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

Entry: Romulan Army Ants and Residual Cloning Efforts - A Preliminary Report - A7568832
Author: dmitrigheorgheni - U1590784

This 'paper' is part of the effluvia produced by the increasingly wordy Beta rpg.

The basic premise of the rpg is that survivors from the destruction of Earth are living and working on a starship whose holistic propulsion and habitat systems are sustained by a living interface with a member of an alien humanoid species called the Gaels.

Dr Popescu has been studying the possibility of other kinds of space-born species, also mimetic of Earth forms. He calls these beings 'astromorphs' to distinguish them from planet-born species, or 'geomorphs'.

After much disagreement as to the function of the annoying biting Romulan army ants in the ship's Arboretum - which could not be removed because of some clause in the Treaty of Vega Station - Popescu has undertaken some research.

These are his conclusions.

Like the science paper style. Definite feeling of this being part of a bigger story, though.

Thanks. No lie - the saga is now approaching 30,000 posts' worth.

I think the resulting cybernovel will be longer than 'Clarissa' - the heretofore longest piece of drivel in the English language.



I hope to connect the dots one fine day.

'Clarissa'! By a Mrs erm somebody. I'd forgotten all about 'Clarissa'. I don't think I ever even read it, it was just there. In the background.

Connecting that many dots will keep you busy.

Yes, I imagine it will. But that blasted rpg got me the promise of a freelance job tonight, so I'm a happy camper.

And it was Samuel Richardson - bete noir of Henry Fielding, who wrote 'Tom Jones' to spite him. So we owe him a debt of gratitude.

Though I recommend the miniseries of 'Clarissa' with Sean Bean.

Not Mrs Somebody. I went googling 'Clarissa' and Jane Austen - I was sure there was a connection - and it's your Richardson's book.

Mrs Somebody is bugging me now. I think she's same time period. Can't google 'Mrs Somebody' though.

It's slightly worrying that my feeling of knowing 'Clarissa' but not reading it might be solely from Jane Austen's writing. Prejudice flying down the centuries .

More important; congratulations on the job, , it sounds excellent news.

Thanks about the job. It *is* good news. A start back from unemployment due to outsourcing, anyway - and something I will enjoy doing.

Now you've got me doing it. It's tickling the back of my mind...a Mrs Somebody. I'll think of it about 3 am - and find it for you.

Work you enjoy, that's ideal, provided it pays enough bills.

G, Mrs Somebody begins with a 'G' I'm sure. Yesterday I couldn't think beyond Thompson which I knew was wrong. Today I'm sure it's 'G'.

You're right - and I'm going to kick myself when I finally remember the biddy's name.

In the meantime, here's a site you might enjoy, if you get a kick out of 18th-Century novelists (or, perhaps especially, if you don't) -

http://www.engl.virginia.edu/enec981/dictionary/intro.html

Found her - finally - and, as predicted, am kicking myself for my bad memory.

http://www.lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~matsuoka/Gaskell.html

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell is the party to whom you're referring, I bet.

Brilliant. That's her. The party, and the biddy. Mrs. Gaskell.

You have just freed up some much needed mental processing capacity - I can stop those searches running.

I'll check the links later. I used to have a Jane Austen interest. Not just her books, the period, anything connected. We visited a lot of related places - Winchester, Steventon, Bath, the Cob at Lyme Regis.... so, nothing as wide as 18th century. I'm not well read enough for that.

and . Glad to help. That was nagging me - I *knew* I knew her name.

Oh, a great hoot is reading what the great Gore Vidal calls Hyatt Regency novels. Not for the plot, unfortunately - note I say plot. There is only one, though there are *thousands* of the things.

But these rabid fans know *every* detail of Regency life - the clothes, the balls, the etiquette - except, of course, that there was a horrible war going on at the same time.

There are so many novels that it has been estimated that they have recreated the entire *ton*, or high society (which after all numbered about 200 families) several times over with Lord Lacey D'Arcy and his light-o-love, Lady Winnifred.

However, I understand they pay well. I may take it up.