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

Isn't it great to be back? Wazungu? Yoohoo ... where are you? Hellloooo.... is there anybody there...? Whaaaaah Come back come back, wherever you are.

Sal

And the same from Bran!!! Where are you Waz???? Your presence is missed. Walter is also awol. I can't even raise him on email. Have you both slipped into an electronic void?

Come back Waz

Cheers
Bran

GERONIMO!!!!!!! and GERANIUMS!!!!!!
Great to find you both back here Sal and Bran. And its great to have h2g2 back. I hope Walter turns up soon, I know Case is around as I've seen he's online. Finding h2g2 again has made up for my computer crashing and losing all my records, (I do backups at work but never, of course, at home), including my note of all passwords. That's why I'm here in disguise. I'm hoping TPTB will be able to help and I can get back to the waterhole. In case they take some time I've re-registered.

Hope you're both fit and well. Any news on the Tome Bran? And how are you faring with this foot and mouth outbreak Sal? Shropshire isn't doing too badly but we do have two cases within two miles of the village here.
Wazungu

Oh, at last. How lovely to see you! If you tell Mark Moxon your old ID (U??????) number and your old email address, he'll email your old password to you or a new one if you didn't set one up originally.

We've lost Walter, unfortunately. Bran thinks he might be on holiday, possibly in England.

You might find some undesirable changes at the waterhole. I hope you won't be too upset. We can't use external links or pictures anymore. Also, we now have a thing called "moderation". A couple of my messages were snatched temporarily a couple of weeks ago. I think that the moderators may be beginning to moderate their behaviour a bit now though because, as far as I'm aware, nothing's gone missing since. Case lost his page too and is now Case mark 2.

Don't get me started on foot and mouth Waz, it was 2 of my posts about foot and mouth that got yanked out of other fora. They've started burying carcasses in a landfill site in Welford (the next village) and I haven't been able to take my dogs for a decent walk since it all started even though the nearest outbreak's about 40 miles from here. Everywhere is out of bounds. . Ah well, at least you're back. That's perked up my evening!

Sal

Hi Waz!!!
Welcome back. And Hi Sal. I have found Walter ... he is not abroad after all, but has had some email trouble which is why I haven't been able to reach him. He hasn't arrived back to H2G2 yet, as far as I can see, but I shall remind him again next week.

The Tome progresses Waz ... it is getting VERY big and the end is still the same distance away. Ahh well ... I am enjoying it and the last of my scholarship (which has been extended till the end of September!! Yippeee!!).

Must dash as I am about to teach a class on King Arthur. Wot fun!!

More soon
Best wishes
Bran.

Hi again,
It really is good to have this back, I missed it. I have emailed for my password Sal, just waiting for an answer so I can repair the Waterhole. I always thought the pictures would go one day, too many copyright issues. I will have to use words instead.
We can declare this an F & M free zone if you like, there's enough of it elsewhere but I am curious as to what you said to get yourself moderated by Aunty. Politics or language .

BTW Sal, did you catch the recent programme on BSE, CJD and excess manganese? It was interesting but I only switched on half way through and missed a lot of it.

I think Bran's Tome has aquired a life of its own. Glad you got your time extended Bran and that you're enjoying it. Also that you've found Walter! Hope he finds his way back to h2g2.

Wot King Arthur do you teach? Disney, TH White, archeological? Cornish? Welsh? Salopian? Historical, romantical, tragical, tragical-historical, romantical-comical....?

did I say it was good to be back here?
'til later
Waz

Woohoo! You're you again! Brilliant. Bet you'll miss the goo. Some of the paler coloured text is a bit difficult to read. But still ... almost back to normal.

