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

well, hello Conceited Little Megapuppy! i just joined h2g2 last week. it looked like a fun way to share ideas and discover some other cool people.
so, how much weight did you lose? i happen to be quite an expert in exercise and nutrition. i personally have tried fat-free diets, ketogenic diets, and more-or-less Zone diets. i find that caloric intake compared to expenditure is the bottom line, but the 40-30-30 diet works well for stabilizing hunger. lifting weights is important to build metabolically active muscle to burn more calories and cardio is pretty important, too.
anyways, if you click on my bio and look at my postings so far, you'll get a good idea of how weird i am.

Hi 'Next Step'!

I'm rather bad at noticing when people have posted to my page (my fault - I haven't requested that I be notified when they do) so I promise it isn't because I don't want to talk to you!

I lost (believe it or not - sometimes I can't believe it myself) eight and a half stone. It took me eighteen months on a calorie controlled slimming plan (no milkshake thingies or faddy things for me, thank you very much Dr Atkins and Co.). I'd never tried weight loss before (too lazy I think), so I hadn't been out and attempted all the 'other' diets or anything.

Mind you, in a fit of 'born again slim person' zeal, I recently put my thoughts on the whole thing down for posterity - and if you haven't found it (given that it's quite well hidden) you might like to read it at A707799 - then again, you may not!

Personally, I like ness, because the world would be a dead boring place without it. I try to make it a rule and be at least once a day if I can - otherwise I think I'd probably die of tedium in my job...

Nice to meet you! See you soon.

on losing that weight! btw, is a stone about 14 pounds? so, you lost around 120 lbs? impressive. and i did read your DIET thing. very good advice

it's nice to hear that you like and . me too.
i find that life very easily tends to be quite dismal and boring , so i try to see the absurdity in things around me . makes life more manageable

so, what do you do for a living?

Peter OUT!

This is going to sound terribly dull, which is why I enjoy being wherever possible. I'm actually a Civil Servant working for the Welsh Assembly Government (which isn't at all, so I have to make what -ness I can for myself). H2G2 is an excellent place for the most inspired stuff, as a visit to the 'Ask the Community' thread will show - plus all the intriguing clubs and societies. Where else could you be a member of either W.E.E or P.O.O.?

A stone is indeed 14 lbs and have lost 121 of them (very careless I know) and I am nearly half the woman I used to be. I'm not the only one in my family who has managed this feat - and between the three of us, my Mum, my sister and me - we've lost 18 stone . The really scary thing is that, before I lost the weight, I weighed even more than that...

In my spare time, when I'm not dragging myself to the gym to make sure that I don't find any of those missing pounds again, I play the viola. I'm a member of two amateur orchestras and I also play string quartets for fun - plus drink nice tea and nibble nice .

Well - who said a slimmer can't have treats? (memo to me - not slimming any more. Trying to *stay* slim...)

what do you do exactly? it DOES sound pretty boring
i'm a psychiatry doctor in training , so i usually find a good deal of and and in my typical work day.

so, you play the viola? that's cool is that like a really big violin? my knowledge base is quite odd, actually. i know a TON about some things, but essentially nothing about others, like musical instruments

anyhow, even though work is pretty and often leads to lots of , i find that LIFE itself and everything makes me if i really think about it . i don't believe in God, an afterlife, intrinsic meaning in life, purpose, etc... pretty grim, huh?

do YOU believe in that stuff?

so, i try to look at life with absurd lenses on, trying to find everything as amusing as possible, so as not to be overwhelmed by what i feel is the inherent dismal, grim nature of life

ok, enough cynicism for now!

peter OUT!

Aha! A bizarre concept indeed, the term 'Civil Servant'.

How do I describe it? I think the best way is to explain what we're for.

This works for the UK Parliament, the Scottish Executive and the National Assembly for Wales (when it's actually sitting, it works for the Northern Ireland Executive as well).

