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

tis not the spelling that is the problem, it is the speed of typing and not proof reading.


the poem i do not belive there is any copyright issue, if someone finds there is i guess this will jsut get yikesed


Assisi

The dwarf with his hands on backwards
sat, slumped like a half-filled sack
on tiny twisted legs from which
sawdust might run,
outside the three tiers of churches built
in honour of St Francis, brother
of the poor, talker with birds, over whom
he has the advantage
of not being dead yet.

A priest explained
how clever it was of Giotto
to make his frescos tell stories
that would reveal to the illiterate the goodness
of god and the suffering
of His Son. I understood
the explanation and
the cleverness.

A hen-rush of tourists, clucking contentedly,
fluttered after him as he scattered
the grain of the Word. It was they who passed
the ruined temple outside, whose eyes
wept pus, whose back was higher
than his head, whose lopsided mouth
said Grazie in a voice as sweet
as a child’s when she speaks to her mother
or a bird’s when it spoke
to St Francais

The day of reckoning is here.

Justin the Preacher hath found Ask h2g2.

RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

I'll stop talking to him here, then. Maybe I'll go talk on his page.

<>

He's still alive.

Perhaps you're the one who'll be in for a surprise. If there is anytihng that survives after death, you may learn that you are wrong. How would you take that?




<>

OK. You attacked science fiction and me. Now it's personal, but I'll stop talking here so as to not interfere with te point of this thread.

What is...

Well,thanks for that, but not being one who ever has had much to do with poetry, though English was my strong suit, I cannot make a lot of sense of that!

Justin

Lemon Blossom,

I did no such thing! I did not attack you at all! I did come against the ridiculous myth of 'evolution' which is on a par with 'Dr Who' and 'Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy', but not science fiction itself, as that is just honest story telling.

There will not be any surprises for the Lord's people a moment after death; they already know and walk with Him that they meet face to face. We don't have a religion, but that Person who is the judge of all the Earth.

Justin

<<- atheist or agnostic, with a sense of humour>>
As an aside, I'd have to say that most atheists and agnostics I have known are grim, deadly earnest and not noted for any appreciable sense of humour!
(From a Christian, described by an atheist (Member) as 'conservative and ignorant, but actually neither..)

Interesting definition! I've come across some of those, and I don't mean Justin... (I'll not name any names).
I know you-all loathe Justin, and I don't agree with him myself, but do you really think abuse is the way to debate him?

Thank you Della . Although I have to ask, not even Douglas Adams?

Well someone has already mentioned a part of this, but two questions really bothered me a couple of years ago. I had to work out my own answers and it wasn't much fun at the time. Thinking about it, a misplaced dose of humanist or Nietzschen philosophies could have really messed me up.

#1) Oh my Voltaire, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna be gone forever and I'm never coming back. Arghhhhhhhhhh...

&

#2) What is my raison d'etre if I am an accident? Without a creator nothing has any intrinsic value, there is no reason for any morals.

I can't even remember how I dealt with #1 anymore. Once I had a good answer the question ceased to bother me, so I forgot the answer.

#2 Is a fallacy in itself. If you need a higher power to give value to your life, then that higher power is itself valueless. So nothing has any intrinsic or objective value, but that's because those things probably don't exist. As people we're not objective anyway. There's no reason we can't attach our own value to things and live according to what's important to us. The universe is our blank canvas.

Or, as I like to say, if humans without gods are the orphans of the cosmos, then the universe is the cosmic equivalent of a free house. Party!

Oh I got so carried away I forgot what the thread was about. .

Ok so I just think that it might help some people if these sort of issues were debated and possible solutions offered in class.

Humanism is not necessarily the answer though - the original version seems to be based on humans being important because of characteristics they have that animals don't. I prefer to go with humans are important because that's just the way we feel and the most enjoyable way to live.

<>
Time for me to confess, as far as humour goes, I prefer Terry Pratchett. In terms of DNA's work, I find 'Hitchhiker's' wildly variable, but overall, not that funny. (A bit too Monty Python, which I have never been able to *stand* - it's rather elitist, for one.)
The first Dirk Gently, now *that's* quality! IMHO, it's the best DNA book.

I meant, though, more "atheists I have known" than celebrities...

Well there is often a certain bitterness amongst atheists who feel they've had religion forced upon them. These will be the same people who talk about being an atheist a lot. Alternatively, maybe its just not believing in the magical things.

Aren't religious wars just a fight over who's go the best imaginary friend?

I occasionally allow a hint of humour to seep through my grim, earnest atheism...

"Aren't religious wars just a fight over who's go the best imaginary friend?"

Oh, I like that. That's my quote of the day, and no mistake!

I'm a satanist. I have an imaginary fiend.

Do I detect the eensiest bit of topic drift happening?



az

Oops...sorry az...

Back to being a grim, deadly earnest atheist.

*counts to ten*
*I must not feed the troll, I must not feed the troll, I...*

Reddyfreddy,

Twasn't you per se. Twas Justin doing his usual schtick - catching newcomers unawares who think they might actually be able to have a reasonable conversation with him.

Anhoodle, I'm going to bed soon so let's see what happens tomorrow.

buenas noches,

az