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

Meant to post this link too
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12336960

So, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan...

I've been following it... I just kind of assumed everyone else was too. I don't tend to start threads on serious world issues because when I do I usually mis-word something and people get angry with me.

My vague concern has to do with the fact that, after any 'popular uprising' someone has to step in and organise things and pick up the pieces. We saw who picked up the pieces in Iran's 'popular uprising'. And, we know from history who picked up the pieces in France in 1789 (the French).

Sure there have been a string of successful popular uprisings with fairly positive outcomes lately, but popular uprisings, historically speaking, do not inevitably lead to an improvement. Often they lead to an even more oppressive group taking power.

it was rock the casbah

end of the song the jets are ordered to bomb the crowd but bomb the king instead

thought it drew some parralels

now the army say they will not fire on the crowd

"thought it drew some parallels"







My dear Taff, I didn´t watch the whole video.
Next time I´ll read better your subtle ways.

One Gurkha deals some swift justice to 11 of 40 robbers/rapists with his khukuri:
http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=27100

Viagara manufacturer closes its Sandwich operation

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12335801

'Tropical Cyclone Yasi has been upgraded to Category 5 strength — the maximum rating — as it barrels towards the coast of northeastern Australia, prompting the premier of Queensland to warn of "catastrophic" damage to come.

Tens of thousands of people have already fled the path of what is expected to be the most devastating storm ever to hit the region, and possibly the country. Winds could reach upwards of 320 km/h, said CBC meteorologist Michelle Leslie.

The storm could take 24 hours once it hits land before it begins to weaken, Leslie said.'

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2011/02/01/australia-cyclone-yasi-queensland.html#ixzz1ClSkCG7b


Any Queensland hootooers around?

If so, get away from the computer and get to safety! We'll still be here, one way or another, when you get back.

Mexico's ambassador in London has complained to the BBC over "offensive, xenophobic and humiliating" comments made about his country on Top Gear. (Richard) Hammond said: "Mexican cars are just going to be lazy, feckless, flatulent, overweight, leaning against a fence asleep looking at a cactus with a blanket with a hole in the middle on as a coat."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12338053

I thought at the time that this was a deliberate attempt to provoke and court controversy. It was cheap and entirely unnecessary.

Anhaga,

I don't know of any current, active Queensland hootooers except Kyra, and she's in Brisbane; that's well out of the current danger zone. (She didn't get flooded out, either.)

Poor Queensland. It's been a hell of a summer.

And yes, Cyclone Yasi is the biggest story in my world. Even here in Canberra, a hell of a long way away, we'll get some heavy rain out of the remnants of the cyclone in coming days.

Meanwhile, I'm keeping an eye on Egypt too, but my attention wanders.

Hey, anything that makes American numbskulls look better by way of comparison on the subject is a good thing in my book (though I'm not even really sure the quote given achieves that).

That was in response to 10529, of course.

Cyclone Yasi is pretty much the only news story around here. Like Ivan said, I'm in Brisbane, which is about as far away from the eye of the storm as Britain is from Italy, so no immediate danger here, but we should see plenty of rain and a fair bit of wind, because it's such a huge storm. Here's an image of what it would look like over Europe.

http://resources2.news.com.au/images/2011/02/02/1225998/738290-tc-yasi-superimposed-on-europe.jpg

It's scary here, just watching it, I can't even image how the people in the path of the storm are faring.

The eye of the storm is meant to hit land in a few hours, but because it's so big it's going to keep going and still be a category 3 storm when it hits outback Queensland and a category 1 when it reaches the Northern Territory.

Because Queensland has been so waterlogged, I'm really worried about more flooding. Inland towns are expecting 700mL over a day or two, and that water has to go somewhere.

UK Prime Minsiter David Cameron surprisingly appoints BBC man as his spin-doctor, following the departure of disgraced Murdoch man Andy Coulson.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12348159

Could the anti-BBC tide be starting to turn, or is that too much to hope for?

Old rock stars never die they just get caught defrauding the system.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20110202/tuk-life-us-britain-crime-popsinger-fa6b408.html


~jwf~

Choose your possible Earthlike planet to study.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/science/03planet.html?_r=1&ref=science

Pope. Visit to UK. More than a million quid from DFID spent. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12351583

http://www.hortweek.com/channel/Arboriculture/article/1052856/Forests-sell-off-criticism-grows/

And so now our precious wild places are threatened, and

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/national-trust-forest011.html#cr

It's all very well selling stuff off to charities and wot not. But I can easily see how big business might make mince meat of these amateurs at some point when more bloody housing estates are needed. Such things should be kept within the ownership of the nation for proper protection.

The charitable sector actually run tighter ships than many businesses and most public sector agencies. That's no comment on the link above, just a response to an ill-informed slur.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/03/douglas-adams-42-hitchhiker?CMP=EMCGT_040211&
Article about how Douglas came up with the number 42. It's a plug for a book about the same topic. He's also written an article about non-fiction writing on Wikipedia (this is linked in the aforementioned article), this includes a mention of H2G2.