When you're talking about 'Government' here, what's actually meant is the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Ministers. They're the ones who are making the decisions, whilst everyone else in Parliament (all the other MPs - known as 'backbenchers' - are there to question what they do and make sure they're not doing anything they shouldn't - known as 'scrutiny' - honest!).

To help them make their decisions, they need advice - and that's where we come in.

Every Minister has a 'portfolio' (basically a list of all the things they're responsible for), and it's our job to make sure that the decisions they make are properly thought out (as much as possible), are affordable (i.e. won't cost oodles more of taxpayer's money than anticipated), and that anyone who isn't happy with it is given a reasoned argument as to why it's being done so at least they don't think we're doing it only to justify our wages.

Whilst we work for the Government, we're not actually 'employed' by the Government - we're employed by the 'Crown' (i.e. the Monarch - currently the Queen). As the Crown doesn't get voted in or out, we don't change when there's a change of Government (as there was in 1997). I wish I could say I work for the Queen - but it's not as simple as that, alas.

In the case of me - I work for the Cabinet of the National Assembly for Wales ('The Welsh Assembly Government'), and I work for the Economic Development Minister. One of his many jobs is to oversee the activities of the Wales Tourist Board - who market Wales to tourists on our behalf.

So, our job (there are four of us doing this work) is to make sure that the Tourist Board gets the money it is paid for the work it does so that they can actually do it, work with them to make sure that they are doing their job properly (which they are), and answer any questions that anyone asks about tourism in Wales (MPs, other Assembly Members/Scottish Parliament Members/Students/people with ideas for tourism marketing/people with complaints etc. etc.)

Alas we don't get to do interesting things like test Quality Grading Schemes for Accommodation/Restaurants/Theme parks. It would probably be more fun if we did!

I know that on the , and side of things, someone told me once that when she worked in a part of the Office that dealt with Mental Health issues, someone once mailed them a fried egg. Unfortunately this person didn't say whether they were complaining about the standard of catering, whether they were actually a vegan and objecting to receiving the egg or what - but it was an interesting moment in the Post Room when they opened it, I expect!

I myself lean quite heavily in the God direction, though not overtly. I'm hoping there's an afterlife, but if there isn't I hope I'm doing something reasonably worthwhile whilst I'm here - and I've left a bit of myself behind for posterity - one of the Orchestras I play in has recorded a CD - so that's something. If the audiences we play for are having as much of a blast as we are, then I think I've managed it.

However, I too try to avoid thinking about Life, the Universe and Everything too much - or I get too.

So - thought for the day -
Eat Drink and Be Merry - for Tomorrow you may not die after all.
(From 'Graffiti 4' by Nigel Rees)

holy mackerel!
that was a killer explanation of what you do for work! thanks!
i like the fried egg thing . it reminds me of when i was little and my mom found a little worm in a cereal box. she was so grossed out that she wrote a letter of complaint and taped the worm to it! can you imagine that?

i don't blame you for hoping there's a God and an afterlife. i personally don't believe in it, but i won't hold it against you

i totally agree with you about the inherent depressing effect of pondering life, the universe, and everything.

it's much easier to be happy if you can get all caught up in everyday life, even if it is a bit mundane at times

and, way to go on that orchestra CD recording!
you've left a permanent imprint of yourself!
i have yet to do the same. perhaps, if i built a gigantic statue in honor of myself somewhere, then i'll be remembered for eternity. although, everyone would probably remember me as the biggest narcissist ever in the history of humankind

anyhow, enjoy yourself and try to block out those depressing deep thoughts!

peter out!

ps: how did you get the name "megapuppy"?

Ah - that's all down to the late, great Douglas Adams - the brains behind this marvellous site, and much missed.

