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

In 1971, a new, monster themed childrens' breakfast cereal was introduced in the US called Franken Berry (in the same line as Count Chocula and, later, Boo Berry). Shortly after it's introduction it was temporarily pulled from shelves because of the high amount of food coloring in it resulted in children across the US suffering from pink poo.

You can stifle a sneeze by tickling the roof of your mouth with your tongue.

The space shuttle, when firing at full capacity, consumed more oxygen per second than every person on Earth breathing in at once

I normally sneeze in pairs. Someone ELSE can stifle my second sneeze by saying, "Bless you" or "Gesundheit" right after my first sneeze.


I HATE that!

Scientists are studying the tongue orchid. This orchid's flower looks sand smells so much like a female wasp in the mood that male wasps have been known to have sex with it. Scientists can prove this, because they've collected tiny drops of wasp sperm.

Lore of body lice, when the Inca extended their empire to include the region of the ancient city of Tihuanaco and Lake Titicaca, having surveyed the region for resources, the fixed upon a tax on the Lake dwellers of the region in the amount of a hollow reed to be filled with body lice, to be paid annually.

Okay, I'll bite. What did they do with the lice?

I'm thinking a hollow reed filled with body lice would make a helluva good shaft for poison arrows.

A hollow tube filled with angry bees makes an excellent vibrator. Perhaps lice would have the same effect if sufficiently agitated?

I think the inspiration of the Inca was pity.

In Medieval times, evening officially began when the first star became visible in the sky.

Nightfall came when one could see three stars together at a single glance.

These were important points in Medieval law, at eventide people were required to cease their work of the day and return home.

Even trials by combat ended when the first star became visible in the darkening sky.

Curfew began with nightfall and continued till the sun rose above the horizon.

Curfew violations carried the capital penalty except if one had a life threatening emergency to justify being out of doors after nightfall.

What if - and this isn't a facetious question - it was too overcast to see any?

On whom did the Incas have pity? The lice or the people bothered by them?

Post 9252, KB, in such a case common sense was the rule, subject to the dictates of the local law enforcement community.

Post 9253, TC, pity on account of the poverty of the lake dwellers, living on rafts of reeds they'd constructed of the tules* growing in the lake and the other products of it.




Lake Titicaca is landscaped in the shape of jaguar.

Its unknown who did that, the current lake dwellers migrated long after Tihuanaco was depopulated.

Tihuanaco is thought by some to be as much as 16,000 years old, which would make it of an age with the oldest known human beings in South America, voyagers probably originating in Fiji who apparently had sole possession of the place till the mongoloid wave arrived some 4000 years later.

Most authors agree that Tihuanaco is not so old as that, but predates the Inca and is probably the oldest ruin in the Americas.




Tules: a grasslike reed in the same family as the Egyptian Papyrus indigenous to the Americas and Polynesia used for weaving mats, basket work, boats, some of which were as small as a surf board, used by the Chumash Indians of southern California to voyage as far from the mainland as the channel islands, similar small reed boats also employed by the Easter islanders, some of which were capable of transoceanic voyages.

The seed heads are edible and have food value and flavor similar to high bran bread.

https://www.google.com/search?q=images,+tules&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=Ow4OUtOJE-ffyQGysIAw&ved=0CCoQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=677#facrc=_&imgdii=9ut1vUOBOGb5sM%3A%3BJPKLX7OeZfp4yM%3B9ut1vUOBOGb5sM%3A&imgrc=9ut1vUOBOGb5sM%3A%3BUCARMnzxhXm5mM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fupload.wikimedia.org%252Fwikipedia%252Fcommons%252Fthumb%252Ff%252Ff6%252FSchoenoplectus_acutus_FWS-1.jpg%252F220px-Schoenoplectus_acutus_FWS-1.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fen.wikipedia.org%252Fwiki%252FSchoenoplectus_acutus%3B220%3B246

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1263134

Cerberus, often described as a three headed hell hound who guards the gates of the underworld, is basically named "Spot".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerberus#Etymology

My Dad has a little backyard chicken coop. Just now I was helping him kill and pluck non-egg-producing chickens. One of the others was extremely interested in watching this horror show. Makes me wonder about his mental state.

*cough* *ahem* *cough*

>Makes me wonder about his mental state.

Especially as HE is probably also a non-egg producing chicken



F S

Er... um...

Well... *cough* Obviously SHE makes eggs just fine, or she would have been on the chopping block too...

*ahem* So, carry on, then.

A gaggle of geese.