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

Jesse James was a Jewish Romanian Communist partisan during WWII?

I demand the rights to that film!

Yep--and in my sleepiness, I misremembered the degree--I'm actually his 5th cousin.

With that degree of consanguinity, we should beware of you for sure.

I'm related to Elvis Presley and Jimmy Carter (like, probably, half the South), but I couldn't tell you what degree. It was that German ancestor we've all got.

Great-great-great-uncle Zorg from the Neander Valley?

Close. It was great-to-the-however-manyth-grandfather Johann Valentin Pressler, from the village of Niederhochstadt, which he left in 1710. I'm not kidding: Niederhochstadt. An ancient village in Rheinland-Pfalz.

Multitudinous were his descendants, including Elvis and Jimmy. Of course, the only reason Valentin became famous was that somebody did Elvis' genealogy when he was a hit singer, got drafted, and ended up being stationed in Germany. The Germans were glad to claim Mr 'All Shook Up'. I suspect nobody in Mississippi was all that impressed by that genealogy...now, if he'd been descended from Robert E Lee...

Okay, today's tip is Russian: A87862701 - The Seagull by Anton Chekhov.

Chekhov's gun is fired, twice, offstage. Go enjoy, it's Frank Langella and Blythe Danner, an unbeatable combination. Kevin McCarthy is there, but there are no pod people around...

[Amy P]

Today's tip involves Canadians: A87862729 - The Rise and Fall of the Great Lakes.

You'll love it. Canoes and guitars are involved.

Great clips today!

I have much more to say, but I should have been on the road an hour ago - will try to post more later

F S

[Amy P]

Today's tip: A87862765 - Turkish Star Wars

Excitement, adventure, and really wild bootleg footage.

This is a reply to day 7, sorry to be so late, but yesterday was quite busy. I had to do my interpretation at A87761631 and my wife insisted that I went over to the neighbours for my birthday party.

For your short - Joni Mitchell is one of my favourite folk singers. When people greet me at the office each morning I usually respond 'Just an other day in paradise' with the proper sarcasm in tone it amuses me

The video about the Great Lakes is

It reminds me of our last trip to Washington State. My wife has three sister who live out there. My Nice was getting married and we flew out for the event. Although we usually fly into Seattle, on this trip we flew into Spokane and rented a car for the week. On the last day My wife's sister husband asked me about my impression about the 'Channelled Scablands' - it was obvious that no one else had ever heard this term before and thought he was making it up.

He explained that during the ice age glaciers had moved south and formed a huge ice shelf between the Cascade and Bitterroot mountains. As they began the thaw from the top down they formed huge pools contained by the ice walls - containing more water than the Great Lakes combined. When the bottom or walls of the ice eventually melted the torrent of water removed all on the soil down to bedrock. The resulting canyons are almost rectangular in section.

Just thought you might find this interesting. I did, but Until I got home and did some research I was not even aware what I should be looking for.



F S

We have something similar over here - albeit in a much smaller scale: Huge lumps of ice were left by the retreating glaciers and melted slower because they were hidden from the sun by surrounding hills. They are known as dødishuller ( = Dead-ice holes) and are now lakes of varying sizes. Villages would often form near them and use them as village ponds

How interesting! The Ice Age really has a lot to answer for - including the Atlantic Archepelago, aka the British Isles.

In Romania, I found that the huge biodiversity was due to its having been missed by those glaciers.

[Amy P]

Today's film tip: A87862800 - Bells of Norwich

A bit about St Francis and Julian of Norwich, two unusual people with a lot to say.

[Amy P]

Today's film tip: A87862954 - The Deadly Trap

Thriller time.