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

I rather thought what I said, coming as it did from someone who has been cynical since before hearing that there was a word for it, was quite funny. I actually *meant* it as a *joke*. Can't imagine anyone who fancies itself a cynic taking itself that seriously. I mean, isn't that most of what 'cynic' is about -- the nonseriousness of most things people *claim* are important?

Punk (which I was) necessarily self-deconstructed. He!l, look at Jacques Derrida, he HAD to self-deconstruct (and did it so entertainingly!). Nihilism self-deconstructed, and it was not really surprising to the nihilists at the time.

I outgrew cynicism at about 14, and became a nihilst. Then, around 21, I outgrew nihilsm and became a logical positivist. In graduate school, at 26, I discovered deconstructionism, and said 'Look, Muffy, a philosophy for u-us!' in my best Valley-Girl voice. Naturally, I am now an overeducated genius who lives on the dole (and off the boyfriend) and hangs about in online places where eccentrics collect.

(What is the meaning and/or purpose of smileys? Is there one? I like them, but why do we have them? In what context is it appropriate to use ? Is used differently?)

I have nothing against The Youth of Today, because my parents' generation did that to mine, and it was offensive then. It's just quite a number of *youths* of today to whom I object. I remember when I was young, and intense, and everything I believed was Right. Thing is, everything I believed said 'Everything Anyone Believes is Rubbish'. Since I believed it was Right, it was obviously Rubbish, and I was free to fail to take it or myself seriously.

How do I go about starting an Online group for People who Refuse to Take Themselves (or Anyone Else) Too Seriously? And how do we go about stamping out moronic youths (or older people, but it's endemic among adolescents, and merely habit in older folk) who take themselves seriously?

Arpeggio for LeKZ
with a certain snotty youth on the top of our Too Stupid to Be on the Internet Without Supervision list...

Heh, I'm a member of the "Cambridge Apathy Society" - even though they advocate people not joining them. When the vice-president wrote about the society in "Varsity" (the local student rag), the president fired him, announced this in the mailing list, and then fired himself for making use of the mailing list. We still haven't elected a replacement: none of us could be bothered.

The are a relic of the Douglas Adams connection, and the Babel Fish thing: slipping a in your ear is the first stage in understanding some of the weirder elements here, apparently... oh, and is also used in the madeup language of "Bubblish". We used to have a different looking fish, but they replaced it with the new type, which looks like it's high on something...

Ahh - morons. If you can't beat them, join them...

That's the trouble with morons, I *want* to beat 'em. Sometimes only with a feather pillow, but now and again, with at least a sturdy set of the Psuedepigrapha. And if someone *really* provokes the in me, I just want to take them out and 'bang their heads upon the bricks on Broadwa-a-y' (to the tune of George Benson's 'On Broadway, of course)

Actually, the revised version of 'On Broadway' originally went 'bang *your*...' or 'bang *my*...' and was a function of crossing really good acid with a really bad attitude problem and the really weird hormones of a 15 year old, and the Clash' 'Sandinista'. The bio-family lived in a flat on Broadway, in Greenwich Village. It would have been a very place to grow up, except for the bit about the family being there and all...

*Cambridge*? And you just finished your doctoral dissertation, and you are 22? Hmm. Have you found 'joining' the morons just a little beyond your grasp? We certainly have. I think we'll throw the silly fishies in at random, because they do look high, or just a teensy bit paranoiac. Morons: definitely too 'advanced' for us. That's the mother's expression for any music/art/way of thinking she didn't like: 'too advanced for me'. Wagner is definitely too 'advanced' for us. So is... um... are... some people who've been posting on that Wicca thread. We started a new thread, and would be interested to see what you have to say.

We advertise ourself, on our 'business cards' as a 'Generalist and Renaissance Woman'. You are definitely a 'Generalist and Renaissance Person'. Good to know there's another one.

Well, have a nice
Arpeggio, coming on with a nasty old migraine.

to you!

Doctorol dissertation? Nope - just my part two dissertation - so I'm in the final year of a three year degree course. So I find joining the morons remarkably easy, given the right stimulus. Drink helps...

I haven't been able to stand classical music for ages: when I was 18 or so went out to hear a concert with maths teacher in an afterschool thing - and was with a few classical music fans - who told me I wouldn't appreciate it, and queried whether I even knew who the composer was. {conversation reconstructed from dodgy memory - terms and conditions may apply}

"Bach", I said confidently, having looked at the programme.
"Ahh, but which Bach?"
"Huh?"
"Well", they said smugly, "there were lots of Bachs, and..."

At this point I somewhat lost it - I think I went on in some detail about how surnames were inherited, and how mummy Bachs and daddy Bachs got together and had a 'special hug', and created lots of little Bachlets, and how the common feature shared by all these Bachs was that they weren't as famous as the composer of the music we were about to hear, and in any case did it really matter anyway, given that the whole point about music is, uh, the MUSIC?

They weren't impressed. They were even more scandalised when I proceeded to () eat my chips /on the street/! Not the done thing apparently, and despite nobody else noticing I managed to completely embarass them. Bleh - they can keep their upper class values, and they can keep their ancient music. I'm sticking to Radio One...

Get well soon...

oh - I didn't comment on your new thread in Wicca because, well, I agreed with pretty much everything you said...

Um, well, thanks and all, for agreeing. 'Twould be nice to have you say so. It's the 'Touchy and Defensive ' phenomenon, which I seem to have caught. It's certainly going 'round, on the Wicca thread.

Honestly, part of why I posted that was that I feel really sympathetic for Sea, who's been being attacked rather heavy handedly now for quite some time. I may not agree with a word she said, but I'd feel just horrid if I posted about something important to me, and got slammed from all directions.

Laughed aloud at your little 'No word for "twist" in Gaelic?' post. Replied to L, and got up on our Professorial Pedestal (which we keep handy for such purposed) and Explained It All for Her. Just made another un-friend, I s'pose, but that's the problem with knowing what one is talking about. Revisionist Etymology gets on our nerves.

And, of course, all generalisations are wrong, just as all absolutes are false. When a person states something blatantly false, and prefaces it with 'anyone will tell you that...' it brings out the part of us, that make us want to *prove* the person wrong in an incontrovertibly righteous way. Is that juvenile? Yah, prob'ly. Lots of us are.

Speaking of Revisionist Etymology, there was an Osage (Indigenous North American Nation) professor at our graduate school. He actually came out and said: 'Our people were called "Indians" before yours were, because the Spanish saw how peaceful we were and called us "in dios", or "of God".' He was a professor, so we couldn't point and laugh. We were boggled. We managed to stifle the laughter and compose ourself to the point of saying something like 'Ah, yes. That would explain the Spaniards' urge to exterminate all those people very nicely,' which he did not find funny. But really, how can you get?

Migraine has moved in and brought friends and family, who are now having a loud party just behind the left eye. Rude of them. These headaches last a few days. We just close the curtains, don't eat much, drink lots of coffee, and turn the brightness down on the computer monitor.

How do we get them to make more little faces and stuff? We desperately want a , a , a , a , and a face. That's not unreasonable, is it? Also a veg or two, other than would be good. Why all the Hallowe'en crap? Is it a Very Big Holiday in England? And why no , no ? is very nice, but sometimes not appropriate.

We've sketched out, though not even bothered to put in GuideML, another entry, on the declension of pronouns in English. It needs lots of work. Any suggestions would be very welcome. Does GuideML permit the creation of charts, with columns and things in? The format sort of *needs* columns.

Kassandra's working on that list of questions, but some things we read about you at your 'space', and some things you said, especially about memory blanks, are... go see post to you under our thread, our 'space', okay?

You're a very sweet person, y'know?

Arpeggio and the rest of us

My posting habits come from usenet, so my netiquette is slightly skewed towards the "traditional" end of the net - so "Me Too!" posts are something I have a mild aversion to. Amazing how even a virtual world gets 'culture gap'...

You missed Liossa's posting where she explained what she actually meant by the statement about Gaelic and "twist", btw...

Myself, I normally do for , and for - you have to make do with what you have, I guess, and apparently adding new smileys is a complex task... *shrug*

Tables and such in GuideML: check out the , , tags - they're explained in the GuideML Clinic, or you can just to an h2g2 search. They're a little confusing to work with, many find, so see how it goes...

Off to check other thread now - see you there...

Can't quite fathom the relevance of that candy-fluff puncty entry to ours. Sequitur? Is there one? Not that we can see.

Isn't it sort of 'uncool' to go posting to your own thread, just to keep it in the 'news of the moment'? Strikes us as somewhat overtly self-promotional.

Personally, we thought that Load article was one... but it doesn't do to just judge people. Tried to be even constructively critical .

Have to remember how many of you there are Out There, which is a partial explantaion for a badly misspelt article on correct English. Explanation, not excuse.

Stumbling around in a constant drug induced haze Gotta make up our mind and do a Thing.

TTYS

Peggio, no brain cells left.

Going to bed. Yah, really. We gotta gzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Good Night and Sweet Dreams

I'm not going to comment on being overtly self-promotional, though, given my tendencies towards blatant plugs...