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

Ok, you're in the lobby after 15 minutes of server hell.

You know, that yin and yang symbol has always sort of reminded me of sheep. Good sheep/bad sheep. Jodan in Ohio/Jodan in Kentucky.

I read somewhere that 2003 was the year of the black sheep in the Chinese calendar, because of some nuances with water that made the sheep black.

I dunno. If I'd have known that during 2003, I probably would have been more unbearable.

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Sometimes you make it too easy for me. It's so easy, I'm almost embarrassed to take it. What to do....what to do.....

Did I ever mention that 2005 was the year of the nag?

Oh, hmm.

"Year 2003 is a Chinese Black Sheep (Black Goat, Black Ram) Year...The Chinese calendar uses the Stem-Branch system to count the days, months and years."

"There are 10 Stems and 12 Branches in this system. Stems are named by the Yin-Yang and Five Elements (Metal, Water, Wood, Fire and Earth). The Stem sequence order is Yin-Yang Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water Yang Wood, Yin Wood, Yang Fire, Yin Fire, Yang Earth, Yin Earth, Yang Metal, Yin Metal, Yang Water and Yin Water. Branches use the animal names."

"The Branch sequence order is Rat, Cow, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Hen, Dog, Hog Rat, Cow, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Chicken, Dog and Pig."

"Stem and Branch are used together to form a cycle of 60 counting systems which begin from Wooden Rat Male and end with Water Pig Water. From Year 1924 to Year 1983 is a complete cycle. Year 2003 is Female Water Sheep, the 20th of the Stem-Branch in the system. Because Water is equivalent to color Black in the Five-Element system, Year 2003 is also called Black Sheep year..."

So perhaps the next year is 2063 when water (black) and sheep are again aligned?

The AWW and the Underguide are good things. Enjoyable hobbies for many. I think many authors enjoy the recognition they receive simply from comments from readers and from from miners that you and others have recruited. A simple "I enjoyed reading your article" goes a long way. The AWW lacks the hostility and nastiness often seen in Peer Review when new researchers post inappropriate items...and finding the Underguide has always been difficult. The new page doesn't ssem much harder to me. I think we need to double the volume of articles accepted for the Underguide by recruiting more miners, thus more votes...rather than worry about page placement...that's my newbie 2 cents worth.

No, you didn't mention that. That means I should ratchet it up a bit for the rest of the year....to get it out of my system.

Thanks Phred (I'm not going to nickname you because you went to all that trouble). I have to wait... what, only 58 years for the next one. It'll go by quickly, I'm sure.

The UG and AWW are good things. They would indeed be improved by more miners, and just today I decided to ask a particular person to consider mining once she comes back from a vacation.

One wonderful thing about my spasmodic personality is that I'm capable of multi-tasking. Just today (or was it yesterday?) I welcomed frontiersman to our ranks, and also spent some time on this battle.

If you have some ideas for new miners, lemme know Phred. Spynxxx emails me all the time with helpful recruiting tips, which I always like. Anyone is welcome to ask their friends to go into the UG or to email me about it

Oh yes, Hyp, you were there.
You'd better, because according to my calculations, the year of the nag doesn't come around for another 3,174 years.

3,174 years! I will truly be an old hag nag by then.

I used to know what year I was born in on the Chinese calendar, but am not sure any longer. The year of the ox, I think.

I have no idea what animal year I was born in. I'd like to think it was a sheep, and I'm not going to check and none of you will tell me so that I may maintain this notion.

You can find out by reading the place mats at Chinese restaurants.

Phred, do you have a list of which animals go with which years?

I usually mark them up so much with crayons (which I brought from home, they never give you crayons...) you can't tell a sheep from a nag after a few minutes.

I wonder if Chinese children play with crayons? You never see documentaries showing little Chinese kids with coloring books.

That's just because I never see documentaries

I'm sure they have some coloring activities. I can imagine the directions... 'Color this little book Red'.

Okay, I'm going to try to go to sleep now. Behave yourselves

I need to check my nephew's coloring books to see if they are made in China.

Well I was born a Fire Rabbit...which I suppose is okay. My dad is a water rabbit which just makes me think of a rabbit with a runny nose

Mmm... roast bunny...

Look here : A4185380 That outta clear up the confusion about any Animalistic traits any of us have. Apart from the jumpsuit...