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

Hey billypilgrim that photo looked awfully familiar...North American?

I believe the photo is Yellowstone, but I'm not sure; a friend found it for me. And yes, I'm North American. US citizen, to be precise. Although nowhere near Yellowstone myself.

Most of the researchers seem to be English, though I've run into a few Americans here and there.

I have a feeling you are from the South in the States...if this is true, I'll tell you how I new...if I'm wrong, I'll tell you why I'm a idiot!

That sure looks like Yellowstone (or the Grand Teton). Lovely place.

Chalaza, I suppose you'll need to explain why you're an idiot. (Well, those were your words, not mine. )

I am, in fact, from what I suppose would be considered the "Mid-Atlantic" region. Y'all.

Ah, Psyduck, how nice of you to drop by. Yes, I believe it IS Yellowstone, but you'd need to ask Shawn. The mountains around here (where I live) are much older and therefore smaller and tree covered. But still lovely in their own right. And where are YOU, may I ask? I'd always assumed you were English, just because so many people here are. But perhaps I was wrong in that assumption.

Well, I live and have lived in good ol' England for twelve years of my life. I'm originally from Israel but do my best to be British. (Except for expressing my atheist views, that is ).
Guess your assumption was correct but I'd be careful as even though us Brits seem to pop from every corner there are others around so don't make an assumption from the language they talk .

Ah, yes, you were at the London get-together: THAT'S why I assumed you were English. As it's a rather long plane-ride from the States...

But yes, you can't make assumptions. Celt, for example, despite her name, is in Australia. And many people assume I'm male (which I'm decidedly not... I just checked) because of my on-line name, when in fact, I got the name from a Kurt Vonnegut novel.

And I didn't realize Israel was a big haven for Atheists. . Ah, yes, you mentioned you were raised Jewish. I live in a Jewish neighborhood myself, although my heritage is Catholic, through and through. A legacy of guilt and witch-burnings. How nice.

My being an idiot rides on the issue of the word English making reference to British...I've travelled the southern states and recall having been called English when in fact I'm a Canadian. Another point of my issue with the word English vs British: My first mate was Italian in descent and the family would call me English, or mange cake. So with that all said, I made an assumption of your location based on my personal experience, limited as it obviously is. Deepest apologies to you.

No apologies necessary, Chalaza. As for English/British: although they can be interchangealbe, one could, in fact, be from the British Isles and NOT be English. "English" would, in this case, refer to someone from England. Where, in fact, many of the researchers here at the Guide seem to hail from.

I have a very good friend in England, and he more often refers to himself as "English" rather than "British."

As for myself, I live close enough to Canada to not mistake a Canuck for a Brit!! But then, the South being what it is.... Well, no, that's being prejudiced.

Hi all,
Being of Anglo-saxon,Celt,Gaelic and a bit of French descent myself I suppose I could say I was descended from 'British' stock but 2nd gen Kiwi now. Just dropped in to say thanks to billypilgrim for excellent sentiments and a really nice pic.
Admit guilt for once calling a Canuck an American which he took as an insult so found that if you call anybody with a twangy accent [ bar obvious Texans ] a Canadian then the Americans don't seem to mind and the Canadians like you for it.
Big clue is to spot the flag sewn on the backpack...at least the Americans and Canadians make it easy by having vastly different flags...regretfully the NZ and Aussie ones are so similar we are easily confused...at least until you call a Kiwi an Aussie then watch the sparks fly

Ah, the Canadians. I will say that it is probably our collective faults as Americans that they get upset for being mistaken for being from the USA, as we in the States sometimes tend to think of Canada as just another state, albeit a really big one. Partly due to the open border, partly do to a somewhat similar culture, especially in the West. But by and large, I've found Canadian culture to be somewhat more "European" than is the American culture. Slightly slower pace, put more emphasis on vacation time and health care and such.

And I will admit that I wouldn't be able to tell someone from New Zealand from someone from Australia if they both stood in front of me.

Thank you for stopping by, Keeza. Care for some tea?

Ta' can I have chamomile with a touch of lemon and honey?..gosh that would be nice if it's not too much trouble...my boys and husband are playing soccer in my garden again and the stress levels are rising ...* takes cup and sips slowly* - ahh that's absolutely marvellous thank you ! The problem when I look around away from the screen right now there is yet another rose bush taking a beating .

Probably the easiest way to tell an Australian from a Kiwi at the moment is that the Kiwi is the one cringing if you mention * de soto voice * the rugby,/netball/any sport - *hurriedly looks around to make sure no one from the "world champions at everything country" is listening nor from my own so that the whole National mourning period isn't resurrected !*
We take our sport so seriously and to be beaten by the Aussies is really gauling - if unfortunately commonplace!

Hello again, Keeza.

Yes, I have chamomile tea. Unfortunately, I have no honey in the house right now. A horrible oversight which will need to be corrected....

I'm sure your garden will be fine. Rosebushes have a lovely thing that helps them look after themselves. They are called thorns.

It occurs to me that it is high summer where you are now. Here, there's a few inches of snow, and it's meant to be in the low teens tonight, 10-15 below zero with the wind chill. That would be Fahrenheit, but the way.

My father's dream vacation would be New Zealand, it may make you happy to know. Something to do with fishing, I think. He'll be retiring in a year or two, so perhaps he'll make that dream come true.

More tea?

