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

Hi

(Do I call you Autist, or Flinch, or TAFKAF?)

Not spamming, but reposting - do take a dig in blackvault which is a US website devoted to the publication of so-called public documents. You know - the ones they have to give you if you ask for them, but which you have to know exist to ask for. Add the usual letters before and after.

Good luck

the girl currently known as Ben

Yeah, i did check them out, but the searches only seemed to turn up UFO related matirial to begin with.

The CIA are now bound over by Congress to release documents after so many years like other departments. Only they've refused, and only hand over what they want to!

God Bless America. (After all, he's a Company man too.)

Hmmm - interesting how God changes nationality like that - in my Father's day He was an Englishman!

(You haven't told me what to call you, and these things matter to me)

a girl - ahem - called - er - Ben

I wasn't suggesting that He was an American, good lord no. 'One Nation UNDER God' remember. Under Him in a big steaming heap.

God is an Arab basically isn't he. When Moses found God the Father he was in Siniai (Egypt/Jordan), when God the Son turned up it was in Palestine, and The Holy Ghost was probibly a Roman idea, but Constantine hammered him into shape, and into the dogma at the Council of Alexandria. But that doesn't stop Him being an Englishman, because we've laid claim to all of those places at one point or another!

You can call me what you like really, Autist, Flinch, what's in a name huh? A rose by any other, and all that.

Having shared a number of conversations with you, from the very begining of being here i wondered:

Do you think i come across as being a real bitch and uptight?

People seem to react to what i say as though i'm attacking them, and don't see the huimour in what i say (i guess i ought to get the hang of smileys).

........ a real bitch and uptight?..........

No

Confession time here? I assumed you were male. Sorry. Of all people I should be sensitive to that. Once again, sorry.

How do you come across?

Serious. With important concerns, or concerns about important things.

A clear thinker.

Interested in interesting things.

A bit edgy - though I cannot think of any specific examples.

Direct and incisive. Concise and to the point. Sharp (which is good, as well as edgy).

F**k the smileys I say, though the nearest we have got to that is the oral sex smiley which is not quite the same.

Be yourself, Autist. I, for one, like to see you on the threads, and I value your contributions.

With love

Ben

On the subject of god and nationalism - have you noticed that it is only the theocratic religions which kill in the name of god? Buddhism which is essentially athieist, and hinduism which is pantheist, do not see killing as a holy act.

And one of my more recent rants was on the subject of inttroducing a levantine god to northern europeans. Bring back Odin and Freya, say I.

Actually, I don't say that at all - a bloody lot, the northern gods.

an occasional buddhist called Ben

Who say's i'm not male? But then who says it matters.

I think i might use from now on!

Incidently on the subject of 'F**k' - do you think that's what Shakespear meant by 'Star crossed lovers'?

So if your name comes from A Boy Named Sue, do you know what the word is that's bleeped out on the record? I've only ever heard that live at San Quentin version of it with the bleep. Even when i've seen him play live, he's made a joke of singing the bleep!

Do you know I didn't even know there was a in A Boy Named Sue.

I've got all confused about the gender-thing now - but as you say - what does it matter? One of the things I really like about meeting people on h2g2 is that all you know about them is what they type. I keep on finding that I have been talking to 16 year olds I thought were in their 30s. That is probably because I am in my 30s, and have a homeostatic tendency to assume that people I like are in fact like me.

Love the idea of star-crossed meaning asterisked.....

agcB

I'm no kind of woman, but i'm not very good at being a man...

There have only been two times in real life that I have not actually known what gender someone was.

Once was on the phone, and the person's name was Pat, and they could either have been a mature, worldly wise and slightly cynical woman, or a laid back, relaxed and ironic man. What I find interesting now is the different adjectives that I choose. What I found interesing at the time was the light it threw on the different ways I behave towards men and women. With men I am flirty and fun, with women I focus on empathy and understanding, girls together in a male world. I spoke to Pat maybe 6 or 7 times. I liked Pat a lot. Cynical and funny.

The second time was in a pub where the chef came out to drink after the kitchen was closed. I think that - whatever the birth-gender, they had some form of hormonal imbalance (or more accurately over-balance or hyper-balance). I didn't know them, so I never spoke to them, (being a Brit, and occasionally shy about my curiosity). What I found shocking was that I look at men and women differently. I cannot remember for sure now, but I think I look at women's faces and at men's eyes. And I hold myself differently in male company than I do in the company of a woman. This is something I am not consciously aware of when I am sure of the gender of the person I am looking at, so I cannot be certain now which way round it is.

Both experiences were interesting. Like looking at an optical illusion and seeing the vase or the faces but never both at once.

Whatever people are is fine by me. I am who I am because of my DNA and my life experiences. How can I know what I would be if either had been different?

Take care, Autist.

a human being called Ben