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

Snow Crash (and Neal Stephenson in general) rocks my socks.

Cheers

Yay! Neil Stephenson gives me such wonderful vocabulary... it confuses people though. The only time mini van comes out of my mouth anymore is when I'm explaining to someone what a bimbo box is... or I'm speaking to someone I know really won't understand, thus have to force myself to use the term they'd understand. Oh, and I am so in love with the term Manual Override

Actually yeah, I did catch myself using the phrase 'bimbo box' the other day. My friend looked at me kinda funny, but I just pointed and said it again... *shrug* It's fascinating how the work of authors we like can influence our thinking; I reread _Hamlet_ for the first time since reading any of Stephenson's books and realized that the play (like _Snow Crash_ and _Cryptonomicon_) is essentially about information flow.

I'm going to refrain from commenting on 'Manual Override;' the entire section with the graphs, aside from being devastatingly funny, strikes far too close to home .

Ah, but I do wish people would understand when I tell them 'Don't worry, I'm sure {insert source of annoyance} will listen to Reason...'

Since I'm in my extolling-the-virtues-of-literature mode already, I don't mind saying that I especially enjoyed reading your poem about the blade of grass: humorous and poignant at the same time, although I think there may be an extra 'i' in line 10 (I may, of course, be missing a carefully placed subtlety; I've been known to do that on occasion).

Yay for writing feedback

Cheers

I'll hav'ta go through Hamlet again, it's been a while since I tried that one. Hopefully judging from the classes I have this semester, I won't have too much to do outside of class... so maybe I can get some side reading in again.

If probably helps me to be so amused by the whole manual override thing since my sexual persona seems to be on a blade edge between the male and the female stereo types... thus I can ~almost~ relate with Lawrence's theories, but I'm just enough detatched that is continues to be amusing to me. However, your commentary makes me interested in how many people would be able to relate to it. *makes note to play with such data later*

"Ah, but I do wish people would understand when I tell them 'Don't worry, I'm sure {insert source of annoyance} will listen to Reason...'"

This lost me... care to explain which refference I missed here? Thanks

I seem to have been unable to locate the "i" you are making refference to in the poem... I don't recall placing anything intentionally, and I don't see the typo. Perhaps my inablitity to spell correctly could be the issue here. Please assist in figuring this out. Thanks.

Oh, and thanks for the compliment. I only vaguely remember what caused me to toss out that poem. I believe it was a weird conversation with the teacher I had for Science in 9th grade, then was a TA for in 11th grade that caused me to write this one. She and I were in disagreement over if a blade of grass could be mentally aware. *Shrugs* Either way, 'tis a nifty poem.

In _Snow Crash_, Reason is a hypervelocity railgun (created by Ng) that one of the Mafia dudes uses to tear up Bruce Lee and his crew (after which he says, "See? I told you they'd listen to Reason"), and which Hiro later uses to eat a hole into the _Enterprise_. It's carried in a small but very heavy briefcase with a small radiator dangling out the back which the narrator describes as having something like "the surface area of Delaware." The radiator bleeds off the excess heat generated by the portable nuclear power plant that powers Reason.

Usually I don't nitpick people's work, but you seem to be up for it...the extra "i" I'm talking about is in line 10, "casual_i_ty;" that isn't, in fact, a word (unless there's some disparity between the versions of English we're using, which--especially here--is a very distinct possibility). I was thinking you might have thrown in the extra "i" to get both "casualty" and "causality," which highlights the irony that the height of the blade of grass is actually the cause of its destruction.

So, can a blade of grass be mentally aware?


dihybrid, currently supporting faith based missile defense systems and peace and other happy stuff like not killing people

I shall run spell check on the poem, because I'm usually just bad with spelling. I did nothing along the lines of any of that which you mentioned.

...and I'd forgotten about reason. I haven't read the book lately... and the thing that really sticks in my mind about the book was Raven! I would so love to have him! *dreamy sigh*

LOL...why can't girls like nice guys who _aren't_ psychopathic megalomaniacs hell-bent on the destruction and irradiation of millions of innocent people? *sigh*

BTW, if you're bored sometime I'd be up for feedback on some of the ramblings that are floating around my space.


dihybrid / No war on Iraq

PS. IMO the katana (and the skill with which it's wielded) more than makes up for the lack of POOR IMPULSE CONTROL emblazoned on the forehead. Surely there's something to be said for agility and precision?

...there may be, however, I've just got a thing for tall guys. It probably helps that I'm tall myself, and want to still be able to wear insanely high platforms and heals. Weeee. I can dig a nice guy if he's still taller than me when I'm wearing my boots of doom, and he doesn't get scared of 'em either. Weeee.

I probably should mention the boots of doom have about 2" platforms, plus an additional 2" worth of high heals... thus adding 4" to my 5' 10" height. Pretty tall for the fairer sex. *Smirks*

*nod* LOL.

*feels short*

*spins nunchaku around, feels much better*

...so, how tall are you that I can make you feel short? *peers curiously*

It's the platforms that do the trick; I think I'm closer to 5'10", but I haven't checked in a while and people try to tell me that I'm more like 5'11" or 6'. *shrug*

I just realized that nunchaku have a definite advantage over swords: they're much cheaper. So when they break (grr), you don't _have_ to blow US$150 on another pair.

Oh really? Out weapons pricing I see... You not gonna go cause any trouble just because I can make you feel short, now are you?

Haha no...I need to come up with a form for a competition in a month, and it's a bit more difficult than it needs to be with a broken pair.

Ah, yes... broken toys can be a problem.