The scene comes from 'The Restaurant at the End of the Universe' - it happens quite close to the beginning of the book, when the bizarre foursome of Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Trillian and Zaphod Beeblebrox are under fire from a Vogon Constructor Vessel at the behest of Zaphod's Brain care specialist (Gag Halfrunt) to ensure that the Question to the Answer of Life, the Universe and Everything is lost with Arthur Dent (it's in his brainwave patterns, you see) when their ship is destroyed - and so ensuring that people will always need psychiatrists.

Rather than run away - which most people would do - their ship is stalled in space because the computer is using all its available circuitry to work out how to make a cup of Tea (for Arthur, naturally) and so they can't make the ship move.

In order to escape this dire predicament - Zaphod suggests they enlist the help of his Great Great Grandfather, Zaphod Beeblebrox the Fourth (don't ask) and so they hold a seance.

During the course of the discussion (during which time, said Great Great Grandfather slows time down so that he can have a really good rant at his progeny), Zaphod, when questioned about what useful things he's done with is life, protests that he was President of the Galaxy - the whole Galaxy, man!

To which Grandpappy replies: "Conceited Little Megapuppy".

Always liked that moment.

On the other hand, I always liked 'Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged' as well, but a cartoonist from Australia got there first. C'est la vie.

If you haven't read the Hitchhikers Trilogy (which has five books in it so is suitably for such purposes), I recommend them - particularly the first two - but they're all great fun, especially as they weren't planned in any way - Douglas made them up as he went along - which makes them much more spontaneous and intriguing than most novels.

H2G2 is named after them, by the way - as there are two H's and two G's in the title, which became shorthand for the books and then the name of this site - because this is the 'Earth Edition' of the Guide!

By the way (again) - you may see on some people's personal spaces bizarre calculations adding up to 42 - these calculations are their user numbers, which they've used to calculate the Answer. We don't know the question yet, though.

How's that for and ? Will I pass?

very and
thanks for the hitchhiker's guide stuff
and, you're probably right about reading the "trilogy". i've found a lot of references to it on this website and not having had read it yet, i find myself going quite a bit
and, i like "conceited little megapuppy" better than "wowbagger the infinitely prolonged". it's cuter. almost as cute as this which is just about the cutest thing i've ever seen

see? i can't make enough of 'em

btw, i tried to put about 10 times as many laughing faces, but it wouldn't let me. it said i had too many smileys.

speaking of nicknames, i wanna change mine. something less narcissistic, perhaps. any good ideas?

hey, were you into Star Trek TNG when it was on? i totally digged it.

peter out

Hmm. New nickname...

If you want a Hitch Hikers' related name - how about 'Agrajag (Damn I cut myself again!)' or 'Hotblack Desiato's number 3,325,525,251,528,002nd fan' or 'Marvin's sense of humour (escaped)'?

Now there's an incentive to read the trilogy - then these will make sense!

On Star Trek - yes, I certainly enjoy it, though I don't tend to go out of my way to watch it. If it's on, and the episode guide is interesting (or it's one that I've seen before and enjoyed) then I'll watch it. It's not showing on Terrestrial telly at the moment, so if I do watch, then I have to watch it on Satellite and it often clashes with something I want to watch more than it.

Having said that, there are some totally gripping episodes, and some of the more comic ones are also a pleasure - the one where Lt. Barclay gets hooked on the holodeck is an absolute hoot, particularly as everyone involved in the 'fantasy' scenes is clearly having a fantastic time as well.

I couldn't name a 'favourite' episode, though. I have to say though that the best film (in my humble, personal opinion of course) is 'First Contact' because of the excellent balance between the tension on the ship and the humour on the ground. Alice Krige was absolutely incredible, and James Cromwell was superb, particularly in the 'Phoenix' scenes. I could go on and mention what I thought of the regular casts' performances but then I'd never stop. Suffice to say "Wow" and leave it at that.