I'm not avoiding the subject of F&M, I've been keeping an F&M journal over on my ezboard page ... well, I have when I can sit. Metal Chicken updated it for me yesterday and I must pop over and thank her in a minute. No, it's others who're best advised to keep me off the subject lest I bore them to death with it. It was politics that got the posts pulled. I had a message from Peta the other day, to explain why. She said this: "The post was referred and therefore hidden because the moderator was concerned about 'political comment'. We haven't had / don't get a lot of that on h2g2 generally, and they wanted advice. They're both back now, and be assured that the moderators are learning, h2g2 is a tricky site to moderate because of the huge variation in conversation topics. Great for us, tricky for them... "

I thought both posts were pretty mild - certainly no more political than our discussions used to be round the waterhole.

Yes, I watched that programme on BSE, CJD and manganese. I'd been chatting to Bossel and Orcus about the link. Bossel had seen a couple of programmes about it in Germany so when I saw there was to be a prog on the BBC, I made sure I watched it. It was very interesting but I really wanted it to be a lot more detailed than it was. It left to much information out, I thought.

I must nip off and say thanks to Metal Chicken.

It really is great to have you back Waz!

Sal

Evening,
Sal I have the goo back too! Opted for it as my chosen skin & have a "view in goo" link on the Waterhole for those with different tastes. Just so no one can say I only cater for goo .

ezboard? That is a new one on me. Is it outside h2g2 and could you tell me where the F&M discussion here is? I'd be interested in reading it. On the politics, what on earth could the BBC justify censoring given what gets said on "Have I got News for You"? And how did the referral happen? One of those little grey faces??

Sorry for the stream of questions, and I've something else to ask - if you come across any more on the manganese theory could you tell me that too? I thought the idea was very interesting but I wanted to know if there were any high manganese spots where there wasn't CJD.

I called at your space to see if I could see any F&M threads,and saw your moderator steam venting journal. Hope you're feeling better now, both backwise and steamwise. Don't blame you for the steam - I think there's a lot of moderation of moderators to go through. I can see it would be all too easy for them to take the attitude "if in doubt, moderate".
I also saw the wolf howling at the moon! Is that a mood picture or a reference to your dogs?
Oh dear, more questions! Must go before I ask any more,
Waz

Oh, I see. It comes up alabaster then you can change it to goo by clicking on the word. Right. If you have a look on my page, you'll find I've done a journal for outside links and called it "A page for links". It only has the one link on it at the moment and that's the link to my goooverflow page at ezboard. That's where you can find my foot and mouth journal. I think you can probably read it without registering with ezboard. Feel free to add any foot and mouth news and info you hear to it. You may need to register to do that - but it's a fairly painless process. I've been a bit tardy over the last week or two in keeping it updated because of this sitting prob I have. It was lovely to see Metal Chicken had put in an entry. I didn't have to feel so bad about getting behind with it. I can't really make head or tail of the moderation thing. The moderators are learning, but I would've thought they'd have been given some sort of guide lines. It was the moderators who took my posts out, not people clicking the yikes button. I was just directed to have a look at a journal entry of Mark Moxon's page: http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/U13 about moderation. Go and have a look at it. It may surprise you. He only posted it yesterday. We've been talking about prions and manganese on my prion thread, here http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/F59055?thread=96068&latest=1 feel free to join in. The wolf (yes a reference to my dogs) was on my page already and since we came back, it's the only one left because all the others were hosted elsewhere. I've still got the pics Amy did over at my goooverflow page, at least. Who says there are more questions than answers? ;-) Sal :)

Hi Folks

The stupid cat that keeps running across the top of the page is interfering with my mouse (and this is not meant to be a joke!) so that it seems to leap from place to place across the screen in no discernable pattern. The only way that I can get the mouse to work is to move the screen down so that the cat is off-screen (and that is not easy as I have to wait until the mouse decides to hover over the down arrow). I wonder if this is an H2G2 joke?

Just read the moderation thingy in Mark Moxon's journal - riot-act time folks ... I guess we will just have to cut out all the swearing that we have been doing I remain a little miffed about the url problem, but they do seem to be dealing with that so we shall see.

The King Arthur seminar on Sunday was great - I do a sort of historical-archaeological Arthur Waz. What is the evidence that is used to argue for the real thing, etc, and the material that has been written about the Tintagel inscription (as per my article on the Guide). Great fun, wot?! The people that came were excellent, and we had a really good time. About five scientists were there, who seemed to really get into the history - as I also spend time setting up a context for Britain 400-600AD.

I have emailed Walter again, but he seems to be very busy and may not have had the time to get back on to the Guide. He is taking Latin this year, and I think it has been more work than he expected ... tests every week and classes every day. And he has a real job on top of all this, so ... we might see him in the half-year break, maybe?

Hope you are both well and surviving the f&m thing (whoops, I mentioned it). Are the reports that we hear true that it is on the wane?

Best get back to it. It does have a life of its own Waz - I am no longer in control of it!!
Cheerio
Bran.

You need a to chase the Bran! The only problem I have with the mouse is that it won't go back in its hole when I shut down the computer. Just sits staring at me from a black screen.

I remember Latin tests all too well. Voluntary Latin classes - that's awesome! I'd prefer King Arthur. The historic version anyway. I never was a fan of the legendary one, he let his private life interfere far too much with his work.

I also been visited the Moderator pages. Riot-act is right. I found this posting from Peta the most enlightening. "The moderators are generally students, part-time workers, doing a few hours a week for a bit of cash. They're following instructions written by me, they probably wouldn't be interested in commenting on site anyway. It'd be a bit like asking a shop assistant to comment on the business policy of their chain of department stores, it's not really what they're paid to do, and they're not really qualified to answer." It was in answer to someone wanting to be able to take up issues with them directly.
No one is going to make a career of moderating, so its the guidelines that matter. A case of waiting for things to settle down and refering to Peta when necessary, I think. Not being able to mention pollies names is a drag. I saw your removed/reinstated posts Sal. I thought they were very moderate .
I also found the F&M info from your link, Sal, more informative than anything our paper has come up with. Now I've mentioned it. Sal knows a lot more than I do Bran, but I think it's too early to say if the cases have peaked. There have been no new cases in Shropshire for the past week but they're still occurring just over the Welsh border. And some "contact" cases 6 miles away have not yet been slaughtered because two of the five farmers involved have challenged the ruling.

It is coming back to me just how much time h2g2 takes. I was hours yesterday catching up on threads. I'm going now for a swimming session. And look! No questions!
Waz.

Evening,
I just wanted to share this. It was in the HDRA magazine. Shampoo for blondes often contains extract of camomile. The "Vikings...are known to have used the flowers to enhance their blonde locks". So was putting in some blonde highlights essential preparation for pillaging? Or did they just stick the flowers behind their ears?
Waz

Evening all

I have to report that there are birds in my garden again. Remember how fed up I was because they'd all flown and I lucky if I saw the occasional blackbird or thrush? Well, I've been experimenting with different bird foods for a couple of months and I find that the blackbirds, thrushes, sparrows and robins are rather keen on vitalin (almost vege dog nosh) and the chaffinches, great, blue and coal tits and other danglers are keen on anything that dangles. There are wrens too but I've only managed to glimpse them as they leave so I'm not sure what they're feasting on.

I've read your "Saxon Bishop and Celtic King" Bran. As you warned, not for the uninitiated ... but I still enjoyed it and learned some history. I got the impression that those Saxons (represented by Aldhelm of Wessex) were bullies and the Celts (represented by Geraint of Dumnonia) should've told them where to get off. I guess the conditions for such an issuing of marching orders just weren't right though. Trust the Welsh to dig their heels in. Some things don't change

On the foot and mouth issue. I'm beginning to think BBC News is almost a waste of time. Just about every trivial little thing takes precedence over the f&m news. I get the very strong impression they're towing the government's line and wrapping up about it most of the time. If you want to know what's actually going on, have a look at the BBC online site. This is a good page to start at http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/in_depth/uk/2001/foot_and_mouth/default.stm . You'll find all sorts of stuff that you don't hear on the news, like blood and fluids leaking all over a road from a burial site and lorries transporting carcasses through uninfected areas leaking blood and body fluids all over the road all the way from the slaughter site to the burial site. You may notice on the TV News that the government and MAFF are finding weedely little ways to blame the farmers. That gets reported all right. Oh dear, I'm beginning to sound like a subversive . Ah well.

Speak to you later.

Sal

PS I always thought those Vikings were awfully vain.

Hi Folks

Alas ... I think we have lost Walter. Several emails reminding him had led to nought. Ah well ... he is a busy boy who has a real job, so who am I to question?

Thanks awfully for reading my article Sal. You are quite right in it being very specific; it probably only makes sense to about 0.0001% of the population. Weren't theose Anglo-Saxons nasty people?! I can't give the url Waz, for obvious reasons - I had to email it to Sal. It is published in an e-journal called the Heroic Age, which focusses on early medieval history for north-western Europe. Quite a bit of fun.

Must dash as this is the middle of the day.

Cheerio
Bran

P.S. thanks for the f&m link Sal.

Good afternoon,
Glad to hear about the birds Sal. Your bird food experiments sound logical, I always thought peanuts and seeds was unfair on worm eaters. I got a new bird table but haven't put it up yet. I know you said the dog food was vege but presumably it tastes/smells like meat to the dogs, so do you have any problems putting this out with mice etc? Or neighbouring cats?

I'm back it question mode - did you see anything of the auroras reported over Britain last Thurday evening? I didn't and am kicking myself for stopping checking the aurora watch site as they sent out an alert on the Wednesday.

I hope everyone has enjoyed the easter break. As always, living in the country now I haven't done anything at all. It used to be the time to get out into the countryside, but when you already live in it what is the point in joining traffic jams to see a different bit? Well that is my excuse for being thoroughly lazy for the last four days.

Not that there have been too many jams this year. It did look as if Shropshire might get off quite lightly with F& M this time. Locally people were congratulating themselves with the success of having learnt from last time when Shropshire was badly affected but the recent new cases suggest they spoke too soon.
It isn't just MAFF and the Government beginning to blame some farmers Sal, we're getting a lot of local stories along those lines too. Its very hard to know if they're fair or not. The local ones I mean.

Bran, I will do a search for that e journal just to see. No comments about the Welsh - the BBC have been in enough trouble over Ann Robinson's asking what the point of the Welsh was.

My PC is still acting up and intercessions with its maker have not been answered. So its being transported back to Eden (oddly situated in Leeds). Before this gets blasphemous what I'm saying is that I'll be offline until next Saturday
So have a good week
Waz

Computer back to normal - fingers crossed anyway. Congratulations on Prions Sal .
Waz

Hi Waz Good to see you back! Yep - Prions is now part of The Edited Guide. Lovely.

Yes those Anglo Saxons sounded like stinkers Bran. By the way, George (the babbling) Brooke found a novel way to give me a url earlier. He sent me off to double-u double-u double-u dot mad-cow dot org. And it didn't get yanked out!

It's about 2 am. I can hardly keep my eyes open. I'll do a proper message later.

Sal

Hi, its good to be back. And good to have a PC that doesn't mind being turned off - it was beginning to make me uneasy.
Clever George. What a Domain name to have! Have you put in a bid?
Or does this sound like nonsense to you because I misread George's code? Entirely possible.
Waz

Hi Folks

A quick hello to let you know that I am still here ... too obsessed with the Tome of late again. I have to get as much done as I can before I take up a job in July (have to pay off the credit card), and then go part time for a few months. It keeps expanding!!

It has rained here for the last three days, and the place is looking a lot greener. The beginnings of winter are in the air - fog, frost in places, and over Easter the first decent snow on the mountain. Yippeee!!

Hope you are both well.

Cheerio
Bran.