Hi again, - sorry so long in replying- h2g2 sometimes won't come up on weekends - some overloaded servers ? Anyway...thanks for the tea - love another cup. You are so right about the rose bushes...I don't need to either prune or deadhead them this week - the soccer game did it for me! However the ball is also now defunct along with it's 3 previous mates as the thorns got to it -however revenge is not sweet as the munchkins are now whinging for another one
On my hone page is a link to a site I played with called Go fish..no real plug intended but for it I did surf for some links on fishing in NZ if your father's interested. Does he like trout/salmon fishing or sea fishing ?
You are so right about it being high summer ...at least it suppose to be but it's been very strange weather here and today is one of the first really good clear days we have had! Temps should be in the 20-25oC range but they have been down as low as 11oC Brrrr

I'm trying to establish a chamomile lawn-or rather large patch -they reckon you can use it for tea but I don't think it's considered as good as the German chamomile...however - when the soccer games start I can go out and lie down on it and try not to stress too much!

Hello there, Keeza. Ditto on "sorry so long in replying." My Sunday was a bit stressful: someone hit my car parked in front of my apartment late Saturday night/ early Sunday morning. So I spent a portion of the day with the police and on the phone with the insurance, and so I got behind on my H2G2 postings. They seem to be growing....

Glad to hear that the rose bushes won out in their little war. You see, things have a way or working out in the end.

I could use a little 11°C here. Today reached a whopping high of about 9 degrees..... Fahrenheit. I'm not too good at the conversions, but if 32F is 0°C.... well, you get the idea. Wait, I just checked AccuWeather. They say low tonight is 2°F, which they say is -17°C. And I have no reason not to believe them. Brrrrrrr.

I could use that chamomile lawn to lie down on, but even more than that I could use a nice tropical beach. A little sun and a little heat would go a long way right about now....

So when you go outside and think it's chilly, think of me here shivering away, and smile happily that you're right where you are!!

All the best,
bp

Really sorry to here about your car It's a real bummer when ppl are so inconsiderate as to prang up yours and not leave insurance details or contacts or something.The paperwork and such is such a tedious job.
Tropical ...I wish - we border temperate down here but not quite palm trees and coconuts ! Actually it's kinda nice here because it doesn't get too muggy and sticky and humid which it can further North. More of a dry heat.Fine clear days and a little cooler at night.Just means lots of water for the garden and a decent mulch !

From what I remember of a winter in England it was a case of lots of extra clothing , wonderful central heating and serious investment in decent double glazing! No doubt it's much the same where you are ?
Summer's would get reasonably hot would they not? And I hear tell that Autumns are just spectacular !

Sorry to be so long between postings, but I seem to have stuck my nose into quite a few conversations around here, and I try to drop in on most of them every few days, at least.

Ah, yes, the paperwork and things with the car are quite a drag. And my car is not yet three years old. I'm still hoping they catch the guy. Perhaps some honest car-repair shop will report him if he tries to get work done without involving an insurance company.

As for the weather, it can get stupidly hot and humid here (here being Pennsylvania) in the summer. Mid-80's (Fahrenheit) is the norm, but it's not unusual for it to top 90°F, and it doesn't cool off that much at night. Yes autumn can be lovely: cool and dry and sunny, with all those pretty leaves!! Although it can also be miserable and damp and chilly and grey. And often it changes from one to the other from day to day!!

Winter in England is, I think, considerably warmer than it is here--except perhaps for the north of England. We are more likely to get snow and ice as well. And the short hours of daylight can be a drag. Still, it's nice to be warm and cozy inside, with the heat singing in the radiators, and a nice cup of tea and a good book, while the world outside is windy and cold and snowy. Very nice indeed.

Always nice to hear to from you . Know what you mean about time between postings tho' with a big assignment due and work going a bit mad I haven't been on site as much as I would like.
Being a small group of islands NZ doesn't get the extremes of weather the bigger land masses like the US and Europe get.I was in the South of England - Hampshire...and was looking forward to my first and only white Xmas in '88 and all I got was slush !!
Biggest thing I noted was the light. Kinda hard to describe but the Northern hemisphere light was murky and sort of soft yellow. NZ and OZ is bright and white and positively blinding.
Could be that blasted hole in the ozone we are getting affected by tho' - certainly the weather seems to be doing very strange things and since we have a small farm it's a real guessing game as to how to manage the crops.The rain's been good for the pumpkins but the wheat and barley are coming on now and we are hoping for some sunshine for a week or two to get it in before the birds eat it all !
Hope things work out with your car. Is there such a thing as an honest car-repair shop ? They are called panelbeaters here and use to be notorious for doing less than brilliant repairs and charging the earth !
Surprise, surprise - NZ has been assessed as being the third least corrupt country in the world behind Denmark and Finland....but we also have one of the highest youth suicide rate behind - you guessed it Denmark and Finland....does being honest also make us a dreary place to be ? Sometimes you do wonder about all these statistics that everyone is fond of sprouting and the correlations they make!

Hullo again, Keeza. . The weather hear has warmed up to a tolerabla 30°F, or just below 0°C. After that cold spell, it seems downright balmy.

Interesting about the suicide rate. I imagine that Denmark and Finland is largely because of the climate-- not a lot of sun. We have the highest suicide rate in the country in Seattle, where it rains all the time But isn't New Zealand rather warm and sunny? So that wouldn't fit, then... Perhaps living on an island makes people feel a bit stuck. I dunno. Rarely is it those who are worst off that commit suicide. Suicide requires the luxury of time to sit around and think about it, and so many suicides (at least teenagers) are financially well-off but emotionally neglected, I think. But then, that's just basing things on my own memories of the teenage years, and the people I knew who were riding the fence on that issue....

The light here is sort of pale, because of the angle of the Earth to the sun, in the winter. The sun never gets up high in the sky. In the summer, it is hot and yellow, and directly overhead for longer than we would like. Remember, short days in the winter equals long days in the summer, and we probably have about a good 16 hours of daylight in mid-June.

But for now, I'll just count down the days til spring.