990 – 'Mermaids' released, starring a singer. Is this the live-action musical 'The Little Mermaid' fans so desperately want? Nope – IT HAS NO MERMAIDS!

Honestly, how does Cher sleep at night?

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I'll now and forever think of her as "Cherbot".

Cherbot lemon? She has the sour contracted face for it....

Was hers the first duck-face?

Fixed shower-heads.

I want to able to rinse the soap off *all* of my body, not just the top half

Similarly, folk who thread the hose of their detachable shower heads through the rail, so that the cannot be detached. Why remove functionality and versatility?

I'm quite peeved at the detachable shower head I recently purchased for my camper-trailer (caravan) that was advertised to cut the flow off (down to a drip) with the push of a button.

They LIED! It cuts the flow, maybe down to half, which is still way too much when you're toting water to a primative campground with you in a small trailer with a small tank.

I also discovered that my shower pan leaks badly today. It would cost $2300 to replace professionally, but I think I found a way to fix it well for under $100. Wish me .

My wife was really annoyed when she found out that the only detachable showerhead in the campsite was in the men's showers. (out of 20 showers in total)
This was solved by ignoring the gender signs and using it anyway.
(doing handstands is too dangerous on the slippery floor)

There's also the problem of shower heads that won't angle or change height. We're not all the same dimensions to get underneath!

The showers at the Camping and Caravanning Club sites aren't just fixed head. They're fixed temperature too. This is a problem because sometimes the temperature is almost dangerously high. It's a double problem for me because high temperatures, be it climate or shower/bath, can aggravate my MS. I use the disabled accessible showers which have movable heads and variable temperature. Unfortunately the water pressure isn't always that great. At least I can sit down during and after a shower.

Did I mention what happened recently when my parents were trying to book a cruise? My father has very limited mobility; he can stand for only a few minutes at a time. My cousin was trying to book the trip for them and requested a handicap accessible stateroom. She was told the only one they had available not only didn't have a door wide enough for his mobility scooter, it also feature... get this...



BUNK BEDS!

Well, I can't think of any issues there

Shower-wise; it's one of those basic pieces of technology that I kind of think should have had minimum standards everywhere by now; regardless of how low-rent the setting. Yeah-i've also experienced the fixed temperature, fixed head, fixed height shower-types in campsites.

Honestly, nowadays I'd rather go without thanks. In nthe 21st century there really is no excuse for such shockingly poor design of such a basic piece of kit, anywhere. Either install a proper shower or just don't bother at all

I can just about understand fixed shower heads, even if I don't like them. I've seen the way shower hoses can be ruined, although it isn't difficult or expensive to replace one. Fixed temperatures are just wrong for so many reasons.

PHotD: companies who advertise their office hours as 9am to 5pm, even putting it on a system message, and don't have anybody manning the telephones at 9am. I shouldn't have been put on hold when I called at 9:01am. I don't care that I'm at position 1 in the queue. There shouldn't be a queue in the first place at that time. When my call was answered there was no one available from the department I needed, they were all in a meeting. This is something that shouldn't have happened, IMO. The department I needed was customer service, or something similar. Surely there should always be someone from that department available to help customers.

Oh yes indeed - I was thinking about that sort of thing today myself...

A few weeks ago I contacted a company that advertised daytime opening hours as 7am to 7pm but you could call the switchboard 7pm to 7am and they would take a message. At 6pm I rang the daytime number only to hear a recording saying I should call the switchboard and leave a message

I need to call them again this week, so we shall see what happens this time...

My doctor's surgery does that.

Ring between 8.30 and 10.00 am to book an emergency appointment for today is their rule.

Ring at 8.30... no-one there.

Ring at 9.00 am instead - all appointments gone. yada yada yada