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

I found h2g2 in 1999. Started posting in 2000.

Give or take a few months or a year here and there I have been around most of that time.

I have been trolled (bored people with nothing else to do, I guess), flamed(jealous person) and even had sock puppets three of which that stand out the most and not just to me.

In all that time and in more than one account, which I have explained already, I have never had a post of mine covered or removed.

Not too bad for close to 20 years.

There are fewer people to converse with here nowadays, so we have to be as fascinating as possible.

Any idea why so fewer participants, these days?

Mark Twain: Water in moderation, cannot hurt anyone.

About moderation on h2g2...

Swearing has never been allowed. Flaming has never been allowed. Spitting was never, ever allowed. Trolling as well, never allowed.

But, I've seen 'someone made me get yikes'd'. If the post was removed it was not allowable in the first place, accept that.

The idea of a 'phantom yikeser' was a bit of paranoia. Even if someone took it upon themselves to alert every post someone else made, the moderators would not remove the posts if they were allowable in the first place and eventually the person alerting posts for no reason would end up in the transgressions process, most likely.

If you remember, when the BBC took over, everything that was already here was then covered aside from Edited entries. All conversations, non edited entries were covered and user pages as well, and if you wanted to post, you had to open a new BBC account until the pre BBC account had passed moderation and could be converted.

1. The moderators were reading the legacy posts, back to front and uncovering what passed.

2. The moderators were reading each new post before it went 'live' on the site. This caused delays in busy conversations and sometimes stalled conversations. That is not a state to which I want to return.

After enough legacy and current posts had passed the rest were unlocked and the site was put on reactive moderation instead of proactive.

Do you remember LekZ, Arpeggio, Wendy Wallflower, and Silent Lucidity?

Arpeggio collaborated with me (and one other researcher) on a guide entry about curry powder. I later heard that she had died.

I hadn't heard that she died. But, it's been a long time.

Her use of multiple accounts was the first I'd heard of sock puppets. It was a weird situation that made a lot of people uncomfortable.

I had two sock puppets,both of them long since abandoned.

One was Fluffy Pink Rabbit.

The other was Wesley Tofflemeister Flimby.

Neither one was sane.

An alternate I.D. is not automatically a sock puppet.

A sock puppet is created to specifically troll other researchers while hiding their usual I.D.

I met FPR and WTF, both were funny.

I'm an anti-troll. FPR and WTF were designed to make people laugh after I had inadvertently offended them somehow. I'm not always careful about what I post . I couldn't very well mend fences in my usual identity, so I sent my wacky alter egos to do the job for me. Plus, I had some fun.

While trying to recover the pre BBC account, the BBC threw not one but two, Greetings New Hiker messages with Unumbers attached. As you know, the accounts cannot be closed or deleted or given to someone else. So, on the third try, I hit the correct email, password, blood type... combination for the pre BBC account.

The two new accts did not really have a purpose until more than one friend, (three I think) needed a bit of comic relief. So, they became penguins, the accts, not the friends.

The shocking, zapping, filing cabinet was solely for comic relief, both at work and h2g2. None of my accts have been moderated in any way.

Although, someone from here followed me to another writing site to complain about something I posted there. It didn't break the rules to that site. So, no moderation there either.

As Tom Lehrer used to say, the out patients are out in force tonight. You will never see the last of these strange people even if you live a million years.

The Mc Neil Lehrer Report?

Some people thrive on conflict and when there is not enough drama, they will create more.

There's an edited guide article about Tom Lehrer. Lehrer wrote satiric songs such as "Pollution," "The Vatican Rag," and "Poisoning pigeons i the park." He wasn't a professional songwriter, but rather a mathematician who taught at Harvard, M.I.T., and the University of California. He also taught a course in American musical theater.

It was Jim Lehrer that was on the PBS news show in the 80s. I would watch that after school.

Also watched Mark Russel's political satires. The govt. is printing several thousand pamphlets to fight illiteracy...

Tom Lehrer was known for gallows humor, as in "I hold your hand in mine"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9C2v1oLXQo

He could also do "list" songs, like this one where he listed all the elements t the"Major genral's song" by Gilbert and Sullivan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcS3NOQnsQM

As a mathematician, he could also satirize trends in mathematics teaching.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6OaYPVueW4

One of my friends from RHS, could sing the Animaniac songs about elements, state capitols and I think there was another.

Who sang the 'New Math Song'? You take away one, carry the two... and so on.

I had a different version of the math song, that was the same idea, but a bit different presentation.

"New math" was by Tom Lehrer.

He retired from teaching in 2001. He would have been in his early seventies then.

He may still live near Santa Cruz, California. He will be 91 this month.

I think the (from radio recording) I had was from 'Laugh In', now that I think about it. Most likely recorded from Kasey Kasem's radio show or the Doctor Demento show early 80's. My siblings were older and our parents much older. So the carry the this and the drop that was pretty much just me. But, my dad taught me (his) math every time we went to the store or did my homework.

He taught me how to calculate cost of items in shopping cart as we went. I was about 7 when he started that. With a slip of paper, I could keep a running total, no calculator. Inadvertantly, he taught me to calculate percentages with a back door, short cut, that to this day irritates my older brother who uses an adding machine for everything.

Different methods work for different people.

Yes. What has occurred several times is this:

Working at my desk. Get called to brother's office, told of situation or proposed deal. He's tapping away at the adding machine.

I'm staring at the window, running equations in my head, like that divides evenly by three with a odd bit left so that's 57%...
*tap* *tap* of adding machine as he proclaims 57% while pulling out the tape.

Would aggravate him to no end.