But you'd expect nothing less from an Even numbered ST Film.

that's why i chose this new nickname. because i ponder about life and everything way too much. i THINK about everything. can't shut off my neocortex

glad you like TNG.

my fave episodes are
cause and effect: enterprise is stuck in a time loop and keeps exploding
causes: aliens wipe out enterprise crew's memory. data was ordered by picard NOT to tell the crew about it. clues lead crew to discover the truth.
inner light: picard exp a lifetime via alien probe in 25 minutes of real time
title?: barclay is hit by an alien probe and becomes super smart and hooks up to the enterprise computer
i borg: borg kid gains identity
offspring: data creates a child
chain of command: picard is tortured
true Q: amanda, a human girl is actually a Q and joins the continuum
and many more!

so, what other stuff do you like to watch on the tube?

i THINK out!

that's why i chose this new nickname. because i ponder about life and everything way too much. i THINK about everything. can't shut off my neocortex

glad you like TNG.

my fave episodes are
cause and effect: enterprise is stuck in a time loop and keeps exploding
causes: aliens wipe out enterprise crew's memory. data was ordered by picard NOT to tell the crew about it. clues lead crew to discover the truth.
inner light: picard exp a lifetime via alien probe in 25 minutes of real time
title?: barclay is hit by an alien probe and becomes super smart and hooks up to the enterprise computer
i borg: borg kid gains identity
offspring: data creates a child
chain of command: picard is tortured
true Q: amanda, a human girl is actually a Q and joins the continuum
and many more!

so, what other stuff do you like to watch on the tube?

i THINK out!

i'm semi-delirious from sleep deprivation. i'm on call in the hospital
anywho, i looked to see who was on-line for familiar names and i saw megapuppy
btw, have you tried Balance Gold bars? very yummy




petey out

Hmm...

What do I like on the Gogglebox?

I recall a lot of the TNG episodes you mentioned, and I enjoyed them too - particularly 'True Q' because John DeLancie was just so, so brilliant. (quote to Ben Sisko: "You *hit* me! *Picard* never hit me!")

'I Borg' was pretty touching too, particularly as Hugh began to discover the concept of individuality - and Guinan faced up to a representative of the species that practically destroyed her own race.

Given the way things are going on the Terrestrial Channels, I tend to avoid most of that like the plague - it's all soaps these days and even the dramas that we used to have seem to have metamorphosed into shoddily made and scripted soaps as well . Even the comedies are dire - there are virtually no decent arts programmes any more and as for documentaries, if it isn't sensational (e.g. Meteors crashing into the planet, supervolcanoes wiping out whole continents), then they don't want to know.

Fortunately, there are still a few things left worth watching (mostly by Sir David Attenborough) - but most of them are repeats of past programmes on satellite.

I spend most of my time divided between the 'UK' family of channels, which show a wide range of stuff. There's 'UKHistory', 'UKHorizons' (which shows documentaries), UKFood (there's something very pleasant about watching someone else cooking), UKStyle (which shows house and garden makeovers - again, I can sit and watch people working for hours - but they also show repeats of the Antiques Roadshow - and *that's* real quality) and UKGold, which repeats British Comedies and Dramas - some of which are still showing original episodes on Terrestrial, and are dreadful, sudsy, soapy shadows of their former selves - and boy does it show).

As for programmes themselves (apart from the 'Antiques Roadshow' which I've already mentioned), I do enjoy the repeats of 'The Bill' - an excellent Police Drama that has been showing for nearly 20 years, but has been slowly destroyed over the last two or three of those 20 by a slow, dreadful gurgling down the plughole into soapdom of the trashiest kind. I don't watch new episodes any more because it's just too, too painful to see something so good so completely ruined. I'm a bit about this - can you tell?

Otherwise, if there's something good on Discovery Channel or National Geographic, then I'm happy with that. And I have to confess to a minor enjoyment (if I'm up late enough) of 'Jackass' on MTV, though I don't normally enjoy 'gross-out' stuff.

Although it sounds like I never switch off, I actually don't switch on very often unless I get into 'couch potato' mode and suddenly find I can't summon the energy to change channel or switch off.

