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

I know it's not for an hour yet, but this is my birthday wish for you:

PEACE LOVE & HAPPINESS

We're celebrating it at the Casino in the Sheraton:
http://www.h2g2.com/forumframe.cgi?forum=18878&thread=47684

And here's the cake!
COELACANTH’S CHOCOLATE FUDGE CAKE FOR ALICAT
You are going to need a greased deep oven proof bowl, dish or cake tin. It’s got to be deep – the mixture must not come to the top, but about ½ to ¾ fill it.
Mix together: 4oz self raising flour; a pinch of salt; 2oz melted butter; 2oz cocoa; 4oz sugar; 1 tsp vanilla essence and about 4fl oz milk. When the mixture is smooth, spoon it into the dish. (should be about ½ full)
Mix together: 4oz brown sugar and 2oz cocoa and sprinkle over the top of the mix.
Gently pour about 15fl oz hot water over the top.
Bake for about 50 min at 180C.
Be careful – it will bubble over! When cooked, the fudge sauce will be very hot. Serve with cream or ice cream.
Throw the candles away cos who cares how many!
Enjoy!

hey, Alicat, je suis Aries as well - rock on! Your Ariesness pours out in your words - keep living to fight another day!

~Lute

Merci beaucoups, Lute. When is your Birthday?

Belated birthday greetings Alicat.
I love your page,your words and thoughts,and some of your choice in music.
I also love animals,i live with eight dogs and an african grey and two cockatiels as well as an abundance of small wildlife in the garden.

In beauty i walk,i walk
to the direction of the rising sun
In beauty, i walk
To the direction travelling with the sun
in beauty, i walk
To the direction of the setting sun
In beauty ,i walk....
All around me my land is beauty
In beauty i walk

(Navajo Chant)

Love Noname

Thank you, Noname. The chant was perfect. Eight dogs!!!!!!!!. In beauty you walk. There are about 100 acres of woods behind my house, with lots of animals, including deer. It is the most peaceful place I know.

Your place sounds lovely Alicat,you must have some smashing walks.I live on the side of a valley on about 7 acres.The views are wondreful,with the Magaliesburg mountains in the distance.At the bottom of the valley we have a typical African spruit(small river).The sun sets right in front of us on the far side of the valley,seemingly only a couple of kilometres away.I love it to bits.
I am glad that you liked the chant,i somehow had a feeling that you might.
Noname

Have you recovered from the floods? Today is only the second sunny day this month. Your place sounds wonderful. such beauty in nature.

We didn't get flooded as badly as you probably saw on the tv but it was bad all the same,my car was stuck at home for 10 days due to our access road being a river,i swear in parts it was 10 feet deep when the water finally drained away,even now we still have little rivulets running down the side of the track.It was hectic though,i was up on the Luvuvhu and Shingwedzi rivers in January before the worst of it and i couldn't believe the damage,nor the height that the water had obviously been the week before i was there.I wrote on my homepage somewhere,that it truly left one with a feeling that the story of noahs ark was most definately conceivable.We had rain for nearly 2 weeks solid which is unheard of here,fortunately when the sun comes things dry very very quickly.

For you nature lover

Nature is an infinite sphere of which the centre is everywhere and the circumference is nowhere.

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)
French Philosopher

Love Noname

We have had sun for three days in a row. The backyard is finally just mud, instead of swamp. The dogs don't seem to care, but what a mess they make indoors.

You are so very well-read. I love your quotes. I love intelligence in people. There is so much to learn in this world. So many people avoid knowledge.

Are we well aquainted enough for you to tell me about the man in singapore? It was Singapore, wasn't it?

I'm off to your site. Talk to you there.

Love,
Alicat*

lol....i have similar problems with the dogs,sometimes i am such a softie that they overrun the place but then i have to get tough and kick them out.

I love to read,i am not however nearly as well read as i would like to be.In recent times i have started to build up a little library of my own,and where in the past i used to read intermittently i now read a lot more and much more regularly.I guess it helps that i am no longer the party animal that i was.What kind of stuff do you read yourself Ali (can i call you Ali?)

Singapore...(Chuckle Chuckle)..now there is a story or two.What makes you think that the creature i referred to was a man?You must of read my entry,did you try it out at all.I know it was a bit of a mundane entry but i just wanted to write something,i have been pretty busy with some very long and intense e-mails this week but i fully intend getting my head around this place and writing some more stuff.
i am very happy to hear that the sun has been shining on you,i can appreciate all types of weather(for certain periods)but there is nothing to compare with the sun is there?, on any given day it is a real tonic don't you think?

I will keep an eye out for you on my site,i am honoured that you show me so much interest
Love
Noname

You are well worth the interest. Glad to see you at Mari-rae's farm. She certainly described my idea of paradise.

I love to lose myself in books. Lately , I haven't been able to find the time. I have an extensive library of nature books (especially bird books), dog and horse books, art books, etc. I was very interested in the writings of Carlos Castenada (I think that's right). I , too, believe that we are no more important than a blade of grass. When you look at the big picture.

It's just dawn here, but it's supposed to be another sunny day. I find myself just wanting to travel around h2g2. It's so refreshing to talk to so many people, of different cultures. Most people seem to be into a higher philosophy than the average bear. There seem to be an awful lot of partiers, too.

Keep on smiling.

Love,

Ali*

We are,i believe,no more than blades of grass or grains of sand,but i think that we are important.However through our naivete as a whole we totally over estimate our importance.Mother nature must have a good old laugh to herself most of the time don't you think?

What do you mean by higher philosophy Ali?I find that some people who try to be too clever and over intellectualise things are normally fairly shallow with little idea ,more often than not they come from the group who totally over estimate them selves.
I am afraid that i do not know Carlos Castenada,the name somehow rings a bell though so perhaps i have just forgotten his name,i don't have any of his stuff though.Although my main interests,particularly with regard to photography is wildlife,The leopard is my favourite in Africa,i am living too close to civilisation to have them on my doorstep so i have taken a lot of interest in birds as well.I have counted over 70 differant varieties in the garden to date,i am always throwing out differant types of food,including bread,fruit and seed onto a birdhouse right outside my bedroom window,so i am woken every morning by them .It is a lovely way to wake up,some of them are quite tropical and have the most beautiful songs.

It is nearly 1pm here now ,and a truly gorgeous day it is too,i am going for a swim just now and to sit in the sun for a bit.
love
nonmae

It sounds lovely. It's just after 7:00 am. here, and I have high hopes fotr the day. I can only imagine the variety of birds you have there. A lot of beautiful finches, for example, that we only see here in aviaries. I used to have 30 finches in my living room, at my old apartment. I covered everything in plastic, and collected grasses for their seeds and for nesting materials. The birds flew free (I installed a screen door to keep my cat out), They built nests and raised families. It was humbling. The patience needed to weave intricate nests, with only a beak as a tool. The birds would drop a piece of grass over and over again, but they never gave up. I used to sit in the room for hours. They would bathe and eat and mate, totally oblivious to my presense. It was magic.

yes we have a fair variety of finches and simlar seed eaters like whydahs,widows,waxbills and loads of weavers.They are the amongst the most amazing nests,we have a huge colony of them down by the river,at least a hundred nests.they are mostly masked and spectacled weavers,we also have a flock of red bishops nesting there.At the back of the house we have a couple of female paradise flycatchers that seem to have taken up residence for the winter.actually we have loads of various nests and homes around the property.Opposite the bedroom there is a fairly big trre where 9 louries sleep every night,i love their songs.I could go on for ever ,as i write i realise how much i love this place,but then again i do that every day.
love
noname

Beautiful. A bird new to southern Ontario, is the mockingbird. I haven't had one at my feeder yet, but I have seen them at the canal nearby. They were a southern US bird until a couple of years ago, and they are fearless. They have the personality of bluejays and chickadees. There are also a few hawks and turkey vultures in the woods behind my house. I have inspired my neighbour to put up a feeder, but he is very lax about filling it. I put out suet for the woodpeckers and starlings. What is your parrot's name? Mine is named Biko.

biko,is that pertaining to Steve biko i wonder?my parrots name is "parrot",he is always singing and whistling.We don't have mocking birds here,isn't there a song about them or their characteristics?
Noname

Yes, it is from PG's song about Steven Biko. There are several references to the mockingbird in song and literature. "To Kill a Mockingbird" is one of my favourites.

Another one of South Africas tragedies,there are many.I guess that could be said for all countries.After 1994 elections they had what they called a truth and reconciliation commission to examine the crimes carried out during the apartheid years.It was confirmed that Biko was tortured and killed by the guys who did it,terrible stuff.
I think that in the great curve of time we as the human race are barely out of nursery school.
Love Noname

Yes, I'm afraid we are. It's incredible how far we've advanced in other areas and yet when it comes to your fellow man, we've stagnated.