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

Do y'all remember Petroleum V Nasby? A87877895 He was a satirical writer during the Lincoln administration. In fact, reading him cheered the president up no end during the Civil War. Mark Twain went on the speaking circuit with Nasby. Very popular fella.

Nasby's shtick was pretending to be an ardent supporter of the Confederacy. He used bad spelling and worse grammar (the real author was a newspaper editor) and awful logic to lampoon the pretensions of the side he disagreed with, all the while protesting his love for all things Confederate.

If Petroleum V Nasby's alter ego, editor David Ross Locke, were alive today, he'd be on Twitter in a New York minute. And he'd be making fun of Republicans. Locke was a Republican in his day, but Republicans then were Democrats now and Republicans now are Democrats then and...never mind, it's complicated. Anyway, we can pretty much guess who Locke would be making fun of. But, alas, he's gone to that big newspaper office in the sky, and we shall not see his like again.

Or shall we?

Have you, er, seen the tweets and/or Youtubes of Brent Terhune? (He's a stand-up comedian with a certified redneck accent.)

Here he is, explaining how his boat went down in Lake Travis. 'A bunch of other nautical things happened...the SS MAGAritaville's gone...sob...'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayCLE_ctpYg

For Brits: An impromptu (and unorganised, apparently) boat rally in Lake Travis near Austin, Texas over this Labor Day weekend resulted in massive confusion and the sinking of five boats in the wakes of much larger boats. No one has been reported injured, at least not physically. Boats are expensive, and there are probably some hurt feelings due to Twitterschadenfreude.

Fans of Petroleum V Nasby would recognise the style of Brent Terhune, who can be seen here explaining the oracle of QAnon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnY09j2MpHc

This has been a public service announcement in the interests of h2g2's observation of the current scene. 150 years from now, somebody might want to do a Guide Entry on this fellow.