Honest.

Ha! You posted before I did!

Your sleep deprivation is my morning start at work. I'm in the office right now you know!

Hope you get back to fairly soon. I hate it when I can't sleep.

Anyway - I'm off to get my breakfast now (toast and marmalade with a nice hot cup of - very British!).

'Bye for now. Sleep well (if you can get to sleep, that is...)

John DeLancie is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO funny i that guy!
i agree. there's not much on the [do you call it the "gogglebox" in england? i watch the following shows [dunno if you get them over there]: comedies-friends and scrubs, reality show-Fear Factor , Buffy the Vampire Slayer , Twilight Zone [even thought the new series kinda sucks , and the sci fi channel a lot. i may have asked you this already, but do you like Trigger Happy TV? i love that. . oh, and south park!

but, usually, when i sit on my sofa to watch tv, i end up endlessly flipping channels in a futile effort to find something interesting, even though i just cycle thru the same freakin' channels over and over again...

PeteY out

Someone once said that you don't watch TV to see what's on - you watch it to see what else is on. Or something like that.

We call TV all sorts of things - though mostly we use TV, Telly and 'the box'. At least, I do.

I think we get everything you mentioned - mostly on Sky (satellite), though I'm not sure about the Twilight Zone. Because of my funny working hours I've usually switched the Telly off by nine o'clock or I'd stay awake all night.

I haven't seen Trigger Happy TV because it always seems to be on when I'm out - and I can't be bothered with the video. I love the bit with the gigantic mobile phone - that's always good because of the way it makes people jump when he yells 'HELLO!!!!!"

It's a bit easier with South Park, because it usually gets shown on Terrestrial a bit later on a Friday night, so I'm both back from rehearsals and not going to work the next morning, so I can watch it. The film was magnificent - though alas most of the songs are unrepeatable here.

Friends has quite a following - though I have to admit that it never appealed to me so I've never really watched it. I've caught the odd episode of Sex and the City - and found that pretty funny, but it's on way too late normally, so again I don't see it much.

Buffy's quite fun and we've just started Season 7 over here on Sky, though they're only halfway through Season 6 on Terrestrial.

I've not watched Fear Factor (other than a 'Celebrity' version - and the only Celebrity on it that I recognised was Donny Osmond!).

i like that saying about watching TV to see what else is on
for me, 'tis the truth. i think it's cuz [a] i'm usually not content with what i'm watching and [b] i'm also thinking there's gotta be something better on

i like Trigger Happy TV b/c i like all shows where preposterous outrageous stunts are pulled in front of unsuspecting bystanders

hey, i watched that Fear Factor you're talking about. 2 of the other celebrities Kelly Preston [john travolta's wife] and Chyna [big female pro wrestler].
i love stunt #2 b/c there's something inordinately amusing to me about having these folks eat something totally disgusting , watching them get all trying to gag it down
here's some gross things they've had to eat in the past:
buffalo testicles
water buffalo penis
sheep brains
live slugs
bile
pig uterus
pig rectum
and they usually just boil 'em!

oh, i think i'm becoming ill ...

peteY out!

Bile? AAAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHH

I'm starting to be unavoidably reminded of Japanese Game Shows here...

Mind you - there's been a trailer recently where they've been expected to eat various extremely unpleasant items from various fish - except for one, who had to eat one of each.

No I'm not going to watch that. Yeurgh.

I think I'll go and watch Nigella Lawson cook one of her frozen pigs ears (and I'm not joking! Apparently she boils one, slices it up and then deep fries it - but only when she's on her own in the house because it makes everyone else gag).

Hungry? Me neither.

I suppose I'm a bit luckier with my channels. If I think "There's got to be something better on", there often is - even if it's only a repeat of 'Airport'. (not an air disaster serial, but a documentary/docusoap about the staff who work at Heathrow Airport).

Either that or a repeat of 'Raging Planet' on the Discovery channel!