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

Too busy to acknowledge receipt of an email is pretty busy. Whew.

We only have a part time, and not a very big part time at that, resource for tech. And the response issue has been brought to to their attention, hoping for an improvement.
Please be patient.

Ok...

I just gotta say this, and it shouldn't be taken as disrespect to any of the tech team or other volunteers.

I just can't help but feel that that the skeleton crew we seem to have can do much more than keep up with maintenance much less address desperately needed improvements to the site. There is scant communication anymore so all I'm going on is what I see as a mere researcher. I did briefly get a glimpse from Pastey of some designs for new skins back at the last Manchester meet, bold ideas for the future of the site. But even back then, I sensed some futility.

I just can't help but think h2g2 has a limited future, that we are polishing the china on the Titanic. Without some major fixes and improvements, we can't expect to gain new users. This site is broken now and has been for some time. We all know this.

And I truly appreciate the people that keep this place running. It is, in a serious sense, a home to me. I've been on this site since 1999.

What troubles me is how there is so little discussion about all this. It seems to me sometimes that criticism and suggestions are not welcomed. The technical feedback page was effectively shut down with the announcement that all the major bugs were well known and that any particular issues should be addressed through email.

I'm not privy to what's going on behind the scenes, but I've been waiting for a long time to see improvements and now I am losing hope of seeing any.

~ ~ ~ ~ and don't forget your and thanks for all the , , , . .. . . . .. ...

Traveller in Time
""

Hi BG. It's worse than you say. Basically, the world has moved on since 1999 (or whenever it was), and these days we're entirely in museum caretaker mode. If you can think of a way to make h2g2 relevant again to a mass audience, then I suggest you contact Robbie with it. You could type it here, but I don't think the community even has the critical mass any more to sound enthusiastic, let alone provide support. Without innovation, it's hard to see where the investment's going to come from to relaunch the project.

But maybe I'm wrong. Surprise me, folks.

I was thinking of calling my next Entry "Fifteen Amazing Tips on Playing the Greek Bouzouki - You Won't Believe Nunber 13". Do you think that would help?

Why not make it a multiple-choice quiz:

"What style of Bazooka player are you?"

(and apologies for the spell-checker wizard, there)

How about "Only a Genius Will be able to Read this Entry (and learn about Bouzoukis in the process)"

I dunno. I want to know more about playing the bazooka.

I only know one song written for the bazooka:

Tanks for the Memory

Strangely, the word bazooka comes from bazoo, a type of musical instrument similar to a kazoo.

Here's that great song, 'I'm a Cranky Old Yank in a Clanky Old Tank on the Streets of Yokohama with My Honolulu Mama, etc' (not the whole title):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrI-y77Pz5E

Or "This guy started playing a Bouzouki - what happened next will blow your mind"

What is it about words starting with baz or buz?

Spike Milligan: "Say 'Bazonka' every day, just like my grandma used to say, it keeps at bay the Asian flu and both your elbows free from glue"
And "Bazinga!" from the Big Bang Theory.

Is it coincidence, or has that combination of sounds been proved to have comic effect?

Not too many obscure words in that category.

Perhaps my favourite is 'Buzfuz' - A driving, chaffing, masculine bar orator, who twists “Chops and Tomato Sauce” into a declaration of love. (after the character in Dickens' Pickwick Papers.)

I'll see if I can work that in to the sales proposal I'm writing.

And the bee's knees.... and the homophone business....

I have made bouzoukis...

I originally suspected that the anti-tank gun (bazooka) was named after the Greek string instrument (bouzouki) but it is well documented that it wasn't. It was named after a kind of trombone-based wind instrument unique to 1930s radio comedian Bob Burns http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YjXFOV